I finally started reading the copy of "The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" that I got a couple of months back. It's very good so far. The layout is absolutely perfect for a scatterbrain like me. I'm about halfway through as of this typing, but would already recommend it highly for any baseball history buffs out there.
I don't read a lot of things that make me laugh out loud anymore, but there's an anecdote in this book that did, and I feel like it's worth sharing (even though I haven't gotten permission to do so).
A bit of context for those that may not know, Hughie Jennings is a former player, a HOF player, and was the then Tigers manager.
I love it! Stories like this could only come from that era. There will be nothing like this in a hundred years about today's players. I just wish that we knew the kid's name.
Also, because I'm always interested in what the cost of past things would be today, that $1.80 ticket back in 1916 would, as of right now, be $46.43 in 2022.
This was a bit of a throwaway post, I know, but it's all I've got for today. I'll have a real post up sometime in the next few days.
That's a fun story.
ReplyDeleteWow, $1.80 in 1916, must have been a 1st class ticket.
ReplyDeleteThat I don't know. I would have to think that it was at least a round-trip ticket though.
DeleteBill James' Abstract books were quite entertaining when I was buying them in the 1980s. There was always humor in his writing, which made what was then an unusual take on statistics easier to absorb. I wish I still had those books.
ReplyDeleteI saw his 1990 book at the bookstore yesterday, but it looked like about 1/3 of it was wasted (my opinion) on draft prospects. I left it at the bookstore.
DeleteCool and funny story, thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteSweet! Sometimes throwaway posts like these are the best!
ReplyDeleteWith my short attention span... these are the type of stories my brain can handle. Guess I'll have to track down a copy of The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.
ReplyDeleteThere are some more in-depth pieces in there too, but yeah, there's a quite a few little blurbs like this in the 1/3 of the book. He does a really good job breaking down how, and why, the game has over the years; which in my mind, was alone worth the $2.75 that I paid for it.
DeleteThrough the 1980s at least there were lots of wacky stories about ballplayers. I had a book called "Baseball Confidential" when I was a kid, which was all '70s and '80s anecdotes. There don't seem to be the same kind of anecdotes today.
ReplyDeleteThe internet has done away with all of that.
DeleteThat was a good one!
ReplyDelete