Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)On its face this book appears to be yet another entry in the genre of collections of random tidbits about baseball. These usually are disconnected factoids, often of questionable accuracy and often with some attempt at a unifying theme. In form this is just such a collection, in this case with the theme of "firsts". Peter Morris has in fact done something much more interesting and substantial.
The book is founded on solid research, going back to as close to the events as possible. Do we know of a first because it was reported in the newspapers the next day, or do we only have someone's recollections decades later? Morris is meticulous about letting the reader know. This could serve not only as a baseball history, but as a textbook on methods and limitations of historical research.
Morris avoids the problem of random factoids: of history as a series of disconnected events. A lesser author might determine who was the first pinch hitter, give a name and a date, and leave it at that. Morris puts pinch hitting in the context of the evolution of substitution rules, expanding rosters, and adapting ideology. We get a mini-essay on the development of this aspect of the game.
Similarly, the invention of the catcher's mask is put in the context of loosened restrictions on the pitcher's delivery, which allowed faster pitching and effective curve balls. These made the older method of an unprotected catcher standing well back from the batter less tenable, and protective equipment was invented in response. As catcher's equipment got better the catcher was able to move closer to the batter, which in turn affected aspects such as base stealing.
This is by far the best book I have seen for how the game was actually played and how it evolved, reported in a clear-eye, factual manner. There is no sepia-tinged old-timey quaintness here.
The writing is consistently engaging, not dry academic prose. This is a work of serious history, but written for anyone interested in the history of baseball.
Click Here to see more reviews about: A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball: The Game on the Field
A fascinating and charming encyclopedic collection of baseball firsts, describing how the innovations in the game--in rules, equipment, styles of play, strategies, etc.--occurred and developed from its origins to the present day. The book relies heavily on quotations from contemporary sources.
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