* You can look it up

2009 title

As Casey Stengel used to say. The Seattle Times posted this review of Paul Dickson’s latest edition, by syndicated Washington Post columnist David R. Broder, no less.

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* May 12. Mark your calendars.

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

That’s the date the Selena Roberts book on Alex Rodriguez is due out. Judging by the AP item, it’s like a run-down play: …Roberts’ unauthorized A-Rod was originally planned for May, then was moved up to mid-April after Roberts, a Sports Illustrated reporter, broke the news that the Yankees slugger had tested positive for steroids […]

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* Baseball no field of dreams for female athletes

2009 title

When it comes to the national pastime, female athletes find many doors closed despite laws designed to afford them equal opportunities. Marilyn Cohen chronicles these issues in her new book, No Girls in the Clubhouse: The Exclusion of Women from Baseball (McFarland). Although girls and women have played the game since the mid-19th century, their […]

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* CSM displays fiscal responsibility

Classic title

Here’s one way to do it: Reprint something from your archives and call it a “classic.” That’s what the Christian Science Monitor does with this 1985 review of The Complete Armchair Book of Baseball.

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* Roundup review: Boston Globe

2009 title

The Globe featured several titles in this roundup, including Bruce Weber’s As They See ‘Em, Charles Fountain’s Under the March Sky, and Peter Morris’ Catcher: How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero, as well as a few Sox-centric books.

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* Author profile: Michael D'Antonio

2009 title

The Los Angeles Daily New‘s Tom Hoffarth did this profile of Michael D’Antonio, author of Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O’Malley, Baseball’s Most Controversial Owner and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and New York, in which he claims the team’s move to the West Coast it wasn’t all about the money. Key line: The […]

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* Review: Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic

2009 title

Maybe one of these days, when I run out of good baseball books to read, I’ll return to Alysaa Milano’s treatise. I wanted to be very careful and not judge too harshly. If her celebrity status can bring a few new fans to the game, maybe it’s worth it. But no. There are so many […]

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* Review: Yogi Berra, Eternal Yankee

2009 title

The San Francisco Chronicle (are they still around? It’s hard to keep track.) published this review of the new Barra Berra book. Upshot: I was struck reading Allen Barra’s altogether sturdy and well-written biography at just how unusual a figure Yogi truly is. Barra (no relation, he thinks), an amiable, guys-talking-at-the-water-cooler type sportswriter best known […]

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* Roundup review: Globe and Mail

Older title

The Toronto paper published this piece on its website, which mentions The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (albeit it, not the current edition) and Philip Lowry’s Green Cathedrals.

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* Author profile: Peter Handrinos

2009 title

The Stanford (CT) Advocate posted this feature on native son Handrinos, author of The Truth About Ruth and More…Behind Yankees Myths, Legends, and More (Triumph). Handrinos is the author of the 2006  book, The Best New York Sports Arguments. “No player or topic is safe as Handrinos looks to give fans the most complete history […]

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* Round-up reviews: SFGate

2009 title

In addition to Opening Day, this is the time of year when the media jumps on the baseball book review bandwagon. Here’s a batch of the best, according to SFGate.com, including: As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires, by Bruce Weber (Simon and Schuster; 341 pages; $26) Under the March […]

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* Enter pressbox, fingers crossed

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

I hope this article from The Wall Street Journal isn’t too prophetic as it warns of newspapers’ shrinking presence in the press box. A few years back, I worked as a part-time reporter for STATS at Mets and Yankees home games. It was a kick, having my own seat in the box, chatting with “real” […]

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* The joy of sections

Classic title

One of the major complaints from fans and (especially) non-fans is that the games take too long. Don’t look at it as a lot of down time; instead perceive it as a chance to catch up on your reading. That’s why I love compilations such as those published by The Washington Post‘s Thomas Boswell and […]

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* Author update: Jeff Pearlman

Author Profile / interview

One source expected, the other more unusual. Pearlman, author of the scathing new Clemens biography, The Rocket Who Fell to Earth, was a guest on WBUR’s Only a Game this weekend. Just as players, I wonder if authors get tired of answering the same questions as they make the rounds. All part of doing business, […]

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* Baseball Preview Review: Sporting News

Magazines

The March 30 issue is, IMHO, the best of the regular baseball publications when it comes to their 2009 preview issue. Perhaps it’s catering to readers’ short attention spans, but the items are short with lots of photos to break up the page, making it kind of hard to separate into meaningful components. That doesn’t […]

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* Baseball Preview Review: The New York Times

Newspapers

The best of the New York papers, it goes well beyond the predictions for the Mets and Yankees. Veteran columnist George Vecsey compares special features at Citi Field to the Polo Grounds. The main items consist of a profile of Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay with smaller items on Bobby Cox, who’s now in his […]

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* Bits and pieces

2009 title

The back page of The New York Times Book Review features a full page advertisement from Bauman Rare Books. I usually don’t pay attention because as much as I lvoe ’em, they’re out of my league, to borrow from a famous title. But a photo of Joe DiMaggio caught my eye and sure enough there […]

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* Baseball Preview Review: Missing in action

Commentary by Ron Kaplan

Given the current economy — which has hit the newspaper industry particularly hard — it’s not surprising that many publications are foregoing the extras, like any kind of extra info — let alone a separate supplement — on the new baseball season outside their jurisdiction. For example, the Newark Star-Ledger has only a couple of […]

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* Baseball Preview Review: New York Post

Newspapers

Although I cant stand this tabloid, I have to give credit where it’s due. Nice job on the preview. Not only is there a supplemental glossy magazine about the new ballparks (which “flips” so you have two covers), but the “Here comes opening day” preview is quite nice as well. The Post picks the Mets […]

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* Dear NY Daily News,…

Newspapers

Please accept my apology. You did include a supplement about City Field, in today’s issue . (You might have given a person a clue, though: “Next week: Citi Field.”) It’s not on the website (yet?), as is the Yankees new home. Petty much follows the same content as last week’s item, but nice to have. […]

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