The game of Baseball has a long and storied past. It’s a sport that lends itself to comparisons between modern day players and players from long ago. These statistical comparisons keep “alive” these players of the past more than any other sport.

These players are often referred to as “legends of the game”. Giving these players life far beyond their living years. So is there a more appropriate subject for a paranormal book than these “ghosts” of Baseball’s past?

Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon have written Haunted Baseball Ghosts, Curses, Legends, And Eerie Events. The book is 275 pages. It was published by The Lyons Press on August 1, 2007 under the ISBN 1599210223. Their summary of the book is ‘A collection of “otherworldly” stories collected from baseball players, stadium personnel, umpires, front-office folks, and fans, which explores the sometimes amusing and sometimes spooky connection between baseball and the paranormal’.

The authors have known one another since college. Mickey Bradley is a lifelong Yankee fan and was named after the famous Yankee centerfielder Mickey Mantle. Dan Gordon is a Red Sox fan.

The book is divided into two basic sections. The first section is “Ghosts, Spirits and Unexplained Events” and entails about two thirds of the tome. This section is 19 chapters long with each chapter telling one particular story. Most of these stories do include ghosts, spirits or apparitions. Taking place in locations like “Huggins-Stengel Field” in Florida where at one point the Yankees had their Spring Training. Other places include major league ballparks in Cleveland, New York, Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Chicago. They write about several haunted hotels teams stay at on the road, in the majors and minor leagues.

The stories are diverse and unique. Most never written about before. Many current players and stories of older players are told. Most teams are at least mentioned and one doesn’t get the feeling it’s about one particular team than another. Even though the authors are Yankee and Red Sox fans, it really is a baseball book with many teams covered in some way. You feel that the compelling stories they collected were the ones that ended up in the book.

The second part of the book is called “Curses”. Baseball players and fans are very superstitious as a group. Many players come from different cultures like Latin-America which often do believe in curses. The most well-known “curse of the Bambino” is discussed. That of course is the curse of the Boston Red Sox for selling the rights to Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Dan Gordon must be happy that curse “ended” in the last few years as the Red Sox have won two World Series.

This second part of the book is less to do with the paranormal and more to do with superstition and beliefs.

This book marries two ideas, the history of Baseball with the legends of ghosts and the paranormal. I must say I am interested in both subjects so this book was an interesting read for me. I think even just a casual Baseball fan and a ghost story reader would enjoy this book.

Haunted Baseball - Ghosts, Curses, Legends, And Eerie Events can be purchased in our store.