Baseball Best-Sellers, February 21, 2025

Uncategorized

A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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Pass the Popcorn: The Cornerstone: Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor

Uncategorized

There are very few who love the Mets more than I do, but even I found the hyperbole about the upcoming documentary this a bit much: In an unprecedented move that is sure to captivate baseball fans worldwide, Netflix has announced the release of a groundbreaking documentary series centered around two of the most beloved […]

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The Bookshelf Conversations #190: Danny Gallagher

Uncategorized

Next to the Mets, my favorite team is (was) the Montreal Expos. My maternal side comes from Montreal and I consider the time spent there on vacations and the five summers working at a sleep-away camp in the Laurentians among the happiest of my life. My Aunt Lily lived in Outremont, a neighborhood a long […]

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Soapbox time: Banned books

Uncategorized

Normally I do not write about books for kids, but after reading the story mentioned below, I’m POed enough to change my tune. How small the minds of many Americans seem to have become. Pen.org is a 100+-year-old organization which, according to the site, “stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect […]

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The Bookshelf Conversations #189: Jean Fruth

Uncategorized

It’s always a pleasure to speak with Jean Fruth. Whatever project she takes on is full of passion, whether it’s photographing baseball across small town America (Grassroots Baseball: Route 66) or talking with some of the greats of the game about how they got their start (Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin), or, in her latest […]

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There will be lists!

Uncategorized

As we approach spring training and the start of a new season, there will be lists of suggested reading. I find a lot of them fascinating. I was speaking with an author recently about working with editors. Undoubtedly, it helps to have one who’s knowledgeable on the topic. The same can be said about the […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, February 7, 2025

2024 title

A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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The Bookshelf Conversations #188: Ben Yagoda

"Bookshelf Conversations"

A bit of a departure here. Ben Yagoda has not written a book about baseball (yet). Nor has he written a song or made a film about the game. But he is a super fan and has written reviews of others’ books about the game. Close enough for jazz. I wanted to speak with him […]

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Lest We Forget: Fay Vincent

Autobiography/memoirs

From The New York Times by George Vecsey: “Fay Vincent, a lawyer who presided over Major League Baseball as its eighth commissioner during a time when it was shaken by labor strife, the first shadows of steroid use and, quite literally, a powerful earthquake that interrupted the 1989 World Series, died on Saturday in Vero […]

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Bits and Pieces, February 1, 2025

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

♦   Congratulations to Larry Gerlach, winner of this year’s Seymour Medal for Lion of the League: Bob Emslie and the Evolution of the Baseball Umpire. The Seymour medal is awarded by the Society for American Baseball Research for the best book of baseball history or biography published during the preceding calendar year. Gerlach is also […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, January 31, 2025

"Annuals"

A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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The Bookshelf Conversations #187: Bill Littlefield

"Bookshelf Conversations"

There was something about Bill Littlefield’s voice when he read his poetry (or as he refers to it, doggerel) on NPR’s Only a Game that was so soothing, as opposed to those loud-mouthed shouters on various sports talk programs. I miss him. But to prove that the Bookshelf is timeless, I had him on recently […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, January 24, 2025

"Bookshelf Conversations"

A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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Author, Author!

"Oddballs"

What do Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabbathia, and Billy Wagner all have in common? Oh, yeah, sure, they were all just elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. But wait, there’s more.   That’s right; they’ve all written memoirs. Ichiro’s book was published in 2004. There are other books about him, including The Meaning of Ichiro: […]

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Lest We Forget: Tommy Brown and Jeff Torborg

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Two men who spent most of their playing days with the Dodgers — the former in Brooklyn, the latter in LA — passed away recently. Tommy Brown is in the record books as the youngest position player in Major League history. During World War II, when many established players were in the military, youngsters like […]

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Wait for it (Bob Uecker)

2025 title

In the latest Baseball Best-Seller post, I wrote at length about a self-published quickie about the late Bob Uecker. In fact, two more titles have been released since then. Well, it didn’t take long for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — a more “legitimate” source — to put out Bob Uecker: The Life and Career of […]

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Lest We Forget: George Kalinsky

History

We have all seen these iconic photographs, but how often do we appreciate the artist behind the lens? George Kalinsky was one such shutterbug. He passed away January 16 at the age of 88. Here’s his obituary by Harvey Araton in The New York Times. From the obit: Mr. Kalinsky had wanted to be a […]

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The Bookshelf Conversations #186: Tyler Kepner

"Bookshelf Conversations"

I knew things would go well when I saw the collection of caps behind Tyler Kepner, senior writer for The Athletic and author of The Grandest Game: A History of the World Series and K: A History of of Baseball in Ten Pitches. Like Kepner — and most young baseball fans — I had dreams […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, January 17, 2025

2017 Title

A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]

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Lest We Forget: Bob Uecker

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

One of the true characters of the game, Bob Uecker, has died at the age of 90. Here’s his obituary by Richard Sandomir in The New York Times and an article from ESPN. As a reminder that you’re an ex-player much longer than a player, Uecker turned a poor playing career (.200, 14 homers, 74 […]

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