Remembrance of Swings Past

Former major-league umpire Luciano (Strike Two, The Fall of the Roman Umpire) is back with his fourth book of humor about baseball, and a very successful effort it is. He looks at how baseball has changed, particularly from the game it was in the '40s and '50s to how it is played today. There are bittersweet tales of salary negotiations, involving Branch Rickey, George Weiss and Clark Griffith, three notoriously tightfisted executives, and the sheep they were shearing. There are stories about bats, balls, uniforms, pitchers, batters, managers and umpires, featuring the hyperbolic humor so beloved of sports figures, as when the authors note that some teams build up their foul lines to keep bunted balls fair and they express astonishment that no one has been hurt falling off a foul line. A jolly read. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May)