Crawling out of the woodwork

Get ready, get set, go…

This is the time of year when publishers gear up for their quickie season recaps for teams in the hunt for the World Series crown. But it seems that in recent years, you don’t even have to get that far. Maybe the League Championship series are good enough. Or perhaps just having an amazing campaign will suffice, relative to preseason predictions (or vice versa; I wouldn’t bet against a book about the collapse of the Washington Nationals). The theme is “strike while the iron is hot.

Look at the thematic titles from the 2014 season:

2014 World Series Champions: San Francisco Giants. This one was released just a couple of weeks after the final game of the World Series.
Triple Crowned: The San Francisco Giants’ Incredible 2014 Championship Season. This one was released four days after that.
A Band of Misfits: Tales of the 2010 San Francisco Giants
Championship Blood: The 2014 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants
Ninety Feet Away: The Story of the 2014 Kansas City Royals
Giant Splash: Bondsian Blasts, World Series Parades, and Other Thrilling Moments by the Bay (technically not just about the 2014 season, but certainly taking advantage of it)

So I expect books from the local newspapers and magazines such as Sports Illustrated about the Mets and Cubs and maybe the Astros and Blue Jays (although, well, Canada, so who cares (JK)). With all due respect to the other teams in the post-season, like the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Royals, they’ve been there and done that, so it’s not new.

I have mixed about these things. On the one hand, it’s great to have a comprehensive volume as a memento. On the other, it seems like a money grab by the publications. When you think about it, there’s very little new editorial content; it’s mostly gleaned from previous published work with maybe an brief introduction. Items like this fall into that category: