Course Title:  Athletics 101, Introduction to Baseball

Prerequisite:  None

Credits:  4

Introduction to Baseball 101 is a course designed to introduce to the student the world of baseball through the reading of  classic and contemporary literature.

Chosen reading material includes Jim Bouton's classic "Ball Four",  Michael Lewis' "Moneyball",  Richard Ben Cramer's "Joe DiMaggio", and Leigh Montville's "Ted Williams."

"Ball Four," published in 1970, is a first hand account of pitcher Jim Bouton's experience with the expansion Seatle Pilots.  Detailing the personalities, the business, and the leasure time activities of players and management.  In the end Bouton was black-listed by the sport for his writings, but the book became a classic and essential to any sports enthusiast book shelf.

"Moneyball," written is 2003 is an expose of Oakland Athletic's General Manager Billy Beane and his approach to selecting baseball players.  His radical new approach, based on statistical anaylsis, has spawn a new generation of GM's including Boston's Theo Epstein and the  Los Angeles Dodgers Paul DePodesta.

The biographies of Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams are modern looks at two of baseball greatest legends.  The rivalry between the two is legendary in its own right, and the off-field persona of the two couldn't be more sharply contrasted.