From the category archives:

Non-fiction

* Code-breakers

March 22, 2010 · 3 comments

I’ve always been curious about the timing of a book’s release. For example, one title getting a fair bit of buzz this year is The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca. I have this on my “to-read” pile (think Jenga), but […]

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This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, March 19. S Title Rank General Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Baseball Prospectus 2010 3 Kiss It Good-Bye: The Mystery, The Mormon, and the Moral of […]

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Rutgers alum Steven Goldman is co-editor of the very popular Baseball Prospectus series and website. Barely on the bookshelves, this perennial favorite is already the top sports best-seller on Amazon.com and no. 15 in the top 100 overall. I must admit, I have never been one for such publications, siding with the veteran baseball writer […]

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This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 19. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

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It is easy being green

February 22, 2010

Or Emerald, at any rate. Case in point: For the fourth year, the Society for American Baseball Research, of which I have been a proud member for more than 20 years, is offering at no charge, free, gratis, their very excellent Emerald Guide to Baseball. This 500-plus page volume features complete major and minor league […]

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* TWIBB — Feb. 19

February 19, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 19. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

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* TWIBB — Feb. 12

February 12, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 12. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

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How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad, by Robert Elias. (The New Press) As per SFGate.com (Elias teaches law and politics at the University of San Francisco). Upshot: Elias has written both fiction and nonfiction about baseball and his love for the game shines through. But he also doesn’t hold […]

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* TWIBB — February 5

February 5, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb. 5. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2010 1 Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2 Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects 3 2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball […]

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* Bits and Pieces

February 4, 2010

Baseball GB posted this review of Joe Posnanski’s book The Machine. USA Today‘s “Game On” blog ran this Q&A/profile on James S. Hirsch, author of the much-anticipated bio of Willie Mays. More on the film project that won’t die: Michael Lewis’ Moneyball. And a mini-review from a New Zealander on the book. Former Yankees Jim […]

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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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Newsday’s Mark Herrmann tries to make a literary one between the author of the seminal Ball Four with Juiced and Vindicated. I agree with his observation that both former ballplayers (actually Bouton came out with his book while he was still in the Majors) were considered ” pariah[s] among baseball people for having taken aim […]

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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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* Let me be Curt

January 25, 2010

Baseballisms.com ran this audio interview and profile of the prolific author Curt Smith, whose latest book, Pull Up A Chair: The Vin Scully Story, is a must-read for those fascinated by the veteran broadcaster.

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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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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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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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* 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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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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