What is this world coming to? It was bad enough when Sports Illustrated laid off many of the staff that made the magazine “illustrated” to begin with. I was bad enough when it went from a weekly to a bi-weekly to a monthly to just online. But now? “Sports Illustrated lays off most of its […]
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Sports Illustrated
Just curious. These days, there are less than a handful of annual baseball magazines that are not devoted to the fantasy aspects of the game. While the features and team profiles are the same from each publisher, they often have different covers depending on the market to which they are distributed. I almost bought the […]
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Sports Illustrated
The next-best thing to colera? A roundabout way to say that I picked up the baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated, now in its new iteration (Dated “Spring 2020”). Of course, I realize that this is no longer a weekly publication, let alone a website that’s constantly updated. And to be fair, I don’t know […]
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Sports Illustrated
I am not prone to using profanity on any of my blogs but when I picked up my MLB Preview, what did I see? A photo of Le’veon Bell, the NY Jets big deal. Now, I know that the baseball annuals tailor their covers according to region, but this? Inexcusable. There shouldn’t be anything other […]
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Alex Bregman,
Astroball,
Ben Reiter,
Sports Illustrated
Those of you who have been following this blog for awhile know that I like to do a “compare & contrast” of the baseball preview issues for Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine in which I would look at the features and predictions for each, as well as examine “the next big thing” that captured […]
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ESPN the Magazine,
Sports Illustrated
It’s time again for that annual tradition: a comparison of the baseball preview issues published by Sports Illustrated, that old war horse, and ESPN The Magazine, that (relatively) new upstart. One has to bear in mind that ESPN is a biweekly. As such, the material they print of necessity has to be more featurey and […]
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ESPN the Magazine,
Sports Illustrated
Goodness knows they deserve it given their long history of going without a championship, but how many new Cubs books are too many? Actually, even their failures have done well for them in terms of literature. There have been almost as many titles — if not more — lamenting their shortcomings as there have been […]
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Chicago Cubs,
Sports Illustrated,
Tom Verducci
ESPN the Magazine (Cover price: $5.99) Maybe it’s an age thing, I found ESPN’s attempt to replicate old English (or whatever the hell they were trying to accomplish), pretty difficult to read. It would have been enough if they had just used it on the cover, but they compound the error (IMO) repeatedly Once again, […]
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Bryce Harper,
ESPN the Magazine,
Jake Arietta,
Ray Searage,
Scott Boras,
Sports Illustrated,
Tom Verducci
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,
Bill James,
David Simon,
Dock Ellis,
ESPN,
John Grisham,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Mark Ulriksen,
NPR,
Ray Negron,
Sports Illustrated,
Trouble With the Curve,
Zack Hample
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
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baseball statistics,
Bob Gibson,
Derek Jeter,
Kansas City Royals,
Lonnie Wheeler,
Los Angeles Dodgers,
New York Yankees,
Roger Angell,
Sports Illustrated,
World Series,
Yogi Berra
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
Tagged as:
baseball statistics,
Bob Gibson,
Chicago White Sox,
Kansas City Royals,
Lonnie Wheeler,
Los Angeles Dodgers,
Oakland Athletics,
Roger Angell,
Sports Illustrated,
World Series
Whenever I learn of a situation where another library closes or a cache of baseball material is thrown away due to lack of space, money, or interest, I refer to this scene from the 1960 film version of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. That’s how I felt after reading Jeff Pearlman’s piece in The Guardian, […]
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Sports Illustrated
Publishers occasionally offer excerpts of the books to major newspapers an/or magazines to give potential consumers a free sample of their product.In many cases, the selections are the literary equivalent of movie trailers, picking the most interesting plot points. Often a local publication will give the treatment to a person associated with the market reach. […]
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Charles Leerhsen,
Jorge Posada,
Pedro Martinez,
Sports Illustrated,
Ty Cobb
“The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” — ostensibly a feature article by George Plimpton — was the cover story for the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated. Of course, we all know now (spoiler alert) it was an elaborate hoax. Over the year’s, the myth has be debunked several times, including in the pages […]
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George Plimpton,
Sidd Finch,
Sports Illustrated
Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
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baseball statistics,
Bill James,
Chicago Cubs,
Derek Jeter,
Mariano Rivera,
Micheal Lewis,
Moneyball,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Sports Illustrated
My old friend Steven Rosch posted a link to an SI article about the next big thing in baseball equipment on my Facebook timeline. I know you have to move along with the times, but this, this is an abomination. I understand not all gloves are made of leather; you frequently read about poor kids […]
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baseball equipment,
baseball gloves,
Sports Illustrated
That’s my advice to any athlete approached by Sports Illustrated for a cover story. Mo’ne Davis, the 13-year-old pitcher for the Mid-Atlantic/ Philadelphia entry at the Little League World Series, has been all the buzz lately, thanks to her dazzling success and poise. Well, that streak ran out last night as her team was defeated […]
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Little League,
Mo'ne Davis,
Sports Illustrated,
Sports Illustrated curse
Not to mention redesign the score books. You hear a number of sports pundits clamoring about throwing out the records of those who have used performance enhancing drugs. But really, everyone knows how impractical that would be. What would become of the record books? Since baseball is a zero sum game, if you take away […]
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baseball records,
defensive shifts,
Sports Illustrated,
Tom Verducci
Have to rearrange the schedule a bit between last holiday weekend and next weekend’s vacation to California. So… Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, […]
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Alex Rodriguez,
Chicago Cubs,
George F. Will,
Jim Brosnan,
Mariano Rivera,
Michael Feinstein,
minor leagues,
Moneyball,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Performance Enhancing Drugs,
Sports Illustrated,
Ted Williams,
Wrigley Field
Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
Tagged as:
baseball fiction,
baseball rules,
Bernard Malamud,
Bill Madden,
Chicago Cubs,
George F. Will,
Kostya Kennedy,
Mariano Rivera,
Michael Feinstein,
minor leagues,
Moneyball,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Pete Rose,
Sports Illustrated,
Ted Williams,
The Natural,
Willie Mays,
Wrigley Field