Bits and Pieces, April 19, 2023

♦  Hope everyone is doing well out there can that they got their taxes done in time. Now for some pleasant diversion.

♦  I’m surprised something like this didn’t come from Triumph Publishers: The St. Louis Cardinals: Everything You Need to Know. It seems right up their alley and could be purposed for every team. Of course some books would have more data than others based on how long they’ve been established.

♦  On Hawaii Public Radio, “Local fans, family remember Alexander Cartwright’s place in baseball history.”

♦  I guess like me, the Finger Lakes Times doesn’t keep to a schedule when it comes to reviewing books. Case in point, this one on The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood by Jane Leavy, which was originally published in 2010.

♦  The same could be said for the Lincoln Star, which posted this on Paul Dickson‘s Leo Durocher: Baseball’s Prodigal Son, which came out much more recently — in 2017.

♦  Because you can put the DVD on your bookshelf, this story about Jophery Brown, whose major league career consisted of one game with the Chicago Cubs in 1968:

“[Jophrey] Brown did stunts in the 1973 James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” spelled Sidney Poitier in 1974’s “Uptown Saturday Night,” and then had his big breakout: He used his baseball experience to coordinate stunts, and act, in “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings,” a film Lois said was one of his favorites.

“Yes, he stunt-coordinated that,” [his widow] Lois said. “It’s so funny. I love that movie. And, of course, he’s one of the players.”

Alongside James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor, Brown played third baseman Emory “Champ” Chambers on a barnstorming team of Negro Leaguers who take the Midwest by storm.

♦  A belated Happy Jackie Robinson Day. I posted this in 2012, so it needs a but of updating to account for the new books since then. I’ll get to it some day.

♦  One day I’ll also find or compile a list of TV shows in which MLB had a “cameo role,” either in the form of players showing up in the episode or significant mentions. The latest seems to be this from Abbott Elementary.

♦  Because many stadiums offer souvenir beer containers: One of the unexpected consequences of shortening games is the loss of concession revenue. After all, if you cut the game time, you also cut the availability of fans have to shop, eat… and imbibe.  According to a story on CNN, “Traditionally, teams stop all alcohol sales after the seventh inning, but the newly introduced pitch clock has dropped the average time of games by about 30 minutes to start the season” so “The traditional seventh inning alcohol cut-off now goes through the eighth inning.” Not everyone is happy with the decision.

♦ Speaking of beer, when I was in Baltimore for SABR 50 last summer, we went to a game at Camden Yards, Being a vegetarian, it was difficult to find something I could eat; I finally decided on the cheese fries. But what to drink? I would have bought a beer, but thought the price was a bit steep for someone who could take it or leave it. So I left it. I don’t think I’ll be getting one there should I go back. A pint of suds — which cost $5.33 in 2018 — is projected to go for $17 by 2027 according to a study conducted by a betting website. That’s the most expensive in the big leagues by more than two bucks. Here are the top five:

Surprisingly, the Yankees are not in the top 10. FYI, the cheapest beer, according to the site can be found at the homes of the Braves, Tigers, Cardinals, and Mariners which were $6.67 in 2018 and will maintain those prices in 2027.

♦  Not surprising: “A Canadian non-fiction title that is finding its audience is Gibby: Tales of a Baseball Lifer, by John Gibbons and Greg Oliver. Gibbons was the manager of the Blue Jays over the course of 11 years and was guiding the team when it played in the World Series in 2015 for the first time in 22 years. Last week “Gibby” debuted on the Canadian list. This week it scored No. 6 on the Original Non-Fiction list and No. 4 on the Canadian list” (for the week of April 12, according to the Waterloo Region Record in Ontario.

Tagged as: Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson Story