Publishers Weekly on Cheater’s Guide
How cool is that, The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball got reviewed in Publishers Weekly.
Baseball blogger Zumsteg (ussmariner.com) argues that cheating-within reason-is not only not a bad thing, it actually makes baseball a more nuanced game. Using a wealth of anecdotal evidence and some statistical analysis, he argues that baseball has evolved hand-in-hand with the aid of its scoundrels, scamps, and shifty characters-and that doctoring the ball or stealing signs necessitates teams, umpires and even fans adopt more complex strategy. Zumsteg draws the line at gambling, game fixing and steroid use, showing little sympathy for the Black Sox and even less for Pete Rose. While baseball aficionados will be familiar with many of Zumsteg’s stories, his wit will keep most casual fans entertained. Whether he’s describing what might happen in a car crash with Pete Rose (“I admitted that I hit your car … Can’t we stop this witch-hunt and get on with our lives?”) or laying blame for the steroid era on everyone from the commissioner to the fans, Zumsteg dispenses with the sanctimoniousness of most current sports writing. Although his prose style and humor are sometimes better suited to the Web (a few lengthy asides come across as amateurish), Zumsteg still creates a funny, honest look at the history of baseball’s black arts.
They may well be referring to the conversation about intestinal parasites Jeff and I have in the steroids chapter (“A Conversation About Jason Giambi with Fulbright Scholar Jeff Shaw”). It is… well, if I made a list of adjectives to describe that sidebar, “professional” would not be one of them.
Anyway — pre-order now, while it’s still a bargain at $11.
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the accolades are piling up!
I hear Intestinal Parasite Quarterly is doing a feature.
hey! it’s just ï¿¥1,555
wow….your prose style AND humor are better suited to the web…. that’s not like saying you have a face made for the radio is it? 🙂
Say, what is this book you speak of? I do not believe I have heard of it!
“sometimes” better suited. Not all the time. Or even most of the time. Let’s just be clear.
Interestingly, it would seem that while there may be parts of the book the reviewer thinks would work better on the web, we’ve seen that at least w/r/t Bugs, there are times when writing humor for the web makes an easy tradition into books like, say, Best American Sportswriting.
Tradition! Tradition!
(I’m assuming you meant transition)
Congrats DMZ! Like you said before (I beleive on the Cheater’s blog), the important thing is you’re getting reviewed.
Personally, I just found out I had the book pre-ordered for me as a birthday present, to go along with “Now I Can Die In Peace” by Bill Simmons (which I already read while waiting for a delayed flight to AND from Vegas last weekend), and the “Big Book of Baseball Blunders” by Rob Neyer.
Got mine pre-ordered.
Good to see the reviews coming out. You even got some love at Baseball Musings today as well.
So are you having an official release party? If not, you should…
By the way, the magazine’s name is Publishers Weekly. No apostrophe.
And congratulations.
For a second, I misread that as “Fulbright Scholar Jason Giambi”, which is a very weird mental image.
Also, I’m not preordering, because I intend to buy a copy when I go up to Third Place Books to heckle you on April 11th. So there.
I can cheat (appropriately) because I work for the publisher (Houghton Mifflin) so I’m already reading it! It’s been bound and is in the warehouse and they’re starting to ship so it’s in stores in time for the pub date. I get new books automatically sent to me (as part of my job), and I was so happy when Cheater’s Guide showed up in my cube. I’d been waiting for it since I first heard we were publishing it. It’s totally awesome. I’m trying not to spend too much time at work reading it. Of course, then I remember to get my priorities straight and read it anyway, trying not to laugh out loud and disturb people nearby.
Everyone go out and preorder it! It’s totally worth it. And I’m not just saying that because I work for the publisher. Great job, Derek!
crap crap crap. I will be in South Carolina. Not that I will mind sitting in SC, having a nice dinner, perhaps enjoying an adult beverage, but I want to heckle, too.
oh, and another thumbs up on the book.
I should write that customer blurb, now, shouldn’t I?
Let me just say I’m almost as excited to read it as you are about the release date.
(which is to say I’m really excited, and Fantastic Work, DMZ)
I read it last month. It’s pretty good.
14: Go to Powell’s on 3/26!
http://www.powells.com/calendar.html
By the way, you also got a good mention in Entertainment Weekly this week.
http://ussmariner.com/2007/03/16/red-hot-evening-update/
14: Go to Powell’s on 3/26!
Only if you want to be there a month early. DMZ’s thing is on 4/26.
It’s also at the Hawthorne Powell’s, not the downtown one – which means afterwards I’ll be heading over to Nick’s Coney Island for a couple beers. You should too.
It’s at the Hawthorne Powell’s? This is good to know.
Much love for the book AND the Hawthorne Powell’s. We can grab beers at Nick’s and then walk a block to the Baghdad for a flick and a pint of McMenamin’s finest. Sounds like a splendid evening to me.
And of course cool stuff like this happens after I move SOUTH. No one ever comes to Medford.
HOMER!!!!!!!!!! 😛
I preordered mine from Powell’s, and will be picking it up from the Beaverton location as soon as it gets in.
well, just to make up for it, obviously the next Seattle-area signing will have to be at a bar.
Hey, Rain Delay, I have been in Ashland, Medford, and Grants Pass several times in the last few months. Southern Oregon represent! 🙂
Word Yo!
Ok, almost no one comes to Medford. Though I guess you don’t count until we go have a brew or something. 🙂
My parents may be moving to Brookings, so that would draw me to Southern Orygone a lot.
I wonder what the traffic’s like in Brookings.
I hear it’s a lot better than McCall, actually. But I’ve never been there.
Well, report back when you know more.
About the traffic in Brookings.
Obviously, if you reported back every time you learned anything, you’d be commenting all the time.
Or not.
Though either way would simulate one of the two states of relationships vis-a-vis Corco and USSM. See graph.
I am not big on buying books new, even neat baseball books, but I just pre-ordered your book, Derek. SO THERE.
There’s a reason for that.
Yeah I’ve been here a year, and I’m just figuring that out. heh..
DMZ, I just got an email from Amazon saying your book will be at my house early. Delivery estimate is now between March 30 and April 2.
Yay.
I got the same Amazon email.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to make the book signing on 4/26 at Powell’s. If there is an after-signing beer fest, I would like to attend and get an autograph for my copy of the book!
Hmm, my notice said the book has shipped and is estimated to arrive March 27th. Very cool.