Book Review: Starting IX by Jim Turvey

Source: www.draysbay.com --- Monday, December 04, 2017
A detailed and delightful book from one of our very own Dear reader, you are going to thank me for posting this review of Jim Turvey’s Starting IX: A Franchise-by-Franchise Breakdown of Baseball’s Best Players, because I have just solved all your holiday shopping dilemmas, at least the holiday shopping dilemmas for the Baseball fans in your life. Turvey, who writes for DRB as well as several other Baseball outlets, has put together a charming and informative romp through Baseball history, filled with trivia, whimsical digression, and a lot of good Baseball discussion. The book’s format lends itself to all of the above. Here’s the premise: For each of the thirty major league teams, Turvey provides us with an ideal line-up — the best player at each position over the team’s history. His “Starting IX” is, in fact, really a “top XI;” he provides the top player at each position, and then adds a closer and a utility player (which in some instances includes players best known for their DH roles). He clearly explains his ground rules: he looks at teams across franchise history (so, for example, the Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals are a single franchise). Players are chosen based on their production for a particular team, so Hideki Matsui, would not get the nod for the Rays based on his production while playing for the Yankees, just to give one example. This means that a few players are listed more than once. Adrian Beltre , to na ...

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