Who's on Worst?
The Lousiest Players, Biggest Cheaters, Saddest Goats and Other Antiheroes in Baseball History
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Who were the best ballplayers of all time? It's an endless question, but here's something much more fun: Who was the worst of all time? Who was the lousiest pitcher? The biggest goat? The most despicable owner? The most over-paid bum?
Finally, Filip Bondy answers these questions, wielding his own brand of formidable research, advanced sabermetrics and considerable wit to provide this indispensable guide to the less glorious side of our national pastime. Each chapter is filled with rich and colorful stories about the players unfortunate enough to be chosen in each category--like "Too Fat to Bat" or "Anyone Seen My Mitt." So welcome to the Hall of Shame. It's awesome.
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New York Daily News sportswriter Bondy offers a compendium of the lore that has elevated baseball to religious status. The title a play on the Abbott and Costello vaudeville skit, "Who's on First?" is an appropriate summary of a sport that is "all about failure." Bondy mixes humor with fact and a fan's passion in unearthing those who have contributed their talents. He reaches back to the 19th century for Frederick "Crazy" Schmit (a pitcher who kept notes on hitters and "quite often pulled out his notebook on the mound"), while not shying away from today's stars. The narrative is divided into chapters like "Too Fat to Bat," and "What's an Emery Board?" about pitchers who thought they could use a little help. Deft turns of phrases about players such as Dave DeBusschere, who "wasted his baseball talent winning NBA titles," lend irony to an already amusing look at players who have "elevated failure, or folly, to fresh, artful levels." Photos.
