Spinning the Yarn: A Fun Compendium of Baseball History

Spinning the Yarn, an innovative book about twenty-two notable baseball events, based on contemporaneous newspaper coverages revealing long-forgotten facts. Learn for the first time about the origin of baseball sports writing. The stories range from 1843 to 1977, covering the early baseball tricksters, superstitions like the white mouse and a wondering goose, perhaps the earliest baseball poem, a banquet menu for the original league's national convention of 1869, softball's founding, and baseball's rubber ball story, among other legendary events. Each story is meticulously footnoted, providing academic reliability to even the funniest of legends. The author mixes story-telling styles, often starting with historical narrative before spinning the yarn - drawing the reader into the event as though actually being there when it happened. If you enjoy baseball, you are bound to like this book. "Spinning the Yarn is a delightful collection of baseball stories otherwise lost in the mist of time. Edgar Allan Poe may have titled it, A Quaint and Curious Volume of Forgotten Baseball Lore, as Bohannon brings history and history-makers to life in this well-researched and fascinating book that takes its readers on a journey from baseball's birth to its present. Whether you are a baseball historian, a fan of the game, or someone who just likes an interesting read, this book is for you! - Kevin Keating, Baseball's leading autograph authenticator and author of Waiting for a Sign, Volumes One and Two."