It was alright! I didn't read 100% of the book as it wasn't captivating my attention like other baseball books have. I thought it was an interesting look into a topic I wanted to learn about but it lacked the narrative prowess that some other baseball books I've read have had.

This was an entertaining and informative read. I found myself sharing what I learned from this book with those around me. I recommend it to fans of good and highly readable non-fiction.

This book was a bit dense for me, but it’s clear that it was very well-researched, and Dan Taylor is a talented writer and sports historian.

Baseball at the Abyss by Dan Taylor looks at the baseball off-season of 1926 and the record breaking 1927 season. Taylor chronicles the scandal which involved all time greats Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker and engulfed the whole sport in finger pointing over illegal gambling. I had never heard of this and as a baseball fan it was surprising what happened and how it all turned out. Taylor also looks at the life of Babe Ruth around this time and the rise of the sports agent when Christy Walsh enters the Babe's life. The home run competition between Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig finishes out the narrative.

This book has me stuck as a reviewer. In pieces, everything I mentioned above is interesting and Taylor writes very well. Each episode flows cleanly and Taylor has an eye for the interesting bits people want to hear. There is a lot to like here.

However, this is a short book with way too many stories, ultimately. For instance, there is a large section on Ruth's foray into a Hollywood movie. The story is interesting by itself, but it feels like a tangent from the main story which is about baseball. You could drop the entire Hollywood movie anecdote from the narrative and not lose anything. Chapters sometime feel like they are from a different book just a bit too often, even if they are fun to read.

If you are baseball fanatic, I think you will like this regardless. Swing away.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Rowman & Littlefield.)