Cooperstown kings
About the book
Cooperstown Kings will reveal the best baseball players by position and era of play, and who truly deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Symonds provides one of the most comprehensive reviews of modern baseball statistics and quantifies the relevant categories to compile the ultimate guide for analyzing the baseball greats—and not so greats. He reveals players who should and should not be in the Hall of Fame. He names names. He does not sugarcoat his findings. By breaking down the greats by position, he’s among the first to rank players over 150 years of baseball history by era and ranking position players and pitchers separately.
Who are the best to ever play the game?
Who would be members of the ultimate team?
Cooperstown Kings promises to answer those questions and more.
What readers are saying
“Relying upon well-established principles of statistical analysis and citing recognized forums, Symonds takes the reader deep into the abyss of facts and comparisons studying the greatest legends of the game. To be sure, it is more than that. It enlightens the reader beyond the numbers and into the realm of who’s really the best, and why. Symonds writes with clarity and free flow of thought. The book will turn the average fan into an enthusiast. Billy Beane would have paid good money to buy this book, and found it a bargain.”
“If you are a baseball fan and appreciate the deep history of the game, this is the book for you. The book gives a full description of the many acronyms that are associated with the game of baseball and is designed to create robust conversations amongst its readers as to who is and who isn’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame and why. Reading about players from different eras of the game, and relating to those players from my youth made me remember why I fell in love with the game of Baseball.”
“This is a wonderful book for baseball fans. It has information that you argue with about people that should or shouldn’t be in the Hall. It is a must for any collection”
“One of the beautiful things about major league baseball is its long history. Symonds points out parallels in the sport’s evolution and social changes in America over the last 125 years and beyond. Great read!”
About the author
Daniel Symonds is a baseball historian and author with a passion for baseball. As a Patron Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame for over 40 years and a frequent visitor to the “Church of Baseball,” Symonds has been a fan of baseball statistics and rankings of the great players of our national pastime his entire adult life. After having read and studied books, blogs and articles about baseball and attending and viewing hundreds of games, the writer felt there was a void of analytical data ranking baseball’s royalty. This book attempts to fill that void.
Having played baseball until his love of the game outweighed his talent on the field, Symonds searched for other ways to be associated with the game. This included attending games and visiting parks in Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, Boston, New York and Cincinnati. While living in Detroit for over 30 years, summers at Tiger Stadium was a big activity for the Symonds family.
As his children got older, Symonds started coaching his daughter’s fast pitch softball teams and his son’s baseball teams. In the mid 1980’s while on a business trip in Chicago, Symonds was browsing through a book store when he came across Rotisserie League Baseball, a book with the original rules of what we call today fantasy baseball. Symonds discussed the book with his colleagues and recruited “owners” to start the league. That league which is named the Schlepper League, has existed for close to 40 years and is still active today.
After retirement, Symonds found another outlet for his passion—collecting baseball memorabilia. It began when he obtained a rookie card of his professional baseball idol, Al Kaline. This collection grew to fill his entire “man cave.” It includes a certified graded baseball card of every Hall of Fame player, manager and Commissioner, many of which are rookie cards. Also included are rookie cards of future can’t miss Hall players, over 80 signed and certified Hall of Fame member baseballs, baseballs signed by 18 pitchers who have pitched perfect games, signed bats and Symonds prized possession—a framed signed jersey of Al Kaline.
Having lived in the Midwest most of his life and retiring to Florida previously, Symonds currently resides in Lancaster, South Carolina with his wife of 50 years. Why there? Because they are within 20 miles of their children, their spouses and eight grandchildren.
