Ninety Feet from Fame: Close Calls with Baseball Immortality Paperback – February 17, 2004

Nice book by Robbins - you'll find some of the standard stories here but quite a few deal with players you've heard of before and some you haven't - some who were very good but just shy of any immortality, and others whose names you'll recognize - the book is sectioned off into sections, covering specific topics (i.e. - those who died young, etc.) and makes for a good read.

My father is a huge baseball fan. I gave him this book for his birthday and he loved it. Many players he remembered, but lots of stories he'd never heard before and really enjoyed - he's been repeating them to us for weeks! I highly recommend this for the sports fan in your life.