Jonathan Weeks

Mudville madness is a look at the "fabulous feats, belligerent behavior, and erratic episodes on the diamond" to quote the subtitle. And it is all there, from the early days where to be an umpire was to be in danger of your life, to the days of the superheros like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, to the Pine Tar game, and the steroid era. The book not only covers the majors, but there is significant space devoted to the minor leagues. Who knew that Eddie Gaedel was not the first under 4 foot player in baseball? On September 18, 1905, the Buffalo Bisons of the Eastern League used an actor to pinch hit and he actually scored!

Jonathan Weeks uses short clips to highlight each of his memorable or infamous games and somehow manages to say the same things in a variety of ways, making the book more interesting. The book is divided into different eras, with a timeline of significant baseball events to set the tone for the chapter. Unfortunately, he does not give the source for each of the episodes but does have an extensive bibliography, although matching the episode with the citation is difficult. The index covers most names cited.

If you want to find out some of baseball quirks and oddities, special times and bad, read this book! If you don't have large chunks of time to read a book, the 1/2 page or so format is for you! And if you love baseball history, curl up and enjoy this delightful read.… (mais)

Mudville Madness is a book which is full of brief, interesting baseball anecdotes; however, that is pretty much all it is. The stories are arranged chronologically, and I can't help but think that it would have been a more interesting read if there had been more of a thematic arrangement (e.g., 'Fights on the field", "Odd fielding errors", etc.) perhaps showing how each type of incident has changed (or not) over the history of the game. Still, a good book for picking up, turning to a random page, and being entertained when you have a few minutes to spare.… (mais)

Quite enjoyable - I've always loved sports trivia and anecdotes, and ever since "Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Sports" I've looked for books like this one. Weeks has done massive amounts of homework to dig up not only the classic antics of guys like Eddie Gaedel, Germany Schaefer, or Jimmy Piersall, but lesser known stories from characters spanning the whole history of baseball up through Biogenesis. My only peeve was the number of times he used the verb "plated" for "scored".

Grab this one for some great stories between innings of the World Series, or to get your baseball fix until next spring.… (mais)