It was a shocker to see the breaking news on CNN on Monday that James Earl Jones had passed away. The tributes that followed seemed to highlight two roles: Darth Vader from the Star Wars universe and Terrence Mann from Field of Dreams. But Jones, who died at the age of 93, was also in […]
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Bingo Long,
Dan Epstein,
Field of Dreams,
James Earl Jones,
The Sandlot
We last spoke with Dan Epstein for his second book, Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ‘76 in 2016, which followed his 2014 release, Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s. As you can see from the picture, sandwiched between me and […]
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Dan Epstein,
New York Yankees,
Ron Blomberg,
Thurman Munson
Here’s an interview with one of my favorites: Dan Epstein with Clayton Trutor of the Down the Drive blog. From the Chester County Press, “Steve Potter recently released his book, “2nd Annual Phillies Minor League Digest: A Fan’s View” as a recap to the 2017 minor league season. The book includes team review of each […]
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Dan Epstein,
Philadelphia Phillies,
World War I
As I was preparing for my appearance last week on the MLB Network, a macabre though kept going through my head: Just my luck, Pete Rose would decide, given the recent decision by Commissioner Rob Manfred to keep the lifetime ban in place, that he had nothing left to love for and would commit suicide […]
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Casey Award,
Dan Epstein,
Kostya Kennedy,
Pete Rose,
Spitball Magazine
Since I posted the first of these last Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. As a reminder, I highly recommend Pocket as a way to hold onto links you come that you want to keep. Unlike bookmarks, Pocket […]
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Baseball Cards,
baseball fiction,
Dan Epstein,
Japanese baseball,
Robert Fitts,
Robert Whiting,
women and baseball
Trying to clear out the old mail box before the holiday: MLB historian John Thorn posted this photo on Facebook of a joint 1969 publication, ostensibly by Pete Rose and Denny McLain: At the time, Rose and McLain were the best in the game. Dayn Perry, author of a couple of baseball books of his […]
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Bergino Baseball Clubhouse,
Dan Epstein,
Denny McLain,
Jonathan Eig,
Keith Olbermann,
Kickstarter,
Lou Gehrig,
New York Mets,
Pete Rose,
scorekeeping,
Sportswriting,
Ty Cobb,
youth baseball
Like any tool, social media can be a force for good if used properly. Case in point, it’s allowed me to “meet” some really cool people, including Dan Epstein, whose book tour for Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76 brought him to the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse last night. I […]
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Bardball,
Bergino Baseball Clubhouse,
Dan Epstein,
Erik Sherman,
James Finn Garner,
Jay Goldberg,
Judy Lynn Johnson,
Stars and Strikes,
Stuart Shea
First of all, congratulations to Josh R. of Madison, NJ, winner of last week’s book, Doc: A Memoir, by Dwight Gooden and Ellis Henican. This week’s offering is (another copy of) Stars and Strikes, Dan Epstein’s critically-acclaimed look at the national pastime at the nation’s bicentennial. Changing up the “rules” a bit: This will henceforth […]
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Dan Epstein,
Doc Gooden,
NY Mets,
NY Yankees
The latest list of goings-on at the Bergino. I don’t get there often, but I’m hoping to finally meet Dan Epstein in June. Wednesday, May 28 @ 7:00 PM The Fight of Their Lives with John Rosengren _________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, June 4 @ 7:00 PM Wrigley Field, with Ira Berkow _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, June 19 @ 7:00 […]
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All-American Girls Professional Baseball League,
baseball art,
Chicago Cubs,
Dan Epstein,
Ira Berkow
Dan Epstein’s Star and Strikes from the Dallas Morning News and the Tulsa World. Bill Littlefield, host of WBUR’s Only a Game, includes Alan Klein’s Dominican Baseball in this brief trio of sports reviews for the Boston Globe. The Baptist Press offers this one on Double Play, by Ben and Julianna Zobrist.
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Ben Zobrist,
Dan Epstein,
Dominican baseball
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 […]
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Chicago Cubs,
Dan Epstein,
George Will,
John Feinstein,
Kostya Kennedy,
Mariano Rivera,
minor leagues,
Mookie Wilson,
Pete Rose,
Ted Williams,
Wayne Coffey
When I spoke with Dan Epstein (the author from California, not the photographer for my daughter’s bat mitzva), he reminded me that the first interview he ever did for his first book, Big Hair and Plastic Grass, was for the Bookshelf (you can stroll down memory lane here). So I take full credit for his […]
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baseball in the 1970s,
Dan Epstein
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 […]
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Chicago Cubs,
Dan Epstein,
George Will,
Jayson Stark,
John Feinstein,
Jonah Keri,
Kostya Kennedy,
minor leagues,
Montreal Expos,
Mookie Wilson,
Pete Rose,
Ted Williams
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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Babe Ruth,
Chicago Cubs,
Cleveland Indians,
Dan Epstein,
George Will,
Montreal Expos. Jackie Robinson,
Roy Campanella,
SABR,
Tom Hoffarth,
Wrigley Field
First of all, congratulations to Linda P. of Lindenhurst, IL, winner of last week’s book, Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76, by Dan Epstein. Thank you all for your comments. This week’s offering is the brand-spankin’ new Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta […]
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Atlanta Braves,
Dan Epstein,
Down to the Last Pitch,
Minnesota Twins,
Stars and Strikes,
Tim Wendel,
World Series
The comic master passed away yesterday at the age of 69. This piece was written by Dan Epstein, author of the forthcoming Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76 and Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70.
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Dan Epstein,
Harold Ramis
Author and Sports Nation guy Rob Neyer posted this piece based on Dan Epstein’s Esquire piece, “The 20 Best Baseball Books Ever,” which Neyer posted mere hours before mine appeared. A lot of comments I’ve read around the Interweb deal mainly with the order of the ranking as well mas omitted favorites. Great minds and […]
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Dan Epstein,
Esquire,
Rob Neyer
See what I did there? I combined Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, with the publication to which he contributed this article on “The 20 Best Baseball Books Ever,” his choice for the top 20 non-fiction titles in the genre to […]
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Dan Epstein,
Esquire
WGN-TV ran this interview with the author of Big Hair & Plastic Grass. <embed type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ salign=’l’ flashvars=’&titleAvailable=true&playerAvailable=true&searchAvailable=false&shareFlag=N&singleURL=http://wgntv.vidcms.trb.com/alfresco/service/edge/content/71c6d37d-5d3b-4761-b6d6-30e9d4315aac&propName=wgntv.com&hostURL=http://www.wgntv.com&swfPath=http://wgntv.vid.trb.com/player/&omAccount=tribglobal&omnitureServer=wgntv.com’ allowscriptaccess=’always’ allowfullscreen=’true’ menu=’true’ name=’PaperVideoTest’ bgcolor=’#ffffff’ devicefont=’false’ wmode=’transparent’ scale=’showall’ loop=’true’ play=’true’ pluginspage=’http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer’ quality=’high’ src=’http://wgntv.vid.trb.com/player/PaperVideoTest.swf’ align=’middle’ height=’450′ width=’300′></embed>
Tagged as:
1970s baseball,
Dan Epstein