 (Orig. post - 12/19/2005) Is it too early to start thinking about baseball? I don't think so. Even though the paper is filled with other sporting adventures, the winter trades sneak in once in a while. Just enough to keep it in the back of your mind.
(UPDATE)Since the 2006 baseball season is set to start, I thought I would share a baseball book review with you.
I have a webpage on the TimePage called "Generations at Bat." It is an attempt to look at baseball in the context of generations. I have tried to rank the players of history relatative to other players in their own generation. The results were, I thought, very interesting and it seemed like a reasonable way to evaluate the various eras of baseball. Since I put the page together (which took a huge amount of time BTW) I have come to realize that some of the assumptions that went in to grouping the players and ranking them had some weaknesses. So I am re-looking at the page. I have obtained a set of baseball statistics that I can manipulate myself and I am going to rank the players on statistics (and honors) alone rather than depending on other alltime best lists as I did before. I would like to hear what others have to say about this approach. Let me know.
In the meantime, here is a link to a discussion on baseball orgins. Most people now agree that Abner Doubleday didn't invent baseball, as in Cooperstown legend, but there are still some uncertainties as to its exact origin. Baseball: a thoroughly British Invention, makes a case for England as the source of the original game. Sounds about right to me. I still prefer it to cricket. [The article refers to another Baseball History post that has a lot of good information in it as well. Check some of the links at the bottom of the article.]
(UPDATE)
 "Baseball : Before we knew it" (Bison Books)
David Block - Author
Just finished reading this book. It is a rundown of the very early history of Baseball that reaches a somewhat different conclusion than the reference Blog entries. Mr. Block does not place Rounders or Cricket in the direct line of American Baseball, instead claiming that each of those games evolved on their own from a common English Baseball ancestor. It is a well researched and well written book which goes a long way towards clearing the air on the old Abner Doubleday myth and several other questionable claims that have been made regarding Baseball's lineage. It is a good read and a great reference for you baseball nuts out there.
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