From the category archives:

Business of baseball

It’s still Thursday somewhere, right? Got sidetracked yesterday and this slipped my mind. Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone. Trying clear out the old new links box (as opposed to the old old links I post on Thursdays now). ‘Tis the season when reviews, excerpts, lists, and author appearance are sprouting like flowers. * From Men’s Journal, this list of “The 10 Baseball Books Every Fan Should Read.” (Hmm, […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Just finished thumbing through A History of Baseball in 100 Objects, the latest baseball release by Josh Leventhal, author of several other well-produced baseball titles. The objects included herein represent the game since before its “formal” recognized inception in the mid 1800s (and please don’t write about the exact DOB of the game). But the […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

A 30-in-30 review

May 4, 2015

(As opposed to ESPN’s 30 for 30 series). Once again, Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News has done a great service to the baseball reading community with his annual 30-books-in-30-days series on his “Farther off the Wall” blog. I advise going deep into each piece because Hoffarth offers interesting links among his DVD-type “extras.” […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

NEW STUFF: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So… […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

NEW STUFF: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So… […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Submitted for your interest, education, and entertainment, here’s a link to my annual baseball feature on Bookreporter.com. Titles include: Billy Martin: Baseball’s Flawed Genius Tommy Lasorda: My Way Joe Black: More Than a Dodger Yankee Doodles: Inside the Locker Room with Mickey, Yogi, Reggie, and Derek, Baseball Maverick: How Sandy Alderson Revolutionized Baseball and Revived […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

NEW STUFF: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So… […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Books about the business and businesspeople of baseball are becoming more available these days; I devote a whole chapter on the topic in 501 Baseball Books. I think fans tend to forget that the people who run baseball aren’t born to the position. Just like everybody, they grow into the job, based on years of […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

NEW STUFF: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So… […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Shamless self-promotion

March 31, 2015

Haven’t been keeping track. I was asked by a contributor to Forbes Magazine for recommendations in the area of books about the business of baseball, past, present, and even future. Here’s the result.

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. So without further ado, here are the top ten baseball books as […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Forbes Magazine looks at baseball from a mostly financial point of view. Although I haven’t seen a stand-alone print edition for many years, they bstill do an above-average job of covering the game for a non-sports publication. Among the preview/review articles recently posted: MLB Worth $36B As Team Values Hit Record $1.2B Average The best […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. So without further ado, here are the top ten baseball books as […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

There are a handful of publishing houses that are known for their baseball titles. A few that come to mind immediately are Triumph, University of Nebraska Press, and McFarland. But none of these are exclusively engaged in baseball. Summer Game Books, a New Jersey enterprise founded by Walter Friedman, is such an outfit. In addition […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bits and pieces, March 16

March 16, 2015

Curt Smith, author of several fine volumes about baseball broadcasters and broadcasting, offers this nostalgic essay on “Spring training: Baseball’s Brigadoon” in the Irondequoit Post. Publishers Weekly published their annual list of new baseball topics. Unfortunately, it’s only available to subscribers. I’ll see if I can find an end-around at some point. “Spring inevitably means […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Dr. Seuss wasn’t considering baseball fans when he published his best-selling book Oh, The Places You’ll Go. He left that for Josh Pahigian to deal with. Pahigian first published 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out in 2010, following his joint venture with Kevin O’Connell, Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: A Fan’s Guide To Major […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. So without further ado, here are the top ten baseball books as […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Because, let’s face it, its worth will be questionable. One of the things I loved about the old Street & Smith baseball annuals was the list of upcoming milestones that were within reach for current ballplayers. You could see, for example, that this guy was 22 home runs away from 500, or that guy was […]

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); })();