Missed It By That Much

Missed It By That Much (the title being a play of a catchphrase from the TV show Get Smart) was written by Victor Debs, Jr. Published in 1998, it details a slew of players who just missed out on various records:

1. Bill Terry tying Lefty O'Doul's NL hit record of 254 but failing to break it
2. Jimmie Foxx falling short in his pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run mark of 60
3. Ewell Blackwell just missing out on back-to-back no-hitters, which would have tied Johnny Vander Meer's record
4. Ted Williams missing out on his third Triple Crown, leaving him tied with the most
5. Ted Kluszewski setting a NL record with 17 consecutive games with a run, just shy of Red Rolfe's MLB record
6. ElRoy Face going 18-1 in 1959, falling shy of Rube Marquard's consecutive win streak
7. Willie Mays homering 17 times in a month to set a NL record, but miss Rudy York's major league record
8. Nolan Ryan's dozen one-hitters, failing to pad his no-hit record
9. Pete Rose getting a 44-game hitting streak to tie but not surpass Willie Keeler's NL record
10. Pedro Guerrero reaches base 14 times in a row, two shy of Williams' mark
11. Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. tying Dale Long's record for consecutive games with a homer, failing to pass him
12. David Cone fanning 19 to fall one shy of Roger Clemens' single-game record

Writing in an entertaining manner, Debs does make a couple of minor errors - ex. he lists Kluszewski hitting his 44th homer on both September 5 and September 8; Face's winning percentage for 1959 is listed as .997 rather than .947. The book is an interesting history of players who had near-records.