Another in a series of feeble attempts to catch up on older items. You will forgive the possible occasional duplication from previous entries. First off, well, this is kind of insulting to baseball and books. * Ed Lucas received a lot of attention for his recent memoir, and rightly so. I had a great conversation […]
Tagged as:
baseball fiction,
Bergino Baseball Clubhouse,
Bill Pennington,
Billy Martin,
Charlie O'Brien,
Doug Wedge,
Gary Cieradkowski,
Jack Zanger,
Mike Matheny,
minor leagues,
National Public Radio,
New York Yankees,
sabermetrics,
Sandy Alderson,
Steve Kettmann,
W. P. Kinsella,
Wins Above Replacement
This is how I start off my review of Seeing Home: The Ed Lucas Story: A Blind Broadcaster’s Story of Overcoming Life’s Greatest Obstacles, by Ed Lucas and his son, Chris: “These days, the word ‘inspirational’ is tossed around a lot for things that really aren’t. But in the case of Ed Lucas, it somehow […]
Tagged as:
Christopher Lucas,
Ed Lucas,
Joe DiMagio,
Mickey Mantle,
New York Yankees,
Phil Rizzuto,
Sportswriting
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 […]
Tagged as:
baseball art,
Gary Cieradkowski,
infinite baseball card set
“No one to talk with, all by myself…” Didn’t post a Bookshelf Conversation last week, and won’t have one this week either. That’s a shame because I enjoy a good chat with creative people, getting to know what their process is, how they go to this point in their work, etc. As a sneak preview, […]
Tagged as:
Gary Cieradkowski,
Jeff Katz,
Jennifer Ring
The Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, NJ, will host an appearance by Steve Kettmann, author of Baseball Maverick, tomorrow (April 18) at 2 p.m. Joining Kettmann will be Sandy Alderson, the subject of the book. The program begins at 2 p.m. Cost is $30 and includes admission to the museum for you and one […]
Tagged as:
Bill Pennington,
Jeff Katz,
Jennifer Ring,
Jim Kaat,
Steve Kettmann,
Steve Steinberg
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… […]
Tagged as:
Billy Martin,
Derek Jeter,
Fantasy baseball,
John Feinstein,
Michael Lewis,
Moneyball,
New York Mets,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
San Francisco Giants,
Sandy Alderson,
Steve Kettmann,
Ted Williams
Books about the business and businesspeople of baseball are becoming more available these days; I devote a whole chapter on the topic in 501 Baseball Books. I think fans tend to forget that the people who run baseball aren’t born to the position. Just like everybody, they grow into the job, based on years of […]
Tagged as:
New York Mets,
Oakland As,
San Diego Padres,
Sandy Alderson,
Steve Kettmann
As Humphrey Bogart famously said, “A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz.” Certainly one of the most important off-field enticements these days is the food, so when teams design their new homes, they make sure there are plenty of places to get a bite that offer more than […]
Tagged as:
ballpark food
One of my understated heroes turns 93 today. I had the pleasure of doing a Bookshelf Conversation with Hano a couple of years ago. But Jon Leonoudakis — whose previous works include Not Exactly Cooperstown and 5:05 P.M. (about the “Earthquake World Series”) — goes even farther with a documentary about the author of the […]
Tagged as:
A Day in the Bleachers,
Arnold Hano,
Jon Leonoudakis
Dr. Seuss wasn’t considering baseball fans when he published his best-selling book Oh, The Places You’ll Go. He left that for Josh Pahigian to deal with. Pahigian first published 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out in 2010, following his joint venture with Kevin O’Connell, Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: A Fan’s Guide To Major […]
Tagged as:
baseball museums,
baseball places,
Josh Pahigian
Ain’t Facebook wonderful? It gives one the chance to find so many interesting people. One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is the number of current and former athletes who are social networking and how “just plain folks” they are. Case in point, Ellis Valentine. Just like the rest of us, he […]
Tagged as:
Ellis Valentine
Last Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the World Series earthquake in San Fransisco which occurred just minutes before Game One of the face-off between the host Giants and cross-bay Rival Oakland As. And we have not one, but two documentaries to commemorate the occasion. One, The Day The Series Stopped, was produced under ESPN’s […]
Tagged as:
1989 World Series,
Jon Leonoudakis,
Oakland As,
San Francisco Giants,
World Series earthquake
Once in a while it’s good to remember that the Baseball Bookshelf is not just about books, but about movies, magazines, collectibles, and illustrations, all of which can also find a spot there on. So here’s baseball artist Graig Kreindler, whom I first “met” seven years ago when I did a profile on him for […]
Tagged as:
Graig Kreindler,
Lou Gehrig,
Yogi Berra Museum
Nicholas Dawidoff has pretty much done it all when it comes to non-fiction writing: memoir, biography, anthology. And done it all well. The Flyswatter, a sentimental recollection of his grandfather, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. His first book, The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, is considered the […]
Tagged as:
anthology,
Bergino Baseball Clubhouse,
Moe Berg,
Nicholas Dawidoff
Jealousy reared its ugly head once again when I saw the full-page review of Josh Ostergaard‘s The Devil’s Snake Curve in The New York Times‘ Sunday book supplement in June. It brought back memories of Chad Harbach’s 2011 debut novel, The Art of Fielding, which garnered him tremendous kudos, not to mention a huge advance. (The […]
Tagged as:
Josh Ostergaard,
Kansas City Royals,
New York Yankees
Few things bring a smile to my face more than memories of Montreal. My maternal family hails from that city and I spent many happy times there, including five summers working at Camp Maromac in the Laurentian Mountains. So it’s only natural I would become a fan of the Montreal Expos. And disappointed when they […]
Tagged as:
Jonah Keri,
Montreal Expos,
Washington Nationals
Last week, I spoke with Jason Kendall, the former major league veteran and co-author of the new book, Throwback: A Big-League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played. This week, we have his collaborator, Lee Judge, who blogs about the KC Royals for the Kansas City Star, but is perhaps more widely recognized as […]
Tagged as:
Jason Kendall,
Lee Judge
is available on Amazon.com,
Throwback Thursday (aka massive links dump, continued)
June 11, 2015
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 […]
Tagged as: Baseball Cards, baseball statistics, Japanese baseball, John Thorn, New York Yankees, Rob Fleder, women's baseball
{ Comments on this entry are closed }