Heard on NPR’s Morning Edition show, March 6: “Evan Drellich’s new book sheds light on the Houston Astros cheating scandal.”
I usually don’t mix baseball with politics with baseball (unless it’s in a good way), but this is important enough to me that I don’t care if I ruffle a few feathers by posting it. From Kevin Blackistone in the Washington Post, “Baseball can no longer ignore Ron DeSantis’s culture wars.” Specific to the baseball book issue,
Some public schools in DeSantis’s state directed teachers to remove or wrap up classroom libraries in response to a statewide mandate that schoolbooks be age-appropriate and “suited to student needs.” Among 176 books in one county’s crosshairs, as tracked by PEN America, a freedom of expression advocacy organization, were “Henry Aaron’s Dream,” about Black home run king Hank Aaron; “Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” about the Hall of Fame Afro-Puerto Rican outfielder who died at 38 in a 1972 plane crash while attempting to deliver relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua; and “Thank You, Jackie Robinson,” about the man whose emergence prompted the first move of baseball spring training camps to Arizona. (The Clemente and Aaron books were among those later approved for use.)
From Lithub.com, “Michael G. Long on Why Jackie Robinson’s Political Legacy is at Least as Important as His Sporting One.” Long is the author and editor of four books on Jackie Robinson: 42 Today; First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson; Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life after Baseball; and Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography. (Here’s our Bookshelf Conversation.)
Kurt Russell was initially slated to play Crash Davis in Bull Durham? Who knew? Although the headline for this Looper.com story — “Kevin Costner Beat Out A Real-Life Baseball Player (And Actor) For Bull Durham” — is slightly misleading. Good as he might have been, I doubt if anyone really considered Russell a ballplayer, even if he did play for the renegade Portland Mavericks. (Although I guess I could be considered a “real-life baseball player,” just not a professional one.)
Pitcherlist.com offers this review of Joe Kelly’s A Damn Near Perfect Game. Here’s an excerpt as posted on Deadspin.
From Yahoo Entertainment: “Roberto Clemente Biopic In Works Based On Book By Baseball Icon’s Family, 50 Years After Tragic Death.”
From the New York Post: “Mark Canha isn’t just getting ready for Opening Day. He’s also finishing up his first book. The Mets outfielder is working on a travel food book, based on the feedback he has gotten from his Instagram account, @bigleaguefoodie, on which he chronicles his favorite restaurants around the country.”
A review of Baseball in Atlanta, a photographic collection published by Arcadia, from Stadiumjourney.com.
If you’re going to be at the The Philly Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA on March 10, check out the work of baseball artist James Fiorentino.
is available on Amazon.com,
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