A Game of Inches - by Peter Morris (Paperback)

About the Book

The only book ever to win both the Seymour Medal and the Casey Award as the best baseball book of the year, Peter Morris's magisterial encyclopedia of the national pastime will surprise, delight, and educate even the most knowledgeable fan. With its thousand-odd entries, A Gam...

Book Synopsis

The only book ever to win both the Seymour Medal and the Casey Award as the best baseball book of the year, Peter Morris's magisterial encyclopedia of the national pastime will surprise, delight, and educate even the most knowledgeable fan. With its thousand-odd entries, A Game of Inches illuminates the origins of items ranging from catcher's masks to hook slides to intentional walks to baseball's reserve clause. Now with new material and completely redesigned in a one-volume paperback, the book remains endlessly fascinating, impeccably researched, and engagingly written.

Review Quotes

"I can't wait for the subsequent volumes." --Keith Olbermann, News Anchor, Countdown on MSNBC; co-host, The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio

"Peter Morris's A Game of Inches is the one that every serious baseball fan must have." --Rob Neyer, ESPN the Magazine

"A splendidly entertaining book." --Donald Honig

"Truly amazing." --Rob Neyer, The Griddle

"Wonderful baseball anecdotes...a comprehensive volume of who-did-what-first adding a necessary human dimension to baseball facts and figures." --Philadelphia City Paper

"Every season needs a browser's delight of a baseball reference book. Morris' remarkable volume may have set that standard." --John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Absolutely fantastic.... There is no end to the historical detail, the delightful anecdotes, and the clear explanations." --Dr. John D. Elgenauer, Super70s.com--Baseball

"Offering fascinating information on every page, this is a unique resource for baseball historians and serious fans." --Choice Reviews

"Morris combines learning, precision, and devotion to produce this charming book...This is heaven for fans of the game...." --Library Journal

"Morris' remarkable volume may have set [the] standard for this season and several to follow." --John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"It's an everything you ever wanted to know reference source for anyone who truly loves baseball." --Albany Times Union

"Morris gives the scoop on three- and four-man umpiring crews, the history of bats, and more." --Carol Herwig, USA Today

"An encyclopedic effort....interesting observations." --John Monaghan, Providence Journal

"Clear some fresh space on your bookshelves. One of the all-time essential reference works for baseball has...arrived." --Daniel Gabriel, Elysian Fields Quarterly

"Majestic in their detail and exemplary in their dedication to scholarship, these books will leave the reader...exhilarated." --Choice Reviews

"You could do no better than Peter Morris' A Game of Inches, an astonishingly well-researched history." --Keith Olbermann, Msnbc

"A great source for baseball history." --Iron Mountain, MI, Daily News

"Solid piece of near exhaustive research into...crucial aspects of the development of baseball." --John P. Rossi, La Salle University, The Historian

About the Author

Peter Morris, one of the foremost historians of early baseball in America, has also written Catcher, But Didn't We Have Fun?, Level Playing Fields, and Baseball Fever. A former national and international Scrabble champion, he lives in Haslett, Michigan.