Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century

Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century

Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century

Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century

Paperback(First Edition)

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Overview

Sports expert Allen Barra's Clearing the Bases takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question in this, the ultimate baseball debate book, one guaranteed to spark thousands of heated arguments and supply the fuel for thousands more.

Who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? Who was the best right-hander of the '60s, Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal? Who is the greatest starting pitcher of all time? At his peak, who was more valuable, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams? If Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, and Roger Clemens had pitched at the same time against the same hitters, who would have won the most games? If Jackie Robinson had been white, would he be deserving of the Hall of Fame? Is Pete Rose overrated? Has Tim Raines been underrated? Who is the best hitter of the game today— Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr.? Is today's pitching really that bad? Why can't modern pitchers go nine innings? Which are more valuable—good starters or good relievers? How important is the stolen base? What are the myths that still surround Babe Ruth? What was the most talented baseball team of the twentieth century? Which twentieth-century championship team has been most slighted by baseball historians? What has been the real impact of black and Latin talent on Major League Baseball? Is baseball more competitive now than it was one hundred years ago? Or fifty? Or twenty-five? Who was the greatest all-around player of the last century? Find the answers here.

Clearing the Bases is the first book to tackle these and many other of baseball's most intriguing questions, plus it offers hard, sensible answers—answers based on exhaustive research and analysis. Sports journalist Allen Barra, whose weekly sports column, "By the Numbers," has earned him millions of readers in The Wall Street Journal and whose outspoken opinions on Salon.com are discussed regularly on National Public Radio, takes on baseball's toughest arguments. Using stats and methods he developed during his ongoing tenure at The Wall Street Journal, Barra takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question, Who's the Best?, in this, the ultimate baseball debate book.

Regardless of what stand you take in these debates, you'll never think about baseball's greatest stars in the same way again.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780312302535
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date: 05/23/2003
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Allen Barra writes a column for the Wall Street Journal and Salon.com. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and is also heard regularly on Major League Baseball Radio. He lives in South Orange, New Jersey. He is the author of Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century, among other books.

Table of Contents


Foreword   Bob Costas     vii
Introduction     ix
Getting Tough with Babe Ruth     1
The Most Underrated Team of the First Half of the Twentieth Century     25
Gary Cooper vs. John Wayne     31
What If Jackie Robinson Had Been White?     45
One-on-One, Once and for All: Mickey Mantle vs. Willie Mays     65
61*-Or, Should Roger Maris Be in the Hall of Fame?     93
Juan Marichal and Bob Gibson: A Reassessment     101
My Player of the Century     115
The Most Overrated and Underrated Players over the Last Thirty Years-Pete Rose vs. Tim Raines     133
The Dynasty That Never Was: The 1986 Mets     141
Grove, Koufax, and Clemens: A Comparison Across Time     153
Minnie Minoso: The New Latin Dynasty     175
Competitive Balance Through the Century     183
On-Base Averages     193
Baseball's Greatest SLOBs     199
Why Can't They Go 9 Anymore?     207
Ranking Don Shula     215
Pro Football's Greatest Quarterback     221
The Great Forgotten Running Back of the NFL     229
Barry Sanders: Pro Football's Greatest Runner     239
Walter Payton: Pro Football's Greatest Player     243
Wilt vs. Russell: A Reassessment     249
Notes     263
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