The Comic Book Story of Baseball

February 26, 2018
This splendid scrapbook of the history of baseball bulges with sports lore. Beginning with the real origins of the game, found in bat and ball variants played by Puritan settlers hundreds of years before Abner Doubleday supposedly invented it in 1839, Irvine tours through the odd personalities and special moments in this “sport of myths” through to the 21st century. Here, arranged chronologically, are snapshots of significant players, from William Arthur “Candy” Cummings, who invented the curveball in 1867, to David Ortiz, whose eligibility for the Hall of Fame was debated after he retired in 2016 as a mere designated hitter. Along with the stars on the playing field, the book highlights notable managers, owners, even umpires—and odd commentary, such as Virginia Woolf’s observation that Ring Larder’s baseball stories reveal that American’s fascination with the game provides a central cultural meeting space. Other sections delve into political context, such as the color line that kept African-Americans out of the major leagues and the reserve clause that kept players in servitude to owners. With dense text boxes and vivid color art, pages feature player portraits, maps and timelines, and historical narratives, all rendered in traditional comics art. This is an affectionate, accessible, and informative volume on how Americans play the nation’s favorite game.

March 1, 2018
A visual history of the game, from playfully imagined early precursors ("Overrunneth not the bag, Prudence!") to 21st-century feats and follies."Everything in baseball gets mythologized," Irvine writes, and accordingly he dishes up scornful dismissals of Abner Doubleday, Babe Ruth's "called shot," and even the Cubbies' "curse of the billy goat" in this overview. Still, he sometimes succumbs to the lure himself, as when he declares Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak "in all likelihood, the most improbable feat in the history of organized sports." His minute tallies of the comings and goings of leagues and teams and stadiums down the years make arid reading, but even indifferent fans will find his profiles of colorful figures (particularly the "misfits and weirdos") and their pithy comments (Mantle, on Koufax: "How the f*ck are you supposed to hit that sh*t?") entertaining. Moreover, his frank acknowledgement of the sport's racist past as well as worthy if sometimes tone-deaf nods to players in and from Japan and Latin American countries, to women, to Native Americans (in a box headed "Hail to the Chief"), and to select stars of the Negro Leagues add at least some depth to the historical picture. Unfortunately, the story is not shaped into a coherent narrative but presented in fragmentary bits, with many digressions and glances ahead. Shoehorning the text boxes and speech balloons into cramped black-and-white panels only adds to the general disorder.An overstuffed patchwork. (glossary, index) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-14)

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April 1, 2018

A high percentage of the history of baseball in this country is legendary, to the point of being mythological. Award-winning novelist and game writer Irvine (Avengers Alliance; The Narrows; Buyout) does not claw the truth out of these fanciful backstories but rather exposes them gently like peeling back the horsehide covering of a baseball to show the substantial layers of fact. This ambitious work, a clear labor of love, conveys well the eccentricities, politics, evolution, graft, and critical timing found in this supposed National Pastime. The panels of snapshot art, logos, and portraits are laid out like a fine museum display with an easy narrative spiking at all the great and bizarre moments vital to this convoluted chronicle. VERDICT Marvel comics veterans Coker and Smith deliver powerful graphics, tinted lightly with color for a marvelous vintage effect, while Irvine orchestrates a brief, masterly overview of this morale-boosting sport. Fans of any age will love.--Russell Miller, formerly with Prescott P.L., AZ

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