Book Review: Cooperstown Hall of Fame Players
Ever wanted a picturesque book complete with large full page stories and statistics of all of the great ballplayers enshrined in Cooperstown (through 2005)? Well, look no more because Cooperstown: Hall of Fame Players is as good as it gets. This coffee table sized work has magnificent pictures and in depth stories about every player […]
Book Review: The Entitled by Frank Deford
Since baseball is so romantic, many have tried their hand at writing a novel on the subject. Perhaps Bernard Mulamud’s classic work The Natural, since turned into a movie, is the best known of baseball novels. However, after reading Frank Deford’s work The Entitled: A Tale of Modern Baseball, this reviewer has a new favorite. […]
Book Review on Handsome Ranson Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer
Ransom Jackson isn’t the household name it once was, but back in the 1940s and 50s, Jackson was well known to those who followed baseball. During that time, if you followed sports, you followed baseball, so that meant many knew the man who they called handsome. During his ten-year career in the Majors with the […]
The True Story of Two Statheads Who Got to Run a Real Baseball Team
‘The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team’ By Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller It’s the dream of fantasy baseball fans everywhere: you get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies—but with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff […]
The remarkable life of Fred Valentine, a pioneer of Major League Baseball integration
By Rocco Constantino When sifting through the influential players in the segregation of baseball, the names Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby and Satchel Paige are always mentioned at the forefront. What sometimes gets lost in the shuffle is that there were really hundreds of players who should be considered pioneers in the integration of the sport. […]
Book Review: Every Town is a Sports Town
There are many people who feel at this point that ESPN is such a part of their lives, that it is a member of their family. In his new book, Every Town is a Sports Town: Business Leadership at ESPN from the Mailroom to the Boardroom, former ESPN President George Bodenheimer tells the story of […]
Book Review: You Can’t Make this Up
“Do you believe in miracles?” If sports fans were asked to bring up the first thing they remember about Al Michaels, his quote from the 1980 Olympic Hockey game which pitted the United States against Russia is probably the best AND the first thing that comes to mind. While hockey isn’t what this site is […]
Book Review: The Manager’s Daughter
If you are looking for a summer page turner, look no further than The Manager’s Daughter. Author Matthew Kastel combines the topics of baseball and murder mystery flawlessly in this book that keeps the reader guessing right up until the end. The work follows the same mysterious cadence as The Da Vinci Code, as it […]
Book Review: Color Blind
With the release of the new Jackie Robinson movie, 42, the awareness of the famous story of how Robinson broke the color line in baseball is more rampant than ever. In his new book, Color Blind: The Forgotten Team that Broke Baseball’s Color Line, Tom Dunkel introduces America to a long lost team that once […]
Book Review: Instant Baseball
If you take pictures with your iPhone and post them to Instagram, you probably never considered that a book could be published of the pictures from your camera phone. Well, Brad Mangin has done just that. Mangin, a freelance photojournalist who has taken the cover photo for more than one dozen issues of Sports Illustrated, […]
Book Review: Loudmouth
Sports radio listeners have been hearing Craig Carton in many markets across the country for decades now. For those familiar with Carton, there will be no surprise that his first book, Loudmouth, is extremely entertaining. In fact, Carton’s new work is likely the most fun you will have reading a book from the sports section […]
Book Review: Nailed!
What are the first words things that come to mind when you think of Lenny Dykstra. For me, it was words such as competitor, gritty, athletic, aggressive and even arrogant. After reading Nailed!: The Improbable Rise and Spectacular Fall of Lenny Dykstra, I quickly learned that a list of characteristics such as that doesn’t even […]
Book Review: Long Shot by Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza was one of the most polarizing players of his generation. Just from the rare viewpoint that he had successful stints with two different teams makes him unique. During his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, Piazza received many accolades and was constantly considered at least the second best catcher […]
Book Review: Closer
The role of a closer may be the most mysterious position in baseball. In order to succeed, it almost seems as if a player has to be a little off of his rocker. It is the only position in sports where the player is guaranteed to only be on the field during pressure packed situations. […]
Book Review: Trading Bases
Every once in a while a book about baseball will come out that is different than all others in the sports section at your local Barnes and Nobles. Joe Peta’s new book Trading Bases: A Story About Wall Street, Gambling, and Baseball (not necessarily in that order) is one of those books. Peta, once […]
Book Review: Any Given Monday
If you watch baseball, heck, if you watch any major sport, you have probably heard the three words: Doctor James Andrews. As you probably already know, Dr. Andrews is a world renowned surgeon who operates on many of the world’s elite athletes. Other than having his name constantly mentioned in the news, the doctor has […]
Book Review: The Baseball Hall of Shame: The Best of Blooperstown
If the first four renditions of books about baseball bloopers weren’t enough to tide you over, have no fear, a fifth one is on the way. Authors Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo are back to their blooper ways. After already publishing The Baseball Hall of Shame…Volumes 1-4, the two authors have now come out with […]
Red Sox Baseball in the Days of Ike and Elvis: The Red Sox of the 1950s
The Society for American Baseball Research (aka SABR) are happy to announce the release of our book “Red Sox Baseball in the Days of Ike and Elvis: The Red Sox of the 1950s” in ebook and paperback! The Red Sox of the 1950s did not win many games, yet they won over the hearts of […]
Book Review: Yankee Miracles
The New York Yankees are arguably the most successful and popular professional franchise, not just in Major League Baseball, but in all of sports. In the new book, Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers, authors Ray Negron and Sally Cook regale readers with lesser-known stories from within the Yankees. Negron has worked […]
Book Review: Stillpower
Why does everything worth anything have to be so unbelievably hard to achieve? Well, according to Garret Kramer in his new book, Stillpower: Excellence with Ease in Sports and Life , the goal one wants to achieve may only seem hard because that is how the person chooses to perceive it. Now, one could clearly […]
A Review: Extra Innings: More Baseball Between the Numbers from the Team at Baseball Prospectus
There’s more to sabermetrics than FIP,WARP, and BABIP. These statistics that have been filtering into the baseball lexicon over the past decade are really just tools that allow fans and serious students of the game to answer questions and settle debates. Each new breakthrough introduces opportunities for further study. While Wins may be a stat […]
Book Review: Ozzie’s School of Management
If anyone who even casually follows the game of baseball was asked to name the most controversial manager of the past decade, there is little doubt that the first name out of their mouth would be current Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen. In his new book, Ozzie’s School of Management: Lessons from the Dugout, the […]
Book Review: Starting and Closing
Not many players in the history of baseball had as unpredictable a career as John Smoltz. Usually a starting pitcher stays such throughout his career, or if a player becomes a dominant closer one year, it is impossible to change them from that role. Smoltz would be the ultimate exception to this rule. In short, […]
Book Review: Major League Dads
Is there anything more American than a game of catch between a father and his son? For many, the answer to this question would probably be that the only way to make that vision more American is to have an apple pie sitting in the window of the house next to the yard where the […]
Book Review: Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick
Those who are not aware of the history and importance of Bill Veeck, and his influence over baseball, cannot truly call themselves historians of the game. Not knowing the story of Veeck from his owner’s chair could be on parallel with not knowing Babe Ruth from his batter’s box. While some may be familiar with […]
Book Review: Wherever I Wind Up
R.A. Dickey is not a name that shoots to the front of most baseball fans minds when they think of players whose story they may want to hear. While he may not be the most well-known of players, Dickey, a starting pitcher for the New York Mets, has put together a very interesting story of […]
Book Review: Summer of ’68 by Tim Wendel
For baseball, the 1960s were an extremely memorable decade. Every fall it seemed that there were heated series between historic teams who had a deep love for the game and a desire to call themselves the best. This decade also featured many polarizing and other not so popular, yet still interesting players. Author Tim Wendel […]
Book Review: High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania
Recent history has not been kind to the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, in Paul Haddad’s new book, High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania: A Fan’s History of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Glory Years 1977-1981, the author gets the reader so immersed in what happened between these years, that it makes the reader remember what a […]
A Review: Baseball Fantography: A Celebration in Snapshots and Stories from the Fans
Fans are no doubt what make the game of baseball so popular, especially at the Major League level. Over time, the players who have noticed this and focused on being a fan favorite have been able to overcome hitting slumps or pitching doldrums in the public eye much easier than those who may not be […]
Bill’s Analysis/Book Review: The Little White Book of Baseball Law
Law can be an extremely boring subject. This may deter people from reading John Minan and Kevin Cole’s recent work, The Little White Book of Baseball Law. If the subject matter serves as a deterrent to some, they are missing out on a great opportunity to both learn about the laws of this country and […]
