Watching Baseball Smarter

A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks

By: Zack Hample

Narrated by: Barry Abrams

This smart and funny fan's guide to baseball explains the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, while offering insider trivia and anecdotes that will appeal to anyone - whether you're a major league couch potato, lifelong season ticket-holder, or a beginner.

• What is the difference between a slider and a curveball?
• At which stadium did "The Wave" first make an appearance?
• How do some hitters use iPods to improve their skills?
• Which positions are never played by lefties?
• Why do some players urinate on their hands?

Combining the narrative voice and attitude of Michael Lewis with the compulsive brilliance of Schott's Miscellany, Watching Baseball Smarter will increase your understanding and enjoyment of the sport-no matter what your level of expertise.

©2007 Zack Hample (P)2017 Tantor

basic baseball

What a great book for basic baseball knowledge. great for levels of all types

Needs updates

I read the book years ago when it came out. It is a great overview of the game and really does make the reader baseball smarter. But, baseball evolves and this book needs some minor updates to maintain relevancy. Overall, I was still happy to listen - a very easy and quick and enjoyable time!

I'd rather read the text

There's nothing that wrong with this book or the enthusiastic reading of it; it's just that it turned out to be the kind of nonfiction book I'd rather dip into at my own pace; this one is filled with facts and moves very fast. I'm learning that for me, baseball audiobooks probably work better as journalistic stories (such as, talking of baseball, the fine "Where Nobody Knows Your Name," about life in the Minor Leagues). I'll continue looking for good baseball books as it's a fascinating subject to me and I have so much to learn, but I'm reluctantly returning this one and will probably buy it in a print format instead. The audiobook might work very well for other listeners, though.

good book!

lots of stuff I didn't know about the game and subtle nuances I never realized

No New Information

This is an overview of rules and statistics that is already well known to baseball fans. I would only recommend to new baseball fans.