If it pleases the court…

2010 title

Here’s a review of the Hammurabi The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by the legal writing team of Turbow and Duca, as handed down by Personal Injury Oakland.

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Now hear this (but not from the Bookshelf)

2011 title

Apologies for being a bit tardy in putting up the latest podcasts. I recently switched to a knew computer and my audio technology is a bit different and I have to find a couple of work-arounds. I hope to have that rectified soon. In the meantime, here‘s a Doug Glanville, author of The Game from Where […]

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Bits and Pieces

2010 title

Trying to play catch-up once again: Reviews of Michael Shapiro‘s Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself and Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards, by Josh Wilker, can be found on Meals from the Marketplace. Upshots: Bottom of the Ninth — “he […]

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This week (Sept. 27) in Sports Illustrated

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

The cover of this week’s issue, which features Minnesota Twins’ power-hitter Jim Thome, struck me as eerily reminiscent of a long-ago photo: Well, maybe not so much, but pretty close. Anyway, Thome gets the main feature, written by Joe Posnanski. JoPos also writes about Derek Jeter’s upcoming free agency, but surprisingly, there’s no mention of […]

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Because you could put this on your bookshelf…if your name was Steinbrenner

"Oddballs"

They probably have humongous bookshelves in their palatial estates. Wouldn’t you know, the Steinbrenners can never do anything simple. The latest deal: is the monument honoring the late King George too big? Many fans have a problem with tributes to players like Mantle and DiMaggio This big while the new one saluting GS monument is […]

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A few final (?) words about Ball Four

Baseball program

The recent program at the Burbank Library seems to have sparked national attention to Bouton’s classic. Here are a few more items for your consideration: Our friend, Tom Hoffarth penned this nice wrap-up of the event. “It’s not a stretch to think today of Bouton as a J.D. Sallinger of sports literature,” he writes. “In […]

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Gone with the Mets

"Oddballs"

Well, the Mets were official eliminated from the pennant race (in April) last night. So what’s the connection with one of the classic film gems of all time? Jock Whitney played a major role in bringing GWTW to the screen. According to IMDB.com, Whitney was the major investor in Selznick International Inc., putting up $870,000 […]

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Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

Because I can...

Can you figure out the connection between Gone with the Wind and the New York Mets? Answer tomorrow (or when I get around to it).

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But the body isn’t even cold yet

2011 title

The “body” in this case being the 2010 season. Nevertheless, The Hardball Times is already letting us know their 2011 annual is in preparation. Among the items for discussion: Ben Jedlovec of Baseball Info Solutions and the folks at Sportvision are both going to talk about their latest data collection efforts. Ben will discuss the […]

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What’s your Hang Up, man?

Podcast

Hang Up and Listen, Slate’s sports podcast, with Josh Levin, Stefan Fatsis, and Mike Pesca, has had two excellent programs lately with lots of baseball relevence. The first — “The Can-Miss Prospect Edition,” aired Aug. 30 and considered Stephen Strasburg’s elbow injury and Albert Pujols’ and Tony La Russa’s appearance at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” […]

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Seems you’re fed up with Manny being Manny

2010 title

Try as I might, I was unable to find a home from Becoming Manny. So after three attempts, I’ve decided to donate it to my local library and move on. The September FF book will be Chicago Cubs Cookbook: All-Star Recipes from Your Favorite Players, published by Triumph Books. Created as a fund-raising device for […]

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Let Jeter get away with something, and before you know it…

"Oddballs"

Now that Derek Jeter’s behavior has been the subject of several ethical ramblings — including Bruce Weber, author of As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires — the gloves are off (and the caps are on). Without their beloved captain and role model towing the line, the rules of propriety […]

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Celebrating Ball Four

Author appearance

From Terry Cannon, executive director of the Baseball Reliquary, which hosted the Sept. 18 event honoring the 40thn anniversary of the literary classic: Yesterday’s “Ball Four Turns Forty” program…was a marvelous and magical day.  An SRO crowd (approximately 175 attendees) witnessed two wonderful panel discussions and the world premiere screening of “The Seattle Pilots: Short […]

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Bits and pieces

2009 title

Spurred on by the hubbub around the 40th anniversary of Ball Four, Delia Cabe, who hosts the Creative Type blog at Boston.com, had this piece about the best baseball books, not just from her POV, but from those of local celebrities and others. And as the Baseball Reliquary program heralding that anniversary beckons, look for […]

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TWIBB: Sept. 17, 2010

2009 title

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Noon on Friday, Sept. 27. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Ball Four, by Jim Bouton 2 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime by Jason Turbow and Michael […]

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Ball Four Turns Forty: Program schedule

Baseball program

Herewith the final schedule for BALL FOUR TURNS FORTY, presented by The Baseball Reliquary at the Burbank Central Library, on Saturday, Sept. 18. If you go, tell Jim that I said “Hey.” 11:00 am — 12:30 pm Introduction by Terry Cannon and Jon Leonoudakis Opening remarks by Jim Bouton Panel discussion with Q&A on Ball […]

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Because sometimes you need more than just the game on the field

2010 title

Some new programs are coming to a television near you. Ken Burns tacks The Tenth Inning onto his wonderful Baseball miniseries, which originally aired in 1995. The two-part, four-hour epilogue airs on PBS Sept. 28-29 at 8 p.m. EST, but as they say, check your local listings. You’ll probably have to adjust the volume on […]

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Birthday greetings

Birthday greetings

Cover via Amazon A duo of dates. Hall of Famer Robin Yount is 55. Robin Yount: The Legend Lives on All-Star and Cy Young winner Orel Hershier turns 52. Out of the Blue: Orel Hershiser Between the Lines: Nine Things Baseball Taught Me About Life Orel Hershiser: Up Close and Personal Bonus nickname of the […]

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This week (Sept. 20) inSports Illustrated

Hall of Fame

Of course, football dominates this week, so the lone baseball item in Sports Illustrated is The Amazing Race, by L. Jon Wertheim: “How Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, a grudge-holding manager, a clumsy bribe, shoddy record-keeping and a very cool car made the batting title chase a national obsession 100 years ago.”

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Happy birthday, Gaylord Perry

Autobiography/memoirs

The author of Me & The Spitter The Candid Confessions of Baseball’s Greatest Spitball Artist (or How I Got Away With It) (with Bob Sudyk), turns 72 today. I was at the Hall of Fame once, attending the annual Cooperstown Symposium (which I highly recommend) and word came down that Perry was in the building. […]

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