Sweet reading from Maple Street

As I’ve said in the past, I greatly enjoy the annual baseball glossy magazines, despite their increasing anachronistic qualities. But like a parent of a child in a school play, my major complaint is that thesy don’t pay enough attention to my team.

Enter Maple Street Press. Their slogan: “1 Team. 128 Pages.”

Sweet.

I received copies of the Mets, Yankees, Brewers, and Rangers. Each offers entertaining analytic articles, interviews, statistics, an in-depth look at the system’s prospects, unusual aspects of the team’s history, and, of course, lots of photos. Because each magazine is devoted to one subject and therefore space is not as limited, they can be generous when it comes to the player profiles, which are essentially scouting reports with that extra depth of statistics which go far beyond the standard lines to which we’ve become accustomed in “all-purpose” publications.

What’s especially enjoyable for hard core fans is that these are written by people who, for the most part, follow the individual teams closely through blogs or other published work (full disclosure: some of my freelance work has appeared in the Yankees’ annuals). For example, the Mets annual is edited by Matthew Silverman, an established baseball scribe who has not one but two books coming out this year. Other contributors include Howard Megdal (The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players and the upcoming Taking the Field: A Fan’s Quest to Run the Team He Loves; Dan Schlossberg (Baseball Catalog and The 300 Club: Have We Seen the Last of Baseball’s 300-Game Winners?, to name just two); Greg Prince, co-host of Faith and Fear in Flushing and author of the similarly-named Faith and Fear in Flushing: An Intense Personal History of the New York Mets; Greg Spira, a frequent contributor to many familiar on-line publications, magazines, and books; and many others.

The history section is my favorite, allowing to opportunity relive some favorite moments (can it really be 25 years since the Mets’ last World Championship?). Also in the Mets annual: Alumni who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame (more than one would think) and an unusual look at uniforms.

The Yankees’ edition (edited by Celia Tan, with a lineup that includes Lyle Spatz, Megdal, Dan Graziano, et al), looks back at the baker’s dozen who’ve won MVP awards; Mickey Mantle’s watershed tape measure home run; and suggestions for a Bombers’ fan’s bucket list.

I’m going on faith here that the Milwaukee and Texas versions follow the same format of writers who are well-versed in their subject; the latter has the added benefit of coming on the heels of the AL pennant-winning season, so Rangers rooters can look back with pride on the organization’s recent turning points, but Brewers buffs can also look forward to a promising season.

Unfortunately, MSP doesn’t publish for each of the 30 teams. In addition to the four mentioned, there are also editions for the Red Sox, Cubs, Tigers, Cardinals, , Phillies, Twins, Reds, and Braves. Perhaps that will chance in the years ahead. The magazines list for $12.99 each. That may seem a bit steep until you bear in mind the standard glossy publication will run you about $8, so for the extra fiver you get full-coverage of your favirote team. I think that’s worth the price of admission.