Wits, Flakes, and Clowns

The Colorful Characters of Baseball

Wayne Stewart

Throughout the twentieth century, baseball has been blessed with a slew of colorful characters, funny men, and “flakes.” And though many fans lament the apparent vanishing of such players, there are still plenty of characters in the game today.

In Wits, Flakes, and Clowns: The Colorful Characters of Baseball, Wayne Stewart brings to life the funniest, craziest, and cleverest men ever associated with the game. From the hilarious but unheralded Casey Candaele and the witty Andy Van Slyke to All-Stars Jimmy Piersall and Bryce Harper, this book shares many never-before-heard stories about some of the most entertaining men in baseball. In addition, this book features quotes from personal player interviews with the author that span decades, providing a personal, inside look at these zany stars.

Wits, Flakes, and Clowns is packed with rich and colorful characters and plenty of humor, as well as unexpected insights into the national pastime. It is a celebration of those unique players who keep fans and teammates on their toes, those known for their wit, their pranks, or for doing just about anything for a laugh. Any baseball fan, but especially those who love the humor of the game, will be entertained by the exploits of the game’s most comical players.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-5381-2521-2 • Hardback • March 2020 • $40.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-5381-2522-9 • eBook • March 2020 • $38.00 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General

Wits, Flakes, and Clowns

The Colorful Characters of Baseball

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Throughout the twentieth century, baseball has been blessed with a slew of colorful characters, funny men, and “flakes.” And though many fans lament the apparent vanishing of such players, there are still plenty of characters in the game today.

In Wits, Flakes, and Clowns: The Colorful Characters of Baseball, Wayne Stewart brings to life the funniest, craziest, and cleverest men ever associated with the game. From the hilarious but unheralded Casey Candaele and the witty Andy Van Slyke to All-Stars Jimmy Piersall and Bryce Harper, this book shares many never-before-heard stories about some of the most entertaining men in baseball. In addition, this book features quotes from personal player interviews with the author that span decades, providing a personal, inside look at these zany stars.

Wits, Flakes, and Clowns is packed with rich and colorful characters and plenty of humor, as well as unexpected insights into the national pastime. It is a celebration of those unique players who keep fans and teammates on their toes, those known for their wit, their pranks, or for doing just about anything for a laugh. Any baseball fan, but especially those who love the humor of the game, will be entertained by the exploits of the game’s most comical players.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-5381-2521-2 • Hardback • March 2020 • $40.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-5381-2522-9 • eBook • March 2020 • $38.00 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General

Author

Wayne Stewart is a professional writer and sports historian. He has written numerous articles for publications such as Baseball Digest, USA Today/Baseball Weekly, and the SABR Research Journal. He is the author of thirty-two books, the latest of which are All the Moves I Had: A Football Life (2016), written with Raymond Berry, Remembering the Stars of the NFL Glory Years: An Inside Look at the Golden Age of Football (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), and Remembering the Greatest Coaches and Games of the NFL Glory Years: An Inside Look at the Golden Age of Football (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). You can learn more about his work at waynestewartonsports.blog.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: Background
2: Kings of the Hill: The Most Colorful Pitchers Ever
3: Kings of the Diamond: The Most Colorful Position Players of All Time
4: Quick Takes on the Princes of Pranks and Zaniness
5: The Royal Jesters: Honorary Mentions
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

Detailing legendary jokesters and pranksters of the past 70 years, [Stewart] lists 135 players and managers who craved the limelight while goofing off on the field and in the clubhouse . . . Stewart wildly entertains in this offbeat history.
— Publishers Weekly

For younger readers less likely to be familiar with personalities of yesteryear, Wits, Flakes, and Clowns will help cultivate a sense of the richness of baseball's past and its humorous quirkiness. Stewart's extended profiles invite deeper inspection of these luminaries thanks to recent biographies of these Hall-of-Famers.

— NINE: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture

Wayne Stewart has written a book on baseball’s most colorful and clever characters. It has lots of great, funny stories any baseball fan should enjoy.
— Ken Griffey, All-Star Game MVP in 1980 and lifetime .296 hitter. Member of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine

Wits, Flakes, and Clowns: The Colorful Characters of Baseball covers so many of the funniest, wittiest, and flakiest players from long ago to the present that it is bound to entertain every baseball fan. Lots of laughs are in store as you read about the men who enriched the game—from those who gave us clever quotes to the pranksters and the so-called clowns of the game, Wayne Stewart's book delivers.
— Vernon Law, 1960 Cy Young Award winner

Humor is a side of baseball that I think is important. Stories in baseball are rampant. I don't hear so much in football and basketball, but you get a baseball guy started and you'll hear a lot of stories. There's something magic about baseball. I think one thing about baseball that gets overlooked is the human side of players—and that's what this book is all about.
— Carl Erskine, All-Star and 20-game winner who threw two no-hitters in the 1950s