Naked City

Now that the 2024 season has come to an end, it’s time to turn to our second favorite pastime: reading about baseball.

Naked City was a popular TV cop series from 1958-63 (kids, ask your grandparents). The tagline for the show was “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.”

Well, there haven’t been eight million major leaguers — only about 24,000 according to Baseball-Reference, with 255 of those making their debut this year — but each one has his own story and that’s the premise of several books over the past few years.

Called Up: Ballplayers Remember Becoming Major Leaguers, by Zak Ford (McFarland, 2023) is divided by decades. While some of the more recent names will be recognizable to the average fan, most of those in the book did not enjoy lengthy careers. Not that it matters because every player fondly remembers the moment he learned he was going to The Show. And while some of the experiences may share similar points, they are nevertheless unique.

The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History, by Jacob Kornhauser (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). “A cup of coffee” refers to the very brief amount of time a player spent on the big league club. Crash Davis had a cup of coffee. It would have been interesting to have his story included.

Baseball’s Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn’t Live Up to The Hype, by Patrick Montgomery (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Also, like Crash Davis, who set a minor league record for home runs, the majority of players don’t have lengthy careers; in a few cases, no career at all. Some, like David Clyde, who made his debut with the Texas Rangers as an 18-year-old in 1973, blew his arm out on the field and never fulfilled his destiny (unless maybe that was his destiny. On the other hand, we have a Brien Taylor, a “can’t miss” for the Yankees. His career was cut short after he sustained injuries in a bar fight. Again, similar aspects to the tale.

In more recent years, amateur players are heralded with increasing hyperbolics. One would think they have staffs that included trainers, coaches, nutritionists, and PR consultants. Sports Illustrated dubbed Bryce Harper “Baseball’s LeBron. I was reminded of Bo Gentry, a fictional entitled prospect who had been pampered his entire school “career” in Trouble with the Curve (one of the worst baseball movies, IMO — and others, as per this video about the movie “reviewed by a pro-player.” The host is a bit picayune but, to be fair, that’s because he’s extremely qualified to opine about the accuracy in baseball movies. As with books, I wonder how much the viewer/reader knows about the sport and how much needs to be explained through exposition. But I digress…).

Other books that focus on players with short-lived careers include:

• One Hit Wonders: Stories of 75 Major Leaguers Who Had One, and Only One Career Hit, by George Rose (Self-published, 2009)
• One Hit Wonders, edited by Bill Nowlin (SABR, 2021)
• One Win Wonders: Chronicles of 50 Pitchers with One, and Only One, Career Victory, by George Rose (Self-published, 2009)
• One Win Wonders, edited by Bill Nowlin (SABR, 2023)
• I’m also including Sons of Baseball: Growing Up with a Major League Dad, by Mark Braff (Rowan  & Littlefield, 2023). This is a subset and the majority of sons are not ballplayers. It’s also interesting to see the stories coming from the kids of star players, like Yogi Berra and Mariano Rivera as opposed to average Joes —  with all due respect — like Leo Cardenas and Jack Aker. I’m guessing the experiences were not too dissimilar, although having a famous dad has more perks and, perhaps, problems.