Bits and Pieces

Minor Leaguers spend quality time with young fans: Two members of the Harrisonburg (Va.) Turks took time out to read to their young followers. *** As Barry Bonds approaches the all-time home run Mark, there seems to be more press about Hank Aaron, as if to compare the two: one genial and genuine, the other […]

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Steve Buckley, a sports columnist for the Boston Herald, gives his picks for summer reading, mostly baseball with some older titles mixed in with more recent ones. His list includes Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero, by David Maraniss; Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season, by Jonathan Eig; Ted […]

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** A review of The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball appears on The Pastime blog. ** The NY Times’ Richard Sandomir previewed the HBO special, Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush, based loosely on Through a Blue Lens: The Brooklyn Dodgers Photographs of Barney Stein, 1937-57 (premieres July 11). The Dodgers played their last game in […]

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Opposing reviews for Jonathan Eig’s Opening Day. Pro and Con. And an interview with the author. *** This just in from Onion Sports: Aaron credited with 50 “lost” home runs. *** I usually don’t consider this type of book, but I was intrigued by the press release. There’s a new bio due out about Phillies’ […]

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Newsday’s review of THE CARD: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History’s Most Desired Baseball Card, described as a “compelling tale” by Robert L. Fouch. The San Jose Mercury News’ report on David Halberstam‘s June 12 memorial service.

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RickLibrarian offers a review on Baseball Haiku. In my “day job” as editor of the Real Life page for the NJ Jewish News, I write a weekly haiku on the week’s reading from the Torah. While it has been generally wel-received since I started it (save for the rare reader who thinks they’re blaspehmous), I […]

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Couldn’t resist.

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The blog Ricklibrarian, “a review of books, websites, movies, or anything worth reviewing with comments about libraries and librarianship” reviews a few baseball titles, including Now Batting, Number …: The Mystique, Superstition, and Lore of Baseball Uniform Numbers by Jack Looney; The Teammates, by David Halberstam; and Perfect Once Removed: When Baseball Was the World […]

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Bill Syken, who blogs for Sports Illustrated‘s Web site, discusses The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History’s Most Desired Baseball Card. a fascinating and disturbing look at the decline of the baseball card industry, by Michael O’Keefe and Teri Thompson. For those of us of a “certain age,” card collecting was […]

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In Bull Durham, the late Max Patkin — the “clown prince of baseball” playign himself in the film — is talking up Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) to Annie Savoy (Susan Sarndon), telling her what an unusual guy he is. “I actually saw him read a book once,” Patkin says with a touch of awe, adding […]

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<p>Normally, I reserve this blog for the written word on the national pastime. Once in awhile, however, I come across an item that extends beyond this limited scope. </p> <p>For your consideration, <a href=”http://journalsportsmedia.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-do-we-like-sports.html”>this eloquent piece on &quot;Why Do We Like Sports&quot;</a>&nbsp; by Angela Renkoski from the blog Journal of Sports Media: An academic discussion […]

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<p><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=640,height=60,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/bblib_1.gif”></a><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=640,height=60,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/bblib_2.gif”><img title=”Bblib_2″ height=”46″ alt=”Bblib_2″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/bblib_2.gif” width=”500″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px” /></a>&nbsp; </p> <p></p> <p>Baseballlibrary.com gives readers the chance to <a href=”http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/excerpts/index.stm#new”>sample more than 60 new and old baseball titles</a>. The books are broken down by category for easier browsing, […]

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The April 27 podcast of Audible.com’s This is Audible includes an interview with  Jonathan Eig, author of Opening Day, the new book on Jackie Robinson’s debut season. The podcast also includes an excerpt from the audio book, narrated by Richard Allen. The links above will direct to the audible Web site. I’m not sure if […]

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Ted Cox, the TV/Radio sports columnist for the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, evidently has as little patient as I do when it comes to errors in baseball books. For an industry whose main product is numbers (overwhelmingly maintained via computer technology), it’s inexcusable that so many factual errors pop up. As Cox writes in his […]

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In recognition of the 60th annversary of Jackie Robinson’s Major League debut, Jonathan Eig appeared on Only a Game to discuss his new book, Opening Day. The OAG page also links to host Bill Littlefield’s review of the book. Crazy ‘o8 author Cait Murphy puts her book through the “Page 99 test.” According to author, […]

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<p><strong>Ripken nixes Imus appearance<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=180,height=266,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ripkin.jpg”><img title=”Ripkin” height=”177″ alt=”Ripkin” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/ripkin.jpg” width=”120″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a></strong></p> <p>From <em>Publishers Weekly…</em>In the category of &quot;moot,&quot; <a href=”http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6432232.html”>Cal Ripken Jr. said he would not appear on the <em>Imus in </em></a><a href=”http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6432232.html”>the Morning</a> radio program because of remarks made by the […]

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<p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong><span style=”color: #d70039;”><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=350,height=229,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ripkenbook.jpg”><img title=”Ripkenbook” height=”278″ alt=”Ripkenbook” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/ripkenbook.jpg” width=”495″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px; WIDTH: 495px; HEIGHT: 278px” /></a> </span></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong><span style=”color: #d70039;”>Ripken on the Road</span></strong><br />Baseball legend and co-author of <em>The Longest […]

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<p>Is <a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/magazine/25baseball.t.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1&amp;ref=magazine”>Adam Greenberg the new Moonlight Graham</a>? The unlucky young man was beaned in his first plate appearance for the Chicago Cubs and hasn’t been back to the majors since. At least he has a plate appearance. His story appeared in the <em>NY Times Sunday Magazine</em> on March 25. </p>

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