From the category archives:

Classic title

* And more on Asinof

June 12, 2008

From the Washington Post (includes a silly two-picture slide show; what was the point of that?). The Chicago Tribune mirrored the NY Times obit. Jeff Kallman contributed this piece on The MLB Source portion of MCN.com.

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* RIP, Eliot Asinof

June 11, 2008

The author of the watershed book on the Black Sox Scandal died yesterday at the age of 88. Asinof published Eight Men Out in 1963; and was released as a John Sayles film in 1988, starring John Cusak, David Strathairn, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeny, and Gordon Clapp, Christopher Lloyd, John Mahoney, Michael Werner, Studs Terkel, […]

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The author of the Southpaw trilogy died May 30, 2007. I thought this would be an appropriate time to give him some kudos. First up, this piece by Jeffrey Greenberg, written last December. It was originally published on The Hardball Times web site and is reprinted here with their kind permission. I’ll be posting more […]

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Speaking of oldies, here’s a blast from the past: Roger Angell’s collection of baseball writing, from the POV of Things Above, “Reflections on Christian spirituality and other of life’s important issues”…such as baseball.

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This piece from Bloomberg.com suggests that Willie Randolph follow the example of Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson and give some of his players reading assignments in the hopes that it might open their minds to philosophies that will help the team win. As for the connection to athletes and reading, I recall an anecdote about Yogi […]

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* Review: Ball Four

May 28, 2008

A blast from the past courtesy of the Lansing State Journal. Upshot: …[O]ne book is not responsible for the seismic shift in sports media during the past 40 years, or even the past five years. But it’s part of it, and Bouton’s book is among the first insights that the game, the strategy and the […]

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In a May 3 piece for The Wall Street Journal, Dawidoff — author The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg and, the just-released The Crowd Sounds Happy — lists his top choices in the genre: You Know Me, Al by Ring Lardner The Natural, by Bernard Malamud The Universal Baseball Association, […]

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* Now we're talkin'

May 1, 2008

I came across these posts from The Bronx Banter portion of The Baseball Toaster and The Hardball Times that cut to the chase of what The Bookshelf is all about. Alex Belth, who writes Bronx Banter, got the ball rolling, in response to a query he received from Phillyburbs.com regarding his suggestions for “ten essential […]

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* Catching up, Part 1

April 8, 2008

There’s a lot of material that’s fallen by the wayside as I try to keep this blog fresh with the latest in baseball book publishing information. But in the words of the revered philosopher, Regis Philbin, “I’m only one man!” So I’m using this space to try to catch up. Some of the items might […]

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I always get a kick out of seeing an old book “discovered” by a new generation of fans/readers. Case in point, Jules Tygiel’s examination of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey. His remains one of the best on the subject, a notion with which Blackathlete.net seems to agree.

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* On this date

April 5, 2008

in 1934, WSAL hires Red Barber to broadcast Cincinnati Reds games. The Amazon Report on Red Barber: Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat 1947 When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball: The Year Jackie Robinson Broke the Color Barrier, by Red Barber

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* Review: The Natural

April 4, 2008

Another oldie but goodie, this one from Play by the Book, a blog of books and baseball.

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An “all-time” list, including: Ball Four No Cheering in the Press Box, by Jerome Holtzman (an overlooked classic) Moneyball A Whole Different Ball Game, by Marvin Miller Clemente, by David Maraniss The Bill James Handbook Casey at the Bat

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* Because it does

March 29, 2008

‘Nuff said.

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Not the first — that honor went to Jim Brosnan — but perhaps the best of the genre he tackled, Bouton turns 69 today. “The Bulldog” enjoyed a couple of good years for the New York Yankees, winning 20 games in1963 and 18 more in 1964, the last good year the team had for more […]

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From YouTube, clips from Lawrence Ritter’s interviews with “Wahoo” Sam Crawford, Hans Lobert, and Jimmy Austin from his 1966 classic The Glory of Their Times. The video also features the voices of Ty Cobb and Cy Young.

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An interview by GOTT author Lawrence Ritter with Fred Snodgrass, presented in a slide show backed nicely with Scott Joplin music.

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Quote of the week

February 21, 2008

From Jim Caple’s Page 2 column on ESPN.com: Rereading “Ball Four” every spring…is an annual requirement — sort of like pitchers’ fundamental drills, only a lot more fun.

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Goodbye, Mr. Chips

February 17, 2008

From a Feb 15 press release from the Oakland A’s: The Oakland A’s today announced that they have agreed to terms with free agent catcher Matt LeCroy on a minor league contract. LeCroy will be a non-roster invitee to spring training. The A’s also announced that non-roster invitee catcher Jeremy Brown announced his retirement….Brown was […]

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The Casey Award

January 10, 2008

The CASEY Award was inaugurated in 1983 by Mike Shannon and W.J. Harrison, the editors and co-founders of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine, to honor the authors and publishers of outstanding baseball books, a heretofore unrealized notion. Seven books were named as finalists for the first CASEY: Baseball’s Greatest Experiment, The Celebrant, Hoopla, Invisible Men, […]

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