Calling all Capras

Annoucements

Frank, not Buzz. Entries are invited for the 2012 Baseball Film Festival at the Hall of Fame. From the press release: Baseball and the movies grew up together in America, becoming a part of the fabric of the nation that made both famous. Their shared history is on display every day at the National Baseball […]

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If the Yankees are such a class organization, why do they cheat? A Bookshelf commentary

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Two years ago it was Derek Jeter, who won an Academy Award for best fake hit by pitch. Now it’s Dewayne Wise, who got way too much benefit of the doubt when the umpire credited him with catching a ball in foul territory that the Yankees outfielder did not catch. Pardon the Interruption featured the […]

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All together now: Flash review — Extra Innings

2012 title

Borrowing a bit from the flash mob phenomenon, here is a collection pf review on Bruce Spitzer’s historical fiction about a “reanimated” Ted Williams. The books were offered gratis in exchange for the readers’ comments. The views expressed here are solely theirs; I have not edited any of the contributions, save for the Bookshelf style. […]

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Lest we forget: Richard Adler

Baseball art

Speaking of Damn Yankees… The composer/lyricist responsible for such memorable songs as and “Heart” and “Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)” from Damn Yankees died June 21 at the age of 90. Damn Yankees was based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, by Douglass Wallop. Adler also worked on words and music […]

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New Yorker, New Yorker

Magazines

It’s a wonderful magazine, especially when it comes to its baseball writing. And now that they’ve added “The Sporting Scene,” a blog component, fans don’t have to wait as long for pieces by Roger Angel, who published this piece about R.A. Dickey. Granted, it’s not as in-depth as his usual semi-annual essays, but half an […]

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My “day in the bleachers”

2012 title

Actually, it should be “My night in the Excelsior section.” As per a previous entry, I experienced the Friday Mets-Yankees game at CitiField in a different way, trying to take it in fresh from reading Arnold Hano’s classic title. In the margins of my Mets program (still a bargain at $5, by the way), I […]

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Who’s getting the money here?

"Oddballs"

I was doing one of my regular searches to see what’s coming down the pike vis-a-vis baseball titles. One thing that stood out because the covers were very similar was a number of books that look like this. — The artwork looks like it comes right out of a generic stock photo site. The publishers […]

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Bookshelf review: A Day in the Bleachers

Classic title

by Arnold Hano. Da Capo Press, 2004. This is one of those things you always figure you’ll get to, like a New Yorker visiting the Empire State Building or The Statue of Liberty. It will always be there, so you figure you have time. Well, Hano will be receiving the the Hilda Chester Award, which […]

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Bookshelf review: A Unique Look at Big League Baseball

2011 title

Unique History, Photos & Statistics through 2010 for ALL Baseball Fans. Written and compiled by Joe Taxiera, 2011. 374 pages. Taxiera has certainly done yeoman’s work in assembling all of this minutiae/trivia from more than 1,000 websites and books and putting it into a comprehensive format. A dozen chapters offer all manner of information, beginning […]

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Review roundup, June 21

2012 title

♦ James Bailey posted this review of Baseball Prospectus’ Extra Innings: More Baseball Between the Numbers from the Team at Baseball Prospectus. Upshot: “Overall, this is a satisfying and thought-stoking release, with much of it coming from a different angle than you might be accustomed to given the heavy dependence in most sabermetric resources on […]

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Lest we forget: LeRoy Neiman

Baseball art

The iconic artist passed away yesterday at the age of 91. I first “discovered” Neiman when I was pre-teen from This Great Game, a baseball coffee-table book which included several of his illustrations. He also did the artwork for a 2002 edition of Casey at The Bat. Neiman portrayed most of the star players over […]

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Hell hath no fury like a sportswriter scorned

Because I can...

Because you could put a copy of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on a bookshelf. Evan Longoria is rehabbing with the Durham Bulls who were playing locally recently. Seems Longoria, who is trying to come back from hamstring issues, wasn’t very accommodating to writer Jim Mendalero, who took him to task in this piece. Among […]

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National Pastime Radio: Bob Ojeda and Frank Deford

National Public Radio

Former ML pitcher Bobby Ojeda published this lengthy piece in the May 26 New York Times about the pain incurred by his chosen profession. Yesterday he discussed it on NPR’s Fresh Air. Kind of surprising, since he’s not plugging a book… Frank Deford does regular commentary pieces for the public radio network. His latest considers […]

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Review roundup, June 20

2012 title

♦ You Stink: Terrible Teams and Pathetic Players got a stinky review from the Asbury Park Press. After reading this one, I don’t think my reviews are that harsh. At least I’ve never used the word “puerile.” More info on the book. And its official blog. It’s kind of funny. There’s a page on the […]

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“So let’s lift a glass…”

Television

I was tooling around the Internet recently and came across an item about Joe Garagiola, the former catcher who enjoyed a second act as author of the well-received Baseball Is a Funny Game. (More recently, Garagiola wrote It’s Anybody’s Ballgame and, most recently, Just Play Ball. What I also learned was that Jolly Joe was […]

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The next best thing to Disney World: Judaism and Baseball retreat

Annoucements

Surely you remember these. But for me, going to “Judaism and Baseball” at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT, next weekend will be even more fun. The program, which runs from Friday, June 29, to Sunday, July 1, features a number of speakers with whom I have become well familiar since […]

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Hall of Fame announces 2012 Authors Series program

2012 title

The story of baseball is told every day at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. But this summer, some of the latest unique and inspirational stories of the National Pastime will be celebrated through the Museum’s Authors Series program. The Hall of Fame will host seven Authors Series events throughout the summer, bringing […]

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Perfect-Shmerfect

Magazines

Last week, Matt Cain tossed the Giants’ first perfect game in franchise history. This was immediately compared with the one by the White Sox’s Philip Humber’s against the Oakland As in April, which may have gotten assistance from the home plate umpire on a swinging/held up third strike to end the game. The New Yorker […]

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Nuts for Nats

Magazines

With the Washington Nationals doing so well, it’s not surprising that some media outlets are jumping on this unlikely bandwagon. The Atlantic posted this article about the local fans behavior, unaccustomed as they are to being in a position where they can lord it over lesser ball clubs (like the Mets). The Washington Post, on […]

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Murray Chass is shocked, SHOCKED at Piazza’s publishing news

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

They’ve been talking about a Mike Piazza memoir for a few years now. Looks like the time is almost at hand for its release by Simon & Schuster. But exactly when is still up in the air. Pizza promised a “tell-all,” but would that include material about suspected performance enhancing drug usage? According to Chass’ […]

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