Certainly the debut of Jen Powal, MLB’s first female to umpire in a regular season game, will warrant a book of some sort, be it a bio of her or female umps in general or women in baseball. Here’s just one article on the event, which took place yesterday in the first game of the Braves-Marlins doubleheader, from The Independent (which always makes me think of Trent Crimm). She made the calls at the first base bag in the opener and moved to third in the nightcap. Today, Powal will take her turn behind the plate. Pam Postema published You’ve Got to Have Balls to Make it in This League: My Life as an Umpire with Gene Wojciechowski in 1992.
I always like finding baseball stories from unlikely sources. Here’s one from Publishers Weekly about Lauren Roberts, the author of the Powerless young adult series. According to the article, Roberts is “[a] lifelong Detroit Tigers fan, [who] was thrilled when the Tigers chose her for Major League Baseball’s first-ever Book Club Night.” The St. Louis Cardinals also held one, featuring Emily Giffin about her latest, The Summer Pact. Couldn’t find any info about other teams hosting similar events. A shame. I don’t get out to the ballpark much these days, but I might be tempted by a good Book Club promotion.
Here are “Five Fun Facts About the 1959 Topps Baseball Set” from Sports Illustrated‘s “Collectible Corner” page, based on Phil Coffin‘s 2023 book, When Baseball Was Still Topps: Portraits of the Game in 1959, Card by Card. (In a related story, here are five fun facts from the 1984 set.) Coffin’s been a busy boy: this year he published A Baseball Book of Days: Thirty-One Moments That Transformed the Game.
Looks like Baseball Injuries: Case Studies, by Type, in the Major Leagues — published in 2013 — is due for a major update. At least that’s the thought I got after seeing “Baseball’s injury comeback stories rewrite history books,” on RollingOut.com. I have several Google alerts set up for baseball items and the term “history books” comes up a lot, although it almost never has to do with actual printed material.
In the no-news department, from NetflixJunkie.com:”A Facebook post from the page Yanks Dynasty has stirred excitement, claiming New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter signed a $13.5 million deal with Netflix for a seven-episode series about his storied Yankees career. The bold headline quickly spread across social media, fueling speculation and anticipation among fans eager to see the Captain’s journey brought to life on screen. Despite the widespread buzz and the thrilling prospect of such a series, there has been no official confirmation regarding the news.”
Lest We Forget: The New York Times posted this obituary by Richard Sandomir about Angel Macias, “a dazzling, ambidextrous 12-year-old pitcher from Mexico who threw a perfect game in the 1957 Little League World Series to win the championship, a feat no other player has repeated.” Macias passed away on July 27 at the age of 80.
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