- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: The Lyons Press; First edition (April 1 1994)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1558212809
- ISBN-13: 978-1558212800
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 17.8 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,335,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Nemec has written an amusing and useful examination of Major League Baseball's official rule book that is part historical documentation, part expert explanation and part anecdotal entertainment. Taking each section of the rulebook, he relates the historical beginnings and reasoning behind the rule in question, expanding on its application by relating instructive and often amusing real game situations. Particularly fascinating in his account are the peculiarly late development of rules we take for granted today: well into the 1930s ball clubs were startlingly aggressive in forcing fans to return balls hit into the stands and ceased the dubious and stingy practice only after a fan, violently set upon by ushers to retrieve a foul ball, sued the N.Y. Yankees in 1937; equally surprising is that the custom of the hometeam batting was merely a tradition, only becoming a rule in 1950. Baseball logic, as expressed by the rulebook, is always strangely entertaining (when a batter hits out of turn, it's the improperly replaced hitter who is declared out); as well as the many rules that umpires almost universally ignore: although allowed, umpires almost never stop a play in progress if a player is injured, often creating scarily comic incidents on the field; and despite rule 3.06, uniformed players (Ricky Henderson for instance) happily and blatantly schmooze with spectators and opposing players before and during games.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Baseball's rules, in their "official" version, read like an IRS manual--and are nearly as unintelligible. Nemec, a noted baseball historian, provides an annotated version of the official rules in which he not only explains them in plain English, but also provides an example of each and an explanation of its origins. For example, most fans are familiar with the rule requiring a runner to "tag up" on a fly ball before advancing. Today the rule says a runner can advance after the ball touches a fielder; at one time, the ball had to be secured by the fielder, which led outfielders to develop their juggling skills. This is an official publication of major-league baseball and is being released in conjunction with the game's one-hundred-twenty-fifth anniversary. An essential purchase for all public-library sports collections. Illustrations to be included in the finished book were not available for review. Wes Lukowsky
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Coverage,
By
This review is from: The Official Rules of Baseball (Paperback)
This is a decent reference, if only for the rules at the back. Those rules are organized throughout the book with neat historical commentary on many of them, either with actual incidents or with reasons for why some rules came to be the way they are.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book on the history of baseball.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Official Rules of Baseball (Paperback)
This book gives the reasons why there are 39,337 words in the rules to Major League Baseball. Do you want to know why the pitchers' mound is 60' 6"? Read the book. It covers most of the rules and how they developed through the years. If you love baseball and want to know all about it, this is a must read. If you like baseball, you may want to borrow the book from the library. The book does have some great b/w pictures.
3.0 out of 5 stars
It wasn't bad, but for some reason, it didn't catch me,
By
This review is from: The Official Rules of Baseball (Paperback)
I got this book, and expected it to be a fun read, and for awhile it was. It's got some great ancedotes on how the various rules in the baseball rule book have come up.However, as the book wore on, it got more tedious. Some of them are very funny, and I enjoyed the book in places, but I felt it too tedious of a read for my personal enjoyment. That's why I gave it three stars instead of a lesser rating. I expect others will enjoy it, but for me *PERSONALLY*, I felt it was tedious.
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