Tom Seaver discusses the history of 20th century major league baseball by recalling the Greatest Moments in Baseball.

There are several professionally written and superbly illustrated coffee table books that discuss the history of major league baseball. Seaver's work can't compete with The Image of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig, and Baseball by Ken Burns. However, these coffee table books can be expensive.

The market has stepped in with less expensive "one-volume histories" of major league baseball. Charles Alexander took the scholarly approach in writing Our Game, while Donald Honig focused on the personalities of superstars in Baseball America.

Seaver discusses the history of Major League Baseball by recalling the Greatest Moments in Baseball. As a color commentator with the New York Yankees, Seaver was paid to tell historical anecdotes during his broadcast. Seaver also lived through some of the greatest moments while winning over 300 Major League Baseball games. Tom Terrific does bring a unique perspective to the game.

Seaver can't write as well as Honig and Alexander. In fact, he writes with the same halting cadences that infect a Seaver-occupied broadcast booth. Tom tries to be personable, but comes off awkward.

A reader will easily notice Seaver's quirky way of coyly referring to a famous player who becomes introduced during one of the Greatest Moments in Baseball. There's no problem in finding examples to illustrate this defect. When Seaver discusses Napoleon Lajoie's final game in the famous batting race of 1910 between Nap and Ty Cobb, Seaver says Lajoie was batting fourth, behind "a player named Joe Jackson." Later, we hear of "one Henry Aaron" and a "guy who happened to be Willie Mays." The author shouldn't try to sound "cute," because he comes off sounding retarded.

A ghostwriter should have been able to eliminate Seaver's annoying habits, repair his grammatical errors, and help the book flow from start to finish. Alas, the reader has to take Seaver as is.

Though the authors promise that every baseball fan will enjoy the Great Moments in Baseball, the book emphasizes Big Apple baseball. Don't look at this as a flaw: it's a matter of the authors sticking to what they know best. Seaver was a longtime player with the Mets. Seaver has lived in Connecticut with all of the other rich Met fans (). He was a Yankee broadcaster, and he's now a Met television analyst. Appel has been a sports journalist for New York City news outlets for a long time.

History has also been kind to New York City: Carl Hubbell strikes out five consecutive legendary batters in the 1934 All-star game, Ruth called his 1932 Home Run at Wrigley Field, DiMaggio hits in 56 consecutive games, Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier, Mays makes a miraculous catch in the 1954 World Series, Bobby Thomson hit a home run into the left field seats, The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! They're going crazy! Maris hits his 61st homerun, The Amazing Mets of 1969, the Ya Gotta Believe crew of 1973, and the Greatest Divisional Playoff Game Ever between the Mets and Astros in 1986.

The best moments in the book are when Seaver discusses his thoughts and opinions. For example, Seaver digressed into a thesis on pitching when he started to discuss the ban of the spitball. Seaver notes that trick pitches have always helped pitchers, but the best hurlers have always had an outstanding fastball: be it tailing cheese, a biting hummer, or an exploding fastball.

A reader may need to discipline himself to get through the rough parts of the book, but he will reap enough enjoyment to consider the task worthwhile. Seaver provides enough interesting facts about the history of major league baseball to keep the reader involved. For example, many books use Pete Rose's offhand remark to Carlton Fisk late in Game Six of the 1975 World Series to describe how even the players knew what was at stake, but nobody ever noticed that Rose was hit by a pitch during that at bat.

Trivia buffs will enjoy the way that Seaver connects Rickey Henderson with Lou Brock, Maury Wills, Ty Cobb, and the incomparable Bob Bescher. Bob Bescher? Read the book, or bone up on your Cincinnati Reds trivia.

Seaver has a lot of great opinions about major league baseball. Anyone who believes that the World Series dumpers from Chicago got what they deserved can't be all that bad.

Seaver is also on the mark when he suggests that "It's impossible to judge the caliber of play " in the Negro Leagues, as "record keeping was not taken seriously." We can only "Imagine what the game lost in the years before 1946." (Why can't we just imagine what we lost before 1946?) People shouldn't try to induct Turkey Stearns into the Hall of Fame because of a healthy imagination.

Seaver calls Charles Finley and Bill Veeck "men of vision" who "hustled, promoted, and made things interesting." Seaver thinks that no one should minimize their contributions to the game.

Seaver even used the six letter curse word in quotes ("closer").

Despite my lukewarm praise, I recommend Greatest Moments in Baseball as a supplement to a baseball fan's library - especially at the Barnes & Noble Bargain Book price of $2.99. Barnes & Noble has this book on sale NOW at several bookstores around new York City, including the 5th Avenue store near Rockefeller Center, and the Park Slope store near my home.

Greatest Moments in Baseball may also be purchased over the internet at one of these sites.

--RoyalRooter, March 11, 1999

© 1999 Rob Homa