A fascinating and charming encyclopedic collection of baseball firsts, describing how the innovations in the game--in rules, equipment, styles of play, strategies, etc.--occurred and developed from its origins to the present day. The book relies heavily on quotations from contemporary sources.

Peter Morris won the coveted Seymour Medal of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) for his book Baseball Fever, about early baseball in Michigan. He has also been honored by USA Today Sports Weekly. A graduate of the University of Toronto and Michigan State University and a former national and international Scrabble champion, he is now a researcher at the Michigan Public Health Institute and lives in Haslett, Michigan. Visit the author's website (www.petermorrisbooks.com) for more information.