International Baseball Encyclopedia: History, Teams & Players Worldwide | Perfect for Fans & Collectors

Peter C. Bjarkman's "Diamonds Around the Globe" is the early-season candidate for baseball book of the year honors. It picks up where Total Baseball and other tomes leave off, and makes it clear that baseball is much more than just an American pastime There are chapters on the game in Japan, Canada, Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere. Bjarkman adds the history of baseball in Europe, the Pacific Rim countries and Africa. "DAG" includes historical information on professional and amateur programs around the globe. Want to know the yearly champions of Belarus or San Marino? Or Korea's MVPs? It's all here, along with information on baseball in the Olympics and other global amateur competitions. One of the most fascinating sections of the book is a timeline that includes a potpourri of baseball facts, feats and firsts - details of an 1857 game on Australia's Ballarat gold rush fields; the birth of professional teams in Cuba and Japan; and much more. There's even an appendix that provides names and addresses of baseball federations around the world. Want the e-mail address for the Osterreichischer BaseballundSoftballverband (Austria)? A website for the Hrvatski Baseball Savez (Croatia)? Or the name of the current president of the Republic of Marshall Islands Baseball Federation (Danny Wase)? It's all here.