Hammering Away with Henry

For much of his life, Henry Aaron has felt marginalized. Hank Aaron arguably sits atop the baseball pyramid as its home run king. But what about Henry? Blessed with baseball talent that landed him among the best all-around players ever, Hank Aaron assumed a public persona. Meanwhile, “The Hammer” effectively subjugated his private side, Henry. […]

It’s All Here in “The Only Game”

“An afternoon in mid-May, and we are waiting for the game to begin. We are in the shadow, and the sunlit field before us is a thick, springy green” an old diamond, beautifully kept up,” Roger Angell pens in the opening to his essay “The Web of the Game.” (3, Only) Angell’s piece sets the […]

All in the Cards

Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson. Three names Cardinals fans and baseball enthusiasts know well. But those are just three of the Redbirds 42 Hall of Famers. What about Rabbit Maranville, Chick Hafey or Pud Galvin? Authors Greg Marecek and Myron Holtzman engage readers with story after story in “The Cardinals of Cooperstown.” Pick up […]

Stan the Man from Donora

Some months ago, I examined a pair of Stan Musial biographies at a friend’s request. Not long  afterward, “Stan the Man“ hit the shelves. What makes Wayne Stewart’s book different? Stewart shares Musial’s hometown and writes much of the book from that perspective. How appropriate. Though Musial found stardom in a big way, he never […]

Baseball’s Craftsmen

George F. Will’s “Men at Work” is a classic. Twenty years after the book stood at No. 1 on the NYT Bestseller list for 19 straight weeks, it’s back as a re-release. This week, for those of us who were too young to appreciate it the first time around, let me shed light on what […]

Dousing the Flames

My, have the one-time accessories known as pitchers evolved. You see, when baseball began, pitchers served as a launching pad for batters’ rockets. Standing 50 feet from their counterpart, only a few moments snuck by before their rockets went up, up and away on contact. As recently as 1980, relievers milled around in the shadows. […]

Sweet or Oh So Sour

Black and white. Cut and dry. Or, in the case of aspiring baseball players from San Pedro de Macorís, red and blue. There is a wide disparity between those who reach the high levels of professional baseball and those who do not. That’s the setting we are exploring in Mark Kurlansky’s new book, “The Eastern […]

Once Considered Jewels, Baseball Cards Have Lost Luster

Remember the days when “gem” referred to the rock on a lady’s finger or to a pitcher’s performance? Remember the days when you’d scrounge up three or four dollars for a pack of cards, hoping that you’d find that 1:150 insert? Today we journey back to yesteryear with Dave Jamieson’s “Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards […]

Psst… Wanna know a secret?

“Wanna know a secret? A lot of your heroes weren’t the men you thought they were. The reality of the game they played differs from your ideal picture too. OK, I guess that’s not really a surprise. But more often than not, histories paint romantic pictures of yesterday’s stars. Perhaps some childhood mischief or an […]

“Ball Talk: Baseball’s Voices of Summer”

I was recently sent a free copy of Kevin Bender’s DVD, “Ball Talk: Baseball’s Voices of Summer,” a 1989 documentary hosted by Larry King that “celebrates Hall of Fame-honored baseball announcing pioneers Mel Allen, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Jack Buck, Curt Gowdy and Ernie Harwell…” I watched it on Saturday and it’s fantastic!  The film […]

Stark Shows that it is “Worth the Wait”

I have been an admirer of ESPN’s Jayson Stark since I was knee high to a batting tee and he wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The way he combines his baseball insight, humor and “Useless Information” pieces is a perfect mixture if you want to maximize your baseball knowledge yet keep the tone light. Stark […]

Book Review: Joe Cronin, A Life In Baseball

One of the perks of being a baseball bloggers is, at times, you get a chance to get a free baseball book on the off-chance that you’ll write about it to an audience that may care what you have to say.  I’ve had four or five of these opportunities come directly to me, but this […]

Fading From the Scene

At the end of the winter meeetings there is little talk of huge, long-term contracts.  Maybe there are no $200 million dollar players this year, but it’s also because the loudest, brashest owner, who drove that market for years, isn’t there any more.  Actually there are two owners, giants in their time, who are fading from the […]

Book Review: “The Baseball Talmud”

Howard Megdal’s The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-By-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players was a joy to read, even for an Agnostic like me.

“The Boys of October”-Un libro magnífico (A Magnificent Book)

“Ted Williams and the 1969 Washington Senators, the Last Winning Season”

The author’s second book, Ted Williams and the 1969 Washington Senators: The Last Winning Season, is scheduled to be released by McFarland Publishing on February 24, 2009.

Book Review: “Rumor in Town”

The story of Ellsworth “Babe” Dahlgren is about more than just the life of a ballplayer. It’s about redemption, loyalty, promises made and kept, and love; love between a grandfather and grandson, between a player and his boyhood idol, and between a man and the game he fell for at age six while sitting in […]

Book Review: “The Eastern Colored League”

This won’t be your typical book review. 

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