Feat your eyes: Great Museums presents the Baseball Hall of Fame

Documentary

Came across this hour-long documentary about the Hall on GreatMuseuems.org. Warning: There are actually a few commercials sprinkled within the program.

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Unaffiliated baseball birthday

Because I can...

One of the minor characters in the Black Sox Scandal was a former ballplayer named Billy Graham, who had sought to disguise his identity by changing his name to Maharg. Brilliant disguise. So in that spirit, Happy Birthday to Loyd Christopher, a close proximity-reversal of the name Christopher Lloyd, who played Sleepy Bill Burns, Maharg’s […]

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TWIBB: Dec 31, 2010

2010 title

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 31,2010. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, by 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Baseball Prospectus 2011 4 Beyond […]

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The Year in Baseball Books

2010 title

(and other media, of course.) With the close of 2010, I thought I take a few moments to review the highlights of the past 12 months as pertains to our favorite topic. It’s been a banner year for baseball biographies. We’ve enjoyed munch-anticipated titles from major publishers on Hall of Famers such as Hank Aaron, […]

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You say you want a resolution…

"Oddballs"

(With apologies to the Beatles). We all know how we’d like others to change. SI‘s Cliff Corcoran has his lists as well. One for the American League teams, another for the National.

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This week (Dec. 27) in Sports Illustrated

2010 title

The year-end issue pays tribute to the sports figures who passed away in 2010. Baseball notables included Bob Feller, Ron Santo, Bobby Thomson, George Steinbrenner, Phil Cavarretta, Sparky Anderson, Robin Roberts, Gil McDougald, Willie Davis, Dorothy Kamenshek (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League), Bob Sheppard, Jose Lima, Jim Bibby, Ernie Harwell, Ralph Houk, and Mike Cuellar […]

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Deny, deny, deny

Uncategorized

I know you’ve got your own version of the truth; There’s only three things left now I can do: Deny, Deny, Deny From “Deny, Deny, Deny,” by Kix Brooks and Bob DiPiero Just for the heck of of it, I thought I’d say a couple of words in defense of Raphael Palmeiro, who’s on the […]

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Literary birthday greetings, Sandy Koufax

Autobiography/memoirs

Dandy Sandy turns 75 (!) today. Can it really be? I hope I look that good when I’m his age. Or ever. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to refer to previous links about the Dodger (and Jewish) legend from Kaplan’s Korner, my blog about Jews and sports. Because you can never get enough […]

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The phone book’s here! The phone book’s here!

2009 title

Actually it’s the Fall 2010 issue of SABR’s Baseball Research Journal, in which I have a review-essay on four Yankee titles including The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood; Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball: Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero; and The Yankee Years. It’s so new, it isn’t even up […]

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Lest we forget: Bud Greenspan

Documentary

The legendary documentarian died this weekend at the age of 84. I met Greenspan in 2007 at a program hosted by the Yogi Berra Museum for the premier of his last major project, Pride Against Prejudice: The Larry Doby Story. He was already in failing health but wanted to be on hand out of respect […]

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Literary birthday greetings: The Spaceman

Autobiography/memoirs

Bill Lee turns 64 today. The flaky, quirky, “spacey” lefty had an interesting 14-year major league career, to put it mildly, including being called on the carpet by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for admitting to sprinkling marijuana on his pancakes. Books by and about Lee include: Amazon.com Widgets Also marking a birthday today: “Sunday Teddy” Lyons, […]

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The unlikeliest of ballplayers

"Oddballs"

No literary birthdays today, but did you know that before he was a famous humanitarian Albert Schweitzer played for the St. Louis Browns? “Cheese,” as he was called by his friends, was born this date in 1882. I’ll go you one better: Many people complain that Gary Cooper was a lousy athlete and a poor […]

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This week (Dec. 20) in Sports Illustrated, plus ESPN, The Magazine‘s “Movie Spectacular”

"Oddballs"

Actually, with the way it works, the Dec. 20 issue was last week (Tim Linceum graces the Dec. 27 year-end issue)), but there’s a goodly amount of baseball items in “The Year in Sports Media” issue that I didn’t want it to go by unremarked upon. The robots are taking over! Steve Rushin writes about […]

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Literary birthday greetings: Garvey, Lefty, and the Tall Tactician

2007 title

The birthday boys include 10-time All-Star Steve Garvey, Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton, and long (long) time manager Connie Mack. Garvey has a number of books by and about him, including My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer (Scribner, 2008); Garvey (Crown, 1986); and The Secret Life of Cyndy […]

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Literary birthday greetings

2009 title

Trying to catch up here: December 20 noted the birthdates of Fred Merkle (1888), Gabby Hartnett (1900; Gabby Hartnett: The Life and Times of the Cubs’ Greatest Catcher) and David Wright (1982; Mets Pride: For the Love of Mookie, Mike, and David Wright). Andy Van Slyke turns the big 5-oh today. Odd that his name […]

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Literary birthday greetings: The Ferocious Gentleman

2007 title

Branch Rickey was born this Dec. 20, 1881. When asked why he fought to make Jackie Robinson accepted in the Major Leagues, Rickey often told the story of a black teammate from his college days who was shunned by opponents. There are numerous books about Rickey, but perhaps none more detailed and insightful than Lee […]

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See what happens when you clean up?

Lest We Forget

I was looking for a computer disc to my digital tape recorder this morning. I recently got a new computer and was unable to find the software that would allow me to put up the audio interviews and update the podcasts when I came across a review I did on Bob Feller: Ace of the […]

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Literary birthday greetings: The Georgia Peach

Biography

Ty Cobb was born this date in 1886. Among the scores of books written about this intense, bigoted ballplayer are: My Life in Baseball: The True Record Ty Cobb (Sport in American Life), by Charles Alexander Ty Cobb: Safe at Home, by Don Rhodes Ty and The Babe: Baseball’s Fiercest Rivals: A Surprising Friendship and […]

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TWIBB: Dec. 17, 2010

2009 title

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com, as of Friday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]

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Because one day you’ll be able to buy the DVD

2010 title

and put it on your bookshelf. Owen Wilson plays Matty, a pitcher on the Washington Nationals, and Reese Witherspoon a former Olympic softball player in How Do You Know?, which opens in theaters today. I have no intention of seeing this one, but the trailer does include a scene (about the 1:24 mark) with Wilson […]

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