I picked up a couple of books at the library recently and, lo and behold, found some baseball in ’em.
100 of the Worst Ideas in History, by Michael Smith and Eric Kasum, includes three items on the national pastime in the chapter “Stupidity at a Major League Level.” Each contains the following:
- “The genius behind it,” aka who to blame.
- “The brainstorm struck,” when
- “Bring on the blunder,” the main details
- “From bad to worse,” further details
- “Dumb luck”
- “Afterthoughts”
You may agree, disagree, or think others should have been included, but there they are:
- “The Bambino’s Curse on the Beantown Bombers (fairly obvious)
- “Out of the Park? Out of the Question” (Keeping Josh Gibson — and by extension, all African-Americans — out of “organized ball”)
- Disco inferno singes the White Sox (also obvious)
The other baseball-related material comes from the latest in the Freakonomics series (one of my favorites).
When to Rob a Bank…and 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt includes a “rant” on “Pete Rose Provides a Lesson in Basic Economics (the cost/worth of memorabilia) and “If Only God Had Corporate Sponsorship” (The Chicago White Sox start their night games at 7:11 because that company is a sponsor.)
The rest of the stuff in these books is pretty good, too.
is available on Amazon.com,
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