It’s the start of the 2025 baseball season and as is the case every year, I read a few baseball books to get in the swing of baseball. Here’s the first baseball book for me in the 2025 season, “Diamond Duels”.
Title/Author:
“Diamond Duels: Baseball’s Greatest Matchups” by John Nogowsli
Rating:
3 ½ of 5 stars (good)
Review:
Throughout the history of Major League Baseball, there have been great individual matchups, even though it is clearly a team. Whether the comparisons are a particular pitcher against a particular hitter, a comparison between two pitchers or two batters, or just describing how one player fares against certain peers, there are countless examples of where this information can be fascinating. This book by John Nogowski is a collection of chapters with such information.
Through some great research online and reading a lot of books, Nogowski was able to illustrate some of the most interesting comparisons among the greats in baseball history. All eras are covered, from the era of pitchers like Cy Young and Walter Johnson to the ”steroid” era and sluggers like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Some of these are how these stars matched up against others - pitcher vs. batter. It was usually, but not always, a listing of which pitchers gave a hitter the most trouble or vice versa. There were also comparisons of teammates that gave their team a fearsome 1-2 punch such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey or David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Not every chapter was in that format, however. The sections that focused on one player were some of the best in the book and when Nogowski is attempting to make a case for a player as an all-time great. The best of these was his section on Pedro Martinez and his case that two of the best seasons recorded by a pitcher were those of Martinez in 1999 and 2000. One may not agree, but it makes fro great reading.
There isn’t a lot of new information in this book that serious baseball fans won’t already know, but it’s still a decent book to pick up to get in the mood for the new baseball season. It worked for this reviewer.
I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
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