me and total baseball

[abc006]

ok, so here's what i did. completely true. i was reading a book (the numbers game - highly reccomended, one of the best books i've read, about america's fascination with baseball statistic) and it mentioned the baseball encyclopedia and total baseball, both huge mammoths of books, 2,600 pages, containing every single player record that ever existed. They don't produce the baseball encyclopedia, but total baseball is still running strong, and what's nice about total baseball is that it not only has plyer registers and records, but also alot of articles, stories, season recaps, etc. one ny times critic called it "the book i would take with me to prison". i have to say, i'd agree with him. anyway, so remember it's about 2,600 pages? well, when i reserved it from the library, i kind of forgot that until i kind of three minutes after i reserved it. so here i am a week later, lugging this collossal book out of the library, people staring at me, thinking "he's gotta be using that for something other than looking at baseball statstics". if they could read the cover. i was kind of embarressed at first, tried not to look at the library staff, etc. but then i thought, "hey, i'm proud of my baseball geekiness." and i am. anyway, i was looking through the book for about an hour, when the thought struck me that maybe there were some things missing. something more to be added. not alot, but still, things. i'm not exactly sure what they are, but what i had in mind are things like authentic vintage articles from real sports days in history, baseball culture (songs, food, plays, poems, that kind of stuff), baseball culture statistics, different people's opinions of top 100 players of all time, top fielders at every position, top baseball books, movies, etc. of all time, etc., etc., etc... etc., etc. that's enough. i mean, the list could go on and on. i mean, i don't actually know if it's a good idea or not, if it's worth it, or if i'm just wasting my time. but maybe i'll go out all by myself, and collect these stuff. from the internet, the library, museums, maybe steal a few stuff along the way from collectors... well, maybe not the last one. but still, i don't know. i just had this idea to put together every possible thing of interest about baseball to "accompany" this book, or maybe stuff just in general. not sure if this is worthy of a whole topic, but figured i might as well metion it since i've been thinking about it for some time. i want to make it 4,00 pages instead of a measly 2,600.

[abc006]

In the 2003 ed. of Total Baseball, these are the number of regular umps who have these nicknames:

39 Bills

11 Billy's

13 Bobs

4 Bobby's

2 Art's

2 Rocky's

5 Pop's

5 Red's

2 Foghorns

3 Bricks

2 Augie's

A Ducky, Steamboat, Ziggy, Silk, Bears, Stump, and a Pants.

approx. 20 jims and joes - will count them later. Updates soon. :D