* Author video interview: Jonah Keri

Author Profile / interview

The editor of Baseball Between the Numbers interviewed by Authors@Google last July. [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.527325&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

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* RK Review: Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends

2008 title

The Truth, The Lies, and Everything Else, Fireside, 2008. [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.527231&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] from youtube.com I have been meaning to review this one for awhile but a comment submitted by a Bookshelf reader about Fay Vincent’s We Would Have Played for Nothing prodded me to get the lead out. “BaseballinDC” wrote: Re the Vincent book. These are […]

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* Lest we forget: Buzzie Bavasi

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

The former general manager for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers passed away May 1 at the age of 93. According to Richard Goldstein’s obituary in The New York Times: In his 18 years with the Dodgers, from 1951 to 1968, Bavasi’s clubs won eight National League pennants and four World Series championships, including the […]

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* Nailing it

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Awhile back it was announced that Lenny Dylstra was working on a lifestyle magazine aimed at former professional athletes which would also purportedly help them manage their finances. Not so fast. According to this piece in the New York Post, there’s trouble a-brewing’.

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* Now we're talkin'

Classic title

I came across these posts from The Bronx Banter portion of The Baseball Toaster and The Hardball Times that cut to the chase of what The Bookshelf is all about. Alex Belth, who writes Bronx Banter, got the ball rolling, in response to a query he received from Phillyburbs.com regarding his suggestions for “ten essential […]

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* NPR Update: Gary Carter on The Leonard Lopate Show

2008 title

Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter on making the talk-show circuit, chatting up his new book, Still a Kid at Heart: My Life in Baseball and Beyond (Triumph). Yesterday, it was WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show. A few observations: Not to be cynical or curmudgeonly — Carter strikes me as genuinely nice — but listen to […]

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* Happy anniversary, Chuck Connors

Television

Television’s Lucas McCain in The Rifleman made his major league debut on this date in 1949. Kevin Costner has appeared as a ballplayer in three motion pictures, but I don’t recall if Connors ever did. I guess in those days no one would believe a 6’7″ guy could make for a convincing athlete.

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* Announcement: New Strawberry book on tap?

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Yes, according to this bitty item in The New York Times: STRAWBERRY TO WRITE A BOOK Darryl Strawberry is writing a memoir, “Straw,” that will come out in 2009, according to the publisher Ecco. Ecco is a Harper Collins imprint. Strawberry collaborated on his story once before, with Art Rust, Jr. in Darryl, published by […]

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* Announcement: Educational resources from Library of Congress

Annoucements

The School Library Journal Web site reports: Just in time for baseball season, the Library of Congress (LOC) has assembled a Web clearinghouse devoted to America’s pastime. The simply named “Historic Baseball Resources” features multimedia offerings from the library’s vast trove, including rare images of early games and the original sheet music to “Take Me […]

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* In a display of shameless self-promotion…

2008 title

I have given major props to the L.A. Daily News‘ Tom Hoffarth for his thoughtful month-long series of baseball book reviews. Today’s the last day, so here’s his “whole freakin’ list” which lists and links all 30 titles. He was also gracious enough — self-promotion alert — to mention The Bookshelf in his wrap-up. Thanks […]

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* I promised myself I wouldn't cry

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Few things get me misty eyed, but I couldn’t even get through the opening paragraphs of George Vecsey’s column today, about the compassion of opponents at a women’s college softball game. As you will read, Sara Tucholsky, a Western Oregon senior with a four-year batting average way south of .200 had a dream come true […]

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* Review: Snake Jazz, by Dave Baldwin

New title

from the Web presence of the Arizona Daily Star

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* Announcement: Brooklyn Dodgers: The Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957

2008 title

Oh “great”; here we go again. Although the author doesn’t employ “greatest” or “best” in his title, The Last Great Pennant Race does have connotations that there haven’t been any since. I’m guessing thousands, if not millions, of fans would beg to differ.

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* Author interview: Cait Murphy, Crazy '08

Author Profile / interview

As appears on the Cardboard Gods column of The Baseball Toaster.

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* Anouncement: "Art of Baseball" opens at the George Krevsky Gallery

Annoucements

From a GKG press release: It wouldn’t be spring without baseball. Nor would it be spring without the annual “Art of Baseball” exhibition at the George Krevsky Gallery. Now in its 11th year, the exhibit opens with a reception on Thursday, May 1st, and will be on view through Saturday, June 7th. This year’s theme […]

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* Review: Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original

2008 title

The Wall Street Journal also ran this review by Pete Hausler of the new bio on the Yog by Carlo Devito. In sifting through [more than 4,000 sources], Mr. DeVito makes what seems initially like a strange choice: He includes many stories, anecdotes, and quotes that are now widely considered to be apocryphal (his word). […]

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* Whither Barry?

Newspapers

It’s still early in the season, but the pitchers seem way ahead of the hitters. Some sluggers are faring pretty poorly (Carlos Delgado, Prince Fielder, Frank Thomas, among others). Run production is down, as are home runs. Seeing any correlation between this and the Mitchell Report? Speaking of steroids, Barry Bonds is still “on holiday,” […]

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* RK Review (and bugaboo): The Best Game Ever

2007 title

Pirates vs. Yankees, October 13, 1960, by Jim Reisler (Carroll & Graf) I thought I had addressed this book when it came out, but evidently I was think about Reisler’s previous book, A Great Day in Cooperstown: The Miraculous and Unlikely Beginning of the Baseball Hall of Fame. To me, “Best” is on a par […]

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*This week's Week

Book excerpt

Two baseball related items in the May 2 issue of The Week: The Book List has mini-capsule reviews of four titles including But Didn’t We Have Fun?, The Greatest Game; We Would Have Played for Nothing; and The Code. In “The last word” section, “The truth about baseball’s roots” is excerpted from Kevin Baker’s “At […]

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* RK Review: Walkoffs, last Licks, and Final Outs

2008 title

Baseball’s Grand (and not-so-grand) Finales, by Bill Chuck and Jim Kaplan (Acta Sports, 2008). Interesting in concept, but falling short on execution, the authors no doubt wanted to convey the feelings of exhilaration (for the winners) and agony (for the losers). Chuck and Kaplan (no relation) lead off with a chapter on pennant races and, […]

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