It’s fun, full of facts and random information, all compiled neatly into 150 pages of no hold barred baseball joy. Here’s our review

SCOTT JACOBS

What happens when art meets sport meets fan meets book?  You get Craig Robinson’s lovechild, Flip Flop Fly Ball:  An Infographic Baseball Adventure, a 160 page graphical odyssey illustrating baseball’s unique past and its colorful present.

Robinson’s insightful look into the ole ball game is a nifty collection of interesting, bizarre, and ‘who thinks of this stuff’ stats, facts, and comparisons that as a great hitter might put it, are all over the field.  And all over the map.  Literally.

From ‘Road to the Show’ which documents distances from the Rookie Level to the Majors to Girls Professional Baseball Leagues all the way to his personal anecdotes which covered his 15 park MLB tour, Robinson mixes opinion, insight, entertainment, and yup, there’s even a few laughs with whit, charm, and brilliant precision.

His coffee table size book is 120 full-color graphics deep, intermingled with some personal stories and a hint of some odd and strange baseball paintings.  The book does what it wants, when it wants, and how it wants, which adds to its entertainment and confounding nature.

Some of the graphics are brilliantly simple: like his ‘Cleveland Indians, Oh Really?’ pie chart which shows just how big of a Native American population Cleveland actually has (hint: not much).  Some more complex: such as the evolution of the Single Season Home Run Record, done in a fascinatingly scientific way.  And some are so intense, you need a magnifying glass to follow their path.  His Bobby Cox chart which shows all the different MLB managers that manned the dugout during his 20 year tenure, is so ‘out there’ that a quick glance looks like part of an acid trip (No, you don’t need 3d glasses for this extravaganza).

All in all it’s a good time and a fun trip. It’s not politically correct, nor does it claim to be, but some of the facts will surprise you, and you can pick it up at any time for a fun fact or 22.

Alex Rodriguez’s salary is measured in pennies, the Yankees and Mets measured in back pages, and stolen bases are accumulated as if they were well, actually stolen.  It’s a celebration of baseball’s quirks and its hollowed marks mixed with strange facts that most people would never ever contemplate: such as how far running the bases would actually cover in the U.S.

All in all it’s a good time and a fun trip. It’s not politically correct, nor does it claim to be, but some of the facts will surprise you, and you can pick it up at any time for a fun fact or 22.  No topic is out of bounds from ticket prices to payrolls to elevations to the anatomy of Florida’s two broken up championship rosters.  There’s even a page dedicated to the wave.  Or in Craig’s vision, where the wave should be in baseball’s Venn Diagram.

Written from a fan’s point of a view it is also relatable and very down to earth.

It’s an eccentric study of a character driven sport broken down into categories and graphics that sometimes feel straight out of left field.  But it’s well researched and thought provoking and a useless fact parade that leaves you wanting more as it tails off in a blaze of glory.  It’s not going to change your life, nor does it strive to.  But it is that rare book that collects its knowledge not in a fistful of words, but in a bucket full of color.  Baseball is a nine inning outing.  Flip Flop Fly Ball pitches a complete game.

Details:
Flip Flop Fly Ball: An Infographic Baseball Adventure
Author: Craig Robinson
Pages: 160
Price: $15.62 at Amazon

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