Baseball's Greatest What If - by Dan Joseph (Paperback)

About the Book

"In 1942, Pete Reiser was on the road to baseball superstardom. Then, he crashed into a wall-an unpadded, concrete outfield wall as he tried to make a game-saving catch. And for Pete, nothing was ever the same. A year earlier, at age 22, he had won a batting title, a rookie of the year award and a pennant with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sportswriters could not stop marveling at his skill set, highlighted by a keen batting eye, a rifle throwing arm and speed that whisked him from home to first in three-point-six seconds. Baseball men compared him to some of the game's all-time greats, including Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio. The crash shunted Pete onto a rockier path, one marked by headaches, hard luck, mismanagement, and sadly, more collisions with outfield walls. He'd enjoy scattered triumphs on this road too, and win a place in baseball history as the man who spurred teams to install warning tracks and pad the walls. But to this day, students of the game invoke his name when somebody asks, which player is baseball's greatest what-if?"--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

In 1942, Pete Reiser was on the road to baseball superstardom. Then, he crashed into a wall - an unpadded, concrete outfield wall as tried to make a game-saving catch.

And for Pete, nothing was ever the same.

A year earlier, at age 22, he had won a batting title, a rookie of the year award and a pennant with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sportswriters could not stop marveling at his skill set, highlighted by a keen batting eye, a rifle throwing arm and speed that whisked him from home to first in three-point-six seconds. Baseball men compared him to some of the game's all-time greats, including Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio.

The crash shunted Pete onto a rockier path, one marked by headaches, mismanagement, hard luck and sadly, more collisions with outfield walls. He'd enjoy scattered triumphs on this road too, and win a place in baseball history as the man who spurred teams to install warning tracks and pad the walls.

But to this day, students of the game invoke his name when somebody asks, which player is baseball's greatest what-if?

Dan Joseph believes Reiser is that player, and lays out his case in this groundbreaking new biography. The author examines old tales about Pete, ones where he allegedly fought off dizziness to slash game-winning hits. But Joseph digs deeper into Pete's life and career to learn what made this extraordinary player risk his health, and his skull, for the sake of victory.

Review Quotes

"Dan Joseph hit a HR with Last Ride of the Iron Horse, this book on Pete Reiser is a grand slam! GREAT biography!" - Baseball Almanac

"Sometimes the most fascinating stories in sports are the ones that don't reach their rightful conclusion; Hall of Fame hopefulness gives way to the heartbreak of injury and fate's fickle hand. Dan Joseph has artfully told just such a story by exploring one of baseball's greatest what-ifs. His book takes us deep into the life and times of Pete Reiser, a man who never met a wall he wouldn't run through. Like Reiser going after a ball, Joseph passionately pursues this story and gives an extraordinary -- and extraordinarily luckless -- ballplayer his due."

- Anthony Castrovince, reporter for MLB.com and author of "A Fan's Guide to Baseball Analytics."

"What drove Reiser to play with such abandon, to barrel headlong into outfield walls and dash madly down the line to steal home? With the same all-out effort as his subject, Daniel Joseph examines those questions in "Baseball's Greatest What-If," an engrossing, comprehensive look at a ballplayer who knew only one way to play, even if it cost him his rightful place among the all-time greats.

-- Tyler Kepner, national baseball columnist for the New York Times and author of "K: A History of Baseball In Ten Pitches"

"Not every baseball biography should be about great achievers. Pete Reiser's daring play made him fall far short of what might have been, despite being one of the great raw talents in the game's history. Thank you Dan Joseph for bringing him back to baseball consciousness with this fascinating life story."

-- Marty Appel, baseball historian, author of "Pinstripe Empire" and "Casey Stengel."