National Pastime

by John Thorn

A collection of articles, essays, statistics, and lore on the game of baseball, by such well-known American baseball writers as Bill James, Lawrence S. Ritter, Pete Palmer, Bob Broeg, and Jim Kaplan

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1982

About the author

John Thorn has been the official historian for Major League Baseball since 2011.

Reviews

[Andrew]

A collection of articles and essay by various members of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) that runs the gamut from statistical analyses to joyful anecdotes to a discussion about the social implications of the game in America and Japan. Although the book is now fairly dated, many of the articles still hold up well. I would particularly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about pre-1900 baseball, as a significant portion of the articles relate to that period.