I don’t know about you, but where I live, Christmas items started appearing in store before Halloween. And now that the 2024 season is in the books, here’s a preview off baseball books coming in 2024, as per Amazon. Note that there’s always something that could happen to throw a monkey wrench into the works […]
Games are shorter by a good chunk, thanks to the speed-up rules now in place. MLB thinks that’s a good thing, but who are they trying to convince? “Real” baseball fans, IMO, don’t care about the length of the games. The longer the better (unless the weather is crappy). That’s what separates baseball from other […]
Tagged as:
Vin Scully
Used to be around this time of year you could look forward to the baseball annuals from Street & Smith, Athlon, Lindy’s, and a host of other magazine publishers. Of course, back in the day there were many others put out by the likes of The Sporting News, Major League Baseball, Bill Mazeroski, with Baseball […]
Tagged as:
baseball books 2023
An interesting story about the transformation of For Love of the Game from novel to screen? Perhaps, but this piece from The Athletic is behind a paywall so I can’t tell for sure. Speaking of baseball movies, here’s a touching piece in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about Robert Redford and The Natural as it […]
♦ Ron Shelton’s The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit is among USA Today’s “Best Books of 2022.” Here’s our Bookshelf Conversation with Shelton. Meanwhile, True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy and The Grandest Stage: A History of […]
Our old friend, Curt Smith, weighs in on the top contenders for the 2023 Frick Award, bestowed by the Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball,” in Sports Business Journal. Of course, I’m biased and am hoping that the Mets’ Gary Cohen gets the honor, but I’m sure the other […]
Tagged as:
Curt Smith
A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast […]
There is little that I can offer that would be as eloquent as what others have said and written about the legendary broadcaster who passed away Tuesday at the age of 94. From what I know, Scully was a modest person and a real mensch. He declined to tell his own story and was almost […]
As I prepare for my baseball review feature for Bookreporter.com, I went back to Amazon to see what would make for interesting reviews. The parameters are that they have to have a release date of May or earlier. Here is where I voice my standard criticism of Amazon’s search function: If they can put a […]
The long-time Red Sox favorite passed away Saturday after a long battle with cancer. He was 68. Remy, a native Bay Stater, was drafted by the California Angels in 1971. He played for the Halos from 1975-77 and was traded to Boston in the off-season. The diminutive second-baseman made the All-Star team for the first […]
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Boston Red Sox,
broadcaster,
Jerry Remy
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 […]
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Moneyball,
New York Yankees,
Ted Williams
Remember the other day when I asked when does this end? And then again a few days later? Might has well make a template. The latest Hall of Famer to pass was Joe Morgan, the feisty second baseman, mostly with the Cincinnati Reds — with whom he had his best years– and the Houston Astros. He […]
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Joe Morgan
Getting an early start since I’m home and have binge-watched all I can stand for the moment. Didn’t post one of these last week, so curious to see how many — if any — brand new titles have made the list. So, shall we? Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists […]
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
Welcome to 2019. I hope y’all had a great holiday season. “Pitchers and catchers” are still more than a month away, so I hope this list of forthcoming books will serve as a source of warmth and comfort until then. We seem to have the requisite number of material about former stars such as Jackie […]
Tagged as:
Art Shamsky,
Baltimore Orioles,
Barry Zito,
Boston Red Sox,
Bud Selig,
Chicago Cubs,
David Cone,
Edgar Martinex,
Ernie Banks,
Harry Caray,
Jackie Robinsoin,
Los Angeles Dodgers,
Luis Tiant,
Mickey Mantle,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Pete Rose,
Pitching,
Roger Angell,
Ron Swoboda,
World Chanmpionship,
World Series,
Wrigley Field,
Yogi Berra
As you may have notice, these entries have been falling off in the last several weeks. My apologies. A new full-time job — very different from what I had been doing as the sports and features editor of a weekly community newspaper in suburban New jersey — has put new and strange demands on my […]
Tagged as:
Atlanta Braves,
Baseball Hall of Fame,
Boston Red Sox,
Chicago Cubs,
Chipper Jones,
David Ortiz,
David Ross,
Lou Gehrig,
Price of the Yankees,
Rick Ankiel,
statistics,
Ted Williams,
World Series
What’s wrong with the national pastime? Seems like everyone has an opinion, but some strike me as more informed than others. That’s the feeling I came away with after reading Lincoln Mitchell‘s new book, Will Big League Baseball Survive?: Globalization, the End of Television, Youth Sports, and the Future of Major League Baseball. I can […]
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baseball broadcasting,
how to fix baseball,
Lincoln Mitchell
I wonder if Curt Smith plans on issuing an updated version of his 2009 bio, Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story. Seems like it’s not only warranted, but given that Scully called it quits after the Dodgers’ final game of 2016 practically a necessity. Now Smith could include more tributes to the iconic […]
Tagged as:
Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
Haven’t done one of these in a long time so here goes: From the New York Sportsday website, a review of A Baseball Guy: Former Kansas City Royals Farmhand, Scout, and Major League Coach Takes You Inside the Game He Loves, by Guy Hansen and Tom Gresham. From Lookout Landing, a Seattle Mariners-centric site, this […]
Tagged as:
Cleveland Indians,
George F. Will,
Guy Hansen,
Kansas City Royals,
Mickey Cochrane,
Pittsburgh Pirates,
Seinfeld