A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball. Vol. 1, The Game on the Field (review)

Mariano Rivera wouldn't have intimidated Cap Anson.

According to A Game of Inches by Peter Morris, Stan Musial linked the success of the slider to the pitch's ability to break the thin-handled bats that were coming into favor in the 1940s and 1950s. Rivera has become the greatest reliever in baseball history with a kindling-producing cut fastball—a harder version of the slider—but imagine him throwing it to Anson, who wielded a bat with a handle thicker than the lanky Panamanian's biceps.

This is just one example of the rare insights and intriguing debates made possible by A Game of Inches. Literary explorations of baseball's origins have exploded recently, but they invariably focus on the organization of the sport and its growth into a business. The genre has also long churned out books listing baseball's quirky firsts. But A Game of Inches goes beyond just what happened and offers explanations for the hows and whys of the sport's development on the field.

For example, slick-fielding nineteenth-century Cincinnati Reds second baseman Bid McPhee is known as the last infielder to play without a glove. But rather than simply reporting that fact and presenting McPhee as a stubborn veteran yearning for the good old days when players were tough, Morris links McPhee's decision to the National League's adoption of the infield fly rule in 1894. Prior to its institution, juggling or trapping pop-ups allowed infielders to turn a routine out into a double or triple play against helpless base runners. Morris speculates the maneuver was easier to execute with bare hands, which accounts for McPhee's use of a glove beginning in 1896.

Morris acknowledges the fallacy of trying to determine true "firsts" because players in different regions of the country were developing similar ideas independently of each other in an era when the Internet and ESPN wouldn't have sold as science fiction. But he effectively presents several firsts when required—such as the creation of the catcher's mask—and weaves together likely explanations that accommodate or refute the various claims.

The book inevitably focuses on the late 1800s—it should be required reading in the burgeoning world of vintage base ball—but while the casual fan may not be interested in the minutia of the development of the infield fly rule or blocked ball plays, there are a number of revelations that any baseball fan can enjoy. Everyone's Little League coach preached using two hands to catch a fly ball and staying in front of grounders; Morris traces those debates to 1959 and the invention of the Edge-U-Cated heel. Prior to its creation, both hands were needed to secure the ball, but Rawlings's invention led to today's Jai Alai cesta–like gloves and infielders taking grounders to the side to get the throw off quicker. There's a fascinating look at the development of each pitch, and traditionalists who want the designated hitter eliminated might be surprised to learn the rule was first proposed in 1891.

A Game of Inches is designed as a reference book. The sport's development is organized into twelve chapters on topics such as fielding, managerial strategies, and skullduggery, with each broken down into sections and subsections. Everything from why the bases are run counterclockwise to rally caps to the development of relief pitching is included. Although many mysteries of baseball are revealed, the book isn't written in the page-turning style of Robert B. Parker or Sue Grafton, so reading it from cover to cover could be...