The long-time sportswriter and the first author to focus on a single-game analysis passed away Sunday at the ripe old age of 99. I had interviewed Arnold Hano back in 2012 to discuss A Day in the Bleachers, a classic about the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians. It would […]
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Arnold Hano,
Jon Leonoudakis,
New York Giants,
Willie Mays,
World Series
Congrats to Arnold Hano, recently elected to the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals, the national organization’s equivalent to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don Newcombe and Bo Jackson will join Hano for this year’s “induction.” They will be formally enshrined in a public ceremony on Sunday, July 17, at the Donald R. Wright Auditorium […]
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Arnold Hano,
Baseball Reliquary,
Shrine of the Eternals
Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]
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Baseball Cards,
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ESPN,
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Jon Leonoudakis,
Mark Ulriksen,
NPR,
Ray Negron,
Sports Illustrated,
Trouble With the Curve,
Zack Hample
The last time I spoke with Jon Leonoudakis for a Bookshelf Conversation, it was to discuss his 2012 project Not Exactly Cooperstown, a documentary about The Baseball Reliquary, a “nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history and to exploring the national pastime’s unparalleled […]
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Arnold Hano,
Jon Leonoudakis
The National Pastime Museum website offers a collection of essays on My Favorite Baseball Books. The list includes many of the best-known titles as assessed by writers, critics, and other baseball savants. Among them: Bang the Drum Slowly, by Joe Schuster, author of The Might Have Been: A Novel The Natural, by Ryan Swanson, author […]
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Arnold Hano,
Bernard Malamud,
Bill Veeck,
Brooklyn Dodgers,
Larry Lester,
Lou Gehrig,
Mark Harris,
Martry Appel,
Negroe Leagues,
Paul Dickson,
Peter Golenbock,
Rob Neyer,
W.P. Kinsella
(Note: I posted this originally on my blog about Jews and sports, but since it’s based on a fantastic baseball book, I thought it would be appropriate here as well.) And when I say “The Catch,” of course I’m talking about Willie Mays’ iconic grab in Game One of the 1954 World Series against the […]
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Al Rosen,
Arnold Hano,
Bergino Baseball Clubhouse,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Willie Mays
I never got that. Without going into the popular history of friggatriskaidekaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th as opposed to triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number itself), isn’t 13 kind of a good number for the Jews? Bar mitzva and all? According to Baseball-Reference.com, there have been 299 players who wore the number 13 for part […]
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Alex Rodriguez,
Arnold Hano,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Omar Vizquel,
Ray Fosse,
Robert Clemente
Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]
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Arnold Hano,
John Rocker,
Mayor's Trophy Game,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees
Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]
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Arnold Hano,
Baseball Cards,
baseball fiction,
BookPage,
Gary Moore,
Jerry Reuss
Rob Neyer occasionally posts “book club” entries as part of his Just a Bit Outside site. This one was put up shortly after the passing of Alison Gordon, a sportswriter who covered the Toronto Blue Jays and chronicled the experience in her book Foul Ball!: Five Years in the American League. This piece from BaseballEssential […]
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Arnold Hano,
baseball dictionary,
Bobby Brown,
Filip Bondy,
J.P. Hoornstra,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Kansas City Royals,
Los Angeles Dodgers,
Molly Knight,
New York Yankees,
Ron Neyer
Grantland recently aired Spyball, one of those 30 for 30 short documentaries produced by the folks at ESPN. Spyball is the story of Moe Berg, one of the most interesting characters to play in the Majors. A very quick recap of Berg’s career: He was a brilliant scholar, linguist, lawyer, etc., as well as mediocre […]
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Arnold Hano,
ESPB,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Moe Berg
With apologies to Chicago (the band, not the city). Feast or famine. Either I never get to Manhattan, or I’m there too much. After commuting from the New jersey suburbs to NYC for more than 15 years, I have to say it’s a culture shock whenever I go back and I’m not thrilled with it. […]
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A Day in the Bleachers,
Arnold Hano,
baseball business,
Charles Leehrsen,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Jon Pessah,
New York Giants,
Steve Steinberg,
Ty Cobb,
Willie Mays,
World Series
One of my understated heroes turns 93 today. I had the pleasure of doing a Bookshelf Conversation with Hano a couple of years ago. But Jon Leonoudakis — whose previous works include Not Exactly Cooperstown and 5:05 P.M. (about the “Earthquake World Series”) — goes even farther with a documentary about the author of the […]
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A Day in the Bleachers,
Arnold Hano,
Jon Leonoudakis
The creator of the classic A Day In The Bleachers celebrates the release of a trilogy of earlier titles with an appearance at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, 2810 Artesia Blvd., Redondo Beach, CA, on Sunday, Dec. 9, at 2:30 p.m. From the press release: Many know Arnold’s name as the editor of noirmeister Jim Thompson […]
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Arnold Hano
by Arnold Hano. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1964. After reading his classic A Day In The Bleachers and interviewing him for a Bookshelf podcast, I was thrilled to find this little gem available through my local library coop. What makes Sandy Koufax: Strikeout King interesting is the fact that it was published before his famous decision […]
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Arnold Hano,
Sandy Koufax
Some vacation. Actually it was no vacation at all. This is the first time since Aug. 1 I’ve been upright, pain-free, and clear-headed enough to post. Following my 11-seconds of fame as one of the first-pitch-throwers at a Trenton Thunder game, I’ve been suffering with a respiratory infection that had me feverish, coughing, and otherwise […]
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Branch Rickey,
Ron Kaplan,
Sandy Koufax,
Trenton Thunder
As mentioned in a previous post, Arnold Hano wrote one of the must-read books for any serious student of the national pastime. A Day in the Bleachers was the first, and in many ways the best, of the single-game analyses genre. His deconstruction of the first game of the 1954 World Series between the New […]
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Arnold Hano,
Baseball Reliquary,
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New York Giants,
Willie Mays,
World Series
by Arnold Hano. Da Capo Press, 2004. This is one of those things you always figure you’ll get to, like a New Yorker visiting the Empire State Building or The Statue of Liberty. It will always be there, so you figure you have time. Well, Hano will be receiving the the Hilda Chester Award, which […]
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Arnold Hano,
Baseball Reliquary,
Cleveland Indians,
New York Giants