Customer Reviews

A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball: The Game on the Field (Volume 1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On its face this book appears to be yet another entry in the genre of collections of random tidbits about baseball. These usually are disconnected factoids, often of questionable accuracy and often with some attempt at a unifying theme. In form this is just such a collection, in this case with the theme of "firsts". Peter Morris has in fact done something much more interesting and substantial.

The book is founded on solid research, going back to as close to the events as possible. Do we know of a first because it was reported in the newspapers the next day, or do we only have someone's recollections decades later? Morris is meticulous about letting the reader know. This could serve not only as a baseball history, but as a textbook on methods and limitations of historical research.

Morris avoids the problem of random factoids: of history as a series of disconnected events. A lesser author might determine who was the first pinch hitter, give a name and a date, and leave it at that. Morris puts pinch hitting in the context of the evolution of substitution rules, expanding rosters, and adapting ideology. We get a mini-essay on the development of this aspect of the game.

Similarly, the invention of the catcher's mask is put in the context of loosened restrictions on the pitcher's delivery, which allowed faster pitching and effective curve balls. These made the older method of an unprotected catcher standing well back from the batter less tenable, and protective equipment was invented in response. As catcher's equipment got better the catcher was able to move closer to the batter, which in turn affected aspects such as base stealing.

This is by far the best book I have seen for how the game was actually played and how it evolved, reported in a clear-eye, factual manner. There is no sepia-tinged old-timey quaintness here.

The writing is consistently engaging, not dry academic prose. This is a work of serious history, but written for anyone interested in the history of baseball.

A GAME OF INCHES: THE STORIES BEHIND THE INNOVATIONS THAT SHAPED BASEBALL isn't your usual coverage of major players or major memorable games: it's the first of two projected volumes to provide an encyclopedia reference covering the origins of the sport's major items, from catchers' masks to cork-center baseballs. Included in each listing are discussions of what led each new item to emerge when and how it did - much in the manner of a Burke review of history's causes and influences - and a chronicle of the responses to these changes and innovations. Baseball's legacy is the result of many influences, inventions and innovations: here's the place to read about them all.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is a must for any base ball fan interested in the evolution of the game. Mr. Morris covers the bases with subjects like the introduction of pine tar to the elimination of left handed 2nd basemen. He does it with a narrative style you don't find in many historical books. It is the vintage ballists companion.

Any fan of baseball on any level will enjoy this well researched volume on the development of baseball as it is played today.

A genuinely outstanding book, probably the most important baseball history book published this year. Morris has found something new and important in his research on virtually every page, and writes very well. It is amazing how many of the basic strategies and tactics of baseball can be documented as having been used in 1860, and certainly by the 1890s.

A Game of Inches is an excellent resource for the serious baseball fan as well as an interesting read for the more casual fan. Peter Morris's exhaustive research and analytical writing style make this book the definitive work on the innovations in baseball since the mid-1800s.

I saw this book reviewed and wanted to purchase it for a grandson and a nephew, however, it was rather expensive (over $25.00). But I found it used for about $4.00 each on Amazon and quickly purchased two copies. They came very quickly and were in excellent condition. Both young men have enjoyed the book a great deal and I thank you all for your good service and the fine condition of the book.

This is one book that explain a part of baseball you don't read about in other books. Why are the rules what they are? How did they develop?
If you are not a real student of the game, you might find the reading a bit hard, but if you're a die hard fan, and want to know how the game got the shape it's in now, that's the book for you.

Taken piece by piece, this book should almost belong in a history course, as one could spend an entire semester (or more) poring over the onerous details. The premise is relatively simple, as author Peter Morris tries to get to the bottom of the "first time" that certain things happened on the baseball field or were introduced to the game. Every imaginable concept (gloves, signs, rules, you name it!) is seemingly covered in the book, and in incredibly researched detail. Though Morris himself admits that many of the areas he researched do not have a definitive "first", this is easily the most cumulative discussion of those areas ever put together.

Yet, besides just the "firsts" aspect that is the true hook of this book, I found its most interesting quality to be the picture it paints of pre-1900s baseball. Even moderate baseball fans (because of the rich history of the sport) can harken back to the days of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, and Christy Mathewson with relative ease, but before that...it's all kind of a blur. This book, though, rather inadvertently, fills in that gap in the history of the sport very admirable. I learned many things about the creation of the game of baseball that I had never known before, and I consider myself to be pretty well-versed on the subject. That knowledge has even changed the way that I evaluate players of that era (and even into the early 1900s), as baseball was played, managed, and run so much differently back then.

That being said, the reason I can't flat-out give this book a five-star rating is because, in all honesty, it is quite boring at times. I am a pretty avid book reader (especially when it comes to baseball history), and I still needed to motivate myself to pick up the large text at times. In no way do I mean to indicate that the book is boring, but (as I mentioned earlier) it is kind of like reading a college history textbook. Sure it's interesting, but it's also no Stephen King, either. I actually got more out of the book as a whole than through some of the individual chapters.

Thus, I recommend this book to truly passionate lovers of the history of baseball only. For that audience, be prepared to learn an awful lot about the early history of the game. However, I am afraid that others will be scared away by the textbook-like approach that Morris takes.