In fact, "Anatomy of Baseball" doesn't do this collection justice. Too clinical, too antiseptic. "Baseball: Love Letters" might be more apt, since many of the essays belie, if not true love, at the very least an affection for or devotion to the grand game. What this collection best represents is the full spectrum of the baseball experience, from romantic to nostalgic to eclectic. How eclectic? Amid the predictable salutes to gear, ballparks, and fandom is Caitlin Horrocks's humorous "Pesapallo: Playing on the Edge of the World," depicting an indecipherable Finnish variant of baseball. She quotes the legendary sportswriter Red Smith, who, after watching an exhibition match at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, wrote: pesapallo "was invented by Lauri Pinkkala, a professor who wears a hearing aid. . . . Somebody must have described baseball to him when his battery was dead." Which, with all due respect to Horrocks's fine effort, leaves the reader wanting for more tales by Smith.
The beauty of the anthology approach is the variety of perspective that the 20 authors bring, with each offering something that readers can relate to. The late, great George Plimpton waxes eloquent on his inexorable passage from pitcher's mound to right field, while the outfield has a more poetic if sometimes ribald connotation for Salem State College writing instructor JD Scrimgeour. Both pieces are whimsical and light-hearted, revealing the game as a metaphor for the stages of life.
