‘The Baseball 100’

Written in 2021, The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski, is a ranking of the best 100 baseball players of all time. I highly recommend this book, especially for baseball fans.

As with most rankings, Posnanski has a few that might surprise you and others with whom you’d disagree. Nonetheless, he does an outstanding job, and most of the greats you expect to be ranked here are.

He integrates the great Negro Leaguers, who in some cases were equal, if not better, than their Major League Baseball counterparts. In addition, Posnanski finds a spot for one who experts consider the greatest player in Japanese baseball history.

Even the 1800s are represented. As to be expected, pitchers are heavily outnumbered. One of the quirks of the book is that he ranks some of the players in a way that corresponds with a number that made them famous.

At first glance, the book can look intimidating, as it is more than 800 pages. However, readers are rewarded with biographical sketches of 100 players that can be read in any order and at one’s own pace.

As we move toward summer and well-deserved holidays, you may be booking flights to faraway places. As part of this process, you might notice your airline offering you the opportunity to buy carbon offsets for your travel.

This sounds like a great idea—pay a few bucks to fly without impacting the environment; why not? Unfortunately, these offerings are an example of “if it sounds too good to be true, it is.” Until we develop better biofuels or batteries for commercial aviation, or perhaps bring back the zeppelin, there is no way to fly the friendly skies without spewing CO2.

Other mo des of travel have less impact, so if you can, take your trip instead by car (preferably electric or hybrid) or train. If you must board a plane, then a nonstop journey is the kindest option, because takeoffs are the most polluting part of a flight.

Upgrading to the forward cabin takes old-timer who thinks no player after a certain date measures up to the players of a bygone era.

Providing more than just dry statistics, Posnanski gives us colorful insights into the players and the history of the game. In this era of easy, instant access to massive amounts of information, Posnanski still manages to unearth gems of new information for these greats who have had so much written about them.

BY DAN DE NEVE

George Will leads off the book with an introduction. Posnanski follows with his own introduction, followed by a short glossary of terms. Then he gets down to the ranking, beginning with Ichiro Suzuki at No. 100—and, no, Ichiro is not the Japanese player I mentioned earlier.

Pitcher Mike Mussina follows at No. 99. Another pitcher, Nolan Ryan, completes the first half of the book, checking in at No. 50.

There is no table of contents, so you can’t cheat by using it to find out the ranking order. Of course, you can flip to the end of the book. With 100 players, Posnanski has given himself enough space to please even the hardened

On the other hand, there are more than enough modern players to keep younger fans interested. With a list this long, Posnanski obviously missed some Hall of Famers. However, he ranked a few players who are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. When warranted, he uses statistics, including sabermetrics.

If you are a baseball fan, read this book. You can’t read all this without learning something while having a good time traveling down Memory Lane.

So, as the late, great Vin Scully would say: “Pull up a chair.” Only in this case, it’s for more than just Dodger baseball.

The book is available at the Dana Point Library. For more information, please call 949.496.5517. The library also hosts two book groups, including the Seaside Book Group, which meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 10:30 a.m. DP

Dan De Neve is a longtime employee of the Orange County Public Library. He cur- rently works at the Dana Point Library as the Adult Services Librarian. He is an avid reader of history, biographies and sports. anyway doesn’t count.

PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the DP Times provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the DP Times or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@sanclementetimes.com.

It is difficult to determine if the offsets available through your airline meet this standard, and an accurate offset amount likely costs more than the airline will charge you.

BY PATTI MAW

a bigger toll on both your wallet and the environment than flying coach, because more fuel is needed to lift the larger space around a first- or business-class seat (plus the weight of the glassware, silverware, and food being carried onboard for your convenience).

If you must go airborne to reach your destination, then buying carbon offsets for your flight is better than not buying them. Their purpose is to try and cancel out the amount of carbon your flight will generate by funding carbon-reducing projects somewhere else on the planet.

Note that this should be a carbon removal that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, so paying someone to save a tree they weren’t planning to cut down

If you’re serious about reducing your travel impact, you can purchase independently audited Quality Assurance Standard-certified carbon credits directly through sites such as clear.eco.

Using its calculator, you can even go beyond “carbon neutral” to “carbon negative” by removing more than your trip will generate, if you are so inclined.

The bottom line is, the only sure way to offset the carbon generated by airplane travel is to avoid emitting that pollution in the first place. While you’re planning, consider that many people choose to travel to California for summer vacation, and we’re already here. DP

Patti Maw is a member of the South Orange County Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Education/Lobby. She has lived in San Juan Capistrano for 10 years and firmly believes that life is amazing and that nature is beautiful.

PLEASE NOTE: In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the DP Times provides Guest Opinion opportunities in which selected columnists’ opinions are shared. The opinions expressed in these columns are entirely those of the columnist alone and do not reflect those of the DP Times or Picket Fence Media. If you would like to respond to this column, please email us at editorial@sanclementetimes.com.