* Amazon's top baseball titles, week ending 8/15

Lists

General: Watching Baseball Smarter, by Zack Hample. Moneyball, by Michael Lewis Yankee for Life: My 40-year Journey in Pinstripes, by Bobby Murcer. Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective, by Santasiere and Vancil. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud. Essays and Writings: Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton. The New Bill James Baseball Abstract. […]

Read the full article →

* RK Review:Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes

2008 title

by Fred Glueckstein (iUniverse) This slim volume focusing primarily on Mantle’s first year with the NY Yankees is basic enough. Glueckstein has obviously done his research quite well. Too well, it might appear, as he relishes in relaying the most minute details, such as the full name and birth dates and places of most of […]

Read the full article →

* Nickname of the day: Baby Doll Jacobson

Bits and Pieces

William Chester Jacobson had an 11-year career (1915-27), mostly with the St. Louis Browns, and compiled a .311 batting average.

Read the full article →

* Lest we forget: Johnny Roseboro

Older title

Roseboro, a catcher primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 1960s, died this date in 2002. He published an autobiography, Glory Days with the Dodgers, and Other Days with Others, in 1978. Unfrtunately, the signature moment in Roseboro’s career might have come when pitcher Juan Marichal took a bat to his head during one […]

Read the full article →

* Minor league baseball, Major League yuks

Bits and Pieces

Came across this piece about a comic give-away courtesy the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on the Againwiththecomics blog.

Read the full article →

* Nickname of the day: Boardwalk Brown

Bits and Pieces

Made his debut this day in 1912. From BaseballLibrary.com: Brown got his nickname because he was discovered playing on the sandlots of Atlantic City by a scout for Connie Mack. He was 13-11 for the A’s in 1912 and followed with 17-11 for the pennant winners of 1913, but was not used in the A’s […]

Read the full article →

* Saying goodbye to Jules Tygiel

Annoucements

Friends of the late Jules Tygiel will pay tribute to him at a memorial service on Saturday, Sept. 6. Details follow, as per an e-mail to the SABR list-serve group from Dick Crapeau: I know that there are a number of people on this list who knew Jules and/or his work. I pass these messages […]

Read the full article →

* The next Red Smith?

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Ya gotta start ’em young. The youth of America, as Casey Stengel would say.

Read the full article →

* Nickname of the day: Phenomenal Smith

Because I can...

No “truth in advertising” here. John Francis Smith was a pitcher in the late 19th century. Over an eight year career, he compiled a record of 54-74, winning more than 20 games just once. What was phenomenal was that he completed 123 out 129 games started.

Read the full article →

* This week (Aug. 18) in Sports Illustrated

Magazines

Needless to say, the emphasis is on the Olympics and Michael Phelps, but there are still a few baseball items worth noting: MLB poll: Who’s the best catcher in the Majors? A Dan Patrick interview with Nolan Ryan Wait ’til next year: a piece on the top prospects for 2009 Sorry, that’s pretty much it. […]

Read the full article →

* Lest we forget: Mickey Mantle

Commentary by Ron Kaplan

“The Mick” died on Aug. 13, 1995. I happened to be home sick that day, and remember the State-like funeral. Thousands of words have been written on how he came to realize the impact he had on America, how he felt he failed to live up to expectations — both his own and those of […]

Read the full article →

* Review: Book Review: Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty & The Say Hey Kid: The Year That Changed Baseball Forever

2008 title

Ugh. That “forever” word. Anyway, this review comes courtesy The Joy of Sox blog.

Read the full article →

* RK author profile: Kevin Baker

Author profile/interview by Ron Kaplan

It’s been a long time between baseball themes, but Kevin Baker, author of the 1993 novel Sometimes You See It Coming, is back on track with a non-fiction volume about the national pastime in the Empire State. With the working title of The New York Game, Baker’s project is tentatively scheduled for a 2010 release […]

Read the full article →

* Source: ReviewScout.com

Bits and Pieces

This site offers dozens of reviews of baseball titles written by readers like ourselves (Scroll down to “sports”; there’s a link specifically for baseball titles). Typically, the publisher’s press release tops the individual page, followed by reader reviews and ratings. Think Amazon.com without all the ordering information and clutter. Like most criticism, the reviews can […]

Read the full article →

* Author interview: Don Rhodes

2008 title

From the Catoosa County News, this Q&A with the author of Ty Cobb: Safe at Home.

Read the full article →

* Announcement: Author's Day at the Hall of Fame

2008 title

Author’s Day to Feature Look at Baseball in the 1940s and 1950s (COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.) Four noted baseball authors will present works about baseball in the 1940s and 1950s starting at 1 p.m. Thursday, August 14, in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Bullpen Theater. The Author’s Day presentation on Baseball’s Golden Era features […]

Read the full article →

* Now hear this: Living on the Black

2008 title

Mel Foster narrates this unabridged version of Feinstein’s latest baseball title. That’s almost 19 hours of listening to what sounds very much like a computer-generated voice. Which is a shame, because the book — which considers the approach to the game by two veteran pitchers (Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina) — albeit long and with […]

Read the full article →

* Now hear this: I Never Had it Made

2008 title

Ossie Davis narrated Jackie Robinson’s autobiography, which was released as an audiobook earlier this year. Davis, who died in 2005, was born in 1917, two years before Robinson, so it seems quite appropriate that he would lend his “old man’s voice” to the project, making it seem like the great player himself was doing the […]

Read the full article →

* Amazon's top baseball titles, week ending 8/8

2008 title

General: Moneyball, by Michael Lewis Yankee for Life: My 40-year Journey in Pinstripes, by Bobby Murcer. Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective, by Santasiere and Vancil. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood. Essays and Writings: Ball Four, by Jim Bouton. Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book. The Mental […]

Read the full article →

* Review: Chief Bender's Burden

Biography

The Kansas City Star published this review of Tom Swift’s biography about the turn of the (20th) century Native American pitcher. The paper also applauds the long-time efforts of the publisher in the pursuite of excellence in the baseball genre: “An unsolicited editorial remark: This book is one of the latest baseball volumes to come […]

Read the full article →
script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-5496371-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();