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The Dickson Baseball Dictionary
Defines baseball terms and jargon from agent to zimmerman, identifies team nicknames, and describes the history of baseball stadiums
438 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1989
10 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Paul Dickson
143 books41 followersPaul Dickson is the author of more than 45 nonfiction books and hundreds of magazine articles. Although he has written on a variety of subjects from ice cream to kite flying to electronic warfare, he now concentrates on writing about the American language, baseball and 20th century history.
Dickson, born in Yonkers, NY, graduated from Wesleyan University in 1961 and was honored as a Distinguished Alumnae of that institution in 2001. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy and later worked as a reporter for McGraw-Hill Publications.
Since 1968, he has been a full-time freelance writer contributing articles to various magazines and newspapers, including Smithsonian, Esquire, The Nation, Town & Country, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post and writing numerous books on a wide range of subjects.
He received a University Fellowship for reporters from the American Political Science Association to do his first book, Think Tanks (1971). For his book, The Electronic Battlefield (1976), about the impact automatic weapons systems have had on modern warfare, he received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism to support his efforts to get certain Pentagon files declassified.
His book The Bonus Army: An American Epic, written with Thomas B. Allen, was published by Walker and Co. on February 1, 2005. It tells the dramatic but largely forgotten story of the approximately 45,000 World War I veterans who marched on Washington in the summer of 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, to demand early payment of a bonus promised them for their wartime service and of how that march eventually changed the course of American history and led to passage of the GI Bill—the lasting legacy of the Bonus Army. A documentary based on the book aired on PBS stations in May 2006 and an option for a feature film based on the book has been sold.
Dickson's most recent baseball book, The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign Stealing Have Influenced the Course of our National Pastime, also by Walker and Co, was first published in May, 2003 and came out in paperback in June, 2005. It follows other works of baseball reference including The Joy of Keeping Score, Baseballs Greatest Quotations, Baseball the Presidents Game and The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary, now in it's second edition. A third edition is currently in the works. The original Dickson Baseball Dictionary was awarded the 1989 Macmillan-SABR Award for Baseball Research.
Sputnik: The Shock of the Century, another Walker book, came out in October, 2001 and was subsequently issued in paperback by Berkeley Books. Like his first book, Think Tanks (1971), and his latest, Sputnik, was born of his first love: investigative journalism. Dickson is working on a feature documentary about Sputnik with acclaimed documentarians David Hoffmanand Kirk Wolfinger.
Two of his older language books, Slang and Label For Locals came out in the fall of 2006 in new and expanded versions.
Dickson is a founding member and former president of Washington Independent Writers and a member of the National Press Club. He is a contributing editor at Washingtonian magazine and a consulting editor at Merriam-Webster, Inc. and is represented by Premier Speakers Bureau, Inc. and the Jonathan Dolger Literary agency.
He currently lives in Garrett Park, Maryland with his wife Nancy who works with him as his first line editor, and financial manager.
Dickson, born in Yonkers, NY, graduated from Wesleyan University in 1961 and was honored as a Distinguished Alumnae of that institution in 2001. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy and later worked as a reporter for McGraw-Hill Publications.
Since 1968, he has been a full-time freelance writer contributing articles to various magazines and newspapers, including Smithsonian, Esquire, The Nation, Town & Country, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post and writing numerous books on a wide range of subjects.
He received a University Fellowship for reporters from the American Political Science Association to do his first book, Think Tanks (1971). For his book, The Electronic Battlefield (1976), about the impact automatic weapons systems have had on modern warfare, he received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism to support his efforts to get certain Pentagon files declassified.
His book The Bonus Army: An American Epic, written with Thomas B. Allen, was published by Walker and Co. on February 1, 2005. It tells the dramatic but largely forgotten story of the approximately 45,000 World War I veterans who marched on Washington in the summer of 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, to demand early payment of a bonus promised them for their wartime service and of how that march eventually changed the course of American history and led to passage of the GI Bill—the lasting legacy of the Bonus Army. A documentary based on the book aired on PBS stations in May 2006 and an option for a feature film based on the book has been sold.
Dickson's most recent baseball book, The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign Stealing Have Influenced the Course of our National Pastime, also by Walker and Co, was first published in May, 2003 and came out in paperback in June, 2005. It follows other works of baseball reference including The Joy of Keeping Score, Baseballs Greatest Quotations, Baseball the Presidents Game and The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary, now in it's second edition. A third edition is currently in the works. The original Dickson Baseball Dictionary was awarded the 1989 Macmillan-SABR Award for Baseball Research.
Sputnik: The Shock of the Century, another Walker book, came out in October, 2001 and was subsequently issued in paperback by Berkeley Books. Like his first book, Think Tanks (1971), and his latest, Sputnik, was born of his first love: investigative journalism. Dickson is working on a feature documentary about Sputnik with acclaimed documentarians David Hoffmanand Kirk Wolfinger.
Two of his older language books, Slang and Label For Locals came out in the fall of 2006 in new and expanded versions.
Dickson is a founding member and former president of Washington Independent Writers and a member of the National Press Club. He is a contributing editor at Washingtonian magazine and a consulting editor at Merriam-Webster, Inc. and is represented by Premier Speakers Bureau, Inc. and the Jonathan Dolger Literary agency.
He currently lives in Garrett Park, Maryland with his wife Nancy who works with him as his first line editor, and financial manager.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 13, 2009
This gigantic book is the new edition and is almost twice the size of the previous one (1999). I went to hear Dickson speak the other night when he was in town for the SABR convention. The room was filled with folks who were every bit as wacked out as I was about the game.
I find I keep this essential dictionary near my desk and TV and check it both to see if I really understand something, to see if something just said is in the book, and/or to get something to stump one of my chump (fans of teams other than the Sox) friends.
Did you know…. for instance…that a ‘Demolition Derby’ is a grand slam, that a ‘Hipper-Dipper’ is a sharp breaking curve ball, a sneaky curve, or that an ‘Onion’ can mean a baseball, a lemon, a stupid player, or a player’s head (as opposed to an ‘Onion Picker’ which is an old term for a third baseman or an outfielder)?
You might want to save this 900+ page Dickson book for the dead of winter when you are feeling deprived and at a loss for a meaning to your life. But I think you can go ahead and get it now, as there are more than 10,000 entries and 18,000 definitions, enough to keep you busy now and later.
Plus, you can show off your baseball knowledge between innings when the Sox are safely (?) ahead in a game.
I find I keep this essential dictionary near my desk and TV and check it both to see if I really understand something, to see if something just said is in the book, and/or to get something to stump one of my chump (fans of teams other than the Sox) friends.
Did you know…. for instance…that a ‘Demolition Derby’ is a grand slam, that a ‘Hipper-Dipper’ is a sharp breaking curve ball, a sneaky curve, or that an ‘Onion’ can mean a baseball, a lemon, a stupid player, or a player’s head (as opposed to an ‘Onion Picker’ which is an old term for a third baseman or an outfielder)?
You might want to save this 900+ page Dickson book for the dead of winter when you are feeling deprived and at a loss for a meaning to your life. But I think you can go ahead and get it now, as there are more than 10,000 entries and 18,000 definitions, enough to keep you busy now and later.
Plus, you can show off your baseball knowledge between innings when the Sox are safely (?) ahead in a game.
August 25, 2010
Paul Dickson is a prolific writer whose work includes such serious works of history as THE BONUS ARMY: AN AMERICAN EPIC and SPUTNIK: THE SHOCK OF THE CENTURY, as well as numerous books on such topics as language, culture, and baseball.
I am a particular fan of his books about baseball, including THE HIDDEN LANGUAGE OF BASEBALL and BASEBALL: THE PRESIDENT'S GAME, both of which are entertaining and informative. But my favorite is the third edition of Dickson's THE DICKSON BASEBALL DICTIONARY. The book is weighty--literally, as it runs a total of 974 pages--and it is exhaustively researched and annotated. It is a gem. Dickson has included every conceivable baseball term or reference and put it in context. Each entry is a delight. Few reference books--especially of this length--can hold a reader's attention the way this dictionary does. You can read it--and I mean this--cover to cover, without getting bored or dazed. Each page has nuggets of new information about America's game.
For anyone who loves baseball--its history, its connection to our culture and national life--and for anyone who loves words and the way language works, this book is a must.
I am a particular fan of his books about baseball, including THE HIDDEN LANGUAGE OF BASEBALL and BASEBALL: THE PRESIDENT'S GAME, both of which are entertaining and informative. But my favorite is the third edition of Dickson's THE DICKSON BASEBALL DICTIONARY. The book is weighty--literally, as it runs a total of 974 pages--and it is exhaustively researched and annotated. It is a gem. Dickson has included every conceivable baseball term or reference and put it in context. Each entry is a delight. Few reference books--especially of this length--can hold a reader's attention the way this dictionary does. You can read it--and I mean this--cover to cover, without getting bored or dazed. Each page has nuggets of new information about America's game.
For anyone who loves baseball--its history, its connection to our culture and national life--and for anyone who loves words and the way language works, this book is a must.
October 8, 2007
the best book i've seen to explain those weird phrases that baseball broadcasters and journalists use. gives a definition, some background, the first example in history of the phrase being used, etc. a good book to have by your side when you're watching or listening to a game.
January 7, 2009
I met my wife thanks to this book!
Want to read
March 24, 2009Gift from my wife, just in time for the new season. What a sweetheart.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews