Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders: A Complete Guide to the Worst Decisions and Stupidest Moments in Baseball History

by Rob Neyer

Book Overview

BLOOPER: BALL SQUIRTS THROUGH BILLY BUCKNER'S LEGS.
BLUNDER: BILLY BUCKNER'S MANAGER LEFT HIM IN THE GAME.

Baseball bloopers are fun; they're funny, even. A pitcher slips on the mound and his pitch sails over the backstop. An infielder camps under a pop-up...and the ball lands ten feet away. An outfielder tosses a souvenir to a fan...but that was just the second out, and runners are circling the bases (and laughing). Without...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743284917
• ISBN13: 9780743284912
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A baseball fan's delight

Rob Neyer's book of baseball blunders is sure to please any baseball fan with a sense of history. Neyer analyzes 50 trades and decisions from 1917 through 2003. They range from well-known events such as Grady Little's decision to lift Pedro Martinez in the eighth inning of the 2003 American League Championship series and the trade of Roger Maris from the Kansas City Athletics to the New York Yankees in 1959 to lesser-known events such as the sale of Pee Wee Reese from the Boston Red Sox to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939 and the Kansas City Royals' signing of pitchers Mark and Storm Davis in 1989. Neyer astutely analyzes these events, challenging long held opinions and impressions by looking at the facts. Neyer is a keen observer of baseball history and his analyses are interesting and sound. His sidebars in the margins of chapters are irresistible. Baseball fans can open this book to any chapter and start reading.

This Isn't A Baseball Blunder At All

Rob Neyer is a heck of a baseball book writer. What he writes about is interesting, informative, and innovative, in the sense that he makes "Big Book of Baseball Blunders" a very good read. Why is that, you ask? (Or more likely, "What do ya mean by that, Bunny?!!!") Well, I'll tell you this: everyone has their own opinion on what the biggest baseball blunders are. People can easily identify the top 4 or 5, most can figure outnext few, they can split on the several after that, and to finish off the top 25 blunders, it's everyone for themselves. There have been a LOT of blunders in baseball, almost all of which seemed like a good idea at the time but turned out bad for any number of reasons. Therefore, you'll never get a unanimous opinion on the top 25-50 biggest blunders in baseball. But, while I may not agree with Neyer's list in totality of the worst blunders in baseball, on each one he offers compelling evidence of why it should be considered one of the worst blunders, in ways that perhaps I hadn't considered before. That's what makes this book interesting, and informative - and innovative in the way the facts are presented to show why each was a bad, bad blunder. And that's why Neyer ranks up there in my list of baseball writers - he gives you something new to look at and think about.

How about 3 3/4 stars? Not too bad

This is a pretty fast, enjoyable read. Nothing too earthbreaking and you will be familiar with lots of the more recent entries, but it's still a lot of fun. While you may quibble with some of the chapters (was the Cubs hiring Dusty Baker REALLY one of the biggest blunders in baseball history?), it's well researched and insightful. I especially liked the interludes about bad drafts (all the teams that passed on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens for "sure things" you've never heard of) and the chapters on unqualified managers (the chapter on Maury Wills bumbling with the Mariners is hilarious). A lot of the chapters have a theme of "no one could have known how good "X" would turn out to be," which gets a little repetitive, but overall this is a fine addition to your baseball library.

Excellent Baseball Book

This one is very well written baseball book about some very famous and some not so famous decisions made throughout the history of the game. As a baseball fan, and I think you would have to be one too to really enjoy this book, I was looking forward to read about recent blunders , things that I had witnessed in my lifetime or be familiar with, so when I saw that it started with the 1917 Chi Sox swapping firstbasemen I thought I wouldn't enjoy it that much. Well, wrong I was, that first story set the tone of the book and from then on I just couldn't put it down until I finished it. One of the stories that touched me more was the one about the Oakland A's pitching staff of the early 80's. As an A's fan I clearly remember the Billy Ball era, the A's had a great starting rotation (Norris, Keough, Langford, Kingman, McCatty) and Billy Martin had them pitched some 96 complete games in 1980, after the strike shortened season of 1981 these 5 guys just disappeared from baseball , all of them plagued with arm injuries, undoubtly they had paid the price for all those complete games for an Oakland team that finished 83-79 that year, in a far second place from Kansas City. This is a great book from Rob Neyer, you won't regret to get it

Good analysis makes for an interesting collection

Given the title, one might think that this is a book where Neyer spends 250 pages criticizing boneheaded decisions, but it's not. Instead, Neyer takes the time to examine about 50 blunders, taking the time to analyze each decision instead of simply pointing fingers at those making the blunder. While the first blunder examined took place in 1917, this book is heavily weighted towards modern times. Only 15 take place before 1960, and almost half take place after 1970. Each incident is given about 4-7 pages of analysis, and many of the entries include side stories that Neyer includes in the margins. Many of the entries will be very familiar to baseball fans - the selling of the Babe, the trade of Roger Maris, and the Bagwell-Andersen deal. There are, however, many that aren't nearly so famous, like Tom Runnells' decision to shift Tim Wallach across the diamond, or the Pirates' benching of Kiki Cuyler during a stretch run. It's a good mix that Neyer has created. Along with the regular entries, there are several "interludes" to break things up, including a couple about bad trades, and a funny entry about managers who never should have been in that position. Neyer is, in my opinion, the most improved baseball writer over the past several years. He's always been a brilliant baseball mind, but now he seems to have found his touch as a writer. This book is enjoyable not only because of the cases he chooses to discuss, but also because of his style. There's plenty of analysis, some good humor, and little in the way of ridiculing or finger-pointing, which would have been easy to do in such a book. An excellent book, and it's tough to beat the price. I'd recommend it for any baseball fan, even if not everything in here is new to you.