The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time [Hardcover]

Len Berman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010 | Age Range: 9 and up | Lexile Measure: 910L (What's this?)

Discover the greatest baseball players of all time!

Which guys playing right now will they still be talking about in 100 years? A-Rod? Pujols? How about Jeter?

Why do the best pitchers receive the Cy Young Award?

Was Honus Wagner anything but a face on a $2,800,000 baseball card?

Who was this Babe Ruth guy, anyway?

Sportscaster and New York Times bestselling author Len Berman had lots of questions about the game of baseball. So he put together a group of experts that included all-stars, Emmy Award winners, writers, radio hosts, and enough World Series rings to fill one hand's fingers.

Is your Favorite player on the list?

From New York Times bestselling author Len Berman comes an action-packed collection for sports fans of all ages.

If you had to pick the best baseball players of all time, who would they be? Len Berman gave it a try, and asked a blue-ribbon panel-with experts including World Series champion Bernie Williams and radio host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo-to weigh in too.

Full of photos, facts, and fun, The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time gives you the stories behind the names. Why do so many people love Babe Ruth? What makes Alex Rodriguez so great? Was Jackie Robinson as important on the field as he was off the field? Discover why Len Berman thinks the 25 players in this book are the greatest-then it's time to start your own debate!

So who are the 25 greatest baseball players and why?

Who would be on your list?

Let the arguments begin!

Praise for Len Berman's The Greatest Moments in Sports

"His writing is lively, humorous, and informative-just right to sustain kids' (or adults') interest...this is an excellent choice for anyone who is into sports." -School Library Journal

"Readers and browsers will enjoy paging through this compendium's stories and action-filled photos." -Booklist

"It's an eclectic roundup that's likely to have readers mulling their own personal favorites." -Publishers Weekly

"Great book, great stories-a gold medal performance." -Mike Eruzione, captain of the "Miracle on Ice" 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

Len Berman is an Emmy Award–winning sportscaster who has covered just about every major sports event, including multiple Super Bowls, World Series, and Olympics during his 40-year career in broadcasting.

He is the creator of "Spanning the World," a monthly collection of sports bloopers, which was a 20-year staple on NBC's Today show. He is also the creator of Sports Fantasy, which aired on NBC and pitted regular viewers against famous sports stars.

He is the recipient of eight Emmy Awards and is a six-time winner, New York Sportscaster of the Year. His daily Top 5 email is featured in the Huffington Post and is received by thousands around the country. This is his fifth book.

A native New Yorker, Len graduated from Syracuse University. He resides on Long Island with his wife, Jill. They have three children. Visit Len at http://thatssports.com/

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–8—As he did in The Greatest Moments in Sports (Sourcebooks, 2009), Berman offers a readable collection of facts and anecdotes. This time, he introduces 25 baseball players in short chapters that highlight their career accomplishments and milestones. Though a "blue ribbon panel" of sports writers and players helped narrow his list, sportscaster Berman colors this collection with his personal opinions. His enthusiasm is infectious, and observing that statistics only tell part of the story, he personalizes each account with memorable incidents and accomplishments. The colorful design adds to the appeal. There are few surprises among those chosen; most are Hall of Famers and include Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, and Berman's hero, Mickey Mantle. The notables also include Pete Rose, Josh Gibson, and Alex Rodriguez. Jeff Kisseloff's well-written Who Is Baseball's Greatest Hitter? (Holt, 2001) and Who Is Baseball's Greatest Pitcher? (Cricket Bks., 2003) were crowd-pleasing favorites. Like those earlier books, Berman's lively title should win a wide audience of fans young and old.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
(c) Copyright 2011.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Emmy Award–winning sportscaster Berman offers a lively and informative collection of baseball greats, past to present. The selected players include the expected (Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson) as well as relatively lesser-known talents, including Josh Gibson, who played in the Negro Leagues and is the only Hall of Famer included here who never played major-league ball. Sections on each player include photos, biographical information, and professional stats, and Berman addresses the controversies surrounding many figures; for example, all-time hit leader Pete Rose remains banned from the hall for gambling. Conversational prose, abundant photos, and exciting accounts of particular plays keep the tone upbeat and engaging, while frequent sidebars expand on both general information (the formula for determining ERAs, for example) and specific facts, such as the origin of players’ nicknames. The lack of source notes, an index, and suggested reading material may limit this as a report resource, but Berman’s knowledge and enthusiasm is evident, and this will likely provoke discussion among young fans, who may come away inspired to compile their own lists of greats. Grades 5-8. --Shelle Rosenfeld

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140223886X
• ISBN-13: 978-1402238864
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 0.8 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to share with the family, great gift! September 16, 2010

By Daniel S. Higgins Jr.

Format:Hardcover

Posted September 16, 2010, 4:23 PM EST: This book is by no means going to please everyone with its choices of 25 players, but that isn't the point! It is meant to educate teens, pre-teens, and even adults about 25 amazing players who the "blue ribbon" panel of baseball authorities voted to include in this book. It's also a great way to start the discussion.....including A-Rod makes you talk about Pujols, Cy Young makes you talk about Nolan Ryan. This is a book which you will pick up as a family over and over....and have those good natured arguments about sports that all true fans really enjoy. Highly recommended!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Home Run September 13, 2010

By P. Halpern

Format:Hardcover

Once again, Len has written an interesting and captivating book about sports. It was fascinating reading about each of the great players Len chose to make his Top 25!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book! September 23, 2010

By Misha444

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book will give readers of all ages much pleasure. The pictures and graphics are very pleasing to the eye. I enjoyed reading the stories of baseball players from different generations. The author gives lots of fun facts that I didn't know. I especially recommend Mr. Berman's books to reluctant readers. I wish I could discuss this book with my grandfather. He would have loved to debate who are the top 25 baseball players.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Save Your Money October 19, 2010

By Chris Howell

Format:Hardcover

All you need to do is look at the "blue ribbon" panel comprised of Yankees and Red Sox homers to know this will not be an erudite, balanced publication. Bernie Williams? Give me a break! A guy who played his entire career with one team hardly has the perspective to judge players of his own era, much less through 100+ years. Human nature will give the nod to modern players. We certainly don't need newbie panelists like Williams voting on the greatest players ever. Sheesh.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Without Bonds, It's Worthless March 18, 2011

By David Beck

Format:Hardcover

It simply cannot go without saying that any book, even if it is strictly for kids (which in a very real sense makes the crime even worse), that proposes to showcase "The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time" without including the single greatest player ever cannot even remotely be taken seriously. But then, these media toadies will never refuse to have it in for Barry Bonds because, oh, for someone to do what he did and put up those numbers -- nothing but the best ever in baseball history -- he must have been on steroids. It's perfectly fine to just completely ignore him and his accomplishments because of petty disputes with his character. Even those with proven slightly-less-than-stellar reputations (Rose, Cobb...) weren't left out of "The 25." If you want to know the truth about Barry Bonds, pick up David Ezra's "Asterisk." He pulls no punches about Bonds, but very clearly shows the steroids claims are completely groundless and his baseball ability unparalleled, by anyone, ever, Ruth, Mays, any of them.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Absurd selections, excludes true top players October 6, 2010

By L. Yager

Format:Hardcover

Any book that claims to include the top 25 of all time and includes Alex Rodriguez while excluding Roberto Clemente, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Kofax is just absurd. Avoid like the plague.