Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends, and Eerie Events

by Mickey Bradley, Dan Gordon

Baseball and ghost stories are as American as apple pie. Haunted Baseball combines both with this fun and freaky collection of otherworldly yarns. Collected from baseball players, stadium personnel, umpires, front-office folks, and fans, the tales told here explore the spooky connection between baseball and the paranormal, including Babe Ruth sightings at a former brothel, the Curse of the Billy Goat that still haunts the Chicago Cubs, of hidden passageways within the depths of Dodger Stadium, and of the spirits of legendary stars that inspire modern-day players at Yankee Stadium. We hear why Johnny Damon believes in ghosts, and how the memories of a 9/11 hero inspired Ken Griffey Jr. to hit a home run against the Phillies―a team against which he'd never even gotten a hit! There's the story of how Sam Rice settled a decades-old baseball controversy with a message from beyond the grave, and how the late Roberto Clemente had premonitions of his own death in a plane crash. With a wealth of anecdotes that have never before been told before, the authors present an entertaining and eerie look at our national pastime.

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Andy Patton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories, with very extensive interviews. Another reviewer already said it, it's not important that these stories are true necessarily, just that they are entertaining. As someone who enjoys insight into baseball history and the players, I enjoyed many of these stories. However, it got a tad repetitive and only about half the stories were really captivating. I'd give it a 3.5 if I could, worth checking out as a baseball fan, but maybe skip a few chapters that aren't interesting.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. Entertaining, but really only for the open-minded baseball fan. Ghost story lovers will be mildly entertained, and the discussion of the various curses reputed to be on a number of teams are likely to be interesting only to the fans of those particular teams. Plus, a number of them have been dispelled entirely since the book was published, so. . .

[Aaron Badgley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baseball and ghost stories, what more can you ask for?

[Red Heaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent read. It's not so important that the stories are true, just that they are entertaining, and to be fair, the book has an extensive range of stories encompassing most of the history of the professional game. In fact, it was over-long and might have been better for being edited down by fifty pages or so.

[Robert Marsh]

Feeding my love of Halloween -- during baseball season.