Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century by Allen Barra, Bob Costas, Bob Costas (Foreword by)

From Barnes & Noble

Relive baseball's greatest controversies as Allan Barra, sports columnist for the Wall Street Journal, explores the facts surrounding each case. From heated comparisons of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams to the true worth of the Babe, Clearing the Bases presents Barra's opinionated, passionate perspective on baseball's longest-running debates. Backing up his views with stats and technical analysis, Barra manages to blend a fact-filled rehashing of these hot topics with an entertaining commentary on the nature of the game itself.

From the Publisher

Who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? At their 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? Who was the greatest all-around player of the last century? Clearing the Bases is the first book to tackle these and many other of baseball’s most intriguing questions and offer hard, sensible answers—answers based on exhaustive research and analysis. Sports journalist Allen Barra, whose weekly sports column “By the Numbers” attracted millions of fans and whose outspoken opinions are discussed regularly on National Public Radio, takes on baseball’s toughest arguments. Using stats and methods he himself has developed, Barra takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question—“Who's the best?”—in this, the ultimate baseball debate book, one guaranteed to spark thousands of heated discussions and to supply the fuel for thousands more.

NY Times Book Review

If you love the game for what it is...step up and dig in.

Publishers Weekly

Barra's primary intent with his latest book is to spark intelligent, well-reasoned debate about some of the most contentious, if essentially insignificant, issues in pro sports. And who better to make such an effort? Writing for both the establishment (the Wall Street Journal) and the counterculture (Salon.com), Barra constantly challenges his readers to think outside the bounds of conventional sports analysis, using a seemingly innocuous but ultimately deadly combination of statistics ("the life blood of the sport") and common sense. Barra writes for thinking people, not simply by slaughtering baseball's sacred cows, but by demonstrating to the reader that anything less would be dishonest. Barra rips Babe Ruth's record to pieces, demonstrating at once that Ruth was a tremendous hitter, but that the accepted account of him as savior and "lively ball" progenitor of baseball is "an American creation myth." He uses a dazzling array of statistical comparisons among second basemen to vividly illustrate that the most popular argument against Jackie Robinson's inclusion in the Hall of Fame that he wouldn't be there if he had been white is nothing but racist rhetoric. Barra even manages to undermine his own religiously held belief in the superiority of Willie Mays, using a thorough statistical analysis to demonstrate Mickey Mantle's incomparable greatness. It is a rare sportswriter who can cite Branch Rickey and Irish writer/revolutionary Se n O'Faol in in the same work, but Barra does it with ease for an audience that has learned to demand nothing less. (Apr.) Forecast: With readers coming from both Salon and the Journal, Barra's take on baseball debates will reach a broad baseball readership. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Barra, a popular sports columnist for the Wall Street Journal and Salon.com, holds forth on a variety of baseball subjects and debates, from the mysterious disappearance of the high leg-kick by pitchers, to spirited comparisons of all-time greats like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, Roger Clemens and Lefty Grove, and Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, to an unveiling of Barra's stealth candidate for Player of the Century. (You'll never guess.) With an introduction by Bob Costas and even a couple of football opinion pieces thrown in for good measure; for all sports collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Opinionated pieces by Wall Street Journal and Salon.com columnist Barra (Inventing Wyatt Earp, 1998, etc.) lovingly examine baseball's most enduring controversies. The dozen or so long-standing arguments examined here, all now a part of baseball lore, are not squabbles over brushback pitchers, lost homerun balls, or pine-tar incidents, but involve our more or less permanent understanding of the stature of baseball's greats. Barra ponders whether Babe Ruth truly deserves his legendary fame; compares Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams; imagines how much greater Jackie Robinson would have been had he been allowed to compete in the Major League sooner; revives the debate about whether Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays was the greatest ballplayer of the '50s; revisits the Maris/Mantle homerun derby of 1961; elevates the often underrated Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt to be a candidate for "Player of the Century"; and mourns the premature demise of the fluky, lovable 1986 New York Mets. Using statistics to bolster his arguments, he re-evaluates the scandal-brushed 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" and their leader, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson; draws favorable comparisons between pitcher Roger "The Rocket" Clemens and such legendary hurlers as "Lefty" Grove and Sandy Koufax; and champions the majors' first Latin star, White Sox outfielder Minnie Minoso. Barra argues that while baseball fans like to think that today's players can't match up to the heroes of yesteryear, greater demographic and ethnic inclusion in the game at the highest levels and superior diet and training have actually created more consistently superb ballplayers. He also refuses to share the common view that expansion has thinned out MajorLeague talent. A knowledgeable sportswriter and radio personality who strives to bring fresh perspectives to his criticism, Barra is in top form here, and his obvious passion for his material makes him unfailingly fun to read. A bit technical and statistics-oriented for the uninitiated, but sports buffs and bleacher bums will delight in Barra's unconventional essays.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents