From the category archives:

Lists

Bits and pieces

March 22, 2011

It’s amazing how everyday life can get in the way of posting here lately. In a poor attempt to compensate, here’s the occasional links dump. A review of John Thorn’s Baseball and the Garden of Eden from The Hardball Times. Upshot: “It must be said that Thorn is a historian first and a writer second. […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: March 18, 2011

March 18, 2011 · 2 comments

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, March 18, at 4 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, by John Thorn 1 The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First, by Jonah Keri […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Lou’s

February 26, 2011

I don’t know, what name would you suggest for an award to honor the best baseball performances? At Oscar time, Jim Caple of ESPN’s Page 2 offers his take on “Academy Awards for Baseball Movies” (he dubbed his awards the “Oscar Madisons”). No real surprises here, although I would have selected Costner over Matthau, Davis […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Intro: As previously stated, the recent election of Robert Alomar and Bert Blyleven got me to thinking: how many Hall of Famers have had books written about them or penned their own stories. Here are the results. Again, this is not an all-inclusive list; almost all juvenile titles have been omitted. * * * “M” […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Feb. 25, 2011

February 25, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 25, at 1:30 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle version) 3 The Last […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Let the lists begin

February 23, 2011

This is the time of year when you can expect to see a glut of articles and reviews on authors and new titles and old favorites. So here’s the first from the Christian Science Monitor. The lineup (because there are nine titles, get it?) incldues: The Natural, by Bernard Malamud Bang the Drum Slowly (Second […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

“M” is truly an amazing initial for Hall of Famers, isn’t it? Mays, Mantle, Musial, Marichal, , McCovey, Mathewson, no to mention managers such as McCarthy, Mack and McGraw Connie Mack (Manager; inducted 1937) My 66 Years in the Big Leagues, by Mack (1950) Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball, Macht (2007) The […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Feb. 18, 2011

February 18, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 18, at 3:30 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Literary All-Stars

February 11, 2011 · 2 comments

Several years ago, I published this list on the now-defunct fastball.com. Resubmitted for your consideration in case you missed it the first time around. UPDATE: Feb, 14 –An alert reader noted that Josh Beckett might have been a better chocie than the short-careered Robbie. Just goes to show how long ago I created this list. […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

I knew I was in trouble when one of the co-hosts of last night’s What’s On Second program on BlogTalkRadio didn’t know who the Smothers Brothers were (are, actually). I figured the SB’s were one of those cultural icons that transcended age, but I guess I was wrong. Then I look at GQ‘s poll of […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Feb 4, 2011

February 4, 2011 · 1 comment

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Jan. 28, 2011

January 28, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 28 at noon. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

As I mentioned in a previous entry, look for new bios about Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven to come out before the inductions (I wouldn’t be surprised if manuscripts are in prep already). I was wondering: out of all the personnel — players, executives, managers, etc. —  enshrined to the Hall of Fame, how many […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

By the way, it’s still winter so why aren’t we hearing snow-themed songs anymore? “Winter Wonderland” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” among others, are not “holiday” songs, per se, so they’d still be valid. Just sayin’. Thought I saw my first “annual” at the bookstore last week, but it was a fantasy publication, so it […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Jan. 21, 2011

January 21, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bits and pieces

January 19, 2011

Another in a series of futile attempts to catch up. Because you can keep minutiae on your bookshelf, here’s a new community baseball site that looks like it’s going to be fun: Eephusleague.com.It has a cool design and icons that take the visitor to a host of categories, including uniforms, rules, articles, photos, scorekeeping, etc. […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Jan. 14, 2011

January 14, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 14, 1:37 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 3 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 4 […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Jan. 7, 2011

January 7, 2011 · 2 comments

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 7, at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis […]

0Shares

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

TWIBB: Dec 31, 2010

December 31, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 31,2010. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, by 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Baseball Prospectus 2011 4 Beyond […]

0Shares

{ 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); })();