The book:
“Pastime Lost: The Humble, Original and Now Completely Forgotten Game of English Baseball”
The author:
David Block
The publishing info:
University of Nebraska Press, 320 pages, $29.95, to be released June 1
The links:
At the publisher’s website, at Amazon.com, at BarnesAndNoble.com, at Powells.com
The review in 90 feet or less
First, some other history to review:
In 2005, when first-time author Block came out of the blocks with “Baseball before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game,”
one might have thought Einstein’s theory of special relativity had been compromised by some barista working at Einstein Bros. Bagels.
Block, described as “a retired systems analyst and amateur baseball historian,” had already been quoted in a 2004 New York Times piece about his research into baseball’s origins. Once his book landed, the New York Times circled back to laud it for the way Block “attacked baseball’s literary record with methodical zeal. The result is a joyfully discursive romp through the history of ball sports and a compelling new theory of the game’s origins.”
MLB.com included the research in a documentary called “Base Ball Discovered,” calling the “landmark book … generally recognized as the authoritative work on the subject of baseball’s origins.”
It was designated as an “Outstanding Academic Title of 2005” book by the American Library Association. And Tom Shieber, the senior curator at the Baseball Hall of Fame, said the book was “to me probably the single most important baseball research of the last 50 years, if not more.”
Recently, MLB historian John Thorn said Block’s “Baseball Before We Knew It” was one of five books on the game he’d whole-heartedly recommend for anyone who wants to know about the sport. In his endorsement, Thorn writes: “David is very systematic and careful in his elucidation of fact. … We haven’t heard the last of David.”
So, we waited. Continue reading “Day 11 of 30 baseball book reviews for April 2019: Block out everything you know about what we want to now call English baseball”
Context, please.
The book:
First was the deep-thinking/fun-reading books such as “
The book:
This simple observation is better explained and put into context in the preceding pages. But could this opening salvo be a deal-breaker if a reader particularly protective of Dodgers’ lore decides this is taking a poke at a sacred cow?
Rory McIlroy (7-1), world No. 1-ranked Dustin Johnson (10-1) and four-time champion Tiger Woods (14-1, with Justin Rose) are listed as the odds-on-favorite to capture the 83rd Masters (Thursday-Sunday, ESPN and Channel 2). Three-time champ Phil Mickelson (30-1) isn’t that outside the box at age 48. But defending champion Patrick Reed, who held off Rickie Fowler for a one-shot victory and two shots over Jordan Spieth, is just 60-1 as of the April 6 posting on VegasInsider.com. ESPN golf Curtis Strange, who once won back-to-back U.S. Opens on two different courses, thinks the reason Reed may not be getting a lot of attention for a repeat is because of the way today’s game is made up with such deep talent. “I just think it’s tough to repeat anywhere on Tour. Just quite simply, because it’s a year removed. And to win on Tour, you have to be so precise and so exact and so perfect, just about, for four days now; that’s the obvious. The second here is that you have a great field, and you know, the best players in the world are all there, and to beat them two years in a row is just a difficult task. You know, you have to be — especially with these green complexes and the speed of the greens, you’ve just got to be spot on, as they say. Two years in a row is just a tough — it’s just tough to do.” 
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 