The Baseball 100

The Baseball 100 is a 2021 book by Joe Posnanski, mostly reprinting a series he wrote for The Athletic on the 100 greatest players in baseball history. The biographies are very interesting, bringing the players to life, and even a very well-read baseball fan will find out new information. One can quibble about some of the choices (Cool Papa Bell ahead of Turkey Stearnes? Carlos Beltran ahead of Martin Dihigo? Ninety-Nine players ahead of Ichiro?) and the picking some players for spots to match numbers associated with them (Joe DiMaggio at #56, Jackie Robinson at #42, Frank Robinson and Mike Schmidt tied at #20) but it is still a nicely informative book, balancing anecdote, statistics and insight.

Further reading

• Joe Posnanski: The Baseball 100, Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2021. ISBN 9781982180584