The ‘waiting room’ to the Hall

July 12, 2012

The 2012 Hall of Fame inductions are just around the corner and this is the time of year the sportswriters and fans jump on their soapboxes to rail against the perceived injustices against those players who just fall outside the voters’ foul lines.  Organizations such as The Baseball Reliquary thumb their collective noses by host their own annual “Shrine of the Immortals” events. Similarly, The Hall of Very Good share their opinions on the Internet.

Well now there’s a new kid in town: The Hall of Nearly Great, an ebook  about “players you love by authors you love.” Indeed the players include such stars as Bret Saberhagen, Keith Hernandez, Dick allen, Bobby Bonds, Don Mattingly, Will Clark, Dwight Evans, and David Cone, among others. And the writers include such familiar names as Grant Brisbee, Cliff Corcoran, Steven Goldman, Jay Jaffe, Christina Kahrl, King Kaufman, Jonah Keri, Will Leitch, Rob Neyer, Eric Nusbaum, Joe Posnanski, Emma Span, Cecilia Tan, and Josh Wilker, a few of whom have been interviewed on the Bookshelf.

Now to be blunt, some of these players are borderline HoF material while some clearly not (Moises Alou? Brad Radke?Larry Hisle?), but the writers are passionate about their choices, and everyone is entitled to an opinion.

From the publisher:

The Hall of Nearly Great is an ebook meant to celebrate the careers of those who are not celebrated. It’s not a book meant to reopen arguments about who does and does not deserve Hall of Fame enshrinement. Rather, it remembers those who, failing entrance into Cooperstown, may unfairly be lost to history. It’s for the players we grew up rooting for, the ones whose best years led to flags and memories that will fly together forever. Players like David Cone, Will Clark, Dwight Evans, Norm Cash, Kenny Lofton, Brad Radke, and many others.

This is not a numbers-driven project (although our contributors lean analytical in their views). Our plan isn’t to be overbearing with stats and spreadsheets to convince you that these players are worth remembering. What we want to do, instead, is accomplish that same task through stories. Think of your favorite players growing up: they have their moments, games, seasons, quirks, personalities, and legends worth remembering and sharing. Now, combine the best of everyone’s forgotten favorites, and you’ve got a Hall of Nearly Great. Ask the people who have those memories and love for these players to write essays about them, and you have The Hall of Nearly Great ebook.

It takes a talented writer to give these players their due honors, and we’ve collected forty-three talented writers to do just that. These are All-Star writers, some of our favorite must-reads in today’s expansive baseball coverage landscape. They have diverse voices, diverse backgrounds and diverse interests, but they all love baseball and have a passion for the players they’re writing about.

This is an ebook, available in both PDF and EPUB formats, suitable for reading on a computer, iPad, eReader, or smart phone. It is DRM-free, not because we want people to steal it, but because we’d rather put our efforts into making better products than limiting their convenience.
0Shares

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post:

script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-5496371-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();