Bits and pieces

From the Norwood, Mass. Daily News Transcript, this “expose” about the Red Sox’ theme song, “Dirty Water.”

Few know the song was written by a band from Los Angeles in the 1960s, and even fewer the incredible journey the song took before it was resurrected as the Red Sox victory anthem in 1998 following a walk-off home run by Mo Vaughn on opening day.

But fans now can get the whole story, thanks to two local authors.

Chuck Burgess of Norwood teamed up with Bill Nowlin of Cambridge to write Love That Dirty Water: The Standells and the Improbable Red Sox Victory Anthem.

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From Oneminutebookreview, this brief assessment of Philip Hoose’s Perfect Once Removed: When Baseball Was All the World to Me. Hoose is the cousin of Don Larsen, author of the only perfect game in World Series history.

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From the Aug. 20 edition of The new Yorker, Roger Angell weighs in on Bonds, A-Rod and numbers.

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From Bookcriticscircle, the blog of the National Book Critics board of directors, a suggested title for fall reading: Miko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story by LeAnne Howe. (Aunt Lute Books):

Howe is a Native American writer of aggressive politics and stylized prose. With this historical novel, she recounts the participation of the Native American league during the baseball fever of the late 1800s and early 1900s, and how the mythology constructed around the Miko Kings shaped Native American-White American relations into the Vietnam era. Howe’s narrative defies easy categorization but her mission is clear: to elevate this sports footnote into the position of prominence it deserves.

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Speaking of Rodriguez, here’s an article from New York magazine, on the dearly (probably) departed A-Rod.
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Blogger J.P. Freely (really?) offers a sneak preview of his manuscript, Bringin’ Gas and Dialin’ 9: 100 Years of Professional Baseball Development. This is an inteesting concept, as Mr. Freely (again, really?) goes in search of an editor/publisher.