The Baseball 100

By: Joe Posnanski

Narrated by: Cary Hite

New York Times Best Seller

Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

“An instant sports classic.” (New York Post)
“Stellar.” (The Wall Street Journal)
“A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” (BookPage, starred review)
“This is a remarkable achievement.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will.

Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,​The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than 200 years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?”

Baseball’s legends come alive in this book, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics - he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the '90s? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top 10 most deserves to be resurrected from history?

No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor, and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more.

The Baseball 100 treats listeners to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Chapter by chapter, Posnanski invites listeners to examine common lore with brand-new eyes and learn stories that have long gone unheard. The epic and often emotional listening experience mirrors Posnanski’s personal odyssey to capture the history and glory of baseball like no one else, fueled by his boundless love for the sport.

Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, The Baseball 100 is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.

©2021 Introduction copyright ©2021 George F. Will. Copyright ©2021 The Athletic Media Company. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Very good, not as excellent as it could be

The author sometimes goes off on interesting personal responses and, occasionally, even reveries, which don’t reveal enough particulars about the players. At times this is a record of the author’s responses to players and less about their accomplishments.
The narrator is engaging most of the time, but he mispronounces the names of several players.
This is not a deal breaker, but some younger listeners or casual fans may be unfamiliar with particular players, considering that the book covers individuals going back as far as a century.
There aren’t an excessive number of corrections needed, and it should not be time consuming to correct these (It’s not as if the producers have to produce cds or tapes. Streaming new material should be easy. And it’s likely that such attentiveness will make a professional impression that will motivate listeners to consider further acquisitions from the producers.)
The equivalent would be
spelling and grammatical errors in the printed text. But such failures would be very expensive to correct with a new edition. Here correction should be easier.
Print publishers employ proof readers. Audio producers can surely review pronunciations for narrators who may not be familiar with every detail in a work.
I don’t blame the narrator, but someone should review the product before releasing it.
Often companies use freelance narrators and leave them on their own to rush out product and save money. But a work with technical terms and many proper names should elicit a bit more review and supervision.

If You Are a Baseball Fan, Don't Miss It

This book is quite an undertaking, attempting to cull out the top 100 baseball players of all time. Joe Posnanski does not make this task easier, because he includes players from the 19th Century, the Negro Leagues and the Japanese leagues for which source material is not as readily available.

Overall, I think Joe does a great job. His profiles are well done--they do not all follow a set formula. He relies on both anecdotal evidence and the latest "advanced" statistics. Joe makes it clear that he does not expect you to agree with him in every instance, but just wants to provoke discussion, particularly in the "hot stove league."

Very enjoyable.

Pure Joy for The Baseball Fan

I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in years. So many great baseball stories. Highly recommend

the definitive baseball book

what a wonderful listen. I enjoyed the myriad of stories that helped move my appreciation for the game beyond the mere statistics. each player allows the author a unique opportunity to flex his brilliant writing muscles. this is not just about 100 men, it is 100 different ways of describing an individual man. I would recommend this book to anyone, regardless of their knowledge of baseball.

a couple of things worth noting, however. #1 this is a very long book. but it does not feel *too* long as each chapter can be listened to in 30 minutes at most. #2 there was a small production error on #24 Rickey Henderson, that sadly messes up a terrific Rickey story. I don't know how that can be fixed but I hope that it is.

Fascinating personal details about each player

While it is impossible to objectively compare players from different eras who played different positions for different teams, the value of the book is not in the rankings themselves, but in the personal details of the players. As the author mentioned, he assigned some rankings based on numbers associated with certain players. The reader mispronounced some names.

Exceptional book!

This book reminded me of why I loved baseball as a kid and how much I missed as a adult. Joe, thank you for sharing your love and returning to me what I’d lost.

Excellent

I’ve listened and read a number of books on baseball history and this is one of the best. Great storytelling!

Outstanding Baseball Book

Have been a baseball fan for over 70 years. This book was fascinating and an amazing compilation of baseball information. Written in a fun, interesting style. Thank you Joe Ponanski.

Great baseball book

I can listen to stories about our greatest players forever. The only bad thing bad thing about this book is that it ends…

Amazing

The best book i have ever read. From the first to the last chapter, this is going to be the book that i truly wish i could read again for the first time for the rest of my life.