Lineup for Yesterday

November 15, 2011
Baseball legends of yesteryear come alive more or less alphabetically in Nash's pithy verses. Twenty-four players of the first half of the 20th century are profiled in playful, humorous short poems with an ABCB rhyme scheme. When they were written, in 1949, Cobb, Ott and the others would have been familiar to contemporary readers. Although modern youngsters might recognize Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, most of the players here will be ancient, unknown history to them. Wisely, the verses are accompanied by statistical information and delightful, large-scale, close-up depictions of the players in action, rendered by Payne in layers of colored pencil, acrylics, water colors and a variety of other media. Following each group of three or four verses, and headed by a diminutive version of the appropriate illustration, Nash's daughter Linell Nash Smith provides more detailed information about each player. She also contributes a charming introduction in which she recalls memories of sharing her father's deep love of the game. Nash concurs. "I is for me, / Not a hard hitting man, / But an outstanding all-time / Incurable fan." Not for the casual fan, but a work that can be joyfully shared by young baseball enthusiasts with parents and grandparents, who will add their own memories of favorite players of later eras. Lovingly nostalgic. (Informational picture book/poetry. 9 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2012

Gr 4-8-Originally published in the January 1949 issue of Sport magazine, Nash's well-known ABC collection of four-liners about 24 baseball greats-with careers spanning the years 1890-1953-has been reproduced as an illustrated book, along with statistics and biographical information on each player added by the poet's daughter, Linell Nash Smith. The selections are laden with references to players' nicknames, exaggerations about their capabilities (pitcher Walter Johnson "Was so fast he could throw/Three strikes at a time"), and allusions to personality traits that made these men unforgettable. Payne's well-detailed, on-the-field portraits-a few with hints of caricature-show off the artist's considerable talent for capturing his subjects' personalities as well as their likenesses. His familiarity with the game is apparent in touches like the position of a pitcher's hand after the release of a knuckle ball and the look of fierce concentration on a batter's face. Brief player information appears on each page; two pages of well-researched biographical and anecdotal information follow every few pages of verse. Smith's introduction recounts memories of attending games of the local International League Orioles with her baseball-loving family. Youngsters who relish the history of the sport will treasure this beautifully presented lineup from a former era.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

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