Review by Ron Kaplan

<p><span style=”color: #000000;”>This review appeared in <em>ForeWord Magazine</em>, May/June 2003.</span></p> <p><span style=”color: #000000;”>Ever since academicians and historians such as Harold Seymour, David Q. Voigt, and Jules Tygiel began to make &quot;serious&quot; examinations of the national p</span><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=211,height=300,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/0786412720.jpg”><span style=”color: #000000;”><img title=”0786412720″ height=”213″ alt=”0786412720″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/0786412720.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px […]

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<p>This review appeared in <em>BookPage</em>, May 2001. </p> <p>To watch our children playing together nowadays, it’s difficult to conceive of a <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=318,height=475,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/owens_1.jpg”><img title=”Owens_1″ height=”224″ alt=”Owens_1″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/owens_1.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> time when it was taboo for blacks and whites to join in a […]

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Appeared in ForeWord Magazine, May/June 2002. The sub-genre of baseball-related poetry is probably one of the most under-appreciated in the great tradition of poetry and literature. “No matter how good a baseball poem is,” the editors write in the introduction, “some will always feel that baseball as subject matter relegates a poem to also-ran status.” […]

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<p>Appeared on Bookreporter.com in 2005</p> <p><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=476,height=695,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/faithful.jpg”><img title=”Faithful” height=”219″ alt=”Faithful” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/faithful.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> Michael Kun, co-author of <em>The Baseball Uncyclopedia</em>, made a particularly astute observation about the state of baseball literature over the last few years. Go into a bookstore, he writes, […]

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<p>Apperaed on BookReporter.com, Oct. 20, 2006<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/sibbbook_1.jpg”><img title=”Sibbbook_1″ height=”150″ alt=”Sibbbook_1″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/sibbbook_1.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a><em> </em></p> <p>&quot;Baseball books are divided into several subgenres: team histories, overall histories, biographies, statistical analyses, etc. Each year offers one from each group that stands apart from the rest. […]

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<p><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/rise.jpg”></a><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/rise_1.jpg”><img title=”Rise_1″ height=”175″ alt=”Rise_1″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/rise_1.jpg” width=”175″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a>Appeared on JanuaryMagazine.com in Nov. 2003</p> <p>&quot;When Leonard Koppett died earlier this year, he left a tremendous void in the world of sports journalism. </p> <p>&quot;Koppett, who was named […]

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Appeared on JanuaryMagazine.com, Summer 2005. “For the second consecutive year, Maple Ridge’s own Larry Walker helped his St. Louis Cardinals vie for the National League pennant. Although Walker is in the twilight of his career, his legacy as one of Canada’s favorite baseball sons, having spent his salad days with the now-defunct Montreal Expos….” Read […]

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Originally appeared in Elysian Fields Quarterly, 2003. “One of the reasons baseball fans remain so steadfast in their devotion to the game is a sense of tradition. During interminable rain delays and constant pitching changes, broadcasters often wax nostalgic about constancy: for over a hundred years there have been nine men on the field, bases […]

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As former professional athletes move deeper and deeper into senior citizen status, it becomes increasingly interesting, akin to listening to our grandparents discuss what life was like “in the day.” Baseball has always “enjoyed” a reputation that is almost a necessity, given its relatively slow pace. There is plenty of time to think, to talk. […]

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While Barry Bonds and his home-run hitting brethren have followed the “better living through science” route to fame, Babe Ruth did things the old-fashioned way: booze, babes and BAM! It seems every time a contemporary baseballist threatens to bypass Ruth’s 714 home runs, someone comes out with a new book in an attempt to a) […]

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<p><span face=”Verdana”><em><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/shadows.jpg”><img title=”Shadows” height=”150″ alt=”Shadows” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/shadows.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal</em>, </span><span face=”Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif”>by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams</span></p> <p><span face=”Verdana”>&quot;Shortly after Jose Canseco’s tell-all Juiced came out in 2005, with allegations […]

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<p>Spring 2006 Roundup Review on Bookreproter.com, including:<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=336,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/believe.jpg”><img title=”Believe” height=”223″ alt=”Believe” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/believe.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> </p> <ul><li><em>The Baseball Uncyclopedia</em> </li> <li><em>The Mind of Bill James: How a Complete Outsider Changed Baseball</em> </li> <li><em>Call the Yankees My Daddy: Reflections on Baseball, Race, and Family</em> […]

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<p>Since Michael Lewis’s <em>Moneyball</em> — the behind-the-scenes story of how general <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=458,height=700,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/11590329.jpg”><img title=”11590329″ height=”152″ alt=”11590329″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/11590329.jpg” width=”100″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px” /></a> manager Billy Beane assembled the Oakland Athletics — hit the bookstores in 2003, several authors have attempted to copy the behind-the-scenes formula.</p> <p><a […]

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<p></p> <p>Appeared in ForeWord Magazine, July/August 2001</p> <p><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=150,height=223,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/65607638.jpg”><img title=”65607638″ height=”148″ alt=”65607638″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/65607638.jpg” width=”100″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px” /></a> &quot;In his preface to <em>Baseball and the American Dream: Race, Class, Gender and the National Pastime</em>, editor Robert Elias notes that baseball ‘offers a common denominator that […]

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<p>Appeared in <em>ForeWord Magazine</em>, May/June 2004<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=321,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/baseballforever.jpg”><img title=”Baseballforever” height=”155″ alt=”Baseballforever” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/baseballforever.jpg” width=”100″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a></p> <p>&quot;Ralph Kiner was smart enough to realize early on that a career in sports is short and uncertain. Nevertheless, he happily contradicts that notion as he reminisces in this […]

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<p>Brief reviews from Bookreporter.com including:</p> <ul><li><em>Praying for Gil Hodges</em>, by Thomas Oliphant </li> <li><em>Brooklyn Remembered</em>, by Maury Allen </li> <li><em>You Never Forget Your First</em> </li> <li><em>Last Time Out</em></li></ul> <p><a href=”http://www.bookreporter.com/features/051021-baseball.asp”>Read the whole review from Bookreporter.com</a>.</p>

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<p>Appeared in <em>ForeWord Magazine, </em>May/June 2006<a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=150,height=225,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/buryingtheblacksoxbookcover.jpg”><img title=”Buryingtheblacksoxbookcover” height=”150″ alt=”Buryingtheblacksoxbookcover” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/buryingtheblacksoxbookcover.jpg” width=”100″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=240,height=240,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/burying.jpg”></a></p> <p>“The scandal … was not ‘eight men out’ for throwing the series,” writes the author in his new take on the most […]

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Appeared in ForeWord Magazine, May/June 2004 “One of the charming qualities about baseball is that a fan from a hundred years ago would easily recognize the modern game. Little has changed: there are still four bases, nine innings, and three strikes, you’re out. “Ed Delehanty is also recognizable — a stereotypical player who could have […]

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