Baseball Brain Teasers: Major League Puzzlers

"Baseball Brain Teasers: Major League Puzzles" are not really traditional brain teasers, because instead of requiring fast or deep thinking all you need to answer these questions is to have the baseball rule book memorized. Author Dom Forker does and he comes up with dozens of plays, many from actual major league baseball games, that will provide fans with a better appreciation for the finer points of the game, and we are talking ultra fine points as well (many rising to the glorified level of nit-picking). For example, Forker asks: Can two pitchers be in the same team's lineup at the same time? Can there ever be four outs in a half-inning? Did a runner ever steal first base? Can a runner be safe though hit by a batted all? It is a home run if a batted ball hits an outfielder on the head and bounces into the stands? Can an umpire's call be reversed by another arbiter? Can a player be fined for letting himself be tagged out? Was there ever a ground-rule triple? Can a game continue with eight players on the field? Now, the answers to all of these questions is "yes," but that is hardly the point because you have to know WHY the answer is "yes" (and you have to show your work in providing the answer). For each situation Forker provides the details and then asks the key question. The answers are provided immediately, along with an explanation of why this is the case, and then usually you will find the time, place, and players involved in an actual baseball game where this happened. "Baseball Brain Teasers" is divided into seven sections: (1) Is That All There is to Bease Running?' (2) Off the Fence; (3) Tricky Tactics; (4) Fair is Fair; (5) The Umpire Rules Supreme; (6) Watch Your Step as You Leave; and (7) Let Them Laugh. If the titles not enough to remind you as to wich story is which, then you can check out the index in the back where everything is categorized in alphabetical order from "Appeal to umpire" to "Wayward ball." If you have been a long time baseball fan then you should actually recognize many of these situations or have actually seem more recent versions (the book talks about a home run bouncing off of outfielder Rick Monday's head, while I remember seeing it happen to Jose Canseco). Just remember that the purpose of this little volume is not only to inform and entertain, but to intrigue. The book includes cartoon drawings by Sandy Hoffman, but there is also a classic photograph of a St. Louis Cardinal having made a tag play on a runner at second base and looking up to see one umpire on the left punching the runner out and another umpire on the right signaling safe.

If you love unusual plays and scenarios, this is a great little book. It ties many of them to actual occurrences. It contains lessons for players and fans alike. A quick read.