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The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America's National Pastime

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The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America's National Pastime

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Overview

A graphic novel-style history of baseball, providing an illustrated look at the major games, players, and rule changes that shaped the sport.

This graphic novel steps up to the plate and covers all the bases in illustrating the origin of America's national pastime, presenting a complete look at the beginnings (both real and legendary), developments, triumphs, and tragedies of baseball. It also breaks down the cultural impact and significance of the sport both in America and overseas (including Japan, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic), from the early days of America to the flying W outside Wrigley Field in 2016.

Featuring members of Baseball's Hall of Fame and modern day stand-outs—including Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, the 1930s New York Yankees, the 2004 Boston Red Sox, the 2016 Chicago Cubs, and more—The Comic Book Story of Baseball spotlights the players, teams, games, and moments that built the sport's legacy and ensured its popularity.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399578946
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Series:	Comic Book Story of
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	92,078
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

ALEX IRVINE is the writer of the games Avengers Alliance, Marvel War of Heroes, and Marvel Puzzle Quest, which together have seen more than 50 million players. He has also written comics (Daredevil Noir, Iron Man: Rapture) and novels (The Ultimates: Against All Enemies, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Iron Man 2) for Marvel. He wrote the novelizations of The Adventures of Tintin, Pacific Rim, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; other tie-in novels include Transformers: Exodus and Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal. His award-winning original novels include Buyout, The Narrows, and A Scattering of Jades.

TOMM COKER is a comic book artist and film director/writer. He has drawn comic books for Image Comics, Dark Horse, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. C.P. SMITH is an illustrator and comic book artist who has worked for Marvel Comics and BioWare.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

02/26/2018
This splendid scrapbook of the history of baseball bulges with sports lore. Beginning with the real origins of the game, found in bat and ball variants played by Puritan settlers hundreds of years before Abner Doubleday supposedly invented it in 1839, Irvine tours through the odd personalities and special moments in this “sport of myths” through to the 21st century. Here, arranged chronologically, are snapshots of significant players, from William Arthur “Candy” Cummings, who invented the curveball in 1867, to David Ortiz, whose eligibility for the Hall of Fame was debated after he retired in 2016 as a mere designated hitter. Along with the stars on the playing field, the book highlights notable managers, owners, even umpires—and odd commentary, such as Virginia Woolf’s observation that Ring Larder’s baseball stories reveal that American’s fascination with the game provides a central cultural meeting space. Other sections delve into political context, such as the color line that kept African-Americans out of the major leagues and the reserve clause that kept players in servitude to owners. With dense text boxes and vivid color art, pages feature player portraits, maps and timelines, and historical narratives, all rendered in traditional comics art. This is an affectionate, accessible, and informative volume on how Americans play the nation’s favorite game. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Marvel comics veterans Coker and Smith deliver powerful graphics, tinted lightly with color for a marvelous vintage effect, while Irvine orchestrates a brief, masterly overview of this morale-boosting sport. Fans of any age will love.”
— Library Journal

". . . a lively and accessible chronicle of America’s pastime, with panels that crack and wallop with image and fact."
— Boston Globe

"Heroes, villains, long odds, and tall-tales: baseball history should always be presented in comic book form. The Comic Book Story of Baseball is probably the most accessible history of the game I've ever held in my hands. I'd recommend this little gem to anyone who wants to learn the history of the game and its colorful characters."
— Dirk Hayhurst, New York Times best-selling author of The Bullpen Gospel, former Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, and commentator for ESPN and TBS

"Two great American art forms collide in The Comic Book Story of Baseball, and the result is a sprawling, comprehensive, tremendously fun look at the national pastime. It’s all here, from the Babe to Buckner, billy goats to Barry Bonds. Writer Alex Irvine and artists Tomm Coker and C.P. Smith exalt baseball’s triumphs while reckoning with its sins, and the result is a rich, thorough history that you’ll return to again and again, just like the grand old game itself."
— Jay Busbee, lead writer for Yahoo Sports

“An intriguing, often mesmerizing retrospective of the national pastime. Some may say that baseball only belongs to the older generation now, but Irvine and co.’s colorful compilation will turn anyone’s head.”
— Tim Wendel, author of High Heat and Summer of ‘68

From the Publisher

2018-02-13
A visual history of the game, from playfully imagined early precursors ("Overrunneth not the bag, Prudence!") to 21st-century feats and follies."Everything in baseball gets mythologized," Irvine writes, and accordingly he dishes up scornful dismissals of Abner Doubleday, Babe Ruth's "called shot," and even the Cubbies' "curse of the billy goat" in this overview. Still, he sometimes succumbs to the lure himself, as when he declares Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak "in all likelihood, the most improbable feat in the history of organized sports." His minute tallies of the comings and goings of leagues and teams and stadiums down the years make arid reading, but even indifferent fans will find his profiles of colorful figures (particularly the "misfits and weirdos") and their pithy comments (Mantle, on Koufax: "How the f*ck are you supposed to hit that sh*t?") entertaining. Moreover, his frank acknowledgement of the sport's racist past as well as worthy if sometimes tone-deaf nods to players in and from Japan and Latin American countries, to women, to Native Americans (in a box headed "Hail to the Chief"), and to select stars of the Negro Leagues add at least some depth to the historical picture. Unfortunately, the story is not shaped into a coherent narrative but presented in fragmentary bits, with many digressions and glances ahead. Shoehorning the text boxes and speech balloons into cramped black-and-white panels only adds to the general disorder.An overstuffed patchwork. (glossary, index) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-14)

Kirkus Reviews

The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America's National Pastime

The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America's National Pastime

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