From the category archives:

Player-written book

Bits and pieces, Feb 26

February 26, 2014

Yes, another book about Pete Rose. This one is by Kostya Kennedy, author of 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, so I expect good things. One line that particularly caught my eye in the piece: “Kennedy told me his publicists don’t want him to talk about the book before its release […]

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Bits and pieces, Feb. 14

February 14, 2014 · 1 comment

One of these days I have to get out to the San Diego Public Library. They frequently have good baseball-themed programs, including this one, which starts tomorrow. Tom Clavin, author of The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream will be a keynote speaker on March 8 at 1 […]

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Unlike the celebrities in this NY Times story, like Bob Uecker, famously does not sit in the front row. And to drive that point home, the Milwaukee Brewers will honor their long-time broadcaster with a statute in the last row at their home Miller Park. Uecker was the “star” of a number of Miller Lite […]

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Review roundup, June 10

June 10, 2013

John Sexton’s Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game picked up a couple of review recently including this one from the New York Law Journal and this one from Philly.com. The San Diego Union Tribune ran this about Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame. Believe it or not (and I’m guessing my […]

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Either he’s hurting for money or has a real hankering to show he’s a renaissance man. Whatever the reason, look for The Nolan Ryan Beef Cookbook at a bookstore near you — in May 2014. I have no idea why the publisher Little, Brown and Company chose to make the announcement so early, but there […]

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Review roundup, Nov. 16

November 16, 2012

♦  Bill Jordan at Baseball Reflections posted this on The Baseball Hall of Shame: The Best of Blooperstown. Upshot: “With the book being built around blurbs, instead of lengthy stories, it is a quick read and would be something that is easy to browse through. One might even call this a good book to read […]

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Bits and pieces

September 11, 2012

Now that the 501 manuscript has been returned to — and received by — the copy editor, I can take a breath and get back to the business of blogging. So here’s an attempt to catch up with a few items from recent days. ♦ The RadioIowa site posted this piece on Bob Meyer, author […]

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Bits and pieces

August 30, 2012

Time for the occasional declutter of the accumulated links and stories, so here goes. “Dan Barry’s Bottom of the 33rd has won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing, which honors a nonfiction book on the subject of sports.” More here. From the Yogi Berra Museum: Former Yankee star second baseman Bobby Richardson, a cornerstone […]

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Review roundup, Aug. 17

August 17, 2012

♦ The Summer 2012 issue of Jewish Currents features a review by Cynthia Werthamer of Pitching in the Promised Land: A Story of the First and Only Season in the Israel Baseball League, by former IBL hurler Aaron Pribble. Upshot: “While Pribble’s book could do with less foreshadowing…, his retelling of the ups and downs […]

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Or “Coming soon to a bookstore near you.” As mentioned in the previous post about e-books, I occasionally scan Amazon to see what baseball titles are coming down the pike. Here is a list of those scheduled for release before the end of the year that seem particularly interesting. As usual, the literate baseball fan […]

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Probably only a few die-hard Dodger fans or baseball historians remember, but Ed Stevens was the man Jackie Robinson replaced when he joined Brooklyn in 1947. I think it’s kind of sad that that is how a person is remembered (Wally Pipp), but at least he is remembered As the New York Times‘ obituary by […]

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The Whittemore Library of Naugatuck, CT, will host a book talk and signing by former Red Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd and co-author Mike Shalin (They Call Me Oil Can: Baseball, Drugs, and Life on the Edge) at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at the Naugatuck Congregational Church Hall.  

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All-Star reading

July 12, 2012

Maybe it’s just the sports new cycles, but it seems there was a lot of emphasis on how young many of this year’s All-Stars were, juxtaposed with Chipper Jones, who is probably making his last appearance in the summer classic. (Did anyone else think his locker room “pep talk” was uncomfortable and stagey?) It occurred […]

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Bits and pieces

July 10, 2012

* John Rocker‘s memoir is not exactly new but it’s still getting some buzz. Whether or not it’s good is besides the point. I think a lot of people want to know if he’s as big a train wreck as he came off in that Sports Illustrated piece in 1999. * Dennis Anderson sent me […]

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I have to admit, when I first heard that R.A. Dickey’s memoir, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, contained information about his sexual abuse as a child, I thought, “Here we go again. Another celebrity who has to come up with an angle to sell his otherwise average […]

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♦ Bruce Spitzer, author of the sci-fi-ish novel about Ted Williams rising from the dead, was on Beyond the Game, a White Plains community access cable channel. ♦ ♦ Received a copy of Ronnie Joyner‘s new Hardball Legends and Journeymen and Short-Timers: 333 Illustrated Baseball Biographies yesterday. It’s a throwback to the days when newspapers […]

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Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets, by Bud Harrelson with Phil Pepe. Thomas Dunne Books, 2012. Harrelson’s new book is a bit a throwback. One could easily imagine reading this in the pre-Ball Four era. Other than a scant mention of disappointment for the […]

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Dickey, the Mets knuckleballer, has been the guest on two NPR programs this week, Fresh Air (yesterday) and The Leonard Lopate Show (on Monday). And I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up on Only a Game at some point. I always find it interesting to hear the same author on multiple outlets: How do […]

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National Pastime Radio

April 10, 2012

John Grisham appeared on Weekend Edition Saturday to discuss his new baseball novel, Calico Joe. Mets Pitcher R.A. Dickey is also making the rounds. He was on Fresh Air to talk about his memoir, Wherever I Wind Up. The program also re-ran an interview from last August with Brad Aumus, now in the San Diego […]

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Review roundup, April 2

April 2, 2012

♦ Bill Jordan at Baseball Reflections on Tim Wendel’s Summer of 68. ♦ Tom Hoffarth kicked off his annual “30 book in 30 days” feature yesterday with Baseball Prospectus 2012. Today’s book is Trading Manny: How a Father & Son Learned to Love Baseball Again, by Jim Gullo. (Here’s another review from The Oregonian.) ♦ Sticking […]

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