From the category archives:

Baseball and pop culture

A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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I’ve always enjoyed books that look at the game from an “outside” point of view. That’s why I’m drawn to those titles that look at such diverse topics as baseball and philosophy or baseball and film. So it was kind of a natural when I discovered The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball: Lessons for Life and […]

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It’s a shanda

April 8, 2025

UPDATE: As of earlier this afternoon, the Pirates have decided restore Clemente’s sign. (Yiddish for “a shame.”) I try to keep politics out of the Bookshelf (I have another blog for that: The Worried Journalist), but with all this anti-DEI BS impacting baseball, I think it’s appropriate to address the situation. The Pittsburgh Pirates recently […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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The passing of Rocky Colavito last month was the impetus for this one. The majority of people with whom I have these Conversations are your standard interview fare. By that I mean I only know them because of their work. In this case, I can honestly say the subject is a good friend. When I […]

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Here we go again… A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine […]

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I have been a poor host. Other than the weekly best-seller list and the (thankfully) occasional “Lest We Forget” posts, I have not done enough to fulfill my self-appointed responsibilities of bringing you the latest news. Maybe that will be one of my resolutions. But we all know how long those last… Anyway… A feature/Q&A […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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A reminder: The Amazona 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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{ Comments on this entry are closed }

A reminder: The Amazona 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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{ Comments on this entry are closed }

A reminder: The Amazona 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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{ Comments on this entry are closed }

A reminder: The Amazona 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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Fernandomania. One of the greatest characters of late 20th century game passed away October 22 at the age of 63. The chunky lefty made his debut for the Dodgers as a September call-up in 1980, winning two decisions. The following year, he won his first eight games, five by shutouts, en route to a magical […]

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A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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I’ve long believed that the death of a famous athlete leads to renewed interest in any books about him, a theory that holds when you look at the weekly Baseball Best-Sellers. Sure enough, the recent passing of Pete Rose provided an uptick in sales of books about the controversial superstar and since Keith O’Brien wrote […]

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Robert Coover, who wrote one of the most famous pieces of baseball fiction, passed away October 5 at the age of 92. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times. Of course, Coover many well-received novels over his lengthy career but the one that resonates most for readers of this blog would have to be […]

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