"Completing riveting—the story of the THE LEGENDS CLUB will appeal to both diehard NCAA fans and utter novices (such as myself). John Feinstein explor"Completing riveting—the story of the THE LEGENDS CLUB will appeal to both diehard NCAA fans and utter novices (such as myself). John Feinstein explores the epic college basketball rivalry of NCAA basketball coaches Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Valvano with heart and with a lifelong expert’s appreciation. John Feinstein knew all of these coaches personally during their rivalry, and he brings his personal experience into the story. Luckily, Feinstein isn’t one to sensationalize the story and only focus on their competition. The parts of the book that I enjoyed the most were the emotional and personal anecdotes, and the stories of the men’s respect for, and eventual friendship with, each other. As bonus points, I can now fake my way through a conversation as a college basketball fan!" - Sarah E. Doubleday Marketing Department...more
“What a treat to have so much Roger Angell in one place! As a fan of baseball, I’ve long been familiar with Roger Angell’s sports writing. As a fan of“What a treat to have so much Roger Angell in one place! As a fan of baseball, I’ve long been familiar with Roger Angell’s sports writing. As a fan of The New Yorker, I’m absolutely aware of Roger’s prowess as an essayist and a practiced observer of life. I didn’t realize that his childhood was filled to the brim with the stuff of literary dreams—his mother, Katharine White, was the first fiction editor at The New Yorker and his stepfather was E.B. White—but how delightful to have these reminenses peppered in throughout the book. This Old Man is an utterly charming and immensely rewarding read. I tore through his odes to authors, chuckled at the best of his annual New Yorker Christmas poems, and relished his quippy thoughts on baseball and life in New York City. This is a book to keep in a prominent place in your home, for house guests to enjoy and for you to dive into in frequent bursts.” - Sarah E. Doubleday Marketing Department...more
WORST HITTERS OF ALL TIME: BILL BERGEN, RANKED NO. 1
Bill Bergen was a catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas in the dead-ball era, when everyone was in a WORST HITTERS OF ALL TIME: BILL BERGEN, RANKED NO. 1
Bill Bergen was a catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas in the dead-ball era, when everyone was in a slump of sorts. Still, even by the measure of his day, Bergen set the gold standard for persistent batting ineptitude. While he demonstrated his futility way back in 1909, his achievement lives and breathes today, still fueling controversy as to whether his hitless slump was really 0-for-45, or 0-for-46. Historians have argued whether one particular handwritten scorecard had him at 0 for 2 in a game or 0 for 3. And when Craig Counsell of the Brewers laced a pinch-hit single at 0-for-45 in 2011, it meant the Bergen argument would live another day.
Regardless, Bergen made himself a good case for being labeled the very worst hitter in major-league history. He still holds the record for the lowest single-season batting average, .139, for a position player with a qualifying number of at-bats. He also posted the lowest career batting average, .170, and hit a grand total of two homers in 3,028 at-bats. How did Bergen manage to draw a paycheck for 11 seasons? The catcher had a Hall of Fame arm, amassing 1,444 assists in 941 games behind the plate.
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