Banana Bats & Ding-dong Balls: A Century of Unique Baseball Inventions

by Dan Gutman

No sooner was baseball invented than inspiring visionaries began to dream up gizmos that would enhance, alter, or add to the game. Here is a collection of the most intriguing and bizarre baseball inventions--each accompanied by the original illustrations the inventor submitted when applying for a patent.

Genres: Baseball

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

The author of over 80 books in a little over a decade of writing, Dan Gutman has written on topics from computers to baseball. Beginning his freelance career as a nonfiction author dealing mostly with sports for adults and young readers, Gutman has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the time-travel sports book Honus and Me and its sequels, and a clutch of baseball books, including The Green Monster from Left Field. From hopeful and very youthful presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman's fertile imagination. As he noted on his author Web site, since writing his first novel, They Came from Centerfield, in 1994, he has been hooked on fiction. "It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD."

Gutman was born in New York City in 1955, but moved to Newark, New Jersey the following year and spent his youth there.

Reviews

[Igor]

This book basically goes through every aspect of baseball 'tech' through the ages. You do learn about all different kinds of bats besides standard wood and the tin cans (aluminum) and the evolution of baseballs. The really interesting part of this book is the advancement of the smaller things like catcher masks and devices to call balls and strikes. To tell the story of baseball's evolution you get to see vintage ads and photos along with newspaper and magazine clippings from the turn of the century until the early 80's. If you are at all interested in how sports and their equipment changed together this book is a must read.

[Ron Kaplan]

history,innovation,equipment