♦ As we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron’s breaking the all-time home run record, I’m kind of surprised he hadn’t already had a stamp issued in his honor. ♦ Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League: A Novel, wrote “On the All-But-Invisible Role of Interpreters, in Literature and in Baseball” for Lithub.com. I […]
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Hank Aaron,
Seattle Pilots
It can’t possibly be fifty years since Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. I vividly remember watching it on TV and being amazed that they halted the game to celebrate. There were a number of books about Aaron that came out after he broke the record but here are a couple of […]
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Hank Aaron
One hundred. It’s a nice, round number. Picking from the thousands of moments in baseball history is a daunting task. Those who take it on have a responsibility to do the due diligence to separate the merely good from the truly magnificent. Kind of like parsing out true Hall of Famers from those who just […]
Those are the “traditional names” for the 20th and 35th anniversaries. As mentioned in the BBS post from Friday, we are celebrating two “milestones” in baseball pop culture. Moneyball gets china for marking the 20th since its publication. Doesn’t it seem like we’ve been hearing about that for a lot longer? Friday’s entry refers to […]
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Bull Durham,
Moneyball
No, not Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. But the “Shot heard ’round the world,” the game that regularly brings up “The Giants win the pennant” call. The game that forever link the names Thomson and Branca a generation before Wilson and Buckner. I was reminded of the platinum anniversary by a piece in […]
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Bobby Thomson,
New York Giants,
Ralph Branca
New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]
Lost in all the drama of the continuing pandemic, presidential election conventions, and other items: August 17 marked the 100th anniversary of the only fatality on a major league baseball field. Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Naps (as the Indians were known at the time) was killed by a pitch from the New York Yankees’ […]
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Carl Mays,
Gary Cieradkowski,
Mike Sowell,
Molly Lawless,
Ray Chapman,
Rick Swaine
Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]
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Baseball Cards,
Jay Horwitz,
Jim Bouton,
Los Angeles Dodgers,
Lou Gehrig,
Milwaukee Brewers,
Moneyball,
Rod Carew,
Roy Halladay,
Willie Mays,
Yogi Berra
Given the number of volumes that have been written following the Moneyball formula over the past few years, I’m almost shocked by the paucity of new material regarding the dark cloud that has hovered over our national pastime for 100 years. I’m referring to the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. To be sure, there have been […]
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Black Sox scandal
Happy Solstice, everybody! Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull […]
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Babe Ruth,
baseball stadiums,
Billy Bean,
Boston Red Sox,
Chicago Cubs,
David Cone,
hitting,
Houston Astros,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Philadelphia Phillies,
Pitching,
Roger Angell,
Roger Kahn,
Ron Swoboda,
Yogi Berra
Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]
Tagged as:
baseball stadiums,
Cal Ripken Jr.,
Chicago Cubs,
David Cone,
Houston Astros,
Michael Lewis,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Philadelphia Phillies,
Pitching,
Ted Williams,
Yogi Berra
Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]
Tagged as:
baseball statistics,
Chicago Cubs,
David Cone,
Houston Astros,
Michael Lewis,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Philadelphia Phillies,
Pitching,
Ted Williams,
Yogi Berra
Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]
Tagged as:
baseball strartegy,
Chicago Cubs,
Ernie Banks,
Harry Caray,
Houston Astros,
Michael Lewis,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Pete Rose,
Ron Darling,
Ted Williams
Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]
Tagged as:
Billy Martin,
Ernie Banks,
Houston Astros,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Pitching,
Ron Darling,
Ted Williams
Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work. In addition, sometimes the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category to which it […]
Tagged as:
Art Shamsky Ron Darling,
Ernie Banks,
Houston Astros,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yabnkees,
Oakland As,
Pitching,
scouting,
Ted Williams,
Tyler Kepner
Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work. In addition, sometimes the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category to which it […]
Tagged as:
Art Shamsky,
Babe Ruth,
baseball rules,
Bernard Malamud,
Houston Astors,
Jane Leavy,
Little League,
Michael Lewis,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
rookies,
Ted Williams,
The Natural
Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work. In addition, sometimes the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category to which it […]
Tagged as:
analytics,
Art Shamsky,
Babe Ruth,
baseball rookies,
Fantasy baseball,
Jane Leavy,
Michael Lewis,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
sabermetrics