Summer reading: More scary than George Sherill on the mound protecting a five-run lead

Harkening back to last April and the 30 baseball book reviews in 30 days (linked here), more light to heavyweight reading before the summer gloom burns off:

The book: "Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from The Baseball Diamond, The Locker Room and Beyond"

The pitch:

When Bradley and Gordon were collecting material for their 2007 book, "Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends, and Eerie Events" (linked here), they were frightened somewhat by the fact they had much more material for one book.

So after chronicling stuff like how there are hidden passageways at Dodger Stadium, how Roberto Clemente had preminitions about dying in a plane crash and why the Curse of the Billy Goat still haunts Chicago Cubs fans, ghostbusters Bradley and Gordon scare up some more stories for a second edition.

For starters: The Dodgers' Adrian Beltre admitting he didn't sleep the entire three nights that the team was at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee in 2003, with teammate Alex Cora and coach John Shelby verifying there was something crazy going on there. But don't take ex-Dodgers words for it. San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum has his stories about being there, as does Matt Treanor, Billy Wagner, Ellis Burks and Matt Nokes.

There's Chapter 4, about how visiting clubhouse man Bubba Harkins knows of the spooky things that have happened in Angels Stadium over the years -- stereos going on, lights coming out ... and visits by the late Jimmie Reese. Angels communications director Tim Mead is quoted: "If anyone's seen a ghost down there or any facsimilie thereof, they've geen good ones and if Jimmie Reese or Gene Autry were own there, then we're blessed."

Then how do you explain the center-field gate at Fenway Park flying open during an Angels-Red Sox AL Division Series game last fall? Maybe it was Nick Adenhart joining in the pending celebration?

Does the spirit of Babe Ruth still live on today in places he used to haunt?

Why do Pirates players shy away from staying at Room 232 at the team's spring training camp hotel?

What is it like to be a night watchman at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown? Much like "Night at the Museum"?

Remember when the Cubs used to train on Catalina Island? Have all of them really left the place?

Or how about in the Mission District of San Francisco, where the old Seals Stadium used to be. Employees of the shops there report strange things happening all the time.

Poltergeists, exorcisms and voodoo aside, it's worth at least looking into what could cause these things to happen, and either fear it, or embrace it.

Like how the Dodgers of '08 took to liking this gnome with an LA hat in the bullpen after a 7-11 start was reversed.

How it goes down in the scorebook: Don't read it if you're the last one of the stadium.

Post script: Not to be confused with the book, "Field of Screams," published in 1982 by Richard Scheinin (W.W. Norton & Company, 404 pages), which is described as: "For those who have had it with the "Boys of Summer" playing "The Summer Game" on a "Field of Dreams," here is a blackly funny reality check--featuring a rogue's gallery of cheats, misers, sadists, racists, egomaniacs, substance abusers, gamblers, and criminals who have participated in America's favorite sport." That screams for a rewrite and updated version.