* What am I bid?

collectibles

Auctionscc.com has several baseball publications up for sale (as well as other sports-related merchandise) at what appear to be reasonable prices.

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* Review: As They See 'Em

2009 title

BleedCubbieBlue,  a — what else — Cubs blog, posted this review of Bruce Weber’s book. Upshot: “Bruce Weber, you wrote one heckuva book.”

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Hello world!

Uncategorized

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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* Frick Award nominees finalized

Annoucements

From the National Baseball Hall of Fame: 2010 Ford C. Frick Award Ballot Finalized Winner to be Announced Feb. 1 Ten of baseball’s most beloved and honored broadcasters were named today as the finalists for the 2010 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame […]

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* Review: The Gashouse Gang

2008 title

How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series – and America’s Heart, by John Heidenry. An odd inclusion (posted Jan. 2) for something so august as The Huffington Post (does this mean there’s hope for my work appearing there?), especially since the book came […]

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* TWIBB — January 1, 2010

2009 title

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com on Friday, January 1. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Title Rank General The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story […]

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* Now hear this: Marty Appel

2009 title

Marty Appel, former director of public relations for the New York Yankees during the tumultuous 1970s, has, to my mind, one of the dream jobs. These days he runs his own PR company and has his finger in many pies. As an author, his recent biography, Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, […]

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* Reviews: Baseball America presents the best baseball books of the year

2009 title

Semi-shameless self promotion: this assessment was written by James Bailey and yours truly. Titles include: Heart of the Game: Life, Death and Mercy in Minor League America As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend Catcher: How the Man behind the Plate […]

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* Review: The Hardball Times Annual 2010

2010 title

From the Mets-centric blog, Amazin’ Avenue. The writer includes some in-depth analyses of a few specific essays. Upshot: If you have a little bit of Festivus cash lying around and aren’t quite sure what to spend it on, there are far worse investments than The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010. I guarantee if you sit […]

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* Happy birthday, Sandy Koufax

Biography

The poster-boy for Jewish sports of the boomer generation turns — wait for it — 74 today! Hard to believe he’s been away from the game for more than 40 years, but his legacy goes on. Even today, parents invoke the Hall of Fame pitcher: “If Sandy Koufax could miss the World Series for Yom […]

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* The things we keep: The Official Israel Baseball League Yearbook

"Oddballs"

Marty Appel was kind enough to send me a copy of the Official 2007 Yearbook of the Israel Baseball League. Appel, who used to handle PR for the Yankees back in the 1970s, has his finger in just about every Jewish/sports pie, including the IBL, the Jewish Major Leaguer Card set, and the Maccabi Haifa […]

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* RK Review: The Spy in a Catcher's Mask

Fiction

by Kurt Willinger  (Sabre Press, 1995) Moe Berg is certainly one of the most interesting characters to ever done baseball flannels. A mediocre player — an apocryphal story quotes Casey Stengel saying “He can speak seven languages but can’t hit in any of them — Berg played for five teams over 15 seasons. Had he […]

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* TWIBB — December 26

2009 title

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com on Saturday, December 26. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci 2 Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress 3 Baseball Prospectus 2010 4 The Bill James Handbook 2010 […]

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* Review: The Universal Baseball Association

Classic title

Baseball GB (“British perspectives on baseball”) published this review of the classic by Robert Coover. Upshot: If you love baseball and novels, a baseball novel should be the perfect way to combine the two passions; however, there’s always a fear with any sport-based work of fiction that the qualities that make up a great read […]

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* Now hear this: Fritz Peterson

2009 title

Like an old stand up comedian, former Yankees pitcher Fritz Peterson will tell you it’s good to be here..It’s good to be anywhere. Peterson, who might be as famous for the fact that he and Yankee teammate Mike Kekich swapped families (yes, families. Houses and pets, too) as much as his skill on the hill, […]

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* Bits and pieces

Asian baseball

Sorry, almost done with this catching up business, so bear with me. For those of you who haven’t seen it, here’s my take on the November session of Yankees Fantasy Camp in the Dec, 17 issue of the New Jersey Jewish News. In addition, My teammate Ira Jaskoll wrote this piece for the Jewish Magazine […]

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* Sports books mad libs

"Oddballs"

The current issue of ESPN the Magazine includes a cute feature titled “Over the Top,” by Amanda Angel. The Greatest Story Ever Told is about Jesus himself, but these days you’d half-expect to find that title on a bookseller’s spoets shelves. A quick glance at the genre  shows many true, real and seemingly impossible epic […]

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* Bits and pieces

Artist profile

Mike Silva of NY Baseball Digest recently posted this 2007 audio interview he did with former major leaguer Terry Leach. Leach, a side-arming reliever who pitched for several teams, including the Mets, wrote about his experiences in Things Happen for a Reason: The True Story of an Itinerant Life in Baseball. Long-time baseball analyst Peter Gammons, […]

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* Lest we forget: Lester Rodney

Biography

One more legend I missed an opportunity to interview. Rodney, who died at the age of 98, was the sports editor of the communist newspaper, The Daily Worker. He was also a champion in the battle to have Major League Baseball admit African Americans to its ranks. So in a sense, he was probably doubly […]

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* Now hear this: Lee Lowenfish

Audio

Baseballisms.com, which is quickly becoming a favorite site, published this audio interview with Lowenfish, author Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman. Other authors appeared on Baseballisms include Tim Wiles, Judith Testa, Peter Golenbock, Jerry Poling, Jane Heller, Sue Macy, Tim Shea, and others. Another site that features frequent author interviews, albeit not audio, is the online […]

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