All Entries in the "Book Reviews" Category
Book Review: Arm Chair Reader Grand Slam Baseball: The Lore and Legends of America’s Game
If a sports fan is looking for the perfect reading partner in the bathroom, this book may provide them with just what they are looking for. With over 400 pages of baseball facts, statistics and stories, Grand Slam Baseball is sure to teach even the most knowledgeable of baseball fans a thing or two about [...]
Book Review: Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Spots Are Played and Games are Won
What happens when one of the most renowned finance professionals in the country gets together with one of the mist intelligent sports writers in the country? They create a perception of sports that has never been heard before. In Scorecasting finance scholar Tobias Moskowitz and sports journalist L. Jon Wertheim attempt to answer questions that [...]
A Review of Positional Hitting by Jaime Cevallos
If used correctly, Jaime Cevallos’ book, “Positional Hitting: The Modern Approach to Analyzing and Training Your Baseball Swing”, could revolutionize the way players approach hitting and improve their swing mechanics. In my opinion, this book is a modern transition from Ted William’s book “The Science of Hitting”. In fact, the author told me that Positional [...]
A Review of High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball by Tim Wendel
The Hardcover version The full title of this book is “High Heat: the Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time”. Its chapters are named after different aspects of pitching: The Windup, The Pivot, The Stride, The Arm Acceleration, The Release, The Follow-Through, and The Call. It [...]
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox
Click this Link to Buy “Remembering Fenway Park” THE BABE. THE KID. THE CURSE. THE MONSTER. A CENTURY OF STORIES. REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF THE BOSTON RED SOX Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.Welcome to Fenway Park. Six days after the Titanic sank in the [...]
SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Adam Rifenberick Press Box Publicity Phone: 912.349.4437 E-Mail: adam@pressboxpublicity.com Advanced Review Copy of “SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won”, by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim (Crown Archetype, 1/25/11) Available to Media (January 6, 2011) — “SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are [...]
![Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession [Hardcover]](http://baseballreflections.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9780802119391_500X500-150x150.jpg)
Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession [Hardcover]
from the publisher… When award-winning journalist Dave Jamieson’s parents sold his childhood home a few years ago, forcing him to clear out his old room, he happily rediscovered a prized boyhood possession: his baseball card collection. Now was the time to cash in on his “investments,” but all the card shops had closed, and eBay [...]
Video Interview with Author of 25 Greatest Players of All Time
Author/Sportscaster Len Berman on his latest book, ‘The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time’ on the Fox Business Network. They also touch upon the topic of Brett Favre before they start talking about Berman’s book. They talk about the topic of how people should view top athletes. Should fans look differently at them due [...]
An Editorial of the Book: Strike IX by Paul Lonardo
STRIKE IX tells the plight of the 1999 Providence College Friars baseball team and their beloved sport, which they learned would be eliminated at the end of that upcoming season in order for the school to comply with the federal regulation, Title IX. Written to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of PC’s historic season, this book [...]
A Glove of Their Own: A Grand Slam On and Off the Field
This article is being reprinted by permission… Every so often in the sports industry, do you encounter a genuine person who is trying to making a difference without a hidden agenda. Bob Salomon is one such individual. Over the past month, I have gotten to know Bob and truly what he is about. His book, “A [...]
A Review of Hawk’s Nest Publishing’s Red Sox Coloring & Activity Book
Once I connected with the artist behind these books (on the Red Sox and other MLB teams), Peg Connery-Boyd, on LinkedIn I asked to do a review of them here on Baseball Reflections not only did she say YES, but when she found out I had a few kids (six to be exact) she sent [...]
Maple Street Press Red Sox Annual is a Must Have Every Year
In collaboration with Sons of Sam Horn (SoSH) Not only do they have articles and interviews, but it also has a colored schedule, last year’s stats for the starting 9 including spray zones, hit zones and scouting reports on how well they did against certain pitches last year (the reserves do not have these more [...]
An Intro to a Baseball Book: “Beating About the Bushes”
Minor League Baseball in the ’60′s by Tim Sommer Tim Sommer highlights an almost-forgotten era in American baseball. He gives the reader a candid look at a time when professional baseball players were motivated by the love of the sport and of the simplicity of professional baseball in the 60s and 70s. He tells how [...]
Announcing a New Baseball Book: Fifty-nine in ’84
Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had In 1884, Hall of Fame pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won an astonishing 59 games, started 73 games and completed them all, and pitched more than 678 innings. Then he went out and won all three games of baseball's first World Series. [...]
Why Are There So Many Pitching Injuries?
(Excerpt from book CHARACTER IS NOT A STATISTIC: The Legacy and Wisdom of Baseball’s Godfather Scout Bill Lajoie) This is a topic that fascinates me and one I was sure to discuss with Bill Lajoie before writing our book. For those who don’t know Mr. Lajoie, he is considered by many to be the greatest [...]
BackyardBall: A book on Whiffleball, aka Plastic Ball
Backyard Ball By Thomas P. Hannon, Jr. This is a fun filled book about the world of Plastic Baseball or Wiffle Ball. It includes all the information you need to start playing as a family game or serious league play. Use this book to help rediscover your Backyard and read about people who actually built [...]
Book Review: Burying the Curse, By Terry Pluto
To many, Terry Pluto has been the most trusted voice of Cleveland sports over the past two decades. Through his tenure with the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pluto had readers waiting for the paper to get his specific view on whatever issue was going on at that time. Pluto has also [...]
Bob Gibson/Reggie Jackson: Sixty Feet, Six Inches
I just finished reading a great baseball book, ‘Sixty Feet, Six Inches‘, by Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson with Ronnie Wheeler. This book is a running conversation by two of baseball’s greatest players about the mind games and strategies that go on between the pitcher and batter. One almost pictures himself eating dinner with these [...]
Who Really Created And Made Baseball “America’s Game”
If someone asked you who was the founder of the game of baseball? Well, if you are not a baseball historian or purist, you may just say Abner Doubleday. After all, the field at the Baseball Hall of Fame, Doubleday Field, is named after him. But the new book, “Live All You Can: Alexander Joy [...]
A Collection of Baseball Reflections Book Reviews
A Glove of Their Own by Debbie Moldovan, Keri Conkling and Lisa Funari-Willever A great children’s book written in poetic rhyme with wonderful illustrations. A must read for people with children in their life. Fair Ball by Bob Costas A look into the world of baseball through the eyes of world renown broadcaster and sports [...]
A Glove of Their Own: A Book Review
If you think that youth baseball today has gotten too competitive and structured with All Star Leagues and travel teams, allow me to bring you back to a simpler time. Have any of you ever played just for the fun of the game in a non-league setting? Do you remember playing pick-up games with less [...]
Rollie’s Follies: An Interview with Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers
**The Quotes as presented are direct from Rollie Fingers courtesy of an interview that he was kind enough to grant me in conjunction with his new book.** When people approach professional athletes, they are usually looking for a career retrospective or a biography. That is exactly what Yellowstone Ritter had in mind when he contacted [...]
Interview With Former MLB Catcher Brent Mayne
Whenever you get the chance to talk to someone that has been there, it’s always special to see it through their eyes. On June the 19th, 2009, I was given the pleasure of an audience with Brent Mayne, a 15 year Major League Veteran. My connection with Brent was made through a gentleman named Bob [...]
The Making of a Hitter
by Jeff Louderback, PR for Write Perceptions After 12 seasons of professional baseball, including seven in the major leagues, Jack Perconte gave 60,000 hitting lessons to young players at his academy in Illinois. His first book instructs coaches and parents how to teach the art of hitting and make baseball more enjoyable for children from [...]
Book Review: Fair Ball by Bob Costas
Bob Costas is probably best known for his Olympic commentary over the years, but he has really been a renaissance man and announced everything from baseball to football in this country. Costas put out Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball in an attempt to tell baseball how it could fix its problems and become [...]
Book Review: The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship
David Halberstam has become well known for his works about the sport of baseball that add a new perspective to the game which many fans never get a chance to see. Teammates, The: A Portrait of a Friendship is no exception to this rule as it illustrates once again why Halberstam is one of the [...]
Book Review: More Tales from the Tribe Dugout
Author Russell Schneider is well known to serious baseball fans around Cleveland from his coverage of the Indians in Cleveland newspapers for so many years. Now a freelance writer, Russell has put together two books of Tales from the Tribe Dugout. In the sequel to his first book, Schneider uncovers some not very well known [...]
Miracle Man by Nolan Ryan: A Book Review
Image via Wikipedia Over the past two decades, it has become the popular thing for athletes to write a book with a ghost writer, presumably as a way to make some fast cash. Even though Nolan Ryan’s book came at the beginning of this period, many readers could probably lean towards the publication of a [...]
License to Deal: A Book Review
When Moneyball by Michael Lewis came out about five years ago, many thought they would never see a book about baseball that provided the same unique perspective on the game. Jerry Crasnick has done with agents in License to Deal what Michael Lewis did for general managers in Moneyball. By giving a day to day [...]
Reviewing the 2008 World Series Program
There is no doubt that the story lines for this year’s World Series were endless as the Phillies, a historic baseball franchise, were heading back to the Series to try to end a quarter century drought, and the Rays, who had never even had a winning season in their history, faced off. As one can [...]
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