Sports Illustrated is out with another book that you will want for your coffee table if you are a baseball fan.
Baseball’s Greatest ranks the best of the best in the game’s history. The rankings include position-by-position, best sluggers, best managers, best games, etc..
Even though the Cubs haven’t won in 105 years, they still rank as the eighth best franchise in history. Go ahead and debate.
While the book will spark some conversation, it really is just another excuse for Sports Illustrated to showcase its best photos and writing.
The great Ron Fimrite on Hank Aaron hitting 715:
Henry Aaron’s ordeal ended at 9:07 p.m. Monday, April 8. It ended in a carnival atmosphere that would have been more congenial to the man he surpassed as baseball’s all-time home-run champion. But it ended. And for that, as Aaron advised the 53,775 Atlanta fans who came to enshrine him in the game’s pantheon, “Thank God.”
And what can you say about the photos? Naturally, I love the vintage shots: A close-up of Yogi Berra in his catcher’s mask; a young, cocky Reggie Jackson signing autographs; Fans in full focus watching Willie Mays go deep; Earl Weaver getting tossed but not without a fight.
It is Sports Illustrated at its best.
Here’s the official rundown from SI:
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Ruth or Aaron? Gibson or Koufax? Fenway or Wrigley? Yankees or Dodgers?
For as long as there has been baseball, pundits and fans of America’s favorite pastime have argued, deliberated and analyzed over who are the best players, the best teams, the best games and more. Indeed, one can ask an entire stadium of people and come up with an entire stadium of answers.
Now the Major League Baseball experts from Sports Illustrated weigh in with thought-provoking and insightful answers to the questions that have been pondered since the days of Abner Doubleday.
Indeed, the new must-have coffee-table book Baseball’s Greatest (Oct. 8, 2013, Time Home Entertainment, $32.95) offers the hands-down, unequivocal “Top 10” in more than 20 categories, including the top sluggers, pitchers, stadiums, managers, and franchises.
According to Bill Syken, the book’s editor, baseball is the toughest sport to judge across the ages: “When you attempt to compare Honus Wagner to Derek Jeter, or Stan Musial to Barry Bonds, or Walter Johnson to Roger Clemens, there are no right answers, only compelling arguments—and this book is full of them.”
Baseball’s Greatest also pays tribute to the diamond’s best characters and the most impressive records that may never be surpassed and includes hundreds of classic images and the storytelling that only the writers of Sports Illustrated can provide.
“As I researched classic SI stories, I was reminded of how many great writers SI has had over the years,” Syken said. “Robert W. Creamer, Ron Fimrite and Tom Verducci all represent the height of their craft, and the prose from them and many other spectacular writers makes the personalities in this book come alive.”
To create this ultimate fan book, Syken also assembled a lineup of SI’s baseball writers and editors that includes Tom Verducci, Stephen Cannella, Kostya Kennedy, David Sabino, Dick Friedman, Albert Chen and David Bauer. As they spiritedly debated every category to reach a consensus, the panelists justified their rankings, and their comments appear in the book alongside each Top 10 selection.
Their stunning collaborative effort resulted in not only rankings for the best players by position, but also produced lists that range from best base runners and defensive players to best quotes and movies—endlessly arguable topics that sports fans will love.
“My favorite section in the book is probably the greatest games,” Syken added. “Reading the old stories, you relive not only Fisk’s home run, or Mookie Wilson’s grounder, but all the forgotten drama that led up to those moments.”