This book would be a good gift for a baseball fan with an extensive library already established. It's an ok read with a lot of statistics and analysis and only a few stories. The beginning and the end were interesting stories but the middle was filled with pages of statistics that didn't interest me. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

There are a few stories in here that were new to me....like the player that stole first base. But the book falls short of being and OLD TIMEY BASEBALL story book due to the large amount of picture and stats used to fill the book out..
If you are REALLY into stats, this will please you. If, like me, you really wanted stories, this is not it.

Baseball is a game where both stories and history are important. So much so that serious fans are called "students of the game" and the process of watching the game and sharing stories and history is said to be "talking baseball." Clearly, Williams is a student of the game and wants to talk baseball with us. He is also not a fan of the current obsession with stats and measurements, hence the "old-fashioned" in the title.

Unhappily he is a very pedestrian writer and this does not do the book any justice, much of it is about as exciting as a high school research paper. I came to an appreciation of baseball through the stories, the history and books about baseball. I wish this book could be added to that list

In a summer without baseball, I was looking for a quick fix. This book helped. Though not particularly well-written, it WAS about baseball, and that was almost enough..

As a lifelong baseball fan, I typically enjoy books of this nature. However, this particular take on baseball’s history fell short for me. This is partially due to the book’s description making it sound much more compelling than it actually is. Yes, the topics mentioned in the description do come up, but they’re heavily loaded with stats rather than the promised “Old-Time Baseball Stories.” I like stats, but an over reliance on them wasn’t what I had been looking for here.

It was also problematic that the author repeated himself many times, sometimes going so far as to sum up his last sentence with repetitive language. Add to that the inclusion of many, many photographs to fill the scant pages, and you’re left with less than 90 minutes of text to read (a larger than necessary portion of which was spent on repetitive captions for the images).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

3.5/5 stars

I received Stealing First and Other Old-time Baseball Stories through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Stealing First and Other Old-time Baseball Stories is filled with fourteen different anecdotes of not so well known baseball stories. I enjoyed reading about these different baseball events and could really see how much research and time the author put into each story.

Each story was filled with stats and facts that made them credible and interesting to the most loyal baseball fans. The images after each anecdote also added to the overall book. I really enjoyed the story about how war affected the players and the game.

My favorite part about this book was that I could clearly see the authors passion for baseball. It is worth reading if you are a baseball fan and looking to learn about some lesser known events.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Sunbury Press, in return for an honest review. If you’re an American baseball lover, you’ll enjoy this book of anecdotes and statistics related to baseball. The author provides both so the book will appeal to those who are really, really into the statistics. At the same time, he highlights some of the special but not well-known figures in baseball’s history for those who are more interested in the human side of the game. I really liked the story about the man who stole first base (twice)! The listing of those who played major league ball and then lost their lives in service to the country was poignant and appreciated. It’s an interesting compendium of different things from the game so there’s a bit for everyone.