{"id":262,"date":"2008-03-14T14:34:36","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T14:34:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-02-12T11:41:49","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T17:41:49","slug":"book-review-early-exits-the-premature-endings-of-baseball-careers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/book-review-early-exits-the-premature-endings-of-baseball-careers\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Reviewed by: David Gargone<\/div>\n

Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers<\/em> examines the many obstacles that have confronted men and women in the world of professional baseball. The book highlights several career-ending incidents and supplies excerpts from those individuals affected by them. These incidents range from gambling and drug abuse to pursuit of careers in politics or other professional leagues. The range of discussion is vast, including criminals, presidents, music artists, and NBA and NFL hall-of-famers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The author, Brian McKenna, set out to document the premature exits of those working in professional baseball. His exhaustive research provides entries from the 19th century through the new millennium. McKenna’s research covers several professional leagues, some domestic and some from abroad, including the major leagues, Negro leagues, women’s leagues and those from Asia and Latin America. His research includes events that even the most knowledgeable baseball historian may have overlooked.<\/p>\n

Players from every generation are discussed, as well as the events surrounding their early departures. Baseball greats such as Kirby Puckett and his career-ending eye injury, Pete Rose and his lifetime ban from Major League Baseball for gambling, Josh Gibson and his battles with alcohol, and Roberto Clemente and Thurman Munson and their untimely deaths from airplane accidents<\/a> are examined. These are just a few examples of the hundreds of individuals in the book. Historical events such as the Chicago Black Sox scandal and World Wars I and II are also discussed in terms of their effects on many players.<\/p>\n

Although the range of information in this book is unmatched, the depth of each entry is lacking. The title of the book may lead one to infer that the entries are about those whose careers were shortened without choice. However, many of the entries do not align with this title. Many players who chose other sports or career opportunities are given the same consideration as those who have fallen victim to injury or accidental death. Thus, many of the names mentioned in the book seem out of place. However, it does provide information on an array of people connected to professional baseball.<\/p>\n

Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers
\nAuthor: Brian McKenna
\nPublished in 2007 by the Scarecrow Press, Inc. (ISBN: 0-8108-5858-4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by: David Gargone<\/div>\n

Early Exits: The Premature Endings of Baseball Careers<\/em> examines the many obstacles that have confronted men and women in the world of professional baseball. The book highlights several career-ending incidents and supplies excerpts from those individuals affected by them. These incidents range from gambling and drug abuse to pursuit of careers in politics or other professional leagues. The range of discussion is vast, including criminals, presidents, music artists, and NBA and NFL hall-of-famers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[290,291],"tags":[78,76,8,31],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4btio-4e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/hardball-hardbat-a-call-for-change-from-aluminum-to-wooden-baseball-bats-in-the-ncaa\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":0},"title":"Hardball-hardbat: A call for change from aluminum to wooden baseball bats in the NCAA","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Matt Kelly, M.A. and Paul Pedersen, Ph.D. Ever since hits and home runs increased significantly after a leading aluminum bat manufacturer introduced the ABlack Magic@ bat in 1985, a controversy has raged in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) concerning the use of aluminum baseball bats. The first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":289,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/the-global-flows-of-international-professional-baseball-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":1},"title":"The Global Flows of International Professional Baseball System","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Ping-Chao Lee, Ph.D. & Chien-Yu Lin, Ph.D. Abstract: This paper employs concepts drawn from a five-phase model of globalization adapted from the work of Maguire et al. in 2002, which aids in developing an understanding of the global phenomenon of professional baseball system. It reports that the five\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/african-americans-in-college-baseball\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":2},"title":"African-Americans in College Baseball","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Frank B. Butts, Laura M. Hatfield & Lance C. Hatfield Abstract: The under-representation of African-Americans in college baseball is evident. African-American athletes make up only 4.5% of all National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) baseball players. They are a shrinking percentage of Major League Baseball players. A focus group\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":199,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/the-role-of-antitrust-laws-in-the-professional-sports-industry-from-a-financial-perspective\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":3},"title":"The Role of Antitrust Laws in the Professional Sports Industry From a Financial Perspective","date":"March 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Howard Bartee, Jr. Abstract This research paper examines how antitrust laws have played a role in shaping the financial operations of the professional sports industry of today. Different aspects of economical, historical, governmental, cultural and financial perspectives have been identified as vital sources in the professional sports industry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":365,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/a-comparative-study-of-governance-of-professional-baseball-systems-in-japan-and-taiwan\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":4},"title":"A Comparative Study of Governance of Professional Baseball Systems in Japan and Taiwan","date":"January 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Ping-Chao Lee, National Taichung University, Taiwan;\u3000Yoshio Takahashi, University of Tsukuba, Japan; Chien-Yu Lin, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan; Koh Sasaki, Nagoya University, Japan Abstract This paper has provided a basis to outline some key governance features of professional baseball systems both in Japan and Taiwan. It seeks to highlight and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":278,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/the-effects-of-promotions-on-attendance-in-professional-baseball\/","url_meta":{"origin":262,"position":5},"title":"The Effects of Promotions on Attendance in Professional Baseball","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Robert Aaron Browning, M.S. & Louisa S. DeBolt, Ph.D. Abstract: Professional baseball organizations use many types of promotions to increase attendance. The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not different types of promotions effected attendance in professional baseball. Promotions were categorized into price, non-price, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"Figure 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/Figure1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2240,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/2240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}