This is a fan's book, in every sense of the term. Thanks to his writings about baseball in such unlikely places as the New York Review of Books, and his appearance in Ken Burns' documentary about the sport, Stephen Jay Gould's position as one of the premiere intellectuals who also happens to love baseball will forever be secure; this collection of works will keep that legacy alive for a new generation. Because these writings are generated from Gould's own love of the sport, the focus tends heavily toward the two teams he spent most of his life watching--the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. And that's fine, because no other two teams have encompassed the heights of triumph and tragedy this sport has to offer. For the non-scientist, Gould may get a bit technical at times, such as his explanation of why the .400 hitter is as extinct as the dinosaurs, but even this journalism major managed to wade through it all. A passionate lovesong to the sport from a fan who left his seat too soon.

Stephen Jay Gould grew up in New York City as a Yankees' fan during the late forties and into the fifties, a great time to learn to love the game of baseball. For those of us fortunate to grow up during this era many of Gould's stories are familiar yet entertaining from his point of view. Dusty Rhodes' heroics during the '54 Fall Classic and Don Larsen pitching his way to perfection in '56 are two examples. The only drawback to the book from my point of view is the emphasis on why he feels noone will ever hit .400 anymore. I am not a fan of statistics and charts, and a special section is devoted to figures which I realize entertain many baseball fans, but not this one. I prefer stories, and Stephen Jay Gould has provided a number of them for baseball fans to cuddle up with. It's a shame that his life was cut short in May of 2002 from cancer, but he did provide us with this book in addition to his comments on Ken Burns's video history of baseball a few years ago.

I just read this book and think it's a terrific monument to a great scientist. He will truly be missed, but this book also shows a side of Gould that some of us have never seen before -- the human side. Reading about the perpetual heartache he suffered rooting for the Red Sox (despite the fact that he was a Yankees fan) brings him down off his pedestal and into the bleachers with the rest of us bums. And the depth of intelligence and nuance he brings to the subject of baseball is marvelous to behold. It's a shame that he wasn't alive to see this book published, as it seems the idea was very close to his heart.

By the way, the jacket art -- by Vanity Fair cartoonist Arnold Roth -- is quite frankly one of the best I've ever seen. Check out the guide in the back of the book pointing out the various players depicted. Buckner on the back flap is priceless.

I did want to quibble (gently) with the reviewer below who complains that editorial "updates" about things Gould had mentioned were not included. Whatever his problems with the work done on the book, it looks as though he's somewhat mistaken about that one point; the information about McGwire hitting 70 home runs is in a caption in that chapter, and a coda of sorts to Chuck Knoblauch's season is in a caption, too. (It talks about his dismal performance in the World Series that followed.) So it appears that the editor chose to include whatever information seemed necessary in the book's captions -- and if you're not a reader of captions, I guess those facts are easy to miss. Anyway, personally I didn't find that any more editorial explication than that was needed. I thought it struck a very nice balance, myself.