A gifted young man who was also an amatuer pianist and sculptor, Asimof actualy played minor league baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
Asinof was born in Manhattan, New York on July 13, 1919.
Yes, the man who wrote the famous book about the 1919 Chicago White Sox and the "Black Sox" World Series gambling fix was born just a few months before the most infamous Series in baseball history.
The book, written by Asinof in 1963 after 3 years of research, including interviewing surviving members of the 1919 ChiSox, is considered one of the finest baseball books ever written.
In 1988 Eight Men Out was made into a terrific baseball movie, starring famous actors like Charlie Sheen, David Strathiarn, John Mahoney, Christopher Lloyd, and John Cusak, who plays White Sox 3rd Baseman Buck Weaver.
I have to admit I've never read the book, but I've watched the movie several tines, and have read many articles about the 1919 Black Sox.
It continues to be a fascinating baseball discussion on who exactly knew what actually happened in the fall of 1919.
Asimof also wrote two other, less famous books, on baseball.
I need to get a copy of Eight Men Out and read it, as well as Asinof's other baseball books.
Eliot Asimof passed away from complications from pneumonia in 2008, at the age of 88.
Happy Baseball Birthday! Eliot Asinof!
Play Ball!
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