Bits and pieces, Nov. 15

Haven’t done one of these in a long time. Then again, haven’t done blogging in general on a regular basis in a long time.

• Yogi Berra loves the movies. In fact, he used to have a regular gig as a reviewer for ______. In this Wall Street Journal piece by Jason Gay, Berra shares his insights on Moneyball. “Berra’s only issue with “Moneyball” is its rendering of manager Art Howe, who is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and comes off as stubborn to the new-statistics approach. Yogi coached with Howe in Houston. “Art’s a good guy,” he says. “And I never saw him that fat. He’s thin.”
• The On Deck Circle blog posted this review of Ralph Branca’s book, A Moment in Time. Upshot: “‘A Moment In Time’ also shows that a man is much more than the one episode he is fairly or unfairly remembered for. Baseball was lucky to have had a Ralph Branca as its ‘goat.’ Because any man who chooses to live with a dark secret so as not to hurt the other people in his life is truly a hero.”
• A little late, but this piece by Gerald Howard on the Publishers Weekly site critiques Moneyball while comparing some of its core principles, specifically, embracing the new statistics to enhance, if not replace, the human elements and guesswork of scouting, with the new technologies and their impact on the publishing industry.
• Steve Kettman reviews Glenn Stout’s Fenway 1912 on the Huffington Post. Upshot: “Stout’s Fenway 1912 offers up a stunningly rich buffet of pleasures for the baseball fan, centered around the construction and opening of Fenway Park almost a century ago and the wild season that followed.”
• Meanwhile the Sports of Boston blog posted this one on Saul Wisnia’s Fenway Park: The Celebration. Upshot: Well, let’s just say it’s mixed.
• The Sports Book Review Center (“Reviews of sports books from the past five years”) covers multiple sports. Among recent baseball titles: The Last Icon, Fenway 1912, and The Mets: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
• Doug Gladstone, author of A Bitter Cup of Coffee: How MLB and the Players Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve, was profiled by the New York Jewish Week.