Rounding the Bases of the Grand Game

"Anatomy of Baseball" doesn't do this collection justice. Too clinical, too antiseptic. "Baseball: Love Letters" might be more apt, since many of the essays belie, if not true love, at the very least an affection for or devotion to the grand game. What this collection best represents is the full spectrum of the baseball experience, from romantic to nostalgic to eclectic. […]

Overall, this anthology is like a great stable of starting pitchers (think the 2007 BoSox, with Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Lester, Wakefield, and no-hit whiz kid Buchholz). […] With a top-shelf pitching lineup, you also know the season on the whole is going to be a success. So is "Anatomy of Baseball." As Yogi Berra, the Yankees' Hall of Fame catcher, states with uncharacteristic clarity: "The game goes back to before the Civil War, but it never gets old. Neither does a good baseball book." – Brian O'Connor