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 […]
Tagged as:
Cleveland Indians,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Ron Blomberg,
Thurmon Munson
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 […]
Tagged as:
Pandemic Baseball Book Club
Lately I’ve been noticing that baseball books are pretty much divided into a few categories. Many of the latest releases deal with the “new” game by which I mean using metrics such as launch angle or spin rates to determine who the best players are and how to assemble teams. Kind of like Moneyball rebooted. […]
Tagged as:
Bookshelf Conversations,
Cleveland Indians,
Luke Epplin
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 […]
Tagged as:
Cleveland Indians,
ew York Mets,
Jackie Robinson,
New York Yankees,
Ted Williams
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 […]
Tagged as:
Pandemic Baseball Book Club
I’ve taken a lot of grief over the years for the fact that I’m a lifelong Mets fan. My first game was back in (mumble mumble) when they were still pretty stinko. I still remember going to a game with my day camp and having the bus break down on the way back to Brooklyn. […]
Tagged as:
Devin Gordon,
New York Mets
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. Here’s today’s. Enjoy. By the way, my review of Devin Gordon’s book on the Mets […]
Just as Opening Day is just around the corner for players, so is it also for readers about the national pastime. The schedule might not be the same: there won’t be multiple releases every day, not even one a week, at least not on a regular basis. But the “rookies” will be hitting the shelves […]
Tagged as:
Fantasy baseball,
Glenn Burke,
New York Mets,
Ted Williams,
Yogi Berra
If you’re studying math, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life. Steve Martin Consider me screwed. I read pretty much anything about baseball, save for kids’ books and most fiction, […]
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 […]
Tagged as:
Baseball Cards,
David Wright,
Los Angeles Dodgers,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
Ted Williams
As I say in the interview, Dan Schlossberg is a busy guy. He’s written or co-written 40 books, including two updates that were released this year, The New Baseball Bible: Notes, Nuggets, Lists, and Legends from Our National Pastime and Designated Hebrew: The Ron Blomberg Story. The former is one of those things that needs constant […]
Tagged as:
Dan Schlossberg,
Ron Blomberg
Jon Leonoudakis and I go way back, relatively speaking. I’ve been a fan of his entertaining and varied film projects, beginning with Not Exactly Cooperstown, about the Baseball Reliquary, described on its home page as “a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history […]
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Jon Leonoudakis
Given that I have three books out and worked as a newspaper reporter/editor, I guess that serves as proof that I can put words together, but when it comes to art, I can barely draw a straight line with a ruler. I didn’t inherit that gene from my father, who was an excellent sketcher. Then […]
Tagged as:
baseball art,
Baseball Cards,
Gary Cieradkowski
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 […]
According to Bert Sugar’s Rain Delays, one of Willie Mays‘ literary collaborators had an ignominious interaction with his subject. “[A]t the end of the 1965 season, when [Charles] Einstein gave his subject a follow up call, after having taken notes with Mays throughout the season and after having identified himself over the phone, Mays said ‘Charlie […]
Tagged as:
John Shea,
Willie Mays
Going old school here as we return to an audio-only Conversations. A couple of years ago, I was engaged to work on the memoirs of a gentleman from the Middle East. He was in my town on an extended trip, staying at an Air BnB run by friends of ours. Just about every day after […]
Tagged as:
Bartolo Colon,
Michael Stahl
Trying something a bit new in this age of coronavirus. Thanks — if that’s the appropriate word — to the current situation, we have a lot of “necessity is the mother of invention” going on. That’s how the Pandemic Baseball Book Club was born. The program is the brainchild of Jason Turbow, author of They […]
Tagged as:
Jason Turbow,
Pandemic Baseball Book Club
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 […]
Tagged as:
Nicholas Sarantakes,
presidents and baseball,
Richard M. Nixon
When last we spoke with Paul Dickson, it was about his excellent biography, Leo Durocher: Baseball’s Prodigal Son. This time it’s not about a new book, per se, but an old one that got a second life. Dickson, who recently turned 80, has re-released The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign-Stealing Have Influenced […]
Tagged as:
baseball reference,
Paul Dickson,
scorekeeping
is available on Amazon.com,
