Baseball Bookshelf almanac, March 22

March 22, 2013

Literary birthday greetings:

1952 – Bob Costas, announcer

Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball, by Costas. Broadway, 2000.

Also on this date:

1962: A former member of the New York Giants requesting anonymity reveals that Bobby Thomson’s home run in the 1951 playoffs against the Brooklyn Dodgers was helped by a sign-stealing clubhouse spy. The spying is claimed to have gone on for the last three months of the season. Thomson, along with former Giants manager Leo Durocher, vehemently denies that he received help, but a source close to the team confirms the spy operation.

The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, by Joshua Prager. Pantheon, 2006

1962: At spring training, Yankees slugger Roger Maris declines to pose with Mets coach Rogers Hornsby because the Hall of Famer criticized him in his book My War with Baseball.

My War with Baseball, by Hornsby with Bill Surface. Coward-McCann, 1962.

2011:  Greg Anderson, personal trainer of Barry Bonds, refuses to testify at the slugger’s trial for perjury. He is charged with contempt of court by Judge Susan Illston and is taken into custody and faces a fifth jail term for his consistently uncooperative attitude.

Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. Gotham, 2006.

 

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Tagged as: Barry Bonds, Bob Costas, Bobby Thomson, Roger Maris, Rogers Hornsby

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