EFQ was founded as The Minneapolis Review of Baseball, by Ken LaZebnik and Steve Lehman.
EFQ ceased to exist in 1995 due to financial difficulties, but was resurrected by Lehman and another contributor in 1998, at the urging of its current publisher, Tom Goldstein.
He added that if EFQ "cannot expand on its narrow base to build a cult-like following … there seems little point in trying to re-start the journal a year from now."
From 1999 through 2007, EFQ annually recognized baseball's "most important book" by bestowing the Dave Moore Award.
[1] It is named for the late Dave Moore, a well-known Minnesota broadcaster, who loved sports and literature.