An oldie but a goodie

2015 title

Haven’t done one of these in a long time so here goes: From the New York Sportsday website, a review of A Baseball Guy: Former Kansas City Royals Farmhand, Scout, and Major League Coach Takes You Inside the Game He Loves, by Guy Hansen and Tom Gresham. From Lookout Landing, a Seattle Mariners-centric site, this […]

Tagged as: Cleveland Indians, George F. Will, Guy Hansen, Kansas City Royals, Mickey Cochrane, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seinfeld

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Author appearance: Scott Longert

2016 title

Can’t make it to the World Series tonight? Why not visit the Hudson Library & Historical Society in Ohio where you can hear author Scott Longert talk about his new book, No Money, No Beer, No Pennants: The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression. For reservations, call 330-653-6658. By the way, the Indians […]

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Hail fellow, well met: Michael Leahy

2016 title

I don’t like Manhattan very much for a variety of reasons. The noise, the crowds, the rush. But every once in awhile I venture in when the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse features an author event with a writer whose work I especially enjoy. Case in point, several weeks ago when Michael Leahy, author of the exceptional […]

Tagged as: Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, Los Angeles Dodgers, Michael Leahy

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Hell Freezes Over (Chicago Cubs)

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Back in 2005, Bill Simmons published Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN’s Sports Guy Found Salvation, with a Little Help From Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank, and the 2004 Red Sox. (He issued a revised edition when they won again a few years later). Now that the Chicago Cubs have battled their way to the […]

Tagged as: Chicago Cubs, W.P. Kinsella, World Series

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Guess who’s back?

2017 Title

Hello, friends. Been awhile. Apologies for the dearth of entries lately. Especially now that the season is over and your team’s season is over — unless your a Cubs or Indians fan — you’ll look for the comfort of books to get you through the long cold winter — unless you’re a resident of Florida, […]

Tagged as: Hank Greenberg

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Oct. 21, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: anaytics, Bill James, Brian Kenny, instructionals, Jackie Robinson, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb

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Baseball Best-Sellers, October 14, 2016

"Annuals"

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: analtics, Bill James, Brian Kenny, instructionals, Jackie Robinson, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Sept. 30, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Bernard Malamud, Detroit Tigers, instructionals, Jackie Robinson, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams

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Baseball Best-sellers, Sept. 23, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Bernard Malamud, Detroit Tigers, instructionals, Jackie Robinson, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Sept. 9, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Bernard Malamud, instructionals, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Sept. 2, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Bernard Malamud, instructionals, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ty Cobb

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The Bookshelf Conversation: Peter Golenbock

Author profile/interview by Ron Kaplan

There have been dozens of guys like Jimmie Reese, Birdie Tebbets, and many others who are known as “baseball lifers.” They spend their entire professional career in the game perhaps starting out as a player before moving into scouting or coaching/managing, or the front office. I have found there are baseball lifers among authors as well. […]

Tagged as: baseball writers, Peter Golenbock

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Aug. 19, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Bernard Malamud, Brian Kenny, instructionals, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Aug. 12, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction, Bernard Malamud, Brian Kenny, instructionals, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams

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Baseball Best-Sellers, Aug. 5, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: Bernard Malamud, Brian Kenny, instructionals, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, Ron Darling, St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Williams, World Series

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Baseball Best-Sellers, July 22, 2016

2015 title

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]

Tagged as: Bernard Malamud, Brian Kenny, independent leagues, instructionals, Lenny Dykstra, managing, Michael Lewis, Mike Mathany, Moneyball, Oakland Athletics, Pitching, St. Louis Cardinals, Tim Kurkjian

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The old grind

2015 title

One idea that’s being increasingly  kicked around is reducing the Major League schedule from 162 to 154 games. This was one of the segments on yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption. Co-host Tony Kornheiser, being old, remembers the pre-1961 expansion era when the regular season consisted of the lower figure. There was also no post-season other than the […]

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Crossover episode

"Oddballs"

As a “reward” for having my submission on an episode of Deadwood accepted into the Extra Hot Great canon (you can go ahead and skip to about the 37-minute mark), I got to choose a topic for an “EHG mini.” Shouldn’t surprise anyone that I found a way to combine my two favorite pastimes — sports […]

Tagged as: Bill Buckner, Keith Hernandez

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The Dykstra debacle

2016 title

As you might have noticed from my weekly posting about baseball best-sellers, I’m not overly happy that Lenny Dykstra’s new memoir, House of Nails, is doing well. It came in at No. 11 on the most recent New York Times best-seller list for non-fiction. This isn’t a case of schadenfreude. It’s that people are more […]

Tagged as: Lenny Dykstra, Peter Golenbock, Richard Sandomir

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The Bookshelf Conversation: Brian Kenny

2016 title

Once in awhile a book will come along purporting to be “the next big thing” in how people perceive, discuss, and/or enjoy the national pastime. These are usually written by someone in the broadcasting industry, which makes sense. After all, these people have seen hundreds of games a year; who better to offer insight with […]

Tagged as: Brian Kenny

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