Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders: A Complete Guide to the Worst Decisions and Stupidest Moments in Baseball History (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rob Neyer is the best of the new generation of sportswriters. He knows baseball history like a child knows his piggy bank. He knows how to pick it up and shake it and make what he needs fall out."- Bill James --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Review

"Rob Neyer is the best of the new generation of sportswriters. He knows baseball history like a child knows his piggy bank. He knows how to pick it up and shake it and make what he needs fall out."- Bill James

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Fireside; Original edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743284917
• ISBN-13: 978-0743284912
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #392,672 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good analysis makes for an interesting collection, April 29, 2006

By	Craig (Ohio) - See all my reviews

Given the title, one might think that this is a book where Neyer spends 250 pages criticizing boneheaded decisions, but it's not. Instead, Neyer takes the time to examine about 50 blunders, taking the time to analyze each decision instead of simply pointing fingers at those making the blunder.

While the first blunder examined took place in 1917, this book is heavily weighted towards modern times. Only 15 take place before 1960, and almost half take place after 1970. Each incident is given about 4-7 pages of analysis, and many of the entries include side stories that Neyer includes in the margins. Many of the entries will be very familiar to baseball fans - the selling of the Babe, the trade of Roger Maris, and the Bagwell-Andersen deal. There are, however, many that aren't nearly so famous, like Tom Runnells' decision to shift Tim Wallach across the diamond, or the Pirates' benching of Kiki Cuyler during a stretch run. It's a good mix that Neyer has created.

Along with the regular entries, there are several "interludes" to break things up, including a couple about bad trades, and a funny entry about managers who never should have been in that position.

Neyer is, in my opinion, the most improved baseball writer over the past several years. He's always been a brilliant baseball mind, but now he seems to have found his touch as a writer. This book is enjoyable not only because of the cases he chooses to discuss, but also because of his style. There's plenty of analysis, some good humor, and little in the way of ridiculing or finger-pointing, which would have been easy to do in such a book.

An excellent book, and it's tough to beat the price. I'd recommend it for any baseball fan, even if not everything in here is new to you.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Baseball Book, May 6, 2006

By	Pedro Villarroel (Maturin, Monagas Venezuela) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This one is very well written baseball book about some very famous and some not so famous decisions made throughout the history of the game. As a baseball fan, and I think you would have to be one too to really enjoy this book, I was looking forward to read about recent blunders , things that I had witnessed in my lifetime or be familiar with, so when I saw that it started with the 1917 Chi Sox swapping firstbasemen I thought I wouldn't enjoy it that much. Well, wrong I was, that first story set the tone of the book and from then on I just couldn't put it down until I finished it.
One of the stories that touched me more was the one about the Oakland A's pitching staff of the early 80's. As an A's fan I clearly remember the Billy Ball era, the A's had a great starting rotation (Norris, Keough, Langford, Kingman, McCatty) and Billy Martin had them pitched some 96 complete games in 1980, after the strike shortened season of 1981 these 5 guys just disappeared from baseball , all of them plagued with arm injuries, undoubtly they had paid the price for all those complete games for an Oakland team that finished 83-79 that year, in a far second place from Kansas City.
This is a great book from Rob Neyer, you won't regret to get it

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How about 3 3/4 stars? Not too bad, January 26, 2007

By	anonymous - See all my reviews

This is a pretty fast, enjoyable read. Nothing too earthbreaking and you will be familiar with lots of the more recent entries, but it's still a lot of fun. While you may quibble with some of the chapters (was the Cubs hiring Dusty Baker REALLY one of the biggest blunders in baseball history?), it's well researched and insightful.

I especially liked the interludes about bad drafts (all the teams that passed on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens for "sure things" you've never heard of) and the chapters on unqualified managers (the chapter on Maury Wills bumbling with the Mariners is hilarious). A lot of the chapters have a theme of "no one could have known how good "X" would turn out to be," which gets a little repetitive, but overall this is a fine addition to your baseball library.