Bury My Heart at Cooperstown: Salacious, Sad, And Surreal Deaths in the History of Baseball
If you've ever enjoyed a game of dead-guy baseball (choosing all-star teams made up of players with odd deaths), here is an indispensable reference. When Russo started his Web site (thedeadballera.com), he wasn't thinking dead guys; the "dead-ball era" refers to that period of early baseball history before the ball was juiced, and the home run became the ticket to fortune. Naturally, though, most of the players Russo researched were, well . . . dead, and many of them died outlandish deaths. Suddenly, Russo had a necrology on his hands, and a bizarre one at that. This volume gives in completely to the ghoulish angle, focusing specifically on the deaths of the dead-ballers with chapters on such somber swan songs as syphilis ("Clap for Your Heroes") and suicide ("Suicide Squeeze"). Unfortunately, the majority of the players from the dead-ball era will have faded from the memories of most fans; one can only hope that Russo plans another volume devoted to death in the live-ball era. You won't respect yourself in the morning, but you won't put this one down either.Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved