Customer Reviews

Play It Again: Baseball Experts on What Might Have Been

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Fascinating look back at many of baseball's historical decisions and controversial plays. A panel of experts including journalists, statisticians and former players discuss the various events. Included are such things as the realignment of the leagues due to expansion, players whose careers were interupted by injury and military service, home run hitters, the designated hitter and many plays that had far reaching ramifications. Fun and informative read.

This book captures that feeling every fan has had at one time or another..."if only...". This book is ideal for all generations because it touches on every aspect of the game in every era. It's a fun, easy read and ideal for a lazy Sunday or a quick baseball fix in case of a "rain out". I won't go into details about the book, the synopses does a fine job of that, however, the Sandy Koufax "fantasy" section is by far the best part of the book. It's fictional account of Sandy's extended career which left me yearning for it to be true. I only wished the rest of the book was written in the same way. All in all, great fun!

"Play It Again" has a singular distinction: It has to be one of the most overpriced baseball books on the market.

The book checks in at 248 pages and is a trade paperback edition. That usually means the book should go for somewhere in the neighborhood of $15, maybe a little more since it probably wasn't a big press run.

Actual suggested retail price, as they say on "The Price Is Right": $29.95. Ouch.

As you might have guessed, the book won't be worth it to most, although it does have some merit.

Jim Bresnahan has come up with an interesting concept -- a counterfactual baseball book. The technique is often used in history, but is rarely seen in sports in this form. Authors speculate what could have happened in Gettysburg, but it's left to talk show to discuss the Cubs in 2003.

Bresnahan collected a group of people to comment on potential tipping points in baseball history. What would have happened if the 1919 White Sox had played the World Series for real? What if Pete Reiser and Herb Score hadn't been hurt early in their careers? What if the designated hitter had come to baseball earlier, or not at all? What if baseball had integrated earlier?

All good questions, and there are plenty more here. The editor collected a panel of experts to answer them. Some are baseball experts who cover a wide variety of areas of expertise. Also invited to join the discussion are ex-big league players such as Brooks Robinson, Bill Lee and Dick Groat. The players are generally used for specific cases (Robinson on the Orioles not acquiring Frank Robinson from the Reds, for example).

The quality of answers is rather erratic. Some people picked up the concept instantly, and write at length and with smarts about what could have happened in a particular situation. I particularly liked Jeff Katz's answer about Sandy Koufax getting Tommy John surgery on his elbow after the 1966 season, and dramatically extending his career through the 1977 World Series. Players sometimes had interesting things to say, too. Jim Northrop was there when Curt Flood slipped on a fly ball in the seventh game of the 1968 World Series, and Northrop says Flood couldn't have gotten to the ball under any circumstances.

On the other hand, sometimes three or four experts give essentially the same answer, which doesn't make for fascinating reading. Sometimes the guest writers use phrases such as "We'll never know what might have happened..." Of course we don't -- that's the point of the book.

For those in a nit-picking mood, the summaries of the conclusions of each chapter/era seemed rather pointless. And it was a surprise to see the page headings on one chapter read "4. Careers Lost, Teams Lost: 1962-1959." It should have read 1942; some editor must have done a severe shutter upon spotting that.

"Play It Again" has some lessons to teach about baseball history, but not enough to justify the purchase price -- especially at these prices.

In 1965, the Cincinnati Reds made one of the single worst trade decisions in baseball history. After ten years of good play, outfielder Frank Robinson was sent to the Baltimore Orioles, Reds owners defending the move as his being an "old 30." Naturally annoyed at this dismissial, Robinson made the Reds regret it big-time. In his very first season with his new team, he won the Triple Crown, was named MVP and sparked Baltimore to their first World Championship. He would lead the Orioles to three more pennants and another World Series (over, ironically, the Reds), become the first black manager in the majors and be easily elected to the Hall of Fame as one of the best sluggers of his generation.

Ever since, fans have wondered what might have been if the Reds hadn't made such a mistake. Would the Orioles have become such a powerhouse without Robinson? And had he stayed, could Robinson have helped Cincinnati become the Big Red Machine a few years early? Those and many other questions are addressed in this fantastic collection of the numerous "what ifs?" of major league baseball.

So many games are covered: Fred Merkle's infamous blunder; Bill Buckner missing that ground ball; Mickey Owens dropping the third strike; if the Dodgers had put anyone but Ralph Branca against Bobby Thompson; and so many more. Pennant races are popular as well: how the Cubs could have kept the Mets from winning in '69; the Red Sox blowing it in 1948 and '78; and whether playing a bit better earlier in 1964 could have helped the Phillies avoid their infamous collapse. And, like Robinson, there are the trades from Babe Ruth sold to the Yankees to Lou Brock and more.

Even better are questions not so obvious such as players who might have had fantastic careers if not for crippling injuries or accidental deaths; the mydrid ways baseball leagues could have fallen in the early part of the 20th century; how integration before 1947 could have shifted the record books; the numerous careers and clubs who were affected by the loss of players in WWII (if not for his years of service, Ted Williams might have broken Babe Ruth's home run record first) and more.

My favorite parts of the book are large questions such as if the designated hitter rule had never been affected or free agency not coming into being. There's talk on how Branch Rickey wanted to create a third league in 1960 and while it was inevitable baseball would move to the West Coast, had the Dodgers and Giants stayed in New York, it would be a vastly different landscape. And of course, the big debate on who might have ended up winning had the 1994 season not been called off by the player's strike.

The contributors are an excellent mix of sports writers and players who give their various insights, sometimes disagreeing on ideas but overall enjoying to speculate on what might have been. On the Robinson question, they quote Oriole players who acknowledge that without him, they probably wouldn't have been as strong and you can feel the frustration from guys on the '94 season and other events.

Overall, this is a very well thought out and written set of scenarios. My one complaint is that while it was published in 2006, it leaves off right after the 2003 playoffs, which is surprisng. Surely, the ALCS of '04 and '05 would provide a lot more "could have been" moments that deserved debate. But for any fan of the sport, this is a fantastic read to think of how vastly different the baseball world could have been if not for the quirks of fate.