If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.

<p>One might get the impression from reading <em>Amazin’ Met Memories</em> (by Howard Blatt, Albion Press) that winning is the only thing. </p> <p><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/metmemories.jpg”><img title=”Metmemories” height=”150″ alt=”Metmemories” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/metmemories.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> Howard Blatt, a former reporter with the <em>New York Daily News</em>, begins […]

This review originally appeared in January Magazine It’s been some time since W.P. Kinsella has come out with new baseball fiction. The author of such memorable novels as Shoeless Joe, Box Socials and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and shorter works, The Thrill of the Grass, The Dixon Cornbelt League and Other Baseball Stories, reminds us […]

(The following appeared on Bookreporter.com in October, 2002) Baseball dodged a bullet when players and owners came to their senses and decided to sign the labor agreement that will calm fans’ shaky nerves for the next few years. As the season winds down to the World Series, the media reminds us, through flowery prose, dramatic […]

I doubt there’s a baseball fan around who has not heard Russ Hodge’s triumphant cries hailing the New York Giants victorious in their playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951. “The Giants Win the Pennant!” is a staple of baseball’s all-time highlights reel. Younger fans might recall Jack Buck’s astounded call of Kirk Gibson’s […]

The following appeared in American Book Review, November/December 2001. It has been estimated that more words have been written about baseball than all other sports combined. Such quantity obviously leads to widely-ranging quality. Cutting through the chafe – the juvenile literature, the statistical analyses – the persistent and curious fan can find those fine stalks […]

This review appears in American Book Review, March-April 2003. And so it begins anew. Opening Day. The teams take to unblemished green fields in dazzlingly clean uniforms amid much pomp and ceremony. Fans on the East Coast shake off the early spring chill, even some leftover snow, warmed by the thrills they’ve been awaiting since […]