Discover the greatest baseball players of all time!
Which guys playing right now will they still be talking about in 100 years? A-Rod? Pujols? How about Jeter?
Why do the best pitchers receive the Cy Young Award?
Was Honus Wagner anything but a face on a $2,800,000 baseball card?
Who was this Babe Ruth guy, anyway?
Sportscaster and New York Times bestselling author Len Berman had lots of questions about the game of baseball. So he put together a group of experts that included all-stars, Emmy Award winners, writers, radio hosts, and enough World Series rings to fill one hand's fingers.
Is your Favorite player on the list?
From New York Times bestselling author Len Berman comes an action-packed collection for sports fans of all ages.
If you had to pick the best baseball players of all time, who would they be? Len Berman gave it a try, and asked a blue-ribbon panel-with experts including World Series champion Bernie Williams and radio host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo-to weigh in too.
Full of photos, facts, and fun, The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time gives you the stories behind the names. Why do so many people love Babe Ruth? What makes Alex Rodriguez so great? Was Jackie Robinson as important on the field as he was off the field? Discover why Len Berman thinks the 25 players in this book are the greatest-then it's time to start your own debate!
So who are the 25 greatest baseball players and why?
Who would be on your list?
Let the arguments begin!
Praise for Len Berman's The Greatest Moments in Sports
"His writing is lively, humorous, and informative-just right to sustain kids' (or adults') interest...this is an excellent choice for anyone who is into sports." -School Library Journal
"Readers and browsers will enjoy paging through this compendium's stories and action-filled photos." -Booklist
"It's an eclectic roundup that's likely to have readers mulling their own personal favorites." -Publishers Weekly
"Great book, great stories-a gold medal performance." -Mike Eruzione, captain of the "Miracle on Ice" 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.
Len Berman is an Emmy Award—winning sportscaster who has covered just about every major sports event, including multiple Super Bowls, World Series, and Olympics during his 40-year career in broadcasting.
He is the creator of "Spanning the World," a monthly collection of sports bloopers, which was a 20-year staple on NBC's Today show. He is also the creator of Sports Fantasy, which aired on NBC and pitted regular viewers against famous sports stars.
He is the recipient of eight Emmy Awards and is a six-time winner, New York Sportscaster of the Year. His daily Top 5 email is featured in the Huffington Post and is received by thousands around the country. This is his fifth book.
A native New Yorker, Len graduated from Syracuse University. He resides on Long Island with his wife, Jill. They have three children. Visit Len at http://thatssports.com/
In no particular order and using no set criteria for his selections, veteran sportscaster Berman pays tribute to an arbitrary gallery of baseball stars—all familiar names and, except for the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, retired from play for decades. Repeatedly taking the stance that statistics are just numbers but then reeling off batting averages, home-run totals, wins (for pitchers) and other data as evidence of greatness, he offers career highlights in a folksy narrative surrounded by photos, side comments and baseball-card–style notes in side boxes. Readers had best come to this with some prior knowledge, since he casually drops terms like "slugging percentage," "dead ball era" and "barnstorming" without explanation and also presents a notably superficial picture of baseball's history—placing the sport's "first half-century" almost entirely in the 1900s, for instance, and condescendingly noting that Jackie Robinson's skill led Branch Rickey to decide that he "was worthy of becoming the first black player to play in the majors." The awesome feats of Ruth, Mantle, the Gibsons Bob and Josh, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and the rest are always worth a recap—but this one's strictly minor league. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
So I thought this was going to be easy. Who can't pick the 25 greatest baseball players of all time? I immediately wrote down my list. It totaled 31. Uh-oh. And that list of 31 left out some of my favorite all-time players, like Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer.
Then it struck me. I couldn't do this by myself. So I recruited a special "Blue Ribbon Panel" to help me decide-and they couldn't agree on 25 either. So I tallied up all the votes, and the top 25 made it.
There are still some major omissions. Yankee catcher Yogi Berra may have won 10 World Series and three Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, but he didn't make the cut. And neither did fellow Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, despite his record seven no-hitters. Sandy Koufax was one of the all-time great pitchers, and Mariano Rivera may be the best reliever ever, but neither of them made it either. That's how tough this was.
So out of thousands of major leaguers, we have somehow whittled the list down to 25. They are the greatest of the great. See if you agree.
My Blue Ribbon Panel
My Blue Ribbon Panel consists of former players, a long-time baseball executive, and various members of the media.
And special thanks to Baseball Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson for his guidance on this project.
Forty different players received votes, and only 11 players were unanimous choices. Panelist Bernie Williams was partial to the players of his era. He voted for pitcher Pedro Martinez, saying, "The best I ever faced. In his prime...three un-hittable pitches." Ralph Branca said, "Pretty tough to leave out some of the great players. Can't we make it 30? It still would be tough to choose."
And that's the fun of it. How do you comÂpare players from different eras? You really can't. But somehow we got it down to 25. And at the end of the book, you'll get your chance to vote for your favorites.
So here we go. Play ball!
BEFORE YOU GET STARTED, HERE ARE SOME BASEBALL ABBREVIATIONS EVERY FAN SHOULD KNOW!
1B = First Base
2B = Second Base/Doubles
3B = Third Base/Triples
AB = At Bats
AL = American League
AVG = Batting Average
BA = Batting Average
C = Catcher
E = Errors
ERA = Earned Run Average
G = Games Played
H = Hits
HR = Home Runs
K = Strikeouts
L = Losses
MLB = Major League Baseball
MVP = Most Valuable Player
NL = National League
OF = Outfield
P = Pitcher
R = Runs
RBI = Runs Batted In
SS = Shortstop
W = Wins
Misha444
Posted September 24, 2010
This book will give readers of all ages much pleasure. The pictures and graphics are very pleasing to the eye. This is a coffee table book without the coffee table price! I enjoyed reading the stories of baseball players from different generations. The author gives lots of fun facts that I didn't know. I especially recommend Mr. Berman's books to reluctant readers. I wish I could discuss this book with my grandfather. He would have loved to debate who are the top 25 baseball players.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Dan929
Posted September 16, 2010
I Also Recommend:
This book is by no means going to please everyone with its choices of 25 players, but that isn't the point! It is meant to educate teens, pre-teens, and even adults about 25 amazing players who the "blue ribbon" panel of baseball authorities voted to include in this book. It's also a great way to start the discussion.....including A-Rod makes you talk about Pujols, Cy Young makes you talk about Nolan Ryan. This is a book which you will pick up as a family over and over....and have those good natured arguments about sports that all true fans really enjoy. Highly recommended!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted September 14, 2010
This is a perfect example of some people will pay to hear what they WANT to hear than what they SHOULD hear. No Koufax,no Clemente NO Sale!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview
Discover the greatest baseball players of all time!
Which guys playing right now will they still be talking about in 100 years? A-Rod? Pujols? How about Jeter?
Why do the best pitchers receive the Cy Young Award?
Was Honus Wagner anything but a face on a $2,800,000 baseball card?
Who was this Babe Ruth guy, anyway?
Sportscaster and New York ...