Review roundup, May 27, 2015

Kind of weird: it’s almost June and still no baseball book reviews in The New York Times? I know space is precious on those pages, but still. There are any number of worthy candidates. Get on it, Times.

In the meantime:

From the Rockford, Ill., Rock River Times, this piece on Steven K. Wagner’s Perfect: The Rise and Fall of John Paciorek, Baseball’s Greatest One-Game Wonder. Confusing upshot: “Wagner may not have produced the greatest baseball book of all-time (that honor still belongs to Mike Sowell’s brilliant The Pitch that Killed) but he has certainly given us one that, taken on its own merits, is one of the finest examples of literature in the sport.” So Wagner’s is not the greatest baseball book while at the same time it is “is one of the finest examples of literature in the sport”? Is that supposed to be a left-handed compliment?

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch site, this on Bengie Molina’s family bio, Molina: The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty.

The Tampa Bay Tribune posted this piece on Jeff Katz’s Split Season: 1981: Fernandomania, the Bronx Zoo, and the Strike that Saved Baseball. Upshot: ““Split Season” is a fun read for me because I lived through the 1981 baseball strike, personally and professionally. This book brings that crazy season back into focus, and Katz shines a new light on 1981 that provides a unique perspective.”

Also from the TBT, this review of Tommy Lasorda: My Way, by Colin Gunderson. Upshot: “There is no denying that Lasorda remains one of baseball’s great ambassadors. Gunderson provides a rare insight into why that is so.”

My Lord, it’s a TBT trifecta with their thoughts on Gary Cieradkowskis’ The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes Upshot: “There are plenty of interesting stories in “The League of Outsider Baseball,” and Cieradkowski tells them with a keen eye for detail and some fine illustrations. From the famous to the obscure, this book is a fun, illuminating read.”