From the category archives:

Biography

* Now hear these

March 31, 2010

Several authors are making the rounds on radio shows and podcasts lately (I’ll be posting my interview with Danny Peary, co-author of Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero, shortly.) Among them: Danny Peary on New York Baseball Digest. Chris Donnelly, author of the book the Best Series Ever, the story of the 1995 ALCS between the […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The co-authors of Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero sat down for this interview, courtesy of Simon and Schuster.

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* TWIBB — March 26

March 26, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, March 26. Title Rank General Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Baseball Prospectus 2010 3 Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, by Dave Jamieson […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* Hats off to Larry

March 21, 2010

Congratulations to Larry Tye, whose biography Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend was named winner of Spitball Magazine‘s Casey Award and the Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research. Read (most of) it on Googlebooks.

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bill Gallo, the veteran sports cartoonist for the New York Daily News, published this review/personal remembrance of Mays as per the Hircsh bio. I used to collect his work — along with another DN cartoonist name of Bill(?) Stark — in one of my many scrapbooks. In 1969, as the Mets were marching towards the […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, March 19. S Title Rank General Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Baseball Prospectus 2010 3 Kiss It Good-Bye: The Mystery, The Mormon, and the Moral of […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* Review: Willie Mays

March 1, 2010

The Sunday Times Book Review leads off with a full page about James Hirsch’s bio (which leads some to ask, why is it necessary to review the same book twice, given the limited review space). The review, by long time New York writer Pete Hamill, is quite glowing in its praise, although he doesn’t actually […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* TWIBB — Feb. 26

February 26, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 26. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* RK Review: Willie Mays

February 25, 2010

The Life, The Legend, by James. S. Hirsch. Scribner, 2010. The long-anticipated (authorized) biography of the Say Hey Kid was worth the wait. Hirsch, a former journalist for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal certainly didn’t have an easy time in getting the gig. He had been after Mays for almost seven […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 19. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* TWIBB — Feb. 19

February 19, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 19. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* Whole lot of Hirsch goin' on

February 12, 2010

Look for Jame Hirsch, author of the new Mays biography, to be making the media rounds in the weeks ahead (including an interview with the Bookshelf). It’s still a bit early in the reviewing process, but here is a sampling of links to get you started: An interview on WEEI sports radio, New England A […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* TWIBB — Feb. 12

February 12, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 12. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The New York Times is the latest to run a review of James S. Hirsch’s new biography. The upshot: The result is an authoritative if sometimes listless book, one that’s less “Say Hey” than so-so. Like a long out to center field that scores a runner, however, it’s a book that gets the job done. […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* Timing is everything

February 9, 2010 · 2 comments

Here’s to the Class of 2010. And I don’t mean the newest Hall of Famers. How cool is it that this year marks the release of biographies on some of the true icons of the game? The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, by Howard Bryant The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* Review: Willie Mays

February 8, 2010

The Seattle Times gets props for being the first major publication to publish a review on the long-awaited book on the Hall of Famer, the first part of the baseball “trinity” in New York in the 1950s, as immortalized by Terry Cashman’s tune, “Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.” Upshot: “enormously entertaining and wide-ranging biography.” Thanks […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Courtesy Sports Illustrated and Barnes and Noble.

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The man considered by more than a few to be the “real” all-time home run king turns 76 today. At the risk of appearing lazy (I prefer to consider it “recycling”) here’s a link to last year’s birthday tribute to Hammerin’ Hank with a list of books about the Hall of Fame slugger. Howard Bryant’s […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

* Bits and Pieces

February 4, 2010

Baseball GB posted this review of Joe Posnanski’s book The Machine. USA Today‘s “Game On” blog ran this Q&A/profile on James S. Hirsch, author of the much-anticipated bio of Willie Mays. More on the film project that won’t die: Michael Lewis’ Moneyball. And a mini-review from a New Zealander on the book. Former Yankees Jim […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

It’s been way to long since a “serious” biography about Willie Mays was published. That’s about to be remedied with Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend by James S. Hirsch, to be published this month by Scribner. Bruce Weber, author of As They See’ Em, wrote this piece for the Sunday Times. Perhaps it’s because […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-5496371-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();