From the category archives:

History

TWIBB — January 29, 2009

January 29, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, January 29. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 2 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster) 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by […]

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I was honored by the request to pen the foreword for Jews and Baseball, Vol. 2: The Post-Greenberg Years, 1949-2008, by Burton and Benita Boxerman and published by McFarland. The first volume, subtitled Entering the American Mainstream, 1871-1948, was published by McFarland in 2007. Like its predecessor, this new “must-have” serves as a thorough resource […]

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* The Uncola…

January 24, 2010

Or in this case The Baseball Uncyclopedia: A Highly Opinionated, Myth-Busting Guide to the Great American Game — one of my favorite irreverent books about the game — gets a mini-review from Mark’s Epehemera, a card collecting blog.

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Sorry, couldn’t help the reference to this piece on AZ Snakepit, an unofficial Arziona Diamondbacks community and blog, which conducted this Q&S with Chrish Jaffe, author of Evaluating Baseball’s Managers: A History and Analysis of Performance in the Major Leagues, 1876-2008.

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The baseball lifer — and one of my earliest recollections of my baseball card collection — died on Thursday at the age of 92. From the Dallas Morning News. And Randy Galloway contributed this appreciation in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. Bragan published his memoirs (right) in 1992.

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* Asterisk th*s

January 24, 2010

There’s been a lot of talk about what to do with the statistics from the Steroids Era. Some want them expunged from the record books. Others, like Tony Kornheiser, want a special note on any Hall of Fame plaque, bringing into account the possibility (probability?) that said honored player partook of PED. My take is: […]

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TWIBB — January 22, 2010

January 22, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, January 23. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster) 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 3 Satchel: The Life and Times […]

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From NJtoday.net: Dr. Lawrence Hogan, Senior History Professor at Union County College, and Robert Scott, former pitcher and first baseman for the New York Black Yankees of the Negro National League, will be the guest speakers for a Black History  Month Program, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Negro League Baseball at Yankee Stadium, 1930-1948.” […]

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A History and Analysis of Performance in the Major Leagues, 1876-2008, by Chris Jaffe (McFarland). A review of the book appears on Amazin’ Avenue (“an unofficial New York Mets blog”). Upshot: It all makes for a very interesting read, especially considering how tragically ignored managers are in most baseball literature and analysis. If the Mets […]

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Cincinnati.com recently ran this item on the author of Traded: Inside the Most Lopsided Trades in Baseball History (ACTA), which rates 300 deals made over the last several years.

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Mike Silva offers some easy listening about baseball, including an interview with Ira Berkow on his latest book, Summers in the Bronx: Attila the Hun and Other Yankee Stories; author and historian John Thorn; and Peter Golenbock on Billy Martin.

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* Bits and pieces

January 18, 2010

Haven’t done one of these for awhile, so here goes: The Dallas Morning News ran this review of The Wizard of Waxahachie by Warren Corbett, the biography of baseball lifer Paul Richards. Upshot: “Those who love baseball’s strategies and myriad statistics probably will relish this book. The author blends them seamlessly into an entertaining, warts-and-all […]

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* TWIBB — January 16, 2010

January 16, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Saturday, January 16. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster) 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning […]

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When the superstars of baseball want their story told, they know where to go. Lonnie Wheeler has collaborated with such Hall of Famers as Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, and, most recently, Gibson and Reggie Jackson in Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the […]

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The pioneering African-American writer/broadcaster was a favorite around our household in the days of a kinder, gentler sports-talk radio format. Rust, who also appeared on WNBC-TV news programs, died Jan. 12 at the age of 82. From the New York Times‘ obituary by Richard Goldstein: In his 1976 book “Get That Nigger Off the Field!,” […]

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I don’t know what else there is to say about McGwire. Some, like Joe Posnanski (twice) and my literary hero, Tony Kornheiser, are more forgiving. Mr. Tony spoke about the “confessions of Mark McGwire” on both Pardon the Interruption and his eponymous radio program on ESPN 980 in DC. Others, like Ken Rosenthal, are much […]

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* TWIBB — January 8, 2010

January 8, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com on Friday, January 8. HAPPY LATE YEAR! Title Rank General 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster) 1 Baseball Prospectus 2010 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 3 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the […]

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“The Hawk” was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame today. Now get gets to add that to his autograph. Dawson released an autobio in 1994 (with Tom Bird) that was published by Zondervan, a religious house, ostensibly for kids. Look for a new title soon. From the Hall of Fame press release (with […]

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Actually, most are not exactly new, but re-released in paper back editions. But I guess they’re all new if you haven’t read them yet (this sounds like one of those “if a tree falls in the woods…” bits). The only one that might qualify is A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That […]

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* Review: The Gashouse Gang

January 4, 2010

How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series – and America’s Heart, by John Heidenry. An odd inclusion (posted Jan. 2) for something so august as The Huffington Post (does this mean there’s hope for my work appearing there?), especially since the book came […]

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