Customer Reviews

Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box

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There is something more to baseball than athletes playing ball. That something explains the lingering nostalgia of Brooklyn Dodger Fans and the fanatical loyalty of Chicago Cubs fans. Baseball and Philosophy finally explains why our national game of summer grips our hearts and minds.

The titles of the chapters in Baseball and Philosophy immediately compel us to read. The intros to the chapters add the humor and drama that draw us to baseball. But it is the essays themselves that speak to our hearts and give voice to our passion.

Some of the chapters deal with today's and yesterday's stars. The authors cite Toqueville and Pascal to explain some of our hero worship in the face of adversity, whether it's putting up with the boisterous shinanigans of Reggie or the corked bat contrition of Sosa. We learn how baseball thrives in a Japanese culture of team harmony and in an American culture of frontier-blazing individualism. Legal scholars explain the unique position of the baseball industry in American courts. Ethicists and statisticians offer reasons for our nitpicking love of detail.

So why do we love baseball? Why do we forgive our heroes the sins of cheating, the anti-social behavior, even the crimes of racism? There is a reason for our madness. Kant, Socrates, Aristotle, John Stuart Mill give cause for our fanaticism.

Always humorous, always informative, sometimes controversial, the modern day philosophers who contributed to this book speak for all of us who love the game despite our best intentions. It's a great read!

Compiled and edited by Eric Bronson, and enhanced with an informative Foreword by Bill Littlefield, Baseball And Philosophy: Thinking Outside The Batter's Box is an impressive, 352-page anthology of essays contributed by 31 contributors exploring some of the deeper questions and lessons baseball has to offer with respect to the American identity and universal human fulfillment. Addressing such unique considerations as whether or not the Intentional Walk is unethical; can superstition make a player better; do Cubs fans teach us about religious faith; does chance decide who wins the World Series; why baseball is the only American industry exempt from federal anti-trust laws; what the U.S. Supreme Court could learn from umpiring ball games; and a great deal more. Baseball And Philosophy is uniquely and enthusiastically recommended to the attention of two seemingly diverse readerships: baseball enthusiasts and philosophy students.

Refreshingly different. For those seeking something less than the number crunching books but more than just another history lesson, Baseball and Philosophy delivers providing the serious fan with a series of short essays aimed at America's baseball institution. Taken from our (www.baseball-almanac.com) full review done February 28, 2004).

Any book that can accurately portray the struggle of rounding bases as the modern day representation of Odysseus' journey in The Odyssey is fine with me. I'm not the biggest baseball fan, nor am I the biggest philosophy student in the world. But I did love how all the essayists in this book combine both. This is a fun book that, more that anything, will give you some good points to bring up next time you're in that classic argument with someone who thinks baseball is boring.

This was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in awhile, even if it was light in the philosophy context in certain chapters. I particularly enjoyed the analysis of what it means to be a fan of a losing team. As a Cubs fan, I can sympathize with that. The most particularly interesting chapter to me was the chapter on the philosophical aspect of the intentional walk. I would highly recommend this book to true baseball fans.

"Baseball and Philosophy" melds different philosophical concepts with baseball. It tackles issues ranging from the credibility of the Hall of Fame with or without Pete Rose to the zen of hitting. Each chapter is divided into two sub-chapters (the top and bottom of the inning), and tried to show the game so many know so well in a new and sometimes provocative light.

This book probably isn't for the casual baseball fan, but for those fans who want to challenge their notions of what they think they know about baseball, this book would be an excellent read.

After reading this book, I'm convinced that philosophy and baseball don't mix. Reading each chapter, I felt that there could've have been more in depth discussion about philosophy and baseball. Some chapters were unbearable - (e.g. why steriods should be legal.) Not only because the result is antithetical to my own thinking but the way it was argued.