Ask Hal
Answers to Fans' Most Interesting Questions About Baseball Rules from a Hall-of-Fame Sportswriter
by Hal Lebovitz
- Format: Softcover, 192 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN: 978-1-59851-034-8
- Price: $14.95
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Description
"Very few writers (or broadcasters for that matter) know the rules of the games they cover as Hal Lebovitz did." – Bob Costas
Think it couldn't happen? It probably did! Just ask Hal.
Hal Lebovitz reigned as a leading expert on baseball rules for more than four decades. From 1957 until his death in 2005, Hal answered readers' questions about sports in his popular “Ask Hal” newspaper column. Baseball provided the most frequent questions—and often the most curious and confounding ones. But Hal was never stumped.
Many questions came from real situations—Little League, church-league softball, major league games—even the World Series. (NBC sports broadcasters sometimes phoned Hal at home during Series games to get his opinion of an onfield ruling!) Some came straight from fans' vivid imaginations. Either way, there was always an answer, and Hal had it.
This book collects the best and most entertaining questions and answers about baseball rules from four decades of “Ask Hal.” Flip to any page and you'll find a question that might spark a lively debate at any dinner table or settle a bet at the local tavern. How many can you answer?
Reviews
- “A fun trivia read and a “must have” for baseball fans who enjoy being right about their beloved sport.” — Midwest Book Review
- “The kind of book you can read over and over again, put it down for awhile, then read all over again.” — WKNR AM Radio
About Hal Lebovitz
Hal Lebovitz, who was inducted into the writer's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000, was a sportswriter for more than six decades. He got his first job covering high school sports for the Cleveland News in 1942 and soon became a beat writer covering the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians. He was hired by the Plain Dealer in 1960 to cover baseball and was that paper's sports editor from 1964–1982. “Ask Hal, the Referee,” his popular column on sports rules, began in 1957 and also appeared in the Sporting News. A former college athlete, he also coached baseball, basketball, and football and officiated all three sports, including a stint as a referee traveling with the Harlem Globetrotters. His sportswriting continued to appear regularly in the News-Herald (Lake County, Ohio), the Morning Journal (Lorain, Ohio), and several other newspapers, until his death, at age 89, in 2005. More About Hal Lebovitz