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What: “Long Balls, No Strikes,”

by Joe Morgan, with Richard Lally.

Publisher: Crown ($25).

This is a first-rate baseball book, a must for any fan.

Joe Morgan’s incisive glimpses into a wide range of baseball issues--from the demise of base stealing to how-come-Maury Wills-isn’t-in-the-Hall of Fame to the game’s most blatant examples of racism make it a winner.

But the most riveting nugget of all--the book’s heart, in fact--are Morgan’s comments about his ex-teammate, Pete Rose, and the should-he-or-shouldn’t-he-be-admitted Hall of Fame controversy.

“Pete overstepped a well-drawn line; even the freshest rookie understands the consequences of betting on baseball,” Morgan writes.

“His behavior injured the game and was a disservice to its future . . . my friend has to pay a price for that.”

On Rose’s denial that he allegedly bet on games: “The thing that made Pete . . . a great ballplayer was his transcendent confidence. That’s what’s killing him on this issue. He is convinced he will triumph. I’m telling him he can’t win this on his terms. Pete can’t see that because there’s no quit in him.”

Morgan describes a 1995 meeting at Cooperstown of Hall of Fame members when the Rose issue came up.

After pitching great Robin Roberts told the group he would be “willing to listen” to Rose if he made a public apology, Morgan chillingly described what happened next:

” . . . then three of the greatest players in history--Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews and Bob Feller--stood up to oppose Pete’s admission. Two of them vowed never to return to Cooperstown if Pete were allowed to enter the Hall.”

On a mythical World Series matchup between the 1998 Yankees and the 1975 Cincinnati Reds: Reds in six.

On Wills: “His .281 career average is higher than that of nine of the 17 shortstops in the Hall of Fame. Sandy Koufax once told me whenever he needed a run, Wills invariably found a way to get it. Koufax and Don Drysdale are in the Hall; Maury deserves a spot alongside them.”