From the category archives:

History

I love collecting first editions of magazines, so it was a nice surprise when I received this on Saturday, totally out of the blue  Very snazzy. The new offering from the  Helmar Brewing Company considers what publisher Charles Mandel calls “modern vintage” cards, although there’s lots of non-collectible features, too. Mike Shannon, editor-in-chief of the […]

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Books have been written about the use of baseball as an imperialist tool by the United States. We send people to foreign countries; they bring baseball with them, and pretty soon the residents of those foreign have embraced the game to a degree even more enthusiastic than back in the good ole U.S.A. Case in […]

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NOTE: 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 on […]

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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 […]

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According to a story on the Sports Business Daily website, “Recently retired MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has hired Sandy Montag of IMG as his agent to represent him in selling the rights to a book about his life and baseball. Montag will also represent Selig for speaking engagements, consulting and other matters.” I was under […]

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Who doesn’t like pretty things? Museums, such as the Baseball Hall of Fame, are filled with them. But not everyone can get up to Cooperstown. For them, there are books like A History of Baseball in 100 Objects, by Josh Leventhal. Leventhal — whose previous books on baseball include The World Series: An Illustrated Encyclopedia […]

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NOTE: 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 on […]

{ 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 […]

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Found this on Facebook this morning via Marc Ernay, sports director at 1010 WINS: In the words of my good friend, Howard Walawitz: What kind of market study did the knobs at MLB.com do to determine that this was cutting edge, that this is what it takes to retain the interest of younger fans? If […]

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With apologies to Chicago (the band, not the city). Feast or famine. Either I never get to Manhattan, or I’m there too much. After commuting from the New jersey suburbs to NYC for more than 15 years, I have to say it’s a culture shock whenever I go back and I’m not thrilled with it. […]

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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… […]

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Kind of weird: it’s almost June and still no baseball book reviews in The New York Times? I know space is precious on those pages, but still. There are any number of worthy candidates. Get on it, Times. In the meantime: From the Rockford, Ill., Rock River Times, this piece on Steven K.  Wagner’s Perfect: The […]

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This is a wonderful age we live in. A decade ago, I never would have been able to meet someone like Gary Cieradkowski, the artist who created The Infinite Baseball Card set and author of the newly-published The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes. I’ve known Cieradkowski for several years […]

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Posting a bit earlier than usual today because Rachel has her second graduation ceremony today. Where did the time go? 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 […]

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Normally, I post things like this beforehand… We attended our daughter’s graduation from NYU, held at Yankee Stadium (that’s her on the first base side. Not, not that one; that one, the cute one). Now normally, when a ballgame is over, the fans all skedaddle as quickly as possible. Yesterday, however, was wall-to-wall people, milling […]

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When I saw Richard Sandomir’s article in The New York Times last year about about Jeff Katz , the Mayor of Cooperstown who writes about baseball, I thought: there but for the grace of God…. My wife, a veterinarian, had a chance to get a job in Cooperstown way back when our daughter was two. […]

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The New York Public Library posted this list of five books that concentrate on a single season, including: 1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever by Bill Madden Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball—and America—Forever by Tim Wendel Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in […]

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Although known more for his classic, The Art of Writing Well, William Zinsser — who passed away May 12 at the age of 92 —  also published Spring Training, a “memoir” of the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training in 1988. Not surprisingly, it was well-received. Here are the obits from the Washington Post and The […]

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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… […]

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The Yog turns 90 today, God bless. I ran this piece four years ago, listing several titles about and (ostensibly) by the Hall of Famer. Except for the age, the info remains valid except for the addition of my NJ neighbor Harvey Araton‘s excellent book, Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball’s Greatest […]

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