Hill: Wordsmith Goldberg-Strassler crafts a gem of a baseball book
From SABR member Benjamin Hill at MiLB.com on January 17, 2013, with SABR member Jesse Goldberg-Strassler:
Throughout the course of its long, rich and ever-evolving history, baseball has developed a language all its own. As a result, there are always creative ways to express one’s self.
For example, one could simply say, “The pitcher threw a curveball and the batter hit it over the fence.” But the more creative linguists among us could turn that simple phrase into “The hurlester buggywhipped a snapdragon and the swatsmith manhandled it beyond the rampart.” That latter example, while perhaps just a bit ridiculous, was constructed with the help of Jesse Goldberg-Strassler’s The Baseball Thesaurus. This book — available in paperback as well as a fully searchable Kindle edition — is an alphabetized romp through the baseball lexicon peppered with quirky anecdotes, vintage photos and memorable quotes.
In an email interview, Goldberg-Strassler, currently the broadcaster for the Lansing Lugnuts, took the time to explain The Baseball Thesaurus origin story, its intended audience and the etymology of one of its most obscure entries.
Read the full article here: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130116&content_id=40989170&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb
Originally published: January 17, 2013. Last Updated: January 17, 2013.