* New titles from Ivan R. Dee

Actually, most are not exactly new, but re-released in paper back editions. But I guess they’re all new if you haven’t read them yet (this sounds like one of those “if a tree falls in the woods…” bits).

The only one that might qualify is A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball, by the prolific Peter Morris. This is being promoted as a “new, revised and expanded one-volume paperback edition” by the publisher.

Having pushed through most of the two-volume hardcover version — it’s not the type of book that has to be read in one shot to be enjoyable — I can say it’s well worth the effort. Game of Inches is the only book to win both SABR’s Seymour Medal and Spitball’s Casey Award.

In addition, Dee will release a paperback edition of Morris’ But Didn’t We Have Fun: An Informal History of Baseball’s Pioneer Era, 1843-1870. This is not my favorite sub-genre, but the author’s style  makes it reasonably tolerable.

Both books are due out in March.

Dee is also re-releasing Hank Greenberg’s autobiography (written with Ira Berkow), The Story of My Life, one of the better ones of this type, especially for a look at what Jewish players had to go through in the pre-WW Two years. This one came out last month.

Finally, Peter Schilling’s novel, The End of Baseball, also gets the paperback treatment in March. The author takes an historical-fiction “what if” look at the first all-Black team in the majors, under the direction of that old maverick, Bill Veeck. Here’s my review of End with a similar-themed Safe at Home from September.

For more information, visit Ivanrdee.com. Bonus link: their sports titles.

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Hank Greenberg, Ivan R. Dee, Negro Leagues, Old Tyme baseball, Peter Morris