New Book from Childress

[johnnyg08]

Quote from Childress on other boards:

My new book is available now at Amazon.com Click here to order.

Relevant information:

This is a reference book for umpires at all levels and for those who might want to become an umpire. It has 281 entries, 243 letter-size pages, 151,00 words plus illustrations.

If it's about baseball umpiring, you'll find in Baseball Umpires Encyclopedia. Rules, umpire rotations, game control: It's all here.

Here's a sample entry:

Phantom Double Play — It's the most famous "bad" call of all time. The shortstop gloves the ball and, as Milo Hamilton says, "Flip it! Fire it! Double play!" The fact that the second baseman "forgot" to tag the base while he had the ball has been irrelevant for about a hundred years. See phantom force, the next entry.

I first heard about this play in 1949 when I began listening to the Liberty Broadcasting System. Gordon McClendon, who called himself the "Old Scotchman" and pretended to be in his early 80s, re-created major league baseball games. He was always introduced like this: "Coming to you live from Yankee Stadium, by wire report...." We 12-year-old kids didn't know "wire report" meant Western Union telegrams. The "Old Scotchman" was 29 when I began listening to him broadcast from KLIF in Dallas.

Allow me to re-create one of Gordon's typical calls: "Doby's on first, nobody out. Lou Boudreau digs in. Lopat stretches, delivers. It's a sharp grounder to Rizzuto's left, but it's no match for him. He gobbles it up and flips to Stirnweiss for the out at second. On to Henrich at first: Out! Boudreau's not as fast as he used to be. Listen, folks, Snuffy Stirnweiss wasn't within two feet of second when he took Rizzuto's throw. But Red Jones thumbed him out anyway. Folks, that's called the phantom double play. Wait'll you get to a big league park. You'll see what I mean. Stepping in now is the right fielder, Bob Kennedy. He's hitting just ...." As I recall, Gordon rarely omitted his reference to the "imaginary" out at second.

In spite of its storied past, though, we don't see the phantom double play very often in the big leagues anymore. Every game is televised. No umpire wants to see ten replays showing him calling an out when F4 wasn't within "two feet of second." But they don't have ten TV cameras bearing down on your every move at your local park. Do your bit for safety and tradition. If the runner was going to be out, he was out.

-------------------

Price: $17.99

Guarantee: Buy the book. If you don't think it's worth the money, email me: carl@bluezebrasports.com. I'll refund your price via PayPal.

And you can keep the book!

Carl Childress

[johnnyg08]

Got my BUE from Childress today. Have to say, I started reading the article on page 106. That article alone was worth the price of admission.

Enjoy...can't go wrong with this one!

[sdix00]

Reading the BUE like a regular book and it works. I forget what a great writer Carl Childress is.

I am on the "S" section and I noticed the U-E column on Spirits of Ammonia is featured in the book. Not sure if Warren or someone else wrote it, but congrats on being included in this fine work.

http://umpire-empire...ng-the-heat-r28

I paid $13 for the BUE on Amazon with free shipping. I have every $10 title from Referee.com; and at $13, the BUE is ten times the value of any of those $10 Referee publications in my library.

I am afraid I am underselling this book a bit. I consider this book as part of my "secret" library. The stuff in here is so good, yet I wouldn't want my partners to know where I picked up all the info. Better to let them think this stuff comes from years of experience, which I do not have. It reminds me of the off-color mo-ped joke. The one that says they are fun to ride, but you wouldn't want your friends to see you on it. Same thing with the BUE. Great to read, but if anyone asks, I don't know anything about it.

Childress's work is a National Treasure. I hope he has plans for his portfolio of work when he hangs it up.

Oh, and I second what J8 says about the article on 106.

[JaxRolo]

Reading the BUE like a regular book and it works. I forget what a great writer Carl Childress is.

I am on the "S" section and I noticed the U-E column on Spirits of Ammonia is featured in the book. Not sure if Warren or someone else wrote it, but congrats on being included in this fine work.

http://umpire-empire...ng-the-heat-r28

I paid $13 for the BUE on Amazon with free shipping. I have every $10 title from Referee.com; and at $13, the BUE is ten times the value of any of those $10 Referee publications in my library.

I am afraid I am underselling this book a bit. I consider this book as part of my "secret" library. The stuff in here is so good, yet I wouldn't want my partners to know where I picked up all the info. Better to let them think this stuff comes from years of experience, which I do not have. It reminds me of the off-color mo-ped joke. The one that says they are fun to ride, but you wouldn't want your friends to see you on it. Same thing with the BUE. Great to read, but if anyone asks, I don't know anything about it.

Childress's work is a National Treasure. I hope he has plans for his portfolio of work when he hangs it up.

Oh, and I second what J8 says about the article on 106.

Here is the link in case anybody wants it

Baseball Umpires Encyclopedia

[sdix00]

OK -

so Amazon is charging list on his titles now. Oh well. So it's still an awesome value.

I really did get it for $13 three weeks ago.

Order Placed:

January 5, 2012

View Order Details | View Invoice

• Order Number: 002-6027884-2887457
  
• Recipient: Stephen Dix CS/orders/images/acorn._V192250692_.gif'>
  
• Order Total: $12.95
  

[Umpire in Chief]

It's nice to get a little love from Mr.Childress.

[yawetag]

I'll post my Amazon review on here for those thinking of buying the book:

When I saw the BUE was released, I was excited. After receiving the book, however, I'm slightly disappointed. One of the best things Carl did was bold words in the text that can be found as its own entry. However, many of the page numbers are wrong, usually by a page or so, but sometimes off by A LOT. I don't know if this was an issue on Carl's end (bad editing) or somehow in the pagination by the book binder (pages were extended/shorted). Because of this, I've taken the time to begin changing the page numbers by hand.

In addition, there are times an entry links to a word, only to find that entry simply states, "See <this entry>." I think Carl could have taken the time to make these links go to the entry that will actually have something to read, instead of spending extra time flipping to a second entry.

Overall, though, the information is excellent. As in every other book by Carl, you won't agree with his way of handling situations, but you respect his opinions. The amount of knowledge in the book is worth its weight. However, I'd wait until it's known the page numbers are fixed.

[Triguy29]

I just ordered BUE and nobody's perfect. Almost finished with Jim Evans for the first time. Man I can't wait until spring.

[yawetag]

After speaking with Carl yesterday, he stated an updated version was sent to Amazon last week, so newer orders should be correct.

[JaxRolo]

After speaking with Carl yesterday, he stated an updated version was sent to Amazon last week, so newer orders should be correct.

I hope so I just ordered one today!

[yawetag]

After speaking with Carl yesterday, he stated an updated version was sent to Amazon last week, so newer orders should be correct.

I hope so I just ordered one today!

If it's not, let me know -- he wants to make sure Amazon's printing the correct copy.