Let the (Congressional) games begin

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

From NPR’s Morning Edition, this report of Congressional hearings on baseball and steroids. Eric Fisher, a writer for the Sports Business Journal, previews the testimony of baseball officials with Renee Montagne.

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Now hear this: Podcasts to seek

Audio

Tommy Lasorda discusses his new book, I Live for This, on Barnes and Noble’s “Meet the author” series. Gotham Baseball, a New York-centric radio show/pod recently had Dana Brand, author of Mets Fans (McFarland). Political pundit James Carville and Luke Russert, so on TV newsman Tim Russert, cohost 60/20. a sports program on XM radio […]

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ESPN's Bill Simmons speaks for many of us

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

when he asks in his column of Jan. 28 issue, “How do you put an asterisk on the best moment of your life? For him, and many Red Sox/Clemens fans, it was the second time he struck out 20. It came in a mediocre season against the Detroit Tiers and he movingly recreates the emotions […]

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Canseco book, in and out

Annoucements

Publisher Out: Berkley/Penguin In: ? Collaborator Out: Don Yaeger, a former Sports Illustrated associate editor, who didn’t think there was much left that was newsworthy In: Pablo F. Fenjves, a former National Enquirer writer who was the ghost writer for O.J. Simpson’s latest, which brought down a publishing imprint (Regan Books)

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Author profiles: John and Rick Wolff, The Harvard Boys

2007 title

I had an opportunity to pose a few questions about Harvard Boys with the father and son writing team of Rick and John Wolff, about life in the minors, parental advice, and the process of putting the book together. Their responses, via e-mail. : Bookshelf: John, knowing what your dad went through, the difficulties he […]

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Review: Harvard Boys: A Father and Son's Adventures Playing Minor League Basebll

2007 title

Skyhorse Publishing, 2007 Rick Wolff hosts a straightforward radio show about youth sports on WFAN in the New York market. Many is the time I almost reached for the phone to put in my two cents on the topic of the day or ask advice concerning my own child’s situation. So it was with great […]

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Baseball Card Awards: The Gummies

Bits and Pieces

Since we’re heading into awards season, this seemed appropriate:The Gummies, picking the best and worst baseball card-related items of the year. Unfortunately, there’s no explanation for the picks, nor a list of the other nominees that were in the running.

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Review: First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson

2007 title

Edited by Michael G. Long. Times Books, 2007. By now, everyone — baseball fan or not — knows what a remarkable man Jackie Robinson was. In addition to his superior ability on the diamond and the responsibilities inherent in being the first African-American to break baseball’s notorious color line, he continued his work for civil […]

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Happy Birthday, Ray Chapman

Bits and Pieces

A sad reminder of a man cut down in the prime of life, the only major leaguer to die as a result of an injury sustained on the field. Chapman was hit in the head by submariner Carl Mays on August 16, 1920. His story was chronicled in The Pitch That Killed, written in 1989 […]

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Lest We Forget: Don Cardwell

Lest We Forget

I first really started getting into baseball in 1966; my first live game was aday camp trip where the Mets played the San Francisco Giants. Still have the scroecard in the attic. Don Cardwell was one of those “old”players. Regardless of his age — and he was only 31-34 during his years with the Mets […]

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Oxymoron: Sports experts?

Because I can...

At the risk of appearing heretical, this may seem like a football piece, but it applies to the sports broadcasting industry as a whole. Over the weekend, the local all-news radio station predicted 4-6 inches of snow from Sunday night into Monday morning. My daughter was excited at the possibility of a snow day or, […]

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Lest We Forget: Johnny Podres

Older title

Podres, who pitched the deciding game in the 1955 Fall Classic to give the Brooklyn Dodgers their only World Championship, passed away this weekend at the age of 75. Richard Goldstein’s obituary in the Jan. 14 New Yorks Times, notes his place in the hearts that borough’s baseball fans. Look in any retrospective of the […]

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Lest We forget: Larry Whiteside

Bits and Pieces

Larry Whiteside, one of the first African-American beat wrietrs to cover a team on a daily basis, died Jan. 11. at the age of 69. He had been a member of the Boston Globe staff since 1973 and wrote for papers in Kansas City and Milwaukee as well. Whiteside was posthumously elected the 2008 winner […]

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Book Review: Fantasyland

Older title

From sox1fan.com. The book’s official site.

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NY Times questions for Buzz Bissinger

Author Profile / interview

“Stray questions for: Buzz Bissnger,” Jan. 11, 2008. Bissinger, of course, is the author of 3 Nights in August, an in-depth look at the managerial style of St. Louis Cardinals skipper Tony LaRussa.

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Baseball Review: Baseball Hacks

Older title

Haven’t seen too many reviews on this one, which is statistics/ computer-oriented, so I thought to include it for those who are into this genre. From Blogcritics.org. In fact, most of the book seems to be available online, thanks to Google Books.

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What One (or so) Book: Jim Callis, executive editor, Baseball America

Bits and Pieces

Matt Bishoff, Darysbay.com (A Tampa Bay Rays blog): What is your favorite baseball-related book and who is your favorite baseball writer? Jim Callis: Just one baseball book? That’s tough! I’m going to have to throw out a few, and I’m sure I’m missing some obvious ones. My favorites would include the Bill James Baseball Abstracts, […]

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Greatest sports book of '07? One man's opinion

2007 title

And not this one. Mind you, The Stark Truth was definitely interesting and thought-provoking, but the best? anyway, Tom Morgan of the Connecticut-based Voices newspaper chain thinks so.  

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Mel Didier, ex-Expo

2007 title

Since my mother’s family comes from Montreal, I’ve always considered it a second home. So while you fans up north were ignoring Nos Amors, forcing them to move to DC, I was always fascinated with the team, especially since all the written material came out in both French and English versions. Very cool. I still […]

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The Casey Award

Classic title

The CASEY Award was inaugurated in 1983 by Mike Shannon and W.J. Harrison, the editors and co-founders of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine, to honor the authors and publishers of outstanding baseball books, a heretofore unrealized notion. Seven books were named as finalists for the first CASEY: Baseball’s Greatest Experiment, The Celebrant, Hoopla, Invisible Men, […]

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