The April 27 podcast of Audible.com’s This is Audible includes an interview with
Jonathan Eig, author of Opening Day, the new book on Jackie Robinson’s debut season. The podcast also includes an excerpt from the audio book, narrated by Richard Allen. The links above will direct to the audible Web site. I’m not sure if there is a charge, but you can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes.
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A piece on Manny Ramirez by Ben McGrath in the ritzy New Yorker. McGrath calls the Boston slugger “the best baseball player to come out of the New York City public-school system since Sandy Koufax.” They magazine also ran a brief review of the Reel Baseball DVD set.
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Speaking of the Red Sox, herewith a couple of thoughts on David Ortiz’s new 
book, Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and Big Hits (St. Martin’s Press), which hit the bookstores April 17. It may come as a surprise, but as of this writing, the autobiography ranks number 3 on the Boston Globe’s hardcover best-selling list.
The AP story, as appeared in Forbes
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One often finds stories about the Negro Leagues, either from former players or 
historians. As far as I know, Bob Motley has written the first book from an umpire’s perspective in Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants and Stars: Umpiring in the Negro Leagues & Beyond. A review appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Baseball Toaster blog featured an interview with Joe Posnanski, author of the new Buck O’Neil biography, The Soul of Baseball.
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A behind-the-scenes look at the NY Times’ sports section with assistant sports editor Jay Schreiber, “the driving force behind much of … Times’s baseball coverage.”
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An interview with Jeff Pearlman, author of Love Me, Hate Me, a Barry Bonds bio, appeared in a blog by Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle.
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Another take on Peter Golenbock’s controversial Mickey Mantle novel.
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James Day, sports columnist for the Salem (OR) Statesman Journal, offers a lovely eulogy for David Halberstam.
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An piece on Bill James and Dan Okrent, republished by HighBeam Encyclopedia.com:
Baseball authors Bill James and Dan Okrent are more than just sportswriters, they all baseball theorists who have created insightful new ways of examining the game. Their theories have even influenced baseball general managers, who use them to build their teams.
From “Following baseball in the abstract and far beyond” (The Sporting News, July 7, 1997)
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A review of The SABR List and Record Book, on Ryan Armbrust’s well-done blog, Thepastime.net.
is available on Amazon.com,
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