Diamonds are for Everyone

Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney's guide for women who want to understand baseball shouldn't be judged by its pink cover and cheeky title. It's a serious sports volume. I've spent an alarmingly high percentage of my waking hours playing, watching, reading, and writing about baseball, but I didn't know that Ted Williams used his Hall of Fame induction speech to call for the inclusion of Negro League stars, nor that there are seven different ways for a batter to reach base.

It Takes More Than Balls: The Savvy Girls' Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball is, as its title suggests, targeted mainly at female readers and men who may buy it for them. It's a handy rebuttal to traditionalist—some might say retrograde—male fans who think casual female fans are a blight on the game. "I don't sew, crochet, nor knit, but why would I care if a bunch of people want to get together and do that at a game?" Silva asks. "It doesn't ruin my experience."