The Minor Leagues

Library Journal

This book valiantly attempts to cover the history of minor and Negro league baseball in slightly less than 400 pages. Each chapter relates the history of a specific minor league, includes a few brief anecdotes, and lists its hottest prospects from the 1990 season. The book is obviously a labor of love by Blake, a former minor league player himself. He has not, however, carried through on his premise. There are errors of fact (e.g., Bob Cobb owned the Hollywood Stars and the Brown Derby, not Bill Lane). The coverage of different leagues is brief, and the 1990 top prospects listing will quickly date the book. There is no coverage of leagues no longer in existence, which could have provided a wealth of colorful material. While potentially useful to minor league aficionados, this does not provide much new for the serious scholar or fan. Libraries with Robert Obojski's Bush League ( LJ 2/15/75) can pass on this, while others may buy as demand and interest dictates.-- William O. Scheeren, Hempfield Area Senior High Sch. Lib, Greensburg , Pa .