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: […]

Read the full article →

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 […]

Read the full article →

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 […]

Read the full article →

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 […]

Read the full article →

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 […]

Read the full article →

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 […]

Read the full article →

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 […]

Read the full article →

Lest We Forget: Bob Veale

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Bob Veale, one of those hard-throwing, glasses-wearing pitchers who stirred fear in the hearts of batter, died January 3 at the age of 86. The six-foot-six lefty spent most of his 13-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates before spending his last three seasons with the Boston Red Sox. Here’s his obituary by Andrew Destin in […]

Read the full article →

Baseball Best-Sellers, January 10, 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 […]

Read the full article →

Bookshelf Review: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball

2024 title

There something to be said about the heft of a book on your lap that a website, regardless of how visually well done or informative, can never match. While preparing for this review, I couldn’t help but think of the Total Baseball series which produced eight editions beginning in 1989 and ending in 2004. These […]

Read the full article →

The things we (try to) keep

collectibles

Former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani is in trouble. For a change. “A federal judge on Monday held Rudolph W. Giuliani in contempt of court for failing to cooperate in the handover of $11 million of his personal assets to Georgia poll workers he falsely accused of helping to steal the 2020 presidential election,” according […]

Read the full article →

The Bookshelf Conversation #185: Scott Raab

"Bookshelf Conversations"

The passing of Rocky Colavito last month was the impetus for this one. The majority of people with whom I have these Conversations are your standard interview fare. By that I mean I only know them because of their work. In this case, I can honestly say the subject is a good friend. When I […]

Read the full article →

Bits and Pieces, January 7, 2025

Baseball best-seller

Although we may be at opposite ends of the political spectrum, George F. Will and I agree on one thing, “Baseball is wonderful,” as expressed in this opinion piece in the Washington Post by none other than Ken Burns, who used Will — among many others — as talking heads on his seminal Baseball miniseries. […]

Read the full article →

Here’s something you don’t see every day: Punctuation in baseball

"Oddballs"

I am a great believer in the serial (Oxford) comma. It;’s pretty much in the stylebook for every outlet for which I’ve written. And you can find lots of arguments for and against its use. But I’ve never seen in discussed in respect to baseball books until now. Submitted for your entertainment and/or amusement, this […]

Read the full article →

Baseball Best-Sellers, January 3, 2025

2024 title

Here we go again… 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 […]

Read the full article →

Lest We Forget: Rocky Colavito

2017 Title

I had put off an LWF piece on the passing of Rocky Colavito because I was preparing a Bookshelf Conversation with writer and long-time Indians fan Scott Raab. But in my excitement to have my good friend on as a guest, I plum forgot about the Rock. Colavito died December 10 at the age of […]

Read the full article →

Lest We Forget: Those We Lost in 2024

Lest We Forget

Posting the piece about Lenny Randle reminded me of those end-of-year tributes by many outlets recalling the celebrities who passed away during the year. With that in mind, I thought it was appropriate to look back at the baseball figures who deaths were acknowledged on the Bookshelf. Note that the list includes a couple of […]

Read the full article →

Lest We Forget: Lenny Randle

Documentary

Lenny Randle, perhaps best known on the field for trying to blow a baseball into foul territory, passed away last week at the age of 75. (He was also notorious for punching out Texas manager Frank Lucchesi in 1974.) Randle, who played just about ever position except for pitcher and catcher, made his debut with […]

Read the full article →

Baseball Best- Sellers, December 27, 2024

"Annuals"

Last one of the year! Where did the time go? 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 […]

Read the full article →

Lest We Forget: Rickey Henderson

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Still shocked that Rickey Henderson passed away at the age of 65, just a few days before his Christmas birthday. I always feel an extra pang of regret when someone younger than me dies. Henderson, was what many might call a colorful character. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, accumulating 3,055 […]

Read the full article →
script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-5496371-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();