This is a typical Jason Kendall photo. It is a picture of intensity and passion. There are a few books out there, ostensibly written by pro athletes describing how to play the game. Joe DiMaggio published one (Baseball for Everyone), so did Bob Feller (Pitching to Win). But those were just white bread, without nuance, […]
Tagged as:
baseball analysis,
Catching,
Jason Kendall,
Kansas City Star,
Lee Judge
Jayson Stark, the long-time columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is a senior writer for ESPN.com. In addition to his writing, he appears on radio and television, including SportsCenter, ESPNews, Baseball Tonight, and a weekly segment during baseball season with WHB 810 in Kansas City. He is another in a pool of veteran scribes who has […]
Tagged as:
ESPN,
Jayson Stark
One of my favorite movie quotes comes from Men in Black when Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is trying to recruit police officer Edwards (Will Smith): Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you […]
Tagged as:
baseball writing,
Hal Bodley,
USA TODAY
Many books try to link a premise with a larger theme. If you try hard enough, you can find connections between any items. But Chris Donnelly does a better-than-most job of convincing readers How the Yankees Explain New York. Let’s be honest: a lot of people outside the Big Apple think its residents have a […]
Tagged as:
Babe Ruth,
Billy Martin,
George Steinbrenner,
New York Yankees
The top ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat […]
Tagged as:
Chicago Cubs,
George F. Will,
Jason Kendall,
Kostya Kennedy,
Mariano Rivera,
Michael Feinstein,
minor leagues,
Moneyball,
New York Yankees,
Oakland As,
Pete Rose,
Ted Williams,
Willie Randolph,
Wrigley Field
Veteran actor Dwier Brown appeared as John Kinsella, the father of Kevin Costner’s character, Ray, in the 1989 classic Field of Dreams. He was only on screen for about five minutes at the end, but for many, those are the most powerful moments, with the ability to turn otherwise composed men and women into misty-eyed […]
Tagged as:
Dwier Brown,
Field of Dreams
I first met Judy Lynn Johnson at Hoftsra University’s symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the NY Mets. Along with Jason Antos, we presented papers on literature about the team; hers was a lot more literary than either Jason’s or mine. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that she was publishing a baseball […]
Tagged as:
baseball memoir,
Judy Lynn Johnson,
women and baseball
The top ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat […]
Tagged as:
Chicago Cubs,
Dan Epstein,
George Will,
John Feinstein,
Kostya Kennedy,
Mariano Rivera,
minor leagues,
Mookie Wilson,
Pete Rose,
Ted Williams,
Wayne Coffey
Lou Gehrig. Jackie Robinson. Two of the game’s most iconic players, celebrated for their courage under extreme conditions. Both the subjects of outstanding biographies by Jonathan Eig, and both of which appear in 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die Eig has worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Chicago magazine, […]
Tagged as:
ALS,
Jackie Robinson,
Jonathan Eig,
Lou Gehrig
The top-ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]
Tagged as:
Babe Ruth,
Baseball Prospectus,
Chicago Cubs,
George Will,
Jonah Keri,
Kostya Kennedy,
Michael Lewis,
Moneyball,
Montreal Expos,
Oakland As,
Pete Rose,
Sports Illustrated,
Ted Williams,
Wrigley Field
As of the end of the 2013 season, Jewish athletes had accounted for about 170 of nearly 19,000 Major Leaguers. So you wouldn’t expect the new “Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American” exhibit at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia to have the breadth of material one would see in Cooperstown. Nevertheless, […]
John Feinstein is one of the more prolific sportswriters of this generation. He has published more than 25 books on college and pro basketball, college and pro football, tennis, golf, and, of course, baseball. His 2008 title, Living on the Black, a doubleheader of a biography on Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine, pitchers on the […]
Tagged as:
John Feinstein,
minor league baseball
Another book about Pete Rose? Seems more books have been published about (and by) the dishonored all-time hit leader than anyone except Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson. But as Kostya Kennedy explained in our recent conversation, the job of the writer is to find something new to say or say in […]
Tagged as:
Kostya Kennedy,
Pete Rose
Over the years, I’ve expressed disappointment in the changing times, when magazines about the fantasy baseball outnumber those about the “regular” game. Fantasy Sports is a multi-billion dollar business. With so much at stake, there have to be rules and governing bodies, otherwise there’s chaos. From time to time, I try to get with the […]
Tagged as:
Fantasy baseball,
Marc Edelman
Just discovered that my podcast last week with Jon Paley, co-director of Ballplayer: Pelotero‘ was damaged. Fixed now and also available on iTunes. Sorry for the inconvenience. Carry on.
It took me a long time to get through Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game. Not because it was boring, heaven forbid, but because it made me stop and think so much. Some might think too much time and emotion are spent dissecting sports — to much romanticism, too much philosophy, […]
Tagged as:
Baseball and religion,
Peter Schwartz
I don’t usually do this, but since Peter Schwartz, co-author with John Sexton and Thomas Oliphant of Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game was nice enough to tweet about it, I figure, why not. Schwartz will be a guest speaker at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse on March 6 (weather permitting; that’s […]
Tagged as:
Baseball as a Road to God,
Bergino Baseball Clubhouse,
Peter Schwartz
is available on Amazon.com,
The Bookshelf Conversation: Jonathan Eig
April 21, 2014
Lou Gehrig. Jackie Robinson. Two of the game’s most iconic players, celebrated for their courage under extreme conditions. Both the subjects of outstanding biographies by Jonathan Eig, and both of which appear in 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die Eig has worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Chicago magazine, […]
Tagged as: ALS, Jackie Robinson, Jonathan Eig, Lou Gehrig
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