A periodic attempt to catch up on recent items and links.
♦ I love this entry by SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee on the 17-inning game between the Red Sox and Orioles on May 6 because it’s so damn literary, comparing the sportswriter’s hyperbole to the epic storyteller.
♦ And this one brief from The Hardball Times’ Greg Simons re: “Calico Joe and home-field advantage” because it’s so analytical.
♦ And this one from ESPN’s Front Row, a site that goes behind the scenes at the sprots network, on how they covered Jered Weaver’s recent no-hitter.
♦ Sports Illustrated reviewed the documentary Knuckleball prior to the Tribecca Film Festival. It’s bound to be coming to a theater near you at some point or, if not, will be available on DVD/BlueRay.
♦ Speaking of movies, The Observer, the student newspaper at Notre Dame and St. Mary’s, offered this list of their top five baseball flics. Titles include Rookie of the Year (1983)? What are they teaching kids in college these days?
♦ So that‘s what’s wrong with the global climate — someone’s been giving it steroids. Scientific American posits that global warming is responsible for an increase in home runs. (Or did they?)
♦ Will Leitch published this profile of Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda in the April 29 edition of New York Magazine. (I can never hear that name without thinking of Rookie Carroca, Lainie Kazan’s husband in My Favorite Year.)
♦ The late Greg Spira donated his baseball library to the Society for American Baseball Research. Not to be morbid, but I’ve been wondering about that for a couple of years. My library consists of more than 2,000 titles (and that’s just books, not journals, magazines, or other baseball-alia) and I’ve been trying to figure out a place for them when the time comes, if not sooner. I’ve considered e-baying them, but it seems like a lot of work for very little money. The local library doesn’t want them and it seems too much work to pack them up and have them shipped to the Baseball Hall of Fame or other institutions (not to mention expensive). I hate to think of them — or any books — winding up in the trash. I gave the Yogi Berra Museum about 100 books about the Yankees for a book sale fund-raiser they held a few months ago, but that still leaves plenty. Of course, when the time does come, I don’t think I’ll care that much.
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. Upshot: Well, there isn’t any per se. “After years of steroid scandals and cold-hearted business decisions, Araton has given us an old-fashioned story about the redemptive power of baseball.” The writer also calls Berra ” the ultimate lovable grumpy old man.” Hey, you don’t know him like that to say such a thing, eh? (It’s all right, I’m part-Canadian; I can say that without offending.)
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♦ In the meantime, Bailey’s Baseball Book Reviews goes old-school, 
, written with Ed Linn.
John Smoltz discusses
. It’s kind of funny: Smoltz spent 20 out of his 21- years in the Majors with the Atlanta Braves, yet the headline for the St. Louis TV station refers to him as an ex-Cardinal. Sure, he was with the Cards for about six weeks, so it’s technically true, although it seems somehow disingenuous to “claim” him as such.
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. Ewald, who collaborated with Anderson on several titles, will be the guest on this week’s podcast, which should go on Sunday.
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has been released in paperback. 
by Mitchell Nathanson and 
♦ The Lemuria Bookstore Blog offers mini-reviews for three baseball novels: 
, and 
. I’ve been hearing good things about The Might Have Been, which, on the surface, seems to carry that “missed opportunities” theme for so many stories about sports (and life). Still, when you think of all the hype TAOF has received, this one is swimming under the surface.
in the Buffalo News.
on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website.
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♦ Baseball Reflections posted 
.
with Fleder’s 
. Close enough for government work.
, by David Stinson
, by John Thorn.
, by Molly Lawless.
, by Bud Harrelson with Phil Pepe
, by John Grisham
, by Bruce Spitzer
, by W.P. Kinsella
Arbitrator who ruled in Braun’s favor fired by MLB. Coincidence?
May 15, 2012 · 0 comments
Shyam Das, the arbitrator who voted to overturn MLB’s suspension of Ryan Braun for allegedly violating its drug policy, has been fired.
This was the only instance in which the MLB’s ruling was overturned. They were “outraged” at the time, when Das ruled that there were questions about the “chain of custody” of Braun’s urine sample that left enough doubt for his decision.
Das has been an arbitrator since 1999. Does it strike anyone else odd that he has been dismissed? Of course, we don’t know the whole story, but it seems a bit petulant, like things didn’t go the way MLB wanted and it brought light into the process which made them look bad, so this is their “revenge.”
According to the story by Ken Belson in today’s New York Times
Several factors? Did these factors all suddenly appear after the ruling? How convenient.
Just wonderin’.
Tagged as: Bud Selig, Michael Weiner, Ryan Braun, Shyam Das
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