Posts tagged as:

Brooklyn Dodgers

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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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 […]

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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 […]

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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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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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Lest we forget: Roger Kahn

February 7, 2020

The author of The Boys of Summer and almost 20 other books died yesterday at the age of 92. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times by Bruce Weber. You know he will be the topic of numerous tributes from sport and literary outlets in the days to come. Here are just a couple: […]

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Little Poison/Big Poison?

December 12, 2019

These were the nicknames given to Paul and Lloyd Waner, brothers who played together for the Pittsburgh Pirates for many years during the 1930s. Funny, but Paul, who was an inch shorter than Lloyd, was the “Big” one, presumably in deference to his being the senior brother by three years. Why do I bring this […]

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M*A*S*H note

October 28, 2019

One of my comfort TV shows is M*A*S*H. If I’m home (and awake) when it airs on ME TV (hold the jokes, please), that’s what I’m watching. The episodes are usually played sequentially, so it was especially interesting that “A War for All Seasons” (season nine, episode six) was on tonight’s schedule. This one follows […]

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Not dead yet

March 25, 2019

Several savvy readers contacted me to inform that there are a few other “Boys of Summer” left in addition to Sandy Koufax and Bob Aspromonte, as I wrote in tributes to Don Newcombe and Randy Jackson, both of whom passed away over the past few weeks. These include Carl Erskine, 92, another mainstay of the […]

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Last month, I posted about the passing of Don Newcombe, a mainstay of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ pitching staff. In the entry, I remarked that there were only a few left from the fabled “Boys of Summer.” That number was reduced by one with the passing of Randy Jackson, who died Wednesday at the age of […]

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Can’t complain

March 1, 2019

Once in a while, I will get a communique from an author kindly suggesting his or her book be included in any update of 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. I get it. That’s how I felt when other tomes were selected for various honors the same year my baby was published. […]

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The NY Times‘ Richard Goldstein wrote the full obituary for Don Newcombe for today’s print edition. Depending on how you define who was a member of the “Boys of Summer,” a term used by Roger Kahn in his excellent 1972 book, there are still a handful left from that 1956 team for which Newcombe won […]

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Lest we forget: Don Newcombe

February 19, 2019

We lost another one of the Boys of Summer with the passing today of Don Newcombe, 92. Here’s a brief AP obit which was posted on The New York Times‘ website a few minutes ago. And one from ESPN. I’m sure the media will offer their own tributes later today or tomorrow.

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Headnote: I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware that while many titles also appear in print versions, pretty much anyone can produce an e-book these days, so I’m not going to comment at all about the quality. As far as the audio goes, I’m […]

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Headnote: I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware that while many titles also appear in print versions, pretty much anyone can produce an e-book these days, so I’m not going to comment at all about the quality. As far as the audio goes, I’m […]

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One of my favorite shows of all times was M*A*S*H. Some of the earlier episodes don’t hold up so well, but one which sticks out is “A War for All Seasons.” Why, you may ask? Because baseball. Stiers — who passed away last Saturday at the age of 75 — played the imperious Major Charles […]

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Just happened to turn on the TV to Turner Classic Movie channel. Comrade X, a 1940 romantic comedy starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamar, was on at this scene: Gable’s character, an American journalist visiting Russia, is arguing about communism with Lamar, a local streetcar conductor. She tries to tell him how bad America is, […]

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Forgive the nihilism, but such is the meaninglessness of life. I was about to line the bottom of the birdcage this morning and just happened to notice that one of the pages carried the obituary for “Tom Knight, 89; Knew It All About Brooklyn Baseball.” The 750-plus-word New York Times tribute was written by by […]

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Opinions vary

March 2, 2016

Graham Womack published this ranked list of the 25 greatest baseball books on The Sporting News site. When I wrote 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die, I made a decision not to put them in an order other than alphabetical to avoid having to defend my choices. Such a method invites arguments […]

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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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