From the category archives:

Baseball and pop culture

As I often say, I don’t like to blend the current political situation with baseball. This blog is meant as an escape from the day-to-day problems of the world. But with this particular book, there’s no getting away from the connection between the Oval Office and the National Pastime. Of course, the subject has been […]

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As we inch closer and closer not just to thebe ginning of the playing season, but the reading season as well when new titles hit the stores. Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time […]

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There’s been some chatter lately about changing the MLB postseason structure. Here’s the synposis: MLB is considering a move in which each league would have three division winners and four wild-card teams making the postseason starting in 2022, sources said. The best team in the league would receive a bye into the division series. The […]

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Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

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The end of January already?? Where did the time go? Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally […]

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No Place I Would Rather Be: Roger Angell and a Life in Baseball Writing, by Joe Bonomo (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) There are a handful of people I would love to have on as a guest for a Bookshelf Conversation, the podcast segment of this blog: James Earl Jones, Dennis Haysbert, John Thorn and, […]

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First entry of the new decade. Hubba-hubba. Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over […]

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The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America’s National Pastime, by Alex Irvine with Tomm Coker and C.P. Smith A brief one today. I fear these things are becoming unsustainable, but we’ll see. I first came across the work of Alex Irvine with his short “speculative” piece, […]

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Fan in Chief: Richard Nixon and American Sports, 1969-1974, by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes (University Press of Kansas, 2018) Say what you will about him, but there’s no denying that Richard Nixon was a rabid sports fan. During baseball’s centennial year of 1969, he attended ceremonies and events surrounding the All-Star game in in Washington D.C. […]

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First entry of the new decade. Hubba-hubba. Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over […]

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Hard to believe this is the last BBS entry for the year; where did the time go? Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, […]

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Well, the good thing about late December and the beginning of winter is that by the time next week’s list rolls around, the days will be getting longer. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the shortest day in the middle of the season, and the longest somewhere in August? But I digress… Note: The Amazon […]

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Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

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Because you can keep a donut on your bookshelf (but not for too long). Since I mentioned my work at Trader Joe’s in the previous post and I am working on a piece from Sunday’s New York Times in their special section “How the ‘Babe Ruth of Cookies’ Brought Us a Dozen Dazzling Holiday Recipes,” I […]

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Two subjects that have long fascinated me: baseball and advertising. I first encountered Roberta Newman several years back at one of those meetings that attracts baseball academics; I forget whether it was a Cooperstown Baseball Symposium or a SABR convention) where she delivered a paper on the connection between those topics. I still have a […]

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Happy Pre-Thanskgiving, everyone. There are a lot of great baseball books published over the past year for which we can be thankful. And now it’s time to start thinking about which tityles you want to give or receive. So much from which to choose! On with the usual business: Note: The Amazon rankings are updated […]

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Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

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Coming down the pike: Update

November 14, 2019

Building on the previous entry about baseball books on the horizon, here’s a quick update on some additional titles announced since then, according to Amazon and in no particular order (from November into 2020). So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets, the Best Worst Team in Sports, by […]

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Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

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Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

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