From the category archives:

2009 title

Here’s the audio interview with Zev Chafets, author of Cooperstown Confidential. http://rksbaseballbookshelf.wordpress.com/files/2009/06/zevchafets_raw.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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The cover of Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and The Inside Story of The Baseball Hall of Fame features four circa 1920 players with their heads cropped off. How appropriate, since a lot of what Zev Chafets has to say turns conventional wisdom on its head. Chafets, the founding managing editor of the Jerusalem Report and […]

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From my rival, BaseballBookReview. Upshot: Overall, The Spitball Knuckleball Book by Tom E. Mahl is a welcomed addition into the library of baseball books that exist, and will certainly make both a wonderful read for fans with an interest in the game’s history, as well a wonderful resource for those who want to dig deeper […]

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Several baseball items have popped up on NPR shows in recent days: Larry Tye, author of the new biography Satchel: The Life and Times of An American Legend, was a guest on Fresh Air. You can hear the show here as well as read an excerpt from the book. *** Brian Lehrer had this segment […]

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* A trio of reviews

June 7, 2009

from TomatoNation.com, this piece which incldues something new (American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime, by Jeff Perlman), something old (The Last Nine Innings: Inside the Real Game Fans Never See, by Charles Euchner) and something older (Seasons In Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and “The […]

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As reviewed in The Los Angeles Times. Upshot: …[T]hose seeking deeper insights into the redheaded announcer will be disappointed. Scully, now 81, is a humble man and has long said he does not want a biography written about him. He did not cooperate with Smith, and the result is an engaging yet uneven book. The […]

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The writer of this interesting piece by Clark Booth in the Dorchester Reporter brings up a good point: Why do we need so many books on the same subjects, such as the Boston Red Sox in 1978? It’s been said lately that the strings are being pulled tightly in the publishing industry. Several factors are […]

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Cover: The Mets moved into a new home this year and are rightly proud of it. Citi Field and the logo dominate (the facade also appears at the bottom of every page), with a smattering of almost-microscopic thumbnail pics of some of the Mets personnel. Not very inspiring.  C A detailed description of the new […]

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From RiverAveBlues.com, this critique of Allen Barra’s latest.

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The Times of Trenton published this review of Jayson Stark’s new book about the World Championship Phils.

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A.K.A. Steve Lyons. The nine-year veteran has done well for himself in retirement, currently working in the broadcast booth for the Dodgers. He’s the coauthor of The Psycho 100, an entertaining — if somewhat uneven — collection of outrageous moments in the game, which I will review at a later date.  Lyons turns 49 today.

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The most recent episode of Only a Game includes an interview with Peter Golenbock, author of George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire. You can hear the segment here.

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* Consider this

June 1, 2009

Bloomberg.com includes two baseball titles in this piece on sports books: S.L. Price’s Heart of the Game about Mike Coolbaugh’s on-field death, and Miracle Ball by Brian Biegel, which looks at the search for “the shot heard ’round the world.”

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Owen Canfield, a former full-time columnist and sports editor of The Hartford Courant, focuses his now-monthly columnon books about ballplayers whose accomplishments go beyond the ball park. The first is Ira Berkow’s The Corporal Was a Pitcher, the Courage of Lou Brissie. The second is a book on five CDs, Clemente, the Passion and Grace […]

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The Buffalo News ran this profile on Aronoff, who recently published Going, Going . . . Caught! — a book about the greatest catches made by baseball outfielders in the years 1887-1964. That was before “Web Gems,” for you young’uns out there. Like other memories, stories about such plays seem to expand with the passing […]

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Jonathan Eig, author of Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinon’s First Season and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, does the honors for Michael Shapiro’s new book on the exit of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the ultimate entrance of the New York Mets.

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* Q&A with S.L. Price

May 30, 2009

The New York Times “Bats” blog recently ran this Q&A with the author of Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America (Ecco), which is the heartbreaking story of the on-field death of Mike Coolbaugh, the first base coach for the Tulsa Drillers who was hit by a foul line drive. […]

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Keith Olberman writes the “Baseball Nerd” under the MLB.blogs banner. In this entry, he takes Curt Smith to task for an error in Pull Up a Chair, his new biography of legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Olberman, who makes his living being contrary, used to be a baseball book reviewer in a former life. “[O]ne […]

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* Bits and pieces

May 27, 2009

From The New York Times, another look at Paul Dickson and his new Baseball Dictionary (May 23). A review of Michael Shapiro’s Bottom of the Ninth from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (May 24). Phiily.com on the new A-Rod book (May 24). Author appearance: Amy Whorf McGuiggan will discuss her new book, Take Me Out to The […]

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Didn’t see a stand-alone baseball issue like I did last year, but here are some baseball items from Forbes.com on the state of the game, who the big players are (business-wise), and other fun topics.

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