The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets Beneath the Stitches - Softcover

"This is the stuff baseball fans eat up like snack food, only it's way more nourishing. . . . The stories are marvelous, and throughout Hample maintains jaunty good humor and even class; for instance, he thanks, by name, every one of the 1,167 Major League players and coaches who have given him baseballs over the years (an interesting list in itself). Lots of fascinating illustrations, too." --Booklist

"Brings a whole new dimension to the term 'inside baseball.' . . . Hample . . . provides plenty of revelations to even the most passionate follower of the game." --Kirkus Reviews

"Hample is not simply an articulate and accessible baseball writer, he's a zealous collector of game balls. . . . His advice on how to catch a ball at the stadium shows how meticulously he hones his hobby. Along the way there are lots of personalities and top-ten lists at the end for every active fan. All ball buffs should try to catch this one." --Library Journal

Praise for Zack Hample's Watching Baseball Smarter

"Insightful, engaging and funny--a treat for anyone who loves the game." --Keith Hernandez

"Hample calls himself an obsessed fan--obsessed in a good way--and the product of his torment is a funny and informative guide for all levels of fams." --Yankees Magazine

"Engaging. . . . Hample's book is both deceptive in its simplicity . . . and surprising in its range." --Fortune

"A browser's delight of a book. . . . Hample unloads a zany collection of baseball trivia, insights and 'random stuff'. . . in breezy guidebook style." --Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"This isn't the first book to take on the challenge of explaining baseball intricacies, but I've never seen it done better." --Craig Smith, The Seattle Times

"Armed at neophytes and know-it-alls alike, this baseball geekfest tells you which positions are never played by lefties, why it's easier to hit when bases are loaded, which rules are the weirdest, and other arcana." --Maxim

The best-selling author of Watching Baseball Smarter shares historical and modern stories about the ball at the center of America's favorite pastime while tracing the baseball's evolution from a string-wrapped walnut to today's invisible ink-stamped ball. Original.