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Paul Dickson

The Dickson Baseball Dictionary Paperback – June 13, 2011

by Paul Dickson (Author), Skip McAfee (Editor)

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The definitive work on the language of baseball―one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal).

Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado. 263 black-and-white illustrations

Print length

1008 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

June 13, 2011
Dimensions

6.6 x 2.2 x 9.7 inches
ISBN-10

0393340082
ISBN-13

978-0393340082
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"On the short list of necessary reference books. No baseball library should be without it."
― Esquire

"Dickson’s discursive dictionary…a delight for former sandlot players, lexical scholars and members of the hot-stove league. "
― William Safire, The New York Times Magazine

"An indispensable guide to the language of baseball."
― John Curtis, San Diego Union-Tribune

"If you’re a baseball fan and...you’re curious about the etymology of the phrase out in the left field or you need a refresher on the infield fly rule. Well for 20 years, the authority, the baseball Bible, if you will, has been The Dickson Baseball Dictionary. "
― Melissa Block, All Things Considered

"A wonderful companion volume...enough to last a fan through a 162-game season and the playoffs.…What a treasure to have at hand with a long season ahead. "
― David Broder, Washington Post

"Very cool."
― Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show

"This magnificent volume will make the perfect gift for diehard fans."
― Vick Mickunas, The Dayton Daily News

"[E]xtraordinary book…of value beyond the cost. If you or someone you love has an interest in [baseball, this] will be [a] welcome addition to any collection...so readable, so accessible, and such a pleasure to dip into, to research into, or to just sit down and read for the narrative flow."
― James Srodes, Washington Times

"Always attuned to lore and language, Dickson ventures far beyond dugout expressions that have already dug out a place in common American speech."
― Rob Kyff, Hartford Courant

"An invaluable American thesaurus."
― Mark Shields

"Stupendous. . . . The best specialty dictionary I’ve seen in years."
― Grant Barrett, lexicographer, NPR

About the Author

Paul Dickson is the author of several bestselling books, including Baseball's Greatest Quotations, The Hidden Language of Baseball, and The Joy of Keeping Score. He lives in Garrett Park, Maryland.

Skip McAfee is an editor, horticulturalist, and baseball enthusiast. He is a member of the Bob Davids Chapter (Washington and Baltimore) of the Society of American Baseball Research. He is the editor of The Dickson Baseball Dictionary and is a contributor to the Research in Baseball Index project. He lives in Columbia, Maryland, with his wife.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Third edition (June 13, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1008 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393340082
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393340082
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.52 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.6 x 2.2 x 9.7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #118,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #129 in Sports Reference (Books)
- #162 in Sports Encyclopedias
- #191 in Baseball (Books)

Customer Reviews:
95 ratings

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Paul Dickson

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Paul Dickson is the author of more than 65 nonfiction books and hundreds of magazine articles. Although he has written on a variety of subjects from ice cream to kite flying to electronic warfare, he now concentrates on writing about the American language, baseball and 20th century history. His most recent narrative is The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor published in 2020. To learn more about Paul please visit his webpage at Pauldicksonbooks.com.

A Few Blurbs for Paul Dickson

“A national treasure who deserves a wide audience.” —Library Journal

“A one-man book factory” The Washington Post.

“He is a good, serious, funny man. And he marches to the music of typewriter with as as much joy as anyone in Washington.—The Washingtonian magazine.

“Paul Dickson is a free spirited freelance writer collects facts and words with what he calls the seal the borders on the compulsive.”—Writing magazine.

“Paul Dickson’s books are a feast.”—The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“Paul Dickson could be called the Energizer bunny of authors …One of the amazing attributes of this prolific writer is that he can’t be pigeonholed: his subject matter is always changing.”—Public Libraries magazine.

“Mr. Dickson is a connoisseur of offbeat and humorous outpourings of the verbal variety. Toasts, jokes, rules, recipes, fables, half-truths feed his insatiable appetite for mind tickling trivia.”—The Kansas City Star

Customer reviews

5 star		86%
4 star		7%
3 star		2%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		5%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Amazon Customer

Unusable as a reference book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

Although it'd be nice to have a copy in my library, this book is virtually unusable as a reference book, in this format. Dictionaries are, obviously, intended as reference works, but there's no way (short of trial and error "jump" scrolling), to move around in the book: not even to get as close as the first letter of a desired entry. No way to copy a passage (again desirable to cite an entry), and no way to search. Going to return it and buy the print version.

Helpful

Jim Wohlenhaus

Keeps getting better and better

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

As a baseball fanatic and historian/researcher, this book is indispensable. It keeps expanding every ten years and has most all baseball terms ever used. However, as the author says, as soon as it is released, he gets mail from people telling him what he missed. He saves them for the nest edition.

Helpful

brooklynbaseball1955

A great companion if you read a lot of baseball books, or just a nice book to own if you love baseball!

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2015

Verified Purchase

Excellent reference book for baseball fans! I haven't read this book cover-to-cover...but as a baseball fan, I love just thumbing through it to find words or phrases that may be more obscure than much of the typical fan vocabulary for baseball. Dickson's book is also a good companion book to have if you read a lot of baseball books -- as many of the words and phrases give you some history that add to the context from use in other books. What I like about this reference book is that in many cases it gives you the source of where a phrase came from -- whether that be geographic, historical, or attributable to a certain author or book. By doing this, the book helps pique interest in other great baseball books or articles.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Who is this guy and how does he know all of this stuff?

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2009

Verified Purchase

Every obsessive pursuit has its own jargon, and baseball is up there with the best of them when it comes to creating a language of its own. Dickson (and perhaps a team of researchers working behind him in the infield and outfield?) seems to know it all. Now that the 2009 baseball season has just come to an end (with the Yankees taking their unprecedented 27th World Series title), many of us will need an occasional baseball fix until spring training rolls around to ward off Post-Season Affective Disorder. This is it -- a way to connect with the game, past and present, in an encyclopedic yet entertaining style. Where else are you going to find an extended essay on the origins and usage of the term "eephus" (a "slowly thrown, high-arcing pitch likely to reach an apex of 25 feet above the ground between the mound and the plate" used to devastating effect by the Pirate's Rip Sewell in the early 40's)? Well, you've got it here.

Helpful

ralphderosa

What do ya know???????

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a great history in baseball in it self !!! The great old pictures included and phrases you don't hear anymore !!! Needs to be updated !! A great collectors item for fans of the game !!!

Helpful

B. Illes

Great Resource for the Baseball Aficinado

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is an awesome and thorough treatise of baseball language - which of course is a language of its own. We hear things every day, from can of corn to southpaw to strikes, balls and fouls - but what is their origins? Really great material on the little details of this game we've loved for 150 years.

Helpful

Shopper

If you own one baseball book, make it this one.

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book is both reference and entertainment. There aren’t many dictionaries that are a pleasure to simply flip through, but this one is. It is filled with not only essential knowledge about the game, but historical notes and trivia that cast light on how baseball expresses who we are as a nation. I own lots of baseball books, but if I could keep only one, this would be it.

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

My husband, an avid baseball fan, loves this book. He likes that it is comprehensive, having everything you want to know about baseball.
This book is a home run in our home! Thank you.

Helpful

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Stu

Top Notch Resource

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

Comprehensive and just the ticket for a Brit starting out watching Baseball on the telly.

JUDGE

Un superbe dico sur le baseball

Reviewed in France on November 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

Que dire de plus que cet ouvrage est LE meilleur sur tout les termes employes dans le sport national Americain, a savoir, le baseball.
C'est une source intarrissable d'informations accessibles pour tout publique, demandant quelques notions d'Anglais (sans plus!!).
Un excellent companion pour comprendre ce sport fort peu diffuse en France, et pour vos jeux sur table de baseball!!

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Johnny

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Is pretty good

pascal

long live baseball

Reviewed in France on September 24, 2012

Verified Purchase

An enlightening, complete and so precise dictionnary of baseball.
I personnally recommand it for any person who interested and/or involved
in that wonderful sport.

hh1bumin

THE DICKSON　BASEBALL DICTIONARY 3RD Edition (English Edtion)　Kindle　版

Reviewed in Japan on January 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

本場、野球の原点たる米国で作成されたもので、内容も読みやすく平易で非常に分かり易い。
NPBファンのみならずMLBファンの方にも是非ご一読をお勧めしたい。

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