From the category archives:

History

Bits and pieces, Aug. 9

August 9, 2013

Author appearance: David King, author of Ross Youngs: In Search of a San Antonio Baseball Legend (TX) (Sports History), will sign copies of his book tomorrow (Aug. 10) from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Barnes and Noble at The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio. The book traces the career of the Hall of Famer, who […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Feast or famine. I can go for weeks without posting any new material but in the past week I’ve had the very good fortunate to speak with three extremely talented artists: Eric Rolfe Greenberg, author of The Celebrant, which is considered one of the best baseball novels by just about every outlet who decides these […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Baseball artist Graig Kreindler reminds us that today is the anniversary of Hank Greenberg‘s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Had these for awhile and still working on the “documentary” about some of there many memorabilia shops in Cooperstown, where I attended the 25th Annual Symposium on Baseball & American Culture last month. (Click on the number to advance the slideshow; click on each photo to enlarge in a new window.) [SlideDeck id=’15803′ width=’100%’ height=’300px’]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

All-Star reading

July 10, 2013

The problem with books about the All-Star Game is that unless it concentrates on one specific contest or the origins of the Midsummer Classic, it will be out-of-date as soon as the next one rolls along. The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball’s All-Star Game Baseball’s All-Star Game: A Game-by-Game Guide Baseball’s All-Star Game […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

All I know about Yankton, South Dakota, was that it was an element in one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Deadwood. Al Swearengen: Bloodletting on my premises that I ain’t approved I take as a f***ing affront. It puts me off my feed. Hearst:How do we know when you are off your feed? Al […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Born this date: 1916 – Bob Prince, announcer (d. 1985) We Had ‘Em All the Way: Bob Prince & His Pittsburgh Pirates Lest we forget: 2008 – Jules Tygiel, author (b. 1949) Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy Past Time: Baseball As History\ Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

(Note: My review of Allen Barra’s latest appears on Bookreporter.com, and reprinted for your convenience below, with a few additional comments.) Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris may have been “the M&M boys” for a summer or two in the early 1960s, but Mantle, aka the “Commerce Comet,” and the “Say Hey Kid” (Willie Mays) were […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

I read it in the Times

June 28, 2013

Unusual in that one of the pieces appeared in the main section, not on the sports pages: Dan Barry, author of Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game, does a follow-up of sorts in this profile of Doc Edwards, one of those “baseball lifers.” Edwards, 76, was manager of the Rochester Red […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Review roundup, June 20

June 20, 2013

Overlooked this one: Former NY Mets favorite RonSwoboda contributed a review of Allen Barra’s Mickey and Willie: Mantle and Mays, the Parallel Lives of Baseball’s Golden Age to the New York Times Sunday Book section on June 2. (One reader wrote to complain that Swoboda didn’t mention Duke Snider in his article. Perhaps, but the […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

In yesterday’s review roundup I wrote: Not exactly sure why there are two new bios about this Pirates’ Hall of Famer at this particular time (no anniversary of his birth or death), but Pete Peterson’s Pops: The Willie Stargell Story is reviewed on Lancaster Online. The other one is Willie Stargell: A Life in Baseball, […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Review roundup, June 19

June 19, 2013

Nuckolball posted a review of Robert Creamer’s classic bio, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life. These are kind of like mini-reviews, so I’m including Baseball Nation’s piece on “Your favorite baseball books,” which includes, among others, Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel, The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bits and pieces, June 12

June 12, 2013

John  Rosengren was recently interviewed in Prime Time Radio to discuss his new bio on Hank Greenberg (audio). BlueJaysBanter, a “subsidiary” of Baseball Nation, posted this review of Jeff Blair’s Full Count: Four Decades of Blue Jays Baseball. David King will sign copies of his new book, Ross Youngs: In Search of a San Antonio Baseball […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Born this date: * 1868 – Sol White, Negro League infielder and manager; Hall of Fame (d. 1955)  Sol White’s History of Colored Baseball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886-1936 * 1950 – Richard Ben Cramer, author (d. 2013) Joe DiMaggio : The Hero’s Life What Do You Think of Ted Williams […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Review roundup, June 10

June 10, 2013

John Sexton’s Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game picked up a couple of review recently including this one from the New York Law Journal and this one from Philly.com. The San Diego Union Tribune ran this about Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame. Believe it or not (and I’m guessing my […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Review roundup, June 5

June 5, 2013

The Huntington News (WV) published this review about Acre, a baseball “fable.” Upshot: “I’m not going to give away the plot points, other than to say to know Acre is to love him.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune posted this about Allen Barra’s Willie and Mickey. The Charlotte Post and Courier ran this review of Larry […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Yogi Berra Museum, located on the campus of Montclair State University, will host a lunch program on Hank Greenberg on Friday, April 26, at noon. Guests include John Rosengren, author of the new biography Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes; Aviva Kempner, producer/director/writer of The award-winning documentary The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Review roundup, April 9

April 9, 2013

Michigan Live posted this review on John Rosengren’s new biography, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes. Upshot: “Rosengren…lovingly describes the devotion of American Jews to a man who overcame harassment and flat feet to become not just a baseball star, but an inspiration to his people.” Here’s something you don’t see everyday: a British book […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Review roundup, April 5

April 5, 2013

The New York Times runs this review of Mike Piazza’s Long Shot. Given that the book was released almost two months ago and they’re just reviewing it now, I won’t give up the hopes that the Times will do something with 501. The review is more of a “what the book’s about” piece than whether […]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Literary birthday greetings: 1952 – Bob Costas, announcer Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball, by Costas. Broadway, 2000. Also on this date: 1962: A former member of the New York Giants requesting anonymity reveals that Bobby Thomson’s home run in the 1951 playoffs against the Brooklyn Dodgers was helped by a sign-stealing clubhouse spy. […]

{ 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); })();