Posts tagged as:

Babe Ruth

Recapping Tom Hoffarth’s entertaining and educational series: April 1: The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, by Jeff Passan April 2: Baseball Field Guide: An In-Depth Illustrated Guide to the Complete Rules of Baseball, by   Dan Formosa and Paul Hamburger April 3: The Cardinals Way: How One Team […]

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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 […]

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Opinions vary

March 2, 2016

Graham Womack published this ranked list of the 25 greatest baseball books on The Sporting News site. When I wrote 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die, I made a decision not to put them in an order other than alphabetical to avoid having to defend my choices. Such a method invites arguments […]

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Sort list this time, as I’m pretty much caught up on most current events. ♦ Dwier Brown, who play Ray Kinsella’s dad in Field of Dreams was a recent guest on the Hall of Very Good podcast. (As a reminder, I also had a chat with Brown.) ♦ I keep meaning to brush up on […]

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Coming down the pike

January 21, 2016

Lisa Iannucci at The GetMoreSports site included four baseball titles among her “Anticipated Sports Books of 2016.”  Is it picayune to note that “anticipated” does not mean “looked forward to,” but merely “expected?” Anyway, the titles include (with the writer’s commentary): DiMag & Mick: Sibling Rivals, Yankee Blood Brothers by Tony Castro is due out […]

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Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]

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Say hello to my little friend

September 21, 2015

Funny how things work out. If I had parked in my usual spot at the library on Saturday, I would have missed a yard sale where I picked up this: This plastic Ruth figurine was part of a larger collection, but he seemed to be in the best shape. Many were missing bats or were […]

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I picked up a couple of books at the library recently and, lo and behold, found some baseball in ’em. 100 of the Worst Ideas in History, by Michael Smith and Eric Kasum, includes three items on the national pastime in the chapter “Stupidity at a Major League Level.” Each contains the following: “The genius […]

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The Baseball Hall of Fame will host 11 Authors Series events throughout the season, bringing noted baseball authors to Cooperstown for special lectures and book signings. Among the highlights of the 2015 Authors Series is an appearance by former major league pitcher Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese-born player in the history of major league baseball. […]

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I highly recommend Pocket as a way to hold onto links you come that you want to keep. Unlike bookmarks, Pocket keeps the entire page and makes it relative easy for you to find stuff you “pocketed.” I have keepers going back six years — more than 5,000 links — and I’ve decided it’s time […]

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Submitted for your interest from another semi-regular scan of new titles. It may seem unfair, but I do tend to judge e-books by their cover, especially when they are offered only in that format. It’s an indication of the time and effort the author/publisher puts into the project. Similarly, I’m basing my opinions strictly on […]

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Mickey Mantle. Sandy Koufax. Two heroic symbols of the Boomer generation. Two flawed figures, one of his own accord, one of poor luck. Jane Leavy has turned both of their stories into best-selling biograophies. So what does she do for an encore? Why not another icon, who wrestled with his own demons, although it didn’t […]

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* Josh Wilker’s forthcoming book, Benchwarmer: An Anxious Dad’s Almanac of Fatherhood and Other Failures gets a thumbs up from Kirkus. Upshot: “This almanac of fatherhood (and other failures) is honest, relatable and humorous—an indispensable read for fathers (and sons) whose joy in life comes not from winning the big game but being alive to […]

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Looking over the overlooked in baseball book (etc.) news… Wow, so much for the free exchange of ideas. Tried to access three items about baseball author appearances, book news, etc. but was blocked from each one because I’m not a paid subscriber. Bummer, man. Anyway… The Boston Globe ran this review of I Don’t Care […]

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The comedian has purchased a summer home in the Hamptons that previously belong to Babe Ruth.

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Many books try to link a premise with a larger theme. If you try hard enough, you can find connections between any items. But Chris Donnelly does a better-than-most job of convincing readers How the Yankees Explain New York. Let’s be honest: a lot of people outside the Big Apple think its residents have a […]

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The Baseball Project was the guest on the April 22 Soundcheck, performing three songs off their latest album, 3rd. Tracks on the new release include: Stat From Nails To Thumbtacks Hola America! 13 The Day Dock Went Hunting Heads To The Veterans Committee Monument Park Box Scores They Don’t Know Henry The Babe They Are […]

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Bits and Pieces, April 18

April 18, 2014

The Passover holidays have played havoc with my schedule, so there’s a lot to catch up on. First off, can you remember those Bicentennial Minutes that CBS used to broadcast in the months leading up to the big celebration? Well, Dan Epstein, author of the new Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial […]

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The top-ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]

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Bits and pieces, April 4

April 4, 2014

Been a hectic week, so I’ve let a few things slide. First and foremost, the next books in Tom Hoffarth’s annually excellent 30-in-30 series: John Feinstein’s Where Nobody Knows Your Name and Ed Sherman’s Babe Ruth’s Called Shot. Here’s another Feinstein item from WRALSPortsfan.com. And maybe you can find the link in this piece from […]

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