From the category archives:

Business of baseball

Branch Rickey was born this Dec. 20, 1881. When asked why he fought to make Jackie Robinson accepted in the Major Leagues, Rickey often told the story of a black teammate from his college days who was shunned by opponents. There are numerous books about Rickey, but perhaps none more detailed and insightful than Lee […]

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TWIBB: Dec. 17, 2010

December 17, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com, as of Friday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]

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So if you had a copy of the list of 104 players who allegedly tested positive for steroids, you couldn’t use it.

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From ESPN’s Richard Durrett at the Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, FL: There has been some interest in first baseman Chris Davis from a few clubs, but it’s unclear if that will turn into anything. Fans love/hate the winter meetings. They hope their team can pull off a great deal and get that sexy […]

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TWIBB: Nov. 12, 2010

November 12, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton and Tim Keown 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, […]

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Cubs owner goes Undercover

November 7, 2010

Todd Ricketts, one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs, goes undercover within one of baseball’s most famous franchises and fights for the chance to redeem himself after being let go on the second day on UNDERCOVER BOSS, Sunday, Nov. 7 on CBS! Related articles Chicago Cubs Exec Throws a Curve to ‘Undercover Boss’ (dailyfinance.com) […]

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TWIBB: Oct. 30, 2010

October 29, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood , by Jane Leavy 1 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton and Tim Keown 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair […]

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Bits and pieces

October 25, 2010

An occasional wrap-up of things that have fallen through the cracks. A review of Baseball Is America: Origins and History: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Victor Alexander Baltov, Jr. A review of Fifty-Nine in ’84, Edward Achorn’s biography of Hoss Radbourn. Len Berman, author of a new kid’s book on the greats […]

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TWIBB: Oct. 23, 2010

October 22, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael […]

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Bits and pieces

October 15, 2010

Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in the NLDS naturally brought back memories of Don Larsen perfect game in the 1956 World Series (and forgive a soapbox moment, but I wish they would stop lumping all post-season records together; Halladay’s marvelous game does not make him and Larsen the only pitchers to throw no-hitters in the playoffs, as […]

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A series of recent baseball articles from Forbes: Baseball’s Best Teams For The Buck and Baseball’s Best Playoff Players for the Buck The Plight of the Umpire and the Inevitability of Instant Replay Who Profits from MLB’s Postseason? Baseball’s Most and Least Efficient Teams for the 2010 Season From the last story: The average payroll […]

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How about 2,063,333,890 of  ’em? That’s the payroll for the New York Yankees at the beginning of the 2010 season, according to USA Today? Don’t know how I missed this one from The New York Times, especially since it has such a cool graphic: Putting a price tag on winning Fans are fairly inured to […]

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Bits and Pieces

October 2, 2010

As the days dwindle down to a precious few, here’s an attempt at a major catch-up: I met Rob Fitts at the SABR convention in Washington, DC, last year. His specialty is Japanese baseball. Here’s his site on baseball cards. The NY Times‘ Alan Schwarz covered the convention’s always-entertaining trivia contest. You know the theoretical […]

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This press release comes courtesy of Dan Fost, author of Giants Past & Present: One of the highlights of one of the country’s great literary festivals, San Francisco’s Litquake, will feature “It’s All Over But the Crying: A Night of Authors on Sports,” at 7 p.m. Friday Oct. 8, at Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street, […]

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Bits and pieces

September 17, 2010

Spurred on by the hubbub around the 40th anniversary of Ball Four, Delia Cabe, who hosts the Creative Type blog at Boston.com, had this piece about the best baseball books, not just from her POV, but from those of local celebrities and others. And as the Baseball Reliquary program heralding that anniversary beckons, look for […]

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Birthday greetings

September 16, 2010

Cover via Amazon A duo of dates. Hall of Famer Robin Yount is 55. Robin Yount: The Legend Lives on All-Star and Cy Young winner Orel Hershier turns 52. Out of the Blue: Orel Hershiser Between the Lines: Nine Things Baseball Taught Me About Life Orel Hershiser: Up Close and Personal Bonus nickname of the […]

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The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will host the Baseball Film Festival in Cooperstown, Oct. 1-3. As part of the three-day event, Billy Crystal, who directed and executive produced the classic film 61*, will be on hand as the Hall of Fame celebrates his 2001 production that told the story of the 1961 […]

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TWIBB: Sept. 10, 2010

September 10, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Sept. 10. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville 3 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, […]

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Richard Sandomir of The New York Times reports on the generally disappointing documentary on the late Yankees owner, part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series. Upshot: Documentaries soar when they reveal something new and send viewers on new paths. From the start of “One Night in Vegas,” the ESPN “30 for 30” film that had […]

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TWIBB: Sept. 2

September 3, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Sept. 2. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime by Jason Turbow and Michael Duca 2 The Natural, by Bernard Malamud 3 […]

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