Baseball's Book of Firsts - Hardcover

Johnson, Lloyd

3.86

7 ratings by Goodreads

9780762404773: Baseball's Book of Firsts

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0762404779 ISBN 13: 9780762404773

Publisher: Courage Books, 1999

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A comprehensive guide to the record-setting achievements of baseball's greatest players, Baseball's Book of Firsts has been completely revised and updated to include records recently set by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa, as well as historic moments in the careers of such players as Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. Lavishly illustrated with more than 200 photographs and featuring trivia questions to test the memory of the most devoted fans, this handsome treasury of landmarks in the history of America's most beloved pastime makes a thrilling gift for any baseball aficionado.

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Review:

Lloyd Johnson descends into the dusty catacombs of baseball's archives and emerges with a multitude of first-time happenings--some obvious, some not, and some simply surprising. Running from the sacred to the arcane, they range from categories like the first relief pitcher, the first pitcher caught doctoring a ball, the first third baseman to charge bunts, the first championship team to be broken up, the first player to hold out for more money, the first manager to endorse nutrient drinks (and no, it wasn't Tommy Lasorda; he's late by more than a century), the first road trip, the first ballpark to burn down, the first uniform numbers, the first box score, the first player stalked by a fan, the first ... well, you get the gist.

Each inaugural moment is assigned its own page with appropriate illustrations; even better, each is linked to the long chain of baseball's evolution. Which is how the irrepressible Lasorda gets his due. He is a footnote to the fact that manager Charlie Comiskey, better known as the imperiously frugal future owner of the White Sox, spiked the punch for the St. Louis Browns with nourishments that may or may not have helped his Brownies, one of the more hapless squads in Major League history, digest four consecutive titles in the ancient 1880s. --Jeff Silverman

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