The latest and greatest in ESPN.com baseball guru Rob Neyer's
Big Book series, "Legends" is a highly entertaining guide to baseball fables that
have been handed down through generations.

The well-told baseball story has long been a staple for baseball fans. In "Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends," Neyer breathes new life into both classic and obscure stories throughout twentieth-century baseball -- stories that, while engaging on their own, also tell us fascinating things about their main characters and about the sport's incredibly rich history. With his signature style, Rob gets to the heart of every anecdote, working through the particulars with careful research drawn from a variety of primary sources. For each story, he asks: Did this really happen? Did it happen, sort of? Or was the story simply the wild invention of someone's imagination? Among the scores of legends Neyer questions and investigates...
Did an errant Bob Feller pitch really destroy the career of a National League All-Star? Did Greg Maddux mean to give up a long blast to Jeff Bagwell? Was Fred Lynn the clutch player he thinks he was? Did Tommy Lasorda have a direct line to God? Did Negro Leaguer Gene Benson really knock Indians second baseman Johnny Berardino out of baseball and into General Hospital? Did Billy Martin really outplay Jackie Robinson every time they met? Oh, and what about Babe Ruth's "Called Shot"?
Rob checks each story, separates the truths from the myths, and places their fascinating characters into the larger historical context. Filled with insider lore and Neyer's sharp wit and insights, this is an exciting addition to a superb series and an essential read for true fans of our national pastime.

Dale Scott's career as a professional baseball umpire spanned nearly forty years, including thirty-three in the Major Leagues, from 1985 to 2017. He worked exactly a thousand games behind the plate, calling balls and strikes at the pinnacle of his profession, working in every Major League Baseball stadium, and interacting with dozens of other top-flight umpires, colorful managers, and hundreds of players, from future Hall of Famers to one-game wonders. Scott has enough stories about his career on the field to fill a dozen books, and there are plenty of those stories here. He's not interested in settling scores, but throughout the book he's honest about managers and players, some of whom weren't always perfect gentlemen. But what makes Scott's book truly different is his unique perspective as the only umpire in the history of professional baseball to come out as gay during his career. Granted, that was after decades of remaining in the closet, and Scott writes vividly and movingly about having to "play the game": maintaining a facade of straightness while privately becoming his true self and building a lasting relationship with his future husband. He navigated this obstacle course at a time when his MLB career was just taking off-and when North America was consumed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Scott's story isn't only about his leading a sort of double life, then opening himself up to the world and discovering a new generosity of spirit. It's also a baseball story, filled with insights and memorable anecdotes that come so naturally from someone who spent decades among the world's greatest baseball players, managers, and games. Scott's story is fascinating both for his umpiring career and for his being a pioneer for LGBTQ people within baseball and across sports.

BLOOPER: BALL SQUIRTS THROUGH BILLY BUCKNER'S LEGS.
BLUNDER: BILLY BUCKNER'S MANAGER LEFT HIM IN THE GAME.
Baseball bloopers are fun; they're "funny, " even. A pitcher slips on the mound and his pitch sails over the backstop. An infielder camps under a pop-up...and the ball lands ten feet away. An outfielder tosses a souvenir to a fan...but that was just the second out, and runners are circling the bases (and laughing). Without these moments, the highlight reels wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. Baseball "blunders, " however, can be tragic, and they will leave diehard fans asking "why...why...why?"
"Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders" does its best to answer all those whys, exploring the worst decisions and stupidest moments of managers, general managers, owners, and even commissioners. As he did in his "Big Book of Baseball Lineups, " Rob Neyer provides readers with a fascinating examination of baseball's rich history, this time through the lens of the game's sometimes hilarious, often depressing, and always perplexing blunders.
- Which ill-fated move cost the Chicago White Sox a great hitter and the 1919 World Series?
- What was Babe Ruth thinking when he became the first (and still the only) player to end a World Series by getting caught trying to steal?
- Did playing one-armed Pete Gray in 1945 cost the Browns a pennant?
- How did winning a coin toss lead to the Dodgers losing the National League pennant on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'round the World"?
- How damaging was the Frank Robinson-for-Milt Pappas deal, really?
- Which of Red Sox manager Don Zimmer's mistakes in 1978 was the worst?
- Which Yankees trade was even worse than swapping Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps?
- What non-move cost Buck Showalter a job and gave Joe Torre the opportunity of a lifetime?
- Game 7, 2003 ALCS: Pedro winds up to throw his 123rd pitch...what were "you" thinking?
These are just a few of the legendary (and not-so-legendary) blunders that Neyer analyzes, always with an eye on what happened, why it happened, and how it changed the fickle course of history. And in separate chapters, Neyer also reviews some of the game's worst trades and draft picks and closely examines all the teams that fell "just" short of first place. Another in the series of Neyer's Big Books of baseball history, "Baseball Blunders" should win a place in every devoted fan's library.

Pitchers, the pitches they throw, and how they throw them -- these days it's the stuff of constant scrutiny, but there's never been anything like a "comprehensive source" for such information. That's what preeminent baseball analyst Bill James and ESPN.com baseball columnist Rob Neyer realized over lunch more than a dozen years ago. Since then, they've been compiling the centerpiece of this book, the "Pitcher Census," which lists specific information for nearly two thousand pitchers, ranging throughout the history of professional baseball. The "Guide" also offers:

• A "dictionary" describing virtually every known pitch
• The origins and development of baseball's most important pitches
• Top ten lists: best fastballs, best spitballs, and everything in between
• Biographies of some of the great pitchers who have been overlooked
• More knuckleballers and submariners than you ever thought existed
• An open debate concerning pitcher abuse and durability
• A formula for predicting the Cy Young Award winner
• Something fresh and new: Bill James' "Pitcher Codes"

The "Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers" is about understanding pitchers, and baseball's action always starts with the pitchers. It's also about entertaining debates and having a great deal of fun with the history of a game that obsesses so many.

You love to argue about the game and its players, delving into baseball history and lore in search of support for your points of view. You'll find plenty of food for thought -- and argument! -- in Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups.

• All-time Red Sox starting pitcher -- Pedro or the Rocket?
• Gold Glovers -- who looked like one, who was one, and who ought to have been one?
• Lopsided trades that'll sting forever, and phenoms who seemed so real
• Classic nicknames -- from "Charlie Hustle" to "Big Hurt" to "The Mad Hungarian"

Neyer presents a series of lineups for each franchise -- from the All-Time and the All-Rookie to the All-Bust and the Traded Away. In notes, sidebars, and essays, he explores the careers of players both famous and obscure. The book includes information on all thirty current teams, as well as a special section covering legendary clubs like the Brooklyn Dodgers and Washington Senators. Neyer's Big Book is an unparalleled reference for settling the debates that arise every day in the lives of baseball fans.

It's a debate nearly as old as the sport itself. Sure, there have been plenty of great baseball teams--but which was the best ever? While it seems like an unwinnable argument, the authors of Baseball Dynasties have risen to the challenge. They took the top fifteen teams of the twentieth century, ran them through rigorous statistical analysis, and threw in some good old-fashioned opinion in their quest to determine, definitively, who was the greatest team in the history of baseball. Looking at continued brilliance over time (no one-season wonders allowed), Hall of Famers on the roster, offensive and defensive production, performance in the postseason, and numerous other tangibles and intangibles, Eddie Epstein and Rob Neyer put each team under the microscope--and picked a winner. Who will come out on top? Was it the 1927 Yankees, the legendary squad blessed with both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig? Or how about Earl Weaver's 1970 Orioles, who over a three-year span dominated their opponents at a higher level than any other team this century? Full of anecdotes, intriguing facts, and scores of statistics, Baseball Dynasties is a fascinating look at baseball history certain to provoke, entertain, and edify baseball fans of all ages.