Best Selling Books by John Thorn

Think you know how the game of baseball began? Think again. Forget Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown. Forget Alexander Joy Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers. Instead, meet Daniel Lucius Adams, William Rufus Wheaton, and Louis Fenn Wadsworth, each of whom has a stronger claim to baseball paternity than Doubleday or Cartwright. But did baseball even have a father—or did it just evolve from other bat-and-ball games? John Thorn, baseball’s preeminent historian, examines the creation story of the game and finds it all to be a gigantic lie, not only the Doubleday legend, so long recognized with a wink and a nudge. From its earliest days baseball was a vehicle for gambling (much like cricket, a far more popular game in early America), a proxy form of class warfare, infused with racism as was the larger society, invigorated if ultimately corrupted by gamblers, hustlers, and shady entrepreneurs. Thorn traces the rise of the New York version of the game over other variations popular in Massachusetts and Philadelphia. He shows how the sport’s increasing popularity in the early decades of the nineteenth century mirrored the migration of young men from farms and small towns to cities, especially New York. And he charts the rise of secret professionalism and the origin of the notorious “reserve clause,” essential innovations for gamblers and capitalists. No matter how much you know about the history of baseball, you will find something new in every chapter. Thorn also introduces us to a host of early baseball stars who helped to drive the tremendous popularity and growth of the game in the post–Civil War era: Jim Creighton, perhaps the first true professional player; Candy Cummings, the pitcher who claimed to have invented the curveball; Albert Spalding, the ballplayer who would grow rich from the game and shape its creation myth; Hall of Fame brothers George and Harry Wright; Cap Anson, the first man to record three thousand hits and a virulent racist; and many others. Add bluff, bluster, and bravado, and toss in an illicit romance, an unknown son, a lost ball club, an epidemic scare, and you have a baseball detective story like none ever written. Thorn shows how a small religious cult became instrumental in the commission that was established to determine the origins of the game and why the selection of Abner Doubleday as baseball’s father was as strangely logical as it was patently absurd. Entertaining from the first page to the last, Baseball in the Garden of Eden is a tale of good and evil, and the snake proves the most interesting character. It is full of heroes, scoundrels, and dupes; it contains more scandal by far than the 1919 Black Sox World Series fix. More than a history of the game, Baseball in the Garden of Eden tells the story of nineteenth-century America, a land of opportunity and limitation, of glory and greed—all present in the wondrous alloy that is our nation and its pastime.

John Thorn, America''s foremost baseball historian -- named in March 2011 as the Official Historian for Major League Baseball® -- creates the first book for kids on how America''s National Pastime was born. The story takes readers back in history to meet the men who gathered ideas from older games to create a uniquely American sport that has defined a century. Thorn himself made some of the key discoveries that have opened up the early history of the game to the light of truth. Using colourful artefacts and memorabilia, the book takes readers out to the ballpark to meet heroes old and new.

First published in 1984, The Hidden Game of Baseball ushered in the sabermetric revolution by demonstrating that we were thinking about baseball stats--and thus the game itself--all wrong. This brand-new edition retains the body of the original, with its rich, accessible analysis rooted in a deep love of baseball, while adding a new introduction by the authors tracing the book''s influence over the years.

the eighth edition of Total Baseball: the ultimate baseball encyclopedia is the most striking, compelling and comprehensive single volume ever devoted to America''s pastime.

The 1988 cult classic behind football''s data analytics revolution, now back in print with a new foreword and preface. "The book that started it all. A visionary approach to football two decades ahead of its time." —Brian Burke, ESPN sports data scientist, creator of expected points added, win probability, and win rates Data analytics have revolutionized football. With play sheets informed by advanced statistical analysis, today''s coaches pass more, kick less, and go for more two-point or fourth-down conversions than ever before. In 1988, sportswriters Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer, and John Thorn proposed just this style of play in The Hidden Game of Football, but at the time baffled readers scoffed at such a heartless approach to the game. Football was the ultimate team sport and unlike baseball could not be reduced to pure probabilities. Nevertheless, the book developed a cult following among analysts who, inspired by its unorthodox methods, went on to develop the core metrics of football analytics used today: win probability, expected points, QBR, and more. With a new preface by Thorn and Palmer and a new foreword by Football Outsiders''s Aaron Schatz, The Hidden Game of Football remains an essential resource for armchair coaches, fantasy managers, and fans of all stripes. "Everyone who reads this seminal classic will see the game differently. The concepts are as important for football coaching and scouting veterans as they are for aspiring analysts." —Patrick Ward and Brian Eayrs, Seattle Seahawks research and analytics "Before this book, zero teams made the "correct" choice to go for it on fourth down most of the time. Now, roughly half the league does. Football''s significant shift toward analytics and the game''s ever-growing popularity both owe a debt of gratitude to this book, which established some of the fundamental principles of how we think about the game today." —Eric Eager, vice president of research and development at SummerSports, formerly at Pro Football Focus

Narrative, photographs, play diagrams and statistics combine to recreate ten classic football games played between 1933 and 1979.

The glorious collections of cooperstown are brought to life by respected baseball writer John Thorn in an officially sanctioned and lavishly illustrated gift edition.The shrine to baseball is tucked away in a quiet corner of upstate New York. For those unable to get to Cooperstown, John Thorn, in collaboration with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, brings the museum to the fan in this glorious celebration of the game.John Thorn is the ideal guide to the Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame. A prolific writer, he is the author of Total Baseball, and was creative consultant to Ken Burns''s Baseball series. Thorn has chosen the most unique and extraordinary treasures from the hall''s collections, many of them archived and unseen by the public for years, and has written evocatively about each piece. There is the letter Lou Gehrig wrote home from Detroit the day he sat down to end the Streak; the ball Cy Young used for his five hundredth win; the bat that brought Willie Mays his three thousandth hit; collages of mementos of the giants of the game, like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams; and artifacts from the Negro Leagues and the women''s game. Each entry is accompanied by a full-color photograph.This is an essential book for any baseball fan. These priceless pieces of baseball history tell, in words and pictures, the history of America''s favorite sport.

Contains over 60 articles on aviation history, lore, techniques, literature, and people.