Ed McKean : slugging shortstop of the Cleveland Spiders by Rich Blevins is another volume in McFarland's excellent academic baseball series of relatively unknown early baseball players. As with most of the other books in the series, it is written by an academic author and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. The book is heavily footnoted and has an excellent and exhaustive bibliography.

McKean, a shortstop with impressive credentials, played 13 years in the professional leagues, mostly with the Cleveland Spiders. He led the way for the Spiders to win the coveted Temple Cup, awarded to the winner of the post-season National League play-offs, in 1895.

The book covers his life from his early baseball career in Ohio to his stint in the International League, his major league career and finally to coaching and part-time playing in the minor leagues. But there is a controversy - did McKean bat right or left? According to Blevins. his baseball card from 1887 shows that he batted left but the record books clearly indicate that he batted and threw with his right hand. Another card image from 1887 found on the internet shows McKean catching a ball with his left hand. Since left handed shortstops are relatively rare, are the baseball cards incorrect? His fielding stats are .900 for 1565 games, which seems high for a left-handed shortstop.

If you are interested in the early years of baseball, this book is for you. ( )

I love that this was a very well researched book and that it shows just how much has changed over time in the game of baseball. The downside to this book is that it's very cut and dry which makes it hard to get into the book and makes for a very slow read. ( )

While the book was a bit dry and difficult to get into at times, I enjoyed this book on McKean and baseball history. I loved the look back, and to see how much the game has changed. It is amazing how people can be forgotten as we look back at history. As an avid baseball fan I had never heard of Ed McKean before reading this book. McKean was a great player in his era and deserves recognition for his accomplishments. For me this is a great book for baseball fans. I only knew of baseball in my time, and became immersed in a bygone era. I am definitely glad to have read this book and would recommend it to baseball fans young and old.

"Ed McKean: Slugging Shortstop of the Cleveland Spiders" a.k.a. "Best Shortstop in the International League" from 1885 to 1886 was quite the sensation during his time and perhaps a great inspiration to famous ball players to follow after him. This is definitely a great book for anyone who loves baseball, sports history or both!

I didn't grow up with a mighty love of baseball. In New Orleans we did have the Zephyrs, and famous Mel Ott from Gretna, who went on to play for the Giants in the majors. But that truly was before my time, because Ott died the year I was born. So when it was time for Little League -- in an era when girls were not so welcome on those teams -- it seemed to matter little that I could barely hold a bat straight, much less swing one. I didn't have much interest in a sport that I couldn't be actively part of.

But, that didn't stop me from enjoying hearing stories retold by the older gents in the family on the exploits of players like Casey Stengel and the 1921 World Series. I looked forward to reading about Ed McKean in much the same way that I enjoyed hearing those oft-told legends of 'the mighty Casey' or Babe Ruth. For the most part, the book met my expectations for entertainment value, quality of story-telling, and historical perspective.

I especially enjoyed Chapter 4, "Ed McKean and the Players' Revolt (1889-1890" that details how the Cleveland Spiders earned their moniker. Particularly enjoyable are details on other teams, including discussion on the Indianapolis team, and the numerous vintage photos throughout the book.

The only negative comment I have regarding this book is that there is at least one typographical error that escaped the copy editors' notice -- the spelling of the city name 'Indianapolis' on page 91. But even that error --seeing the word 'Indianopolis' gave me a chuckle. Residents of central Indiana will sometimes lovingly refer to the state's capital as "India-no-place" -- an undeserved moniker when it came to baseball at Athletic Park during Ed McKean's career.

If you are a baseball buff, don't let this book pass you by like a fly ball! ( )

Full disclosure: I won a free copy of this book in a Library Thing Early Reviewer giveaway.

Ed McKean was a hard-hitting shortstop for the Cleveland Spiders teams of the late 1800's. Author Rich Blevins makes the case for McKean's election to the Hall of Fame and asks the reader to view the book as, "an open letter on McKean's behalf to the Veterans Committee of the National Baseball Hall of Fame."

I have an interest in this forgotten era of baseball and recently read biographies of Johnny Evers (of Tinkers to Evers to Chance fame) and Old Hoss Radbourn (most wins in a season with 59 in 1884). I enjoyed both of those books and really wanted to like this book about Ed McKean. Blevins does an excellent job of chronicling McKean's career and bringing his temperament to life. He also throws in a lot of tidbits about the era and McKean's teammates and the players he played against.

Unfortunately, for me at least, these factoids started to overwhelm the story about McKean. It seems like every player from the 1800's had at least three nicknames and Blevins is compelled to use them all until it sometimes becomes unclear to whom he is referring. Some of the minutiae about some of the ancillary characters in the book might have been better included in the end notes rather than bogging down the story. In a few places, it was also hard to follow the chronology of the baseball season as he would talk about games that happened later in the season and then jump back to early season games.

The author also chose to tell the story of Cleveland's Temple Cup Championship by interspersing chapters about each of the five games the throughout the book. The problem with that is that you lose the feel of the continuity of the series and you have teammates that aren't members of the earlier teams suddenly show up in the narrative of the Championship. I would have preferred a chronological account of the 1895 Temple Cup following the account of the 1895 season.

Now having said all of that, the book does have a wealth of information about baseball in the late 1800's. A rabid fan of that era will most likely enjoy the book. I just think it might be a little overwhelming for the more casual baseball fan, and I wish it was a little more reader-friendly. ( )