"Baseball Research Journal Fourth Annual"

 Review of

Baseball Research Journal Fourth Annual

Five out of five stars

Reading equivalent of a gourmet meal

 As a lifelong baseball fan, items like this are food for my soul, which makes me fairly typical of the true fan of the game. Nothing is more pleasing than to read of one more data point where the subject is baseball. In that context, this journal is the reading equivalent of a gourmet meal.

 The papers in this issue include:

 

*) James “Deacon” White – a description of the career of James White, a player considered one of the best in the decades of the 1870’s and 1880’s.

*) A Most Spectacular Debut – an article about the major league debut of Russ Van Atta on April 25, 1933. He was the starting pitcher for the New York Yankees against the Washington Senators and pitched a five-hit shutout and went four-for-four at the plate.

*) The Grand Slam Story – a summary of the players who hit the first and most home runs with the bases loaded.

*) Pitchers Hitting Grand Slams – a summary of grand slam homers hit by pitchers since 1900.

*) Gehrig Streak Reviewed – a listing of the games where unusual measures were taken to preserve Lou Gehrig’s streak of consecutive games played.

*) The 1919 White Sox Depicted – a description of the factionalism of the infamous “Black Sox” team that attempted to throw the World Series.

 

 The characteristic of “Baseball Research Journal” that I find the most appealing is that many of the articles deal with players and situations before 1920. Very few of those players ever get mentioned in histories of the game and their contributions to the grandeur of the sport were very significant. The contributors to this journal are obviously engaged in a labor of love and we are all the better for it.