From the category archives:

“Bookshelf Conversations”

I am always excited to see a new book come out on Jewish baseball. It was a main part of my job as sports editor of the New Jersey Jewish News to seek out anything to refute the canard that “members of the tribe” are bookish and unathletic. So imagine my delight when I learned of […]

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Hard to believe it’s been 75 years since Jackie Robinson’s debut. I sometimes think about the veterans of World War II and how old they have to be to have served back in the early 1940s; Robinson would have been 102 this year. Where does the time go? There have probably been more books written […]

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Keeping it 100

January 26, 2022

Congratulations to Joe Posnanski, whose latest release, The Baseball 100, was recently selected by Spitball Magazine for the 39th annual Casey Award, emblematic of best baseball book of the year. In a press release, Spitball described The Baseball 100 as “a ranking of the best players in baseball history with brilliant essays devoted to each […]

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Lest We Forget: Arnold Hano

October 26, 2021

The long-time sportswriter and the first author to focus on a single-game analysis passed away Sunday at the ripe old age of 99. I had interviewed Arnold Hano back in 2012 to discuss A Day in the Bleachers, a classic about the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians. It would […]

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And now for something completely different. When my wife and I were on vacation in London a few years ago, we stopped in at the world famous Harrod’s department store. While she went off to look for gifts and I ended up in the menswear section where I came across… This was a strange yet […]

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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. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast […]

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New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]

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There’s a first time for everything. For example, this is the first time we’ve had a poet on for a Conversation. It’s the same reasoning I have for not doing much fiction on the blog: I just don’t feel qualified to address the genre. My experience with poetry is limited to doggerel like “Casey at […]

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Headnote: One of the thing I like about the Pandemic Baseball Book Club is that it’s a kind of “one stop shopping.” Instead of posting about various authors, projects, and events, all I’m doing here is cutting and pasting their weekly newsletter. Do take a moment to read the author Q&A. I find them particularly interesting as […]

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I had hoped by now the whole nasty Covid business would be behind us. I was wrong. If there’s anything good that’s come out of this for baseball readers, it’s the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. The PBBC has given a platform to authors who missed out on the opportunities a normal year would have offered […]

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New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]

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Headnote: One of the thing I like about the Pandemic Baseball Book Club is that it’s a kind of “one stop shopping.” Instead of posting about various authors, projects, and events, all I’m doing here is cutting and pasting their weekly newsletter. Do take a moment to read the author Q&A. I find them particularly interesting as […]

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New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]

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Headnote: One of the thing I like about the Pandemic Baseball Book Club is that it’s a kind of “one stop shopping.” Instead of posting about various authors, projects, and events, all I’m doing here is cutting and pasting their weekly newsletter. Do take a moment to read the author Q&A. I find them particularly interesting as […]

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We last spoke with Dan Epstein for his second book, Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ‘76 in 2016, which followed his 2014 release, Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s. As you can see from the picture, sandwiched between me and […]

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Headnote: One of the thing I like about the Pandemic Baseball Book Club is that it’s a kind of “one stop shopping.” Instead of posting about various authors, projects, and events, all I’m doing here is cutting and pasting their weekly newsletter. Do take a moment to read the author Q&A. I find them particularly […]

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Sometimes I am surprised at how long I’ve been doing this, a fact that came to my attention when I reconnected with Scott Brick, an award-winning audiobook narrator with whom I first chatted in 2009. According to his bio, Brick “has narrated almost 900 audiobooks including titles such as: Jurassic Park, the Jack Reacher series, Alexander Hamilton, […]

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New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]

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New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]

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{ Comments on this entry are closed }

New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch. A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by […]

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