From the category archives:

Academic/scholarly journals

♦  Soon to be a major motion picture? “For Maggi, 1st MLB hit proves ‘you can do anything’” ♦  The ReviewGeek judges Cross Game, by Mitsuru Adachi, among the best sport mangas. ♦  Speaking of the late Vin Scully, how will you do on this quiz about baseball broadcasters from the Chicago Sun-Times? Warning: it […]

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I have been fortunate enough to contribute to a couple of collections: The Babe at 100, based on the symposium held at Hofstra University in 1995 to mark Ruth’s centennial birthday (“The Books on the Babe”) and The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin’ Story of How the 19698 Mets Shocked the World (“October ’69: The […]

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Coming down the pike

September 25, 2019

Or is it “pipe”; I can never keep that straight. Both seem valid. Anyway, time to see what new baseball books are on the horizon. Using Amazon as my source and just to let you know, I’m not including the titles that come out every year, such as Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster or Baseball America’s […]

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A couple of months ago, I posted about some of the new books being published in 2018. Since then, Amazon has put up a few more titles. You’re welcome. In order of release, and sticking to the same restrictions as I have often stated… The Science of Baseball: Modeling Bat-Ball Collisions and the Flight of […]

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Leave to Canada to highlight a report that the U.S. media seems to have missed. The Toronto Star published this piece about the refutation of a report — “Called Out at Home” — which claims  the reason there are so few African Americans in baseball these days is because of single-parent households. The upshot of […]

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But if you’re in Chicago next Monday, perhaps you can partake: Imperfect Perfect Game: Baseball Writing in America When: Monday, April 13, 2015 at 6:00 PM Where: Ruggles Hall, Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton, Chicago, IL Speakers: Lester Munson and John Schulian Abstract: There is a special affinity between baseball and the writers who cover […]

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The Emory Sports Marketing Analytics program (their motto: “Bringing Analytics to Sports Marketing.” Well, duh.) recently published the first of a multi-part study of how fans perceive their teams, sort of an :If you sell it, will they buy” exercise. Who are the best fan bases in Major League Baseball?  A quick Google search of […]

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Bits and Pieces, April 18

April 18, 2014

The Passover holidays have played havoc with my schedule, so there’s a lot to catch up on. First off, can you remember those Bicentennial Minutes that CBS used to broadcast in the months leading up to the big celebration? Well, Dan Epstein, author of the new Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial […]

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Bits and pieces, April 4

April 4, 2014

Been a hectic week, so I’ve let a few things slide. First and foremost, the next books in Tom Hoffarth’s annually excellent 30-in-30 series: John Feinstein’s Where Nobody Knows Your Name and Ed Sherman’s Babe Ruth’s Called Shot. Here’s another Feinstein item from WRALSPortsfan.com. And maybe you can find the link in this piece from […]

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Baseball book ‘prospects’

February 27, 2014

This it the time of year when the baseball media offer their considered opinions on their favorite prospects. Sometimes they’re spot on, other times, not so much. So I thought, why not apply this to the upcoming “rookie crop” of baseball books? That is, titles that are making their debuts in 2014 — no reprints/reissues […]

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Research bonanza

February 7, 2014

From Andy Strasberg, via Facebook: Here’s a baseball scoop for fans that live in the San Diego area. Baseball historian and statistician, Bill Weiss of Northern California has donated his massive baseball research material and books to the San Diego Baseball Research Center located on the 8th floor of the new San Diego Central Library. […]

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Well, one way is to sign up for the annual Cooperstown Baseball Symposium, which is where I’ll be May 29-31. Veteran sportswriter, author, and commentator Frank Deford is the keynote speaker for this 25th anniversary edition. You can look at the whole program here. As you will see, it’s very eclectic (and that I serve […]

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The Mets are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. One of the key events marking the occasion is a three-day conference at Hofstra University and it will be my pleasure to moderate a panel of three landsmen at an authors roundtable. The gentlemen include: ♦ John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball and […]

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Recently, the Bookshelf spoke with Glenn Stout about the centennial of Fenway Park (an upcoming episode will feature Curt Smith discussing the role of broadcasters in bring the games to the Fenway faithful). This week, in recognition of the New York Mets’ 50th anniversary, we chatted with Mathew Silverman, who specializes in titles about the […]

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The following message comes from Richard J. Puerzer of Hofstra University. * * * April 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the New York Mets, one of the most popular and culturally significant baseball franchises. On Thursday through Sunday, April 26-28, 2012, Hofstra University will host a conference to consider all aspects of the […]

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Before he began working with an actual publisher, James used to type out The  Baseball Analyst on a bi-monthly basis and make copies as needed for distribution. How times have changed. Like SABR’s annual publications, The National Pastime and Baseball Research Journal, the Analysts were contributor-driven. The first issue contains articles such as “Ballpark Effects […]

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The Lou’s

February 26, 2011

I don’t know, what name would you suggest for an award to honor the best baseball performances? At Oscar time, Jim Caple of ESPN’s Page 2 offers his take on “Academy Awards for Baseball Movies” (he dubbed his awards the “Oscar Madisons”). No real surprises here, although I would have selected Costner over Matthau, Davis […]

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Received the latest (Summer 2010) issue of the BSJ. To be honest, a lot of the statistical stuff therein is a bit over my head/interest level, but there are several book reviews, so it balances out. Among them: Phil Birnbaum on The Bill James Gold Mine 2010 Lee Lowenfish on Satchel: The Life and Times […]

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The wife and daughter are making a college tour, so I’m taking the opportunity to visit an antiquarian bookstore down the street, make a few entries, and work on another project. So here’s a bit of what’s going on lately: Birthday greetings, Rocky Colavito, who turns 77 today. The slugger primarily played for the Tigers […]

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