Predictions

I predict that in the not too distant future, we will see:

• At least one new title on Roger Clemens, taking into account the current situation. In addition, I wouldn’t be surprised if previous books on Clemens and his drug use were reissued
• A cautionary tale about Stephen Strausburg
• A treatise of the drop in offense caused by the crackdown on steroids
• A bump in readership/sales of The Echoing Green, since obituaries on the late Bobby Thomson almost have to include something about the possibility that he took advantage of stolen signals during the 1951 playoff game with the Brooklyn dodgers in which he hit baseball’s most famous home run. As an aside, I was watching an old episode of Law and Order last night in which a police scientist (not sure of his exact role/title) was doing some DNA research to determine a paternity issue. He greeted the detectives with an anecdote about the Thomson home run ball, saying that several fans had claimed to have the ball, but there was no DNA evidence to confirm. Branca’s fingerprints, as well as other players, might have been on the original ball, but I wonder if it would even be possible to identify an individual item like that.
• Upcoming anniversaries in 2011: 50 years since Maris hit 61 homers; 25 years since the Mets won their last World Championship; 60 years since Mickey Mantle made his debut (Jane Leavy has that covered in her upcoming book, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, due out in October); 60 year anniversary of The Whiz Kids.

Can you think of others? I’m sure there are some real historians out there who can point to anniversaries of more arcane events that are the staples of small and university presses.

Tagged as: baseball books