The Wall Street Journal reviewed Nolan: The Singular Life of an American Original, by Tim Brown. Look for my piece on the book on Bookreporter.com later this week. LocalNewsPasadena ran this profile of Brown.
Wish I could be there for this one: Michael Schur and Joe Posnanski, authors of Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love will appear at The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA, on Tuesday, May 19, the day the book officially drops.
WBUR posted this about the recent National Baseball Poetry Festival. Here’s my own Bookshelf Conversation with the Festival’s founder, Steven Biondolillo.
Lest We Forget: James Andrew Riley III, an expert on the history of baseball’s Negro Leagues and a former SABR Board President, died at the age of 86 on April 21. From the SABR website: “His landmark reference volume, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, has been recognized as one of the most comprehensive works chronicling the segregated era of Black baseball. The book won a Macmillan-SABR Research Award, an honor Riley had previously received in 1990 for his work (with the late John Holway and Dick Clark) compiling Negro Leagues statistics for the eighth edition of Macmillan’s The Baseball Encyclopedia.” More from SABR here.
Lest We Forget: Another former member of the Braves, Buzz Capra, passed away May 11 at the age of 78. Capra led the NL in ERA in 1974, when he had his best year with a 16-8 record and an All-Star appearance. He began his career with the Mets in 1971. Overall, Capra had a record of 31-37 over seven seasons, out of the Majors by the age of 30. Here’s his obit from the NY Post.
Lest We Forget: Baseball “lifer” Bob Skinner, who enjoyed a 12-year playing career (1954-66) split between the Pirates, Reds, and Cardinals, died May 4 at the age of 94. He was a three-time All-Star and a member of World Series winners in 1960 and 1964, winding up with 103 home runs, 531 RBI, and a .277 bating average in 1,381 games. Skinner also served as manager of the Phillies for parts of two seasons (1968-69) for a combined record of 92-123. He later won the only game he managed for the San Diego Padres in 1977. Here a story on him from ESPN.com via the Associated Press.
is available on Amazon.com,
