What they have said
about the book:
THE
SPORTS JUNKIES BOOK OF TRIVIA, TERMS, AND LINGO"
What They Are, Where They Came From, and How They Are Used
A
Review By Phil Speranza
What
if someone made a dictionary of all sports terms, nicknames and lingo?
What if someone could compile all the clichés that you hear
on the sports broadcasts? Well if someone did if would have to be
someone like baseball/sports historian Harvey Frommer. Guess what?
That is exactly what he has done.
Taylor
Trade Publishing brings you Frommer's The Sports Junkies' Book of
Trivia, Terms, and Lingo. Broken down by sport the paperback covers
everything from Archery to Wrestling. It goes into dept on slogans
like "Ya Gotta Believe" and nicknames like the "Yankee
Clipper". It explains terms like "Wrong-Field Hit"
and "Wrist Hitter" and the more common "Windup".
This
is the perfect book to have in reach when you watch or work with someone
who is into a sport that you really aren't too familiar with. Say
you are watching a Cricket match on ESPN or talking cricket with Mark
from England and the term "Swing Bowler" comes up. Well
you can reach for your copy of THE SPORTS JUNKIES BOOK OF TRIVIA,
TERMS, AND LINGO and see that a Swing Bowler is one whose main aim
is to move the ball in the air. It comes in handy when you need to
know the difference between a "Ferret" and an "All-Rounder"
It
covers the common terms like "Pennant" to the obscure basketball
nickname "Microwave". From football to golf, handball to
hockey, all the terms and lingo is in this book. It is not a book
that you have to read cover to cover, but you will. So for all you
"Bleacher Bums" and sports fans out there this is a book
for you. Buy two and use one as a holiday gift.
Like
Casey Stengel said "You Could Look It Up" and with this
book you can, and guess what? That saying is in there as well. .
BILLY.BALL.COM
However,
if you are looking for an outstanding book that addresses not just
the language of baseball but all sports, then "THE SPORT'S JUNKIE'S
BOOK OF TRIVIA, TERMS AND LINGO" by the amazingly prolific Harvey
Frommer, is a must for your library.
Frommer
looks at the nicknames, jargon and sport's catch phrases of sports
from Archery to Wrestling and everything in between. For example in
darts, a "Black Hat" is hitting three double bulls (a bull's
eye) in one throw, the name comes from "hat trick." In the
hockey section we see that "hat trick" is the scoring of
three or more goals in one game by a player.
Frommer
has always written brilliantly about baseball and his section in this
book is as informative as ever. Here is a sampling: "White Gorilla"
- Former right-handed power pitcher Goose Gossage, for the way he
looked Rich Gossage apparently had more than one nickname)
Sunday Best - a term describing a pitcher throwing his most effective
pitch(es)
Road Grays - away uniform, non-white these days
"Milkman" - former Yankee pitcher Jim Turner because of
his off-season job delivering milk.
This
is a great book for everyone who wants to learn a little bit more
about the sports they know, and a lot more about the sports they don't
know.
Published
by Rowman & Littlefield, Frommer is a spray-hitter (a batter who
is able to hit the balls to all fields) who has hit for the cycle
(a batter achieving a single, double, triple, and home run in the
same game).
