For years, I used to look forward to April not just for Opening Day (when it actually started in April and not the end of March), but for Tom Hoffarth’s annual “30 books in 30 days” feature in the Los Angeles Daily News. Hoffarth doesn’t just review the books, but adds links to related topics and other fun facts.
I have found him to be a kindred spirit, dedicated to getting the word out not just on the most hyped titles from the mainstream publishers, but also from those whose notable works might not get the recognition they deserve.
Sadly, like me, Hoffarth fell victim to the downsizing of the newspaper industry. Happily though, he has kept up the review roundups on his own blog.
There’s a new twist on this old favorite however. As he put it in a recent post,
Our annual process of trying to review 30 newly published baseball-related books during the 30 days of April was forever altered by last season. We launched early, stayed later, and ended up with more than 60 reviews from March through the odd-looking playoffs, just to keep focused on something other than tragedy and frustration. We were never numb to the mounting death toll that was occurring, and often, burying ourselves in a book about baseball, while the MLB was sluggishly trying to pull off a season, seemed unreasonable. We didn’t need the distraction.
That 2020 baseball review list remains up, and, looking back, it ended up as one of the most impressive collection of titles that we’ve collected in the many years of doing this. We expect many will have a long shelf life and honors will continue to merit the content covered, the riveting research and the poetic prose that accompanied much of it.
The 2021 season is a tough one to ramp back up. We have other priorities, more commitments and a passion for other things. But we keep trying to chip away, to honor the authors that dedicated their time and effort and talents into these projects, some of which don’t often get on the radar of those who could enjoy it most.
It might be a tough row to hoe, but here is the most up-to-date list from Hoffarth’s current batch. Keep checking back for the latest reviews.
is available on Amazon.com,
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