From the category archives:

Classic title

* 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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Revisiting the Michael Lewis opus, which the writer deems “the most influential book of what’s now officially baseball’s Steroids Era,” has become joined at the hip with the recent release of the Mitchell Report. In this article from Slate.com, Tom Scocca wonders if Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics and the “protagonist” of […]

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Another "top" list

December 21, 2007

From the BookFinder.com blog comes this loist of classic titles deemed the best on the game. “Compiling a list of books about baseball has only two inherent difficulties: where to begin, and where to end. In the final press release we would only be able to mention ten titles. Imagine my despair as I looked […]

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Authors thank Mitchell Report

December 18, 2007

As could be expected, the release of the Mitchell Report has nudged publisher Gotham/Dutton to rev up the press for a new run of Game of Shadows, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. Read the Publishers Weekly item. Gotham publicist Beth Parker said the authors will team up to do a radio satellite book tour… […]

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Two baseball titles account for 10 percent of “Books That Changed Men’s Lives,” according an Oct. 3 entry on Amazon Bookstore’s Blog. I’m guessing these are not in any kind of order, but Michael Lewi’s Moneyball is listed second. I daresay the most unusual addition to the eclectic list (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns? The […]

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More auction news

November 28, 2007

In addition to the Black Sox papers that mysteriously resurfaced recently, another piece of baseball history is heading to auction. Memory Lane, Inc, a Tustin, Calif. sports collectible enterprise, will be offering Christy Mathewson‘s rookie contract, dated 1900. “Vintage baseball contracts have become more sought after in recent years by collectors, and that demand has […]

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Today's audio selections

November 5, 2007

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, By Robert Creamer, narrated by Tom Parker (Unabridged) Listen here: The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe , by Leigh Montiville, narrated by Scott Brick (Unabridged) Listen here: These two biographies, written about 30 years apart, have one thing in common besides their subject matter: Both are […]

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Apropos to yesterday’s post on The Babe Ruth Story, these are the only baseball books to make the top spot on The New York Times Best-Seller list, along with the dates of their “coronation”: The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn, May 28, 1972 (a total of 24 weeks on the list) Summer of ’49, […]

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