I am conflicted about this title. First, I really know very little about sports in general and even less about baseball. Frankly, I care even less. However, kids like sports and I have a lot of very enthusiastic fans who devour sports books.

A lot of them are girls. This leads me to my very mixed feelings about this title.

So, it's a history of baseball. It starts out with a rather florid introduction to the game, which says in part "Fair play, however, has always governed baseball." Um....sure. We can overlook all the newspaper reports I guess. It then goes to a timeline of how the rules have changed, teams and changes there, uniforms, equipment, and stadiums. These are all included in the "Basics" chapter. Fair enough. The next chapter is focused on "The Players" and here I have....some problems. So, as I said I know next to nothing about sports but I do know the story of Jackie Mitchell. Whether or not she really struck out Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig, shouldn't there at least be a mention of the women who attempted to play the game? The chapter continues through statistics and trivia about players - fastest, "pitch masters" etc. There is one spread dedicated to "Pioneers" featuring Jackie Robinson and players from Latin America and Japan and then the chapter jumps back to statistics and milestones.

The next chapters cover the other aspects of the game, the management, coaches, playing strategies and umpires. Oh, look another spread on organizations other than Major League Baseball! There's a section on minor leagues and two historic leagues - All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and the Negro Leagues. No mention of any contemporary women's leagues. Back to famous baseball teams and then over to marketing and memorabilia. One last spread covers other similar games - a quick paragraph on Little League (no mention of Mo'ne Davis) and a paragraph on softball that says "More popular with girls than boys." Back to the memorabilia, trivia, ballpark food and finishing with photo credits.

Verdict: So...this is very attractively presented, there are lots of facts and information, it does include some information, if very little, on diversity. But I simply can't see handing this book to any of my female sports fans. It's very male-centric and, from what I understand, baseball is pretty much men only and while this isn't necessarily the place to mount a platform for more recognition of female players (or fans for that matter) I felt like they were completely overlooked. So I don't really have an opinion on this. Most sports are male-centric and I'll be working hard to buy more female-focused sports books as I update my sports sections. I really need more books like this that provide attractive overviews of sports. But I find it hard to feel happy about adding it to my library.

ISBN: 9781618931429; Published 2016 by Sports Illustrated for Kids; Review copy provided by publisher

With the official baseball season starting this week, this offers the perfect opportunity to share some great baseball books perfect for baseball fans of any age. Our family has been rooting for the Chicago Cubs, but love watching all levels of baseball from our own kids playing, our high school team, our local AAA league and to the pros. My husband grew up in Norway, Iowa (think the movie THE FINAL SEASON) and baseball has been part of his life since he can remember.

This book covers all aspects of baseball and its evolution from the 1800's to the present. Whether you played baseball in your back yard or on a meticulously cared for diamond, this book is for you. The pages are full-color and offer awesome statistics and little-known facts about baseball.

I loved the evolution of the uniforms, the gloves, and the catcher masks. Did you know the Chicago White Sox experimented with wearing shorts in the 70's? That obviously didn't work out. But the uniform pages are hilarious to look at and see the evolution of style as well as the different hairstyles of the players.

Even the umpires of baseball have a section, noting their changes in protection behind the plate to how many were used in a game. These images show examples of the captivating photos on each and every page.

My sons would have loved this book when they were younger. They were all about stats and knowing particular statistics of all the top athletes. Even now, they found the milestone section very interesting. This section lists all the players with 300 Wins, 3,000 Strikeouts, 500 Home Runs, and 3,000 Hits. When I set out the books, my oldest son grabbed this one right away and started looking through it.

All the information is presented in an easy to understand and concise format and isn't overwhelming. The pictures are fun to look at whether you are a child or an adult.

Our sons and even my husband have been collectors of baseball cards and I found that section interesting as well. I learned that Topps is the only brand that has the contract to actually print the league logos on the cards. All the other brands can only use player images on their cards. So, if that is important to you, be sure you buy Topps baseball cards.

If you are a family that loves baseball, this book of interesting facts and history is perfect. It's a nice hardcover for use as a display/coffee table book or to add to your library. Covering a section at night at the supper table would offer lots of great discussion for a baseball loving family. ( )