Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century

by Allen Barra, Bob Costas (Foreword)

Who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? Who was the best right-hander of the '60s, Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal? Who is the greatest starting pitcher of all time? At his peak, who was more valuable, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams? If Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, and Roger Clemens had pitched at the same time against the same hitters, who would have won the most games? If Jackie Robinson had been white, would he be deserving of the Hall of Fame? Is Pete Rose overrated? Has Tim Raines been underrated? Who is the best hitter of the game today-- Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr.? Is today's pitching really that bad? Why can't modern pitchers go nine innings? Which are more valuable-- good starters or good relievers? How important is the stolen base? What are the myths that still surround Babe Ruth? What was the most talented baseball team of the twentieth century? Which twentieth-century championship team has been most slighted by baseball historians? What has been the real impact of black and Latin talent on Major League Baseball? Is baseball more competitive now than it was one hundred years ago? Or fifty? Or twenty-five? Who was the greatest all-around player of the last century? Find the answers here.

Clearing the Bases is the first book to tackle these and many other of baseball's most intriguing questions, plus it offers hard, sensible answers-- answers based on exhaustive research and analysis. Sports journalist Allen Barra, whose weekly sports column, "By the Numbers," has earned him millions of readers in The Wall Street Journal and whose outspoken opinions on Salon.com are discussed regularly on National Public Radio, takes on baseball's toughest arguments. Using stats and methods he developed during his ongoing tenure at The Wall Street Journal , Barra takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question, Who's the Best?, in this, the ultimate baseball debate book. It is guaranteed to spark thousands of heated debates and to supply the fuel for thousands more. While including bits on Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roger Clemens, Lefty Grove, Willie Mays, and Ted Williams, among others, Barra even finds time to argue the case for great players from other sports such as Bart Starr in football and Wilt Chamberlain in basketball.

Regardless of what stand you take in these debates, you'll never think about baseball's greatest stars in the same way again.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

261 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball fans will love this, although you can get bogged down in the numbers.

[Daniel LaBree · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise - the writer offers essays diving into statistics to give an opinion on various sports debates (it says baseball, but there are also a few football and basketball essays, as well). Some of the debates are fairly well known, and some are not as mainstream. His use of stats makes it more intriguing than a simple "I saw him play well, therefore..." type argument. And he often takes on the "underdog" in the debate. His writing style flows well and is an easy read.

The only true knocks against this book are 1) it's dated and 2) editing.

It's dated in that the writer references "this year" or "this season" in some of his arguments. Unless you remember when the book came out or can use vague context clues to figure it out, it can be confusing.

Editing. This dude needed an editor. Or, at least, one who can edit. There are numerous spelling and grammar mistakes. He will miss words, misspell words, not capitalize names, spell names wrong, and use confusing sentence structure. At times, it can really take one out of the reading zone. This is the biggest strike against it, and quite a doozy.

[Zach Koenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

In recent years, books like this one (or "thinking books", as I like to call them) have seen an explosion in popularity. Instead of just biographies of old baseball stars or waxing nostalgic about "the good old days", these books throw all the past perceptions out the window and start fresh, crunching the numbers to make interesting observations about arguable topics.

"Clearing the Bases" is, by and large, a success in this category. Author Allen Barra tackles such notions (among others) as:

-Jackie Robinson: Greatest second baseman ever?
-Willie Mays vs. Mickey Mantle: By the Numbers
-Minnie Minoso--greatest Hispanic player ever?
-Clemens vs. Koufax vs. Grove
-The "myth" of Babe Ruth.
-Why pitchers can't "go 9" anymore.

Generally speaking, Barra brings up some interesting points and will get you thinking about certain topics/ideas that perhaps you had never considered before. Baseball myths/legends are hard to break down sometimes, so reading a book like this is sometimes a shock to the system, yet Barra explains himself reasonably well and stands by his convictions. Some you may agree with, some you won't, but they will get the cognitive wheels turning nonetheless.

However, I can't consider this book to truly be a must-read because of the author's defiance/arrogance throughout the text. Perhaps this is just Barra's sense of humor, but I found it very disrespectful for him to continually call certain people "idiots", "morons", and the like. It almost seemed (at times) that the book was written from the seed of anger, not passion.

Overall, though, this is an intriguing read that will engage the brain. I more highly recommend "Baseball Between The Numbers", but this one will suffice if you don't have enough time to get through hundreds of pages.

[Andy Polizzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read 15 years after publication to see if opinions have changed with hindsight (e.g., PED issues.) The author's promotion of SLOB as a measuring device makes more sense that the OPS that is everywhere today.

[Paul Petrone · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to get dumber about baseball and just in general, read this book by this angry man in desperate need of a life.

[Gary Geiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I disagree about this, but I am a Boston fan. Anyways, here goes: There is a case to be made that Joe DiMaggio was a better player than Ted Williams. But I don't think Barra made it here. You could argue that DiMaggio's all-around play edged Williams's superior hitting when each was at the top of his game. But Barra focuses on intangible qualities of DiMaggio. Sorry, but I am not buying it. I would like to see him make a stronger case for it.

[Pistol Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine read to spark debate, but there seemed to be a typo per chapter. Perhaps the WSJ editors are better than the Thomas Dunne Books editors. It was interesting fodder, but there have been other books of similar ilk I enjoyed more.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unorthodox opinions supported by the numbers. There were just too many numbers.