* Reports from SABR Nation

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

The Pastime.net reports the daily happenings at the 38th SABR convention, now wrapping up in Cleveland.

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* Review: Strike Four: Adventures in European Baseball

2008 title

“And now for something completely different….” From the Baseball in Great Britain blog.

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* Author profile: Fay Vincent

2008 title

Author of We Would Have Played for Nothing from the Springfield, MA Republican. Upshot: Vincent is a nice guy.

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* Author profile: Steve Garvey

2008 title

Author of My Bat Boy Days, from Tampa Bay Online. Upshot: “It’s an idyllic little baseball book, 149 pages of pure Eisenhower- Kennedy era nostalgia.”

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* Review: Two from Texas

2008 title

From a broader review of Texas-pertinent books from the Abilene Reporter News: Baseball history: Two historians at the University of Texas at Arlington, Donald G. Kyle and Robert B. Fairbanks, have edited a collection of six scholarly essays on Baseball in America & America in Baseball (Texas A&M University Press, $29.95 hardcover). The essays were […]

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* Review: We Are The Ship

2008 title

From the SF Chronicle‘s Web presence, SFGate.com. Metaphor alert: “Baseball is more than a game. It is a microcosm of America….”

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* Books, the gifts that keeps on giving

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

From an Associated Press Report in the June 27 NY Daily News: The graduating class of a suburban middle school got an unexpected surprise tucked inside their diplomas – signed baseball cards from Joba Chamberlain. The cards were a thank you from the Yankees pitcher for the charity work the eight graders at Pleasantville Middle […]

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* And how much did they pay you to do this, Roger?

Baseball Cards
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* Honoring Hank Greenberg

Annoucements

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is hosting a program this weekend to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Hank Greenberg‘s rookie season. Not his debut (which actually occurred with a single at bat in 1930), mind you, but close enough for jazz. For more information, visit the MLB.com story.

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* Old school vs. new

Commentary

Buzz Bissinger is no fan of blogs. So by extension, he might not have much empathy for will Leitch and Deadspin. Here’s a snippet of Bissinger vs. Leitch on an episode of Bob Costas’ HBO program: (The whole piece can be seen on the Deadspin site.) Surprisingly, Bissinger granted an interview with his adversary, as […]

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* Shocker of the day

Industry/Literary Analysis

From Editor and Publisher‘s Web site: “Study: Newspaper Sports Departments Mostly Male, White“ Newspaper sports departments remain nearly all white and male — and progress towards diversity is painfully slow, concludes a “report card” on sports staffing released Thursday at the annual meeting of Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE). I’ll post a link to the […]

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* Baseball's life lessons

Commentary

This interesting piece from InsideHighered.com on how Bull Durham serves as a metaphor for the academic world. My classes have come to a close for another year while professional baseball is finding its summer stride. I have come to see that my classes over the span of a semester are a lot like a baseball […]

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* Forthcoming book heralds College World Series experience

Annoucements

According to this article in the Omaha World-Herald, St. Martin’s Press will publish “a book about the annual festivities inside and outside of Rosenblatt Stadium,” home of the NCAA College World Series. At least it is until it hosts its last one in 2010. The book — entitled Omaha — will be written by Ryan […]

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* Announcement: TMOTTBG authors' appearance

Annoucements

Tim Wiles, Bob Thompson, and Andy Strasberg — the authors of Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” — will be the featured guests at a reading and booksigning at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble on Monday July 14, at 7:30pm (the day before the All-Star Game). The […]

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* Lest we forget: Roy Campanella

Autobiography/memoirs

The Dodger Hall of Famer died this date in 1993. His autobiography was also turned into a made-for TV movie, starring Paul Warfield as the catcher and Louis Gossett Jr. as his physical therapist. The Amazon Report on Roy Campanella: It’s Good to Be Alive

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* This week in Sports Illustrated (June 30)

Magazines

Last week the SI MLB player poll asked about the most overrated athlete. This week, it’s the most underrated. Rays’ DH Cliff Floyd opens up a bit about his new team. Michael Farber profiles Marlin’s slugger Dan Uggla. Whither C.C. Sabathia? Yankees or not Yankees? Maybe I’m getting old, but I remember when playing Milton […]

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* Bobble me? Bobble you!

Because I can...

One of the best commcercials of all time: Anyway, just a weird way of introducing this cute service from XM radio: Make yourself into a virtual bobblehead doll! Complete with music! Save it or e-mail it to your friends.

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* National Pastime Radio

2008 title

On the June 21 edition of Only a Game, Bill Littlefield offered this interview with John Feinstein, author of Living on the Black. (Sorry, but you have to listen to the preceding stories before you get to the Feinstein segment.) Read an excerpt from Living on the Black. The Leonard Lopate Show of June 24 […]

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* Must-have of the day: BaseballLibrary.com newsletter

Internet

Having received Mike Shropshire’s latest book about the abysmal early years of the Texas Rangers, I am reminded how I’ve always wondered how the print media covers teams that don’t play in the drama capitals of New York, Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles. What can you say about the Royals or the Pirates or Orioles […]

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* Review: We are the Ship and Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

Reviews from other sources

Kevin Baker, author of Sometimes You See it Coming, did this review of two books about the Negro Leagues targeted for younger readers in the June 15 issue of the NY Times‘ Sunday book section. I never realized this was the same Baker that wrote the very entertaining historical fiction Paradise Alley, about the violent […]

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