https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8104V5Dl0-L._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpgThe first Little Leaguer to make it to the Majors, pitcher Joey Jay passed away Sept. 27 at the age of 89. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times by Richard Goldstein.

Jay made his debut at the tender age of 17 with the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1960 and won 21 for the pennant-winning team the next season, which was the only time he was selected to the All-Star team. He won the Reds’ only game against the Yankees in the ’61 World Series. He won 21 the next season as well.

He returned to the Braves in the middle of the 1966 season — his last — to finish with a record of 99-91 in 13 seasons, out of the game by the age of 30. He had an interesting perspective about life after baseball. From the Times‘ piece:

“I don’t live in the past, like most ballplayers,” The Middletown Press quoted him as saying. “I don’t wear my World Series rings; my mother has my scrapbooks, and if someone offered me a baseball job, I’d turn it down in a minute.

“When I made the break, it was clean and forever,” he added. “It’s infantile to keep thinking about the game. It gets you nowhere. Most ex-ballplayers keep on living in some destructive fantasy world. Not me. I’m happier than ever since I left.

Given his LL accomplishment, I would have thought there’d be a bio on him, at least from McFarland, which is known for covering unusual and eclectic topics, but no. The best I could find was this entry on the SABR Bio Project site.

I found his 1959 Topps card quite interesting given that he’s posing with a bat. Normally, you would think a pitcher making such a decision would be good with the wood, but Jay — a switch-hitter — had a lifetime average of just .114. He did have two home runs, though, both coming in 1962.

Jay also had the distinction of being the last remaining living member of that first Milwaukee Braves team after it relocated from Boston, according to his obituary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

More recently, Rudy May — who pitched for the Angels, Yankees, Expos, and Orioles in his 16 big league campaigns — died Oct. 19 at the age of 80. Here’s his Times’ obit, by Alex Williams.

May came along just as Jay was winding down. The 6’2″ lefty won a career-high 18 games with Baltimore in 1977. He led the American League in ERA in 1980 when he went 15-5 in his second stint with the Yankees. He finished with a record of 152-156.

Again, from the Times:

When May made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Angels (who would change their name to the California Angels during his tenure with the team) in 1965, he had an impressive fastball. But after tearing ligaments in his left shoulder early in his career, he refined his approach and eventually learned to dominate with pinpoint control and a nasty curveball, which he honed with help from the Yankee Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford.

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https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSteoRhQkYynzKy0_UBcuzxOlZEUkpBtd2-oQ&sAnniversaries are great topics for books and documentaries. This year marked the 20th for the first World Series championship for the Boston Red Sox in generations.

Ever since Ken Burns released the iconic Baseball miniseries, fans have endured the same old same old: interviews with talking heads interspersed with still photos and video clips. So the question is, how do you make it special, different? Part of it has to do with the people you put on camera. How much of a role did they have in the event? How high up on the food chain were they? And do they make for interesting storytelling?

In the case of The Comeback, now streaming on Netflix, the producers made a lot of good choices. We get to hear from the main “idiots” like Kevin “Cowboy Up” Millar, manager Terry Francona, and wunderkind GM Theo Epstein, as well as Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, Pedro Martinez, and David Ortiz, among others who had roles both large and small. Even Curt Schilling (who manages to keep his political views in check) contributes some great anecdotes.

The main theme behind this three-part docuseries is the rivalry between the Sox and the hated New York Yankees. In 2003, Boston wasn’t able to shake the “Curse of the Bambino,” losing to New York in the ALCS on a 10th inning walk of home run by Aaron Boone. The next year, the Sox clawed their way back from 10½ games back in mid-August to once again face the Yankees in the playoffs. Down three games to none, they did what had never been done in the post-season. All this is told with a good mix of heart and a little bit of hate.

That they swept the St. Louis Cardinals (shades of 1967!) in the World Series is anti-climactic and receives surprisingly little screen time.

Although The Comeback is very well done, it probably could have been condensed into two hours. But the extra backstories (the failed trade for Alex Rodriguez, who ended up on the Yankees; the promotion of Epstein as the youngest GM in history, the disappointing managerial performance by Grady Little) make for entertaining filler.

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Naked City

November 6, 2024 · 0 comments

Now that the 2024 season has come to an end, it’s time to turn to our second favorite pastime: reading about baseball.

Naked City was a popular TV cop series from 1958-63 (kids, ask your grandparents). The tagline for the show was “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.”

Well, there haven’t been eight million major leaguers — only about 24,000 according to Baseball-Reference, with 255 of those making their debut this year — but each one has his own story and that’s the premise of several books over the past few years.

Called Up: Ballplayers Remember Becoming Major Leaguers, by Zak Ford (McFarland, 2023) is divided by decades. While some of the more recent names will be recognizable to the average fan, most of those in the book did not enjoy lengthy careers. Not that it matters because every player fondly remembers the moment he learned he was going to The Show. And while some of the experiences may share similar points, they are nevertheless unique.

The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History, by Jacob Kornhauser (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020). “A cup of coffee” refers to the very brief amount of time a player spent on the big league club. Crash Davis had a cup of coffee. It would have been interesting to have his story included.

Baseball’s Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn’t Live Up to The Hype, by Patrick Montgomery (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Also, like Crash Davis, who set a minor league record for home runs, the majority of players don’t have lengthy careers; in a few cases, no career at all. Some, like David Clyde, who made his debut with the Texas Rangers as an 18-year-old in 1973, blew his arm out on the field and never fulfilled his destiny (unless maybe that was his destiny. On the other hand, we have a Brien Taylor, a “can’t miss” for the Yankees. His career was cut short after he sustained injuries in a bar fight. Again, similar aspects to the tale.

In more recent years, amateur players are heralded with increasing hyperbolics. One would think they have staffs that included trainers, coaches, nutritionists, and PR consultants. Sports Illustrated dubbed Bryce Harper “Baseball’s LeBron. I was reminded of Bo Gentry, a fictional entitled prospect who had been pampered his entire school “career” in Trouble with the Curve (one of the worst baseball movies, IMO — and others, as per this video about the movie “reviewed by a pro-player.” The host is a bit picayune but, to be fair, that’s because he’s extremely qualified to opine about the accuracy in baseball movies. As with books, I wonder how much the viewer/reader knows about the sport and how much needs to be explained through exposition. But I digress…).

 

Other books that focus on players with short-lived careers include:

 

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A reminder: The Amazona 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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“).

In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on Amazon’s BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).

Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).

So, with all that said…

The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I did with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a Ω (omega) means it’s an award winner.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710ikSf0CVL._SL1500_.jpgPRINT

  1. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
  2. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
  3. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen
  4. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
  5. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω (paperback)
  6. The Ultimate Los Angeles Dodgers Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Dodgers Fans!, by Walker
  7. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole and Don Yeager
  8. Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  9. The Baseball 100, by Posnanski Ω
  10. Dewey: Behind the Gold Glove, by Dwight Evans and Erik Sherman

KINDLE BOOKS

  1. The Wingmen
  2. Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76, by Dan Epstein
  3. Wrigleyville: A Magical History Tour of the Chicago Cubs, by Peter Golenbock
  4. Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New York Mets’ First Year, by Jimmy Breslin
  5. Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played, by Jeff Fletcher
  6. Moneyball
  7. Wait Till Next Year
  8. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
  9. The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII, by John Klima
  10. The Roger Angell Baseball Collection

AUDIBLE

Note: Amazon has changed the way they list audiobooks. No longer under the general category of “biography and memoir,” they are now treated in their own baseball/softball category. Here’s the general link to the section where you will find further links to the individual titles, their reader/narrators, and samples. Note further that these are updated regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.

  1. The Betrayal : The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball, by Charles Fountain
  2. Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
  3. The Baseball 100
  4. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
  5. Wait Till Next Year
  6. Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports Greatest Mess, by Evan Drelich
  7. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
  8. Why We Love Baseball
  9. Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball, by Keith Law
  10. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor

I know it the World Series ended just a couple of days ago, but I’m still surprised there hasn’t been one of those quickie books by the local newspaper heralding the victory by the Dodgers. Willing to be there will be one by the next time I post one of these. (Notice that I give myself an out by not saying “next week.”)

I wonder if someone will do an update of Breslin’s classic about the Mets for the Chicago White Sox? Not sure which record to go by: the Sox lost one more game than the Mets, 121 vs. 120, but their winning percentage was actually better: .253 to .250. That’s because the Mets played just 160 games in their inaugural season.

And now that the 2024 campaign has concluded, look for Ray Walker to make a killing as people turn to books like his

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 3,064,694 overall in books; last time, 2,969,340.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,069,549; last time, 3,065,106.

Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.

If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.

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A reminder: The Amazona 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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“).

In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on Amazon’s BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).

Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).

So, with all that said…

The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I did with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a Ω (omega) means it’s an award winner.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71kcIXrqvFL._SL1500_.jpgPRINT

  1. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
  2. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
  3. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
  4. Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers, by Erik Sherman
  5. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen
  6. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski Ω
  7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω (paperback)
  8. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole and Don Yeager
  9. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
  10. Shohei Ohtani: The Amazing Story of Baseball’s Two-Way Japanese Superstar, by Jay Paris

KINDLE BOOKS

  1. Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life, by Richard Ben Cramer
  2. Fifty-Nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, & the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had, by Edward Achorn
  3. The Wingmen
  4. Sports Illustrated The World Series: A History of the Fall Classic from the Pages of Sports Illustrated
  5. The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, by Jeff Passan
  6. Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig
  7. Moneyball
  8. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
  9. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
  10. Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

AUDIBLE

Note: Amazon has changed the way they list audiobooks. No longer under the general category of “biography and memoir,” they are now treated in their own baseball/softball category. Here’s the general link to the section where you will find further links to the individual titles, their reader/narrators, and samples. Note further that these are updated regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.

  1. The Betrayal : The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball, by Charles Fountain
  2. Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
  3. The Baseball 100
  4. Why We Love Baseball
  5. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
  6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
  7. The Boys of Summer
  8. The Arm
  9. Wait Til Next Year
  10. The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci

Once again, the death of a baseball superstar brings a book back to the lists. Before it was Pete Rose. Now it’s Fernando Valenzuela. Also, the World Series brings new attention to an older title.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,969,340 overall in books; last time, 2,809,173.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,065,106; last time, 3,058,475.

Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.

If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.

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https://i0.wp.com/render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/poster/10.5/14/break/images/artworkimages/medium/2/los-angeles-dodgers-fernando-valenzuela-may-18-1981-sports-illustrated-cover.jpg?resize=275%2C378&ssl=1Fernandomania.

One of the greatest characters of late 20th century game passed away October 22 at the age of 63.

The chunky lefty made his debut for the Dodgers as a September call-up in 1980, winning two decisions. The following year, he won his first eight games, five by shutouts, en route to a magical albeit it strike-shortened season — 13-7, with a 2.48 ERA and leading the league in innings, complete games and strikeouts — that earned him the Cy Young Award as well as Rookie of the Year and the first of six All-Star selections. For good measure, he also won a Silver Slugger Award.

People forget that his entire career wasn’t spent in LA. After 11 campaigns with the Dodgers, Valenzuela played for the Angels, Cardinals, Orioles, Padres, and Phillies, finishing with a record of 173-153. After his playing days were over, he returned to the Dodgers as an announcer.

From MLB.com:

Decades after “Fernandomania” drew generations of families to Chavez Ravine in 1981, Valenzuela remained a symbol of hope and of the American dream. His rise in the early 1980s came as Latinos and Mexican-Americans struggled to find a sense of belonging amid continuing debates over the site of Dodger Stadium and immigration reform.

He was lucky to have a more substantial showing than another “folk hero” figure in Mark Fidrych and was immortalized even more, if such a thing is possible, thanks to Bull Durham.

Here’s his obituary from The New York Times by Richard Sandomir and the Los Angeles Times by  Ed Guzman. Given Valenzuela’s stature, additional obits appeared in such diverse outlets as the CBC, Men’s Journal, the Washington Post, and The Nation, among many others.

Surprisingly, I could find no books specifically about Valenzuela, but books highlighting his breakthrough season (as opposed to general histories about the Dodgers) include

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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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“).

In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on Amazon’s BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).

Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).

So, with all that said…

The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I did with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a Ω (omega) means it’s an award winner.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91rN6s991JL._SL1500_.jpgPRINT

  1. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
  2. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
  3. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen
  4. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien (My review on Bookreporter.com)
  5. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
  6. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski Ω
  7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω (paperback)
  8. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
  9. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole and Don Yeager
  10. The National Baseball Hall of Fame Collection: Celebrating the Game’s Greatest Players, by James Buckley Jr.

KINDLE BOOKS

  1. Rogers Hornsby: A Biography, by Charles Alexander
  2. The Wingmen
  3. Smart, Wrong, and Lucky: The Origin Stories of Baseball’s Unexpected Stars, by Jonathan Mayo
  4. Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season, by Jonathan Eig
  5. Moneyball
  6. Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New York Mets’ First Year, by Jimmy Breslin
  7. Why We Love Baseball
  8. The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the … on a New York Uniform–and Maybe the Best, by Jeff Pearlman
  9. Fifty-Nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, & the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had, by Edward Achorn
  10. The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team, by Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller

AUDIBLE

Note: Amazon has changed the way they list audiobooks. No longer under the general category of “biography and memoir,” they are now treated in their own baseball/softball category. Here’s the general link to the section where you will find further links to the individual titles, their reader/narrators, and samples. Note further that these are updated regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.

  1. The Betrayal : The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball, by Charles Fountain
  2. Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
  3. The Baseball 100
  4. Charlie Hustle
  5. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
  6. Banana Ball, by Jesse Cole
  7. The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever, by Jack Curry
  8. The Yankee Way, by Andy Martino
  9. Wait Til Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  10. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor

Even though I missed posting last week, was shocked to see not a single different title in the top 10 print list. Rose remains high up. You will see a link under the author’s name to note the most recent Bookshelf Conversation.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,809,173 overall in books; last time, 2,243,504.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,058,475; last time, 3,044,124.

Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.

If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.

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I’ve long believed that the death of a famous athlete leads to renewed interest in any books about him, a theory that holds when you look at the weekly Baseball Best-Sellers.

Sure enough, the recent passing of Pete Rose provided an uptick in sales of books about the controversial superstar and since Keith O’Brien wrote Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and The Last Glory Days of Baseball — the most recent and most complete bio to date — he was the go-to resource for the media seeking comment on the late great Rose (as well as to receive that aforementioned bump).

O’Brien is a New York Times best-selling author, not for Charlie Hustle, but for Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History. I’ve always been curious as to what that means/how is that determined, as well as whether having that honor is similar to an inductee to Cooperstown benefiting from being able to add “HOF” to his autograph. As a baseball-loving native-born Cincinnatian, O’Brien seems like a logical choice for this latest addition to the Rose examination and how athletes are subject to human frailties just like the rest of us.

Sidenote: My profound apologies to KB and the audience: I’m usually pretty careful about such things, but my cat, Floyd, somehow ended up in the office and I felt I had to let him out, lest he insinuate himself into the conversation at some crucial point. Normally, you wouldn’t have seen that but I failed to check the Zoom settings to show only the speaker, so both O’Brien and I were on at the same time. Life, you know? But we learn from our mistakes so I’ll make sure I’m in an animal-free zone in the future.

The audio-only version appears below.

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Because you can keep them on your bookshelf.

Not that I’m a fashion maven, but I never liked the flat brim look. A pet peeve of mine. Kudos to the writers of Reacher.

 

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Lest we forget: Luis Tiant

October 9, 2024

The irascible, cigar-smoking Cuban pitcher passed away yesterday (Oct. 8) at the age of 83. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times by Bruce Weber; the Boston Herald; and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Tiant enjoyed a spirited career, compiling a record of 229-172 over a 19-year career. He made his debut with the Cleveland Indians in 1964, going 10-4. In 1968 — the “Year of the Pitcher” — he won 21 games and led the American League with a 1.60 ERA and nine shutouts. It was his tough luck that Denny McClain pitched for the Tigers that year.

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Tiant spent one season with the Minnesota Twins before being signing as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox where he won 20 or more three times in eight seasons. From there he went to the New York Yankees, also as a free agent, for another two years before winding down with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1981 and the California Angels the following year.

Here’s his obituary from The New York Times by Bruce Weber; the Boston Herald; and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

He published two autobiographies. The first — El Tiante: The Luis Tiant Story written with Joe Fitzgerald, came out in 1976, right after the Red Sox’s World Series appearance against the Cincinnati Reds/ The second — Son of Havana: A Baseball Journey from Cuba to the Big Leagues and Back — with Saul Wisnia, was released in 2019.

Tiant won two games in that ’75 Fall Classic. And since Pete Rose recently died, I had to look up their head-to-head stats. In Game 1, Rose went 0-4 as the Sox won, 6-0, with Tiant going all the way. They went at it again in Game 4 with Rose singling in three official at-bats (plus two walks) and scoring a run in the 5-4 Sox victory.

 

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https://i0.wp.com/static01.nyt.com/images/2018/01/28/books/review/28ByTheBook/28ByTheBook-articleLarge.jpg?resize=227%2C227&ssl=1Robert Coover, who wrote one of the most famous pieces of baseball fiction, passed away October 5 at the age of 92. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times.

Of course, Coover many well-received novels over his lengthy career but the one that resonates most for readers of this blog would have to be The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. For decades, it has been at the tops of the baseball fiction list, along with The Natural and The Celebrant.

Although TUBAI was originally published in 1968, you can find some surprisingly recent coverage, such as this from a 2017 edition of The Paris Review and even this from a Times Book Review supplement from 2011. Here’s the Timesoriginal review by Wilfred Sheed in July of that year. This one is from Kirkus, a publishing industry magazine.

It’s basically the story of a lonely “loser” who becomes obsessed with a fantasy league he’s “created,” to such a degree that it becomes an overwhelming obsession that completely takes over his life. Maybe it was because of when the book came out, but I didn’t find it a great big deal. I compare it to old movies vs. current films. “Back in the day,” there was little actual blood shown. Nowadays, it’s a gore-fest with lots of explosions and other forms of violence. And don’t get me started on the vast difference in how sex is depicted in the cinema. What one generation found amazing and exciting is eye-rolled by another.

 

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Amazon.com: The Universal Baseball Association: 9781590203118: Robert  Coover: Books

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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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“).

In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on Amazon’s BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).

Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).

So, with all that said…

The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I did with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a Ω (omega) means it’s an award winner.

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  1. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien (My review on Bookreporter.com)
  2. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
  3. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω (paperback)
  4. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
  5. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole and Don Yeager
  6. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
  7. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen
  8. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski Ω
  9. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
  10. The National Baseball Hall of Fame Collection: Celebrating the Game’s Greatest Players, by James Buckley Jr.

KINDLE BOOKS

  1. Baseball, The Movie, by Noah Gittell
  2. Charlie Hustle
  3. Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig
  4. The Machine, by Joe Posnanski
  5. Moneyball
  6. The Wingmen
  7. Wait Til Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  8. Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New York Mets’ First Year, by Jimmy Breslin
  9. Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, by Doug Wilson
  10. Why We Love Baseball

AUDIBLE

Note: Amazon has changed the way they list audiobooks. No longer under the general category of “biography and memoir,” they are now treated in their own baseball/softball category. Here’s the general link to the section where you will find further links to the individual titles, their reader/narrators, and samples. Note further that these are updated regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.

  1. Charlie Hustle
  2. The Baseball 100
  3. Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
  4. Why We Love Baseball
  5. Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Individual, by Howard Bryant
  6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
  7. Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (narrated by the author)
  8. Wait Til Next Year
  9. Banana Ball, by Jesse Cole
  10. The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves, by Keith Law

As expected, the passing of Pete Rose has generated renewed interest in his story. Look for a Bookshelf Conversation with Keith O’Brien in the not-too-distant future.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,243,504 overall in books; last time, 3,218,026.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,044,124; last time, 3,028,955.

Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.

If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.

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Lest We Forget: Pete Rose

2019 Title

(Been on vacation for a bit to Hyannis. Unfortunately, it was after the Cape Code League had concluded so no games to attend or caps to purchase, although I was able to get a Harbor Hawks t-shirt.) It’s always a shock when I see a news flash on a crawl on the TV screen. While […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, September 13, 2024

2023 title

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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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Lest We Forget: Ed Kranepool

2023 title

Lost in the tributes to baseball “legend” James Earl Jones was the passing of Ed Kranepool, one of the original New York Mets, who died Sunday at the age of 79 after struggling with heath issues for many years. Here’s his obituary by Richard Sandomir from The New York Times, which noted that “[Kranepool] is […]

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The Bookshelf Conversation #183: Dan Epstein on James Earl Jones

Baseball and pop culture

It was a shocker to see the breaking news on CNN on Monday that James Earl Jones had passed away. The tributes that followed seemed to highlight two roles: Darth Vader from the Star Wars universe and Terrence Mann from Field of Dreams. But Jones, who died at the age of 93, was also in […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, September 6, 2024

2023 title

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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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Pass the Popcorn: A Bookshelf video review

Review by Ron Kaplan

I have an ongoing DVR thing set up for MLB Network documentaries. Since I don’t watch that channel regularly (believe it or not), I never know what’s going to appear on the list until it shows up. Sometimes it’s not a “major motion picture,” but recently I got to watch “One of a Kind,” about […]

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Lest we forget: Don Wert and Mike Cubbage

Lest We Forget

Appearances to the contrary, Don Wert was not the quintessential “light hitting shortstop.” Over the course of his nine-year career, all but the last spent with the Detroit Tigers, he had four seasons of 10 or more homers to go along with slash line of .244/.314/.343 (notice how we’re getting farther and farther away from […]

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Sandy in Minny

Jewish baseball

My article, “Sandy in Minny: Honoring Him for That,” appears in the latest edition of SABR’s The National Pastime, which was devoted to baseball in the North Star State. Koufax, the Dodger’s Hall of Famer, famously declined to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest […]

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