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Title details for The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski - Wait list

The Baseball 100

by Joe Posnanski
Cary Hite
Audiobook
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

"An instant sports classic." —New York Post * "Stellar." —The Wall Street Journal * "A true masterwork...880 pages of sheer baseball bliss." —BookPage (starred review) * "This is a remarkable achievement." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will.
Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious, The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book's introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, "Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?"

Baseball's legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game's all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn't rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players' origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball's past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth's? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history?

No compendium of baseball's legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O'Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more.

The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 28, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797130736
      • File size: 887158 KB
      • Duration: 30:48:14

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 27, 2021
      Sportswriter Posnanski (The Soul of Baseball) knocks it out of the park with this fascinating deep dive into the careers of those he considers baseball’s 100 greatest players. By including players from every era, as well as athletes only allowed to compete in the Negro League, Posnanski ably presents the sport’s sweeping history through captivating character studies. As his introduction notes, the order of the players he includes is not a ranking; instead, he links player portraits to a significant number, as in using 56 for Joe DiMaggio, owner of the record-setting 56-consecutive-game hitting streak. Posnanski isn’t afraid to court controversy, even going to bat for some players—including pitchers Max Scherzer and Curt Schilling—who aren’t yet in baseball’s Hall of Fame. The best sections will surprise even devoted followers of the sport, such as his profile of the obscure Bullet Rogan, a Negro Leaguer who played in the 1920s and whom Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel called “the best all-around player in the world.” Detailed statistical analysis is balanced by moving personal stories, as with Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, whose best was never good enough for his demanding father. Sure to inspire heated debate, this is a remarkable achievement. Agent: David Vigliano, Vigliano Assoc.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Veteran sportswriter Joe Posnanski has compiled a thoughtful ranking of the top 100 baseball players, which Cary Hite narrates backward from 100. Hite's diction is clear throughout the compilation, which is marred on occasion by a mispronunciation, but his deep voice and judicious amount of energy make up for it. He alters his voice just slightly and appropriately when quoting someone, a technique that brings alive Posnanski's breakdown. The author uses a narrative approach and does not overwhelm the listener with statistics, which is helpful, especially for audio. Not only is this a baseball lover's dream book, but the casual listener can gain a great appreciation for the game's greatest players through its words and Hite's resonant narration. M.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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