Willie Keeler

Willie Keeler carefully recounts an amazing career which began with Keeler forming part of the old storied Baltimore Orioles Big Four (along with John McGraw, Joe Kelley, and Hughie Jennings); spanned the 19th century and Dead Ball eras; and concluded with the modest Keeler being able to boast of owning the game’s second-highest lifetime batting average upon retirement. The book portrays the diminutive Keeler as a winsome gentleman, while providing convincing evidence of his all-around brilliance and especially his greatness as a hitter, despite his lack of power and the advantage of his having played most of his career before the advent of the foul strike rule. * Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine *
Spatz weaves his tale deftly. His prose is effortless and direct, with little excess. Every sentence tells you something that puts events in context. . . .There’s a lot to like about this biography. The quotes by and about Keeler are telling, the photos and notes are first-rate, and the portrait of Keeler as a gentleman amidst ruffians is vivid. I was left wanting to know more about Keeler’s life off the field, and more about his precise role in the offensive innovations of the Orioles, but what’s there is much more than a half-full glass and pleasing to the taste. * The SABR Bookshelf *
Spatz has once again contributed a recommended biography of a lesser- known baseball figure, one where the reader does not get bogged down in tedious game- by- game descriptions but can delight in an eminently readable account of one of the game’s purest scientific hitters. * Journal of Sport History *
Lyle Spatz’s fine biography of Willie Keeler is a chronicle of his times and an engrossing history of major- league baseball from 1890 to 1915.... Lyle Spatz appears to have culled every box score from Keeler’s debut to his last bunt single. His research is impeccable, although an avalanche of stats and the choreography of bygone pennant races ultimately becomes a trek through long- forgotten games peopled by equally distant players. * NINE: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture *
Lyle Spatz has skillfully crafted a noteworthy biography of one of baseball’s all-time smartest hitters, Willie Keeler, of ‘hit them where they ain’t’ fame. Spatz’s thoughtful description of the man and his times is right on target. -- Rick Huhn, author of The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession, The Sizzler: George Sisler, Baseball's Forgotten Great, and Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography
Lyle Spatz’s thoroughly researched and well-paced biography reestablishes Willie Keeler as one of the game’s all time greats, while bringing to life his contributions to two of the greatest teams ever assembled to play the game: the mid-1890s Baltimore Orioles and the late-1890s Brooklyn Superbas. Spatz’s book is equally important for it invites readers to consider the momentous changes to baseball's rules that the game underwent between the start of Keeler’s career in the early 1890s and the end of his career in 1910. Using Keeler’s offensive output as the linchpin, Spatz’s smart analysis will have baseball fans rethinking what those changes meant to the early game’s offensive and defensive numbers, and the continuing effect they have had on the game today. -- David B. Stinson, author of Deadball: A Metaphysical Baseball Novel
One of the game's biggest stars at a time when baseball was maturing into its modern setup, Willie Keeler played with some of the best and most interesting teams and characters. In this well-written biography, Spatz entertainingly brings us the life and times of a man now best remembered for the aphorism “hit 'em where they ain't.” -- Daniel R. Levitt, author of The Battle that Forged Modern Baseball: The Federal League Challenge and Its Legacy