Bookshelf review: Time Marches On

The Baseball Timeline, by Burt Solomon (Dorling Kindersley Publishing).

The Chronicle of Baseball: A Century of Major League Action, by John Mehno (Carlton Books).

A Stitch in Time: A Baseball Chronology, 1845-2000. by Gene Elston (Halcyon Press).

Day-by-Day in Baseball History, by Carl R. Moesche (McFarland).

Baseball Extra: A Newspaper History of the Glorious Game from the Beginning to the Present, From the Eric C. Caren Collection (Castle Books).

From the Archives of The Sporting News: Baseball, 100 Years of the Modern Era: 1901-2000, Edited by Joe Hoppel (The Sporting News).

As the year 20th century drew to a close, book publishers hustled to market titles chronicling the history of this or that: architecture, cinema, presidents, pop culture, etc. So is should come as no surprise that baseball should be the subject of several weighty entrees.

The following selections range from “sumptuous” to “plain-but-wholesome,” considering the differences in presentation and the depth of coverage.

Burt Solomon first published The Baseball Timeline in 1997, a commendable effort to record the highlights of the national pastime since its “birth” in 1845. Nothing fancy, mind you: a simple double column lay-out on recycled paper. But it was a useful reference for the baseball researcher or casual fan.

In 2001, DK Publishing, known for their colorful and informative titles on an amazing variety of subjects, transformed Timeline from an ugly duckling into a swan. The revised version, reassembled with the cooperation of Major League Baseball, is everything the advertising industry had in mind when they invented the phrase “new and improved.”

Although the material is practically identical as the original edition (save for those revisions which brought it up-to-date), the arrangement is very well done. This massive volume (over 1,200 pages) includes photos and illustrations of players and events absent from the oroginal.

Solomon did a superb job, citing birthdays, trades, special games and “best of each season” sections, including league leaders and major award winners.

Timeline is more than just a sports book, however. The author recognized that baseball is part of the American fabric and reminded readers of that with major headlines from each year (“Truman Defeats Dewey,” in 1948, for example) for context.

“Extra information” is sprinkled throughout Timeline, including trivia; league, rule and equipment changes; quotes and other historical notes.

The Chronicle of Baseball, which concentrates on the “modern era” (i.e., post-1900), is similarly lush with photos but lighter on details. Aside from the information on the individual seasons (how many ways can you say “ham and eggs”?), presented in a more narrative format, it offers sidebars for key (and not-so-key) events. Chronicle includes lengthy profiles on the giants of the game such as Ruth , Cobb, Young, Musial, Mays, Mantle, Koufax, McGwire, et al. It is generously illustrated, allowing the reader to watch the passage of time through changes in uniforms, stadium and other aspects of baseball and American life.

Whereas Timeline and Chronicles follow a year-by-year style, Day-by-Day in Baseball History and A Stitch in Time take things one day at a time. Naturally, with a system like this, the off-season months are relatively skimpy, relying mostly on births, deaths and trades. Day-by-Day?s entries are short and to the point, allowing for more entries but this creates a “quantity vs. quality” situation; Moesche makes some odd choices, such as the July 18, 1989 trade in which the Reds acquired Mariano Duncan and Tim Leary for Kal Daniels and Lenny Harris — not exactly a blockbuster deal. But it also contains some hidden gems like August 16, 1954, the date on which the first issue of Sports Illustrated hit the stands.

Gene Elston , play-by play man for the Houston Astros, offers his own slant with A Stitch in Time. Compared with Day-by-Day, Stitch takes a more folksy approach. Elston’s choices are more descriptive and take on both “monumental highlight” and “human interest” angles. Soap opera buffs no doubt already know this, but on March 20, 1963, Johnny Bernardino , former infielder for the Browns and Indians, made his debut as Dr. Steve Hardy on General Hospital. You won’t find that tidbit in any of the other books. Elston does a good job in his folksy way and leaves you wanting more.

Ever since its debut in 1886, The Sporting News has been considered “The Bible of Baseball.” They have opened the massive vaults to produce The Baseball Archives. Unlike the other books, this one follows a much looser structure, highlighting the players and events that shaped the sport.

Archives divides the century into distinct time frames. The “dead ball” days, the “lively” era, the years leading up and including World War II, the post-war years, the first expansion; further expansion, labor unrest, and, finally, the current “feel-good” days.

Archives follows a scrapbook format, with clippings and photographs from the original issues covering such topics as the “Black Sox” scandal, the integration of baseball, relocation and expansion, technical changes, such as Astroturf and the designated hitter, the free agency era, labor unrest and the return of baseball to the public favor, thanks to the efforts of such players as McGwire, Ripken and Sammy Sosa.

The editors of The Sporting News were not afraid to give their opinions on various problems within the game, such as gambling. Save for a brief explanation as to why the 1998 Yankees were not the best team ever (protestations by players and fans to the contrary notwithstanding), there are few examples of that editorial analyses. The volume, festooned with photographs and snippets of the writing of the era, captures the flavors of each time period, beginning with “old-tyme” sepia-tone snapshots and evolving into the explosive action, high-tech productions of the present.

As one might expect, their seemingly limitless resources have plenty to offer. The tough choices must have been deciding what to include and still make it a manageable book. The editors acquitted themselves well with their decisions, but one wonders how much more they could have done. One of the things I miss most about the old format Sporting News is the blurb describing each game which accompanied the box scores. Now you can’t even find box scores within its pages. That’s progress for you.

Many younger fans may not realize it, but there was a time when each major city had several daily newspapers. In fact sports saved many papers, making them more popular with constant updated editions being printed. Mornings would find the latest scores and stories and afternoon editions would have the latest scores and features. This type of journalism is admirably reflected in the pages of Baseball Extra. Rather than relating the news, this large-scale book takes the form of the actual pages, both front and “sports back,” taken from various papers since baseball coverage began, back in the mid-1800s. The front-page coverage is particularly interesting, citing only the most important news while putting it perspective with other happenings in the city and nation. The Los Angeles Examiner of January 14, 1929 carries a banner headline reporting the death of Helen Ruth , the Babe’s first wife, while The Baltimore News Post (June 3, 1941) reports the death of Lou Gehrig above the latest war news.

The quality of the reproductions is a bit off at times, but that flaw actually adds to the authenticity. Reprinting the pages without commentary gives this collection a unique flavor. Again, writing styles have changed over the past 150 years and Baseball Extra combines sports with American history for a fascinating view of America and it’s national pastime.