Hank Did All Right

“Yes!” “No!” “Yes!” “No!” “Play!” “Don’t play!” It was enough to make Hank Greenberg’s head spin. You would think Greenberg’s Tigers were on some sort of barnstorming tour or beginning their exhibition slate. You would be wrong. This cloud of conflict swirled around the Tigers first baseman as Detroit and New York found themselves in [...]

Lessons from a Legend

One of the most compelling aspects of sports or reality television is that while they are simply games, life lessons are readily available. That is the premise of Lang Whitaker’s “In the Time of Bobby Cox.” A native Georgian turned New Yorker, Whitaker gives Cox credit for shaping many of his views. Read this book [...]

John Thorn and Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game

March 2011 was an interesting month concerning author and historian John Thorn. The same can be said for enthusiasts of baseball’s origins and how the game evolved during the 19th Century. On March 1, Commissioner Bud Selig named Thorn the Official Baseball Historian of Major League Baseball, a post held by only one other person [...]

Dreams Turned Nightmares

In 1949, a 29-year-old Phillies first baseman was surging. Standing more than 6-feet tall, 175 lbs. and equipped with a pleasant disposition, he had the total package. Whether at the plate or in the field, he exuded cool. Former teammate Lennie Merullo said of Eddie Waitkus, “It was like his head actually rested on top [...]

“Gorgeous George,” a Beauty

Doling out compliments is not one of the first qualities that springs to mind when one thinks of Ty Cobb. Yet Cobb went way beyond that when he lauded George Sisler. Cobb called Sisler the “œnearest thing to a perfect ballplayer.” (5, Sizzler). Cobb didn’t exude praise, so there had to be a reason for [...]

Fast Times at Crenshaw

Several years ago, I read a book called “The Last Shot.” It is a basketball book, yes, but its narrative is strikingly similar to this week’s read, “The Ticket Out” by Michael Sokolove. Both books are wound in the stuff of cinema. By the climax, each story unravels into something far more raw. Read “The [...]

Maple Street Press Phillies Annual 2011 – The Phillies Fan’s Equivalent to Spring Training

Once the Super Bowl ends there are certain signs that I look for that tell me that baseball is close to starting again. The obvious first one is the date pitchers and catchers report, which appropriately fell on Valentine’s Day this year. The next is when the first game of spring is played in either [...]

Only a Friend Would Know

Learned. The dictionary defines the adjective “learned” as “having much knowledge”; “acquired by experience.” Yep, I’d say 95 years of life qualified Elden Auker. This week, read the righty’s take on baseball’s biggest stars along with proud and humbling moments from his years around the game. “Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms“ by Elden Auker with [...]

The Greatest Pitching Duels of the Century

Sticking to my policy of reviewing only books I can highly recommend, I bring you a gem by Jim Kaplan, long-time “Sports Illustrated” writer and author of a dozen previous baseball books, including a fine biography of Lefty Grove. His new volume, titled The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching [...]

What was He Supposed to Do?

Who knew a World Series could bring such pain? Fresh off toppling the rival Yankees in 1955, Dodgers Walter O’Malley could only rejoice for so long. Decisions loomed. Death, in a sense, was palpable. O’Malley staved off it off as long as he could. In “Forever Blue,” Pulitzer Prize winner Michael D’Antonio guides readers through [...]

“Havana Heat” by Darryl Brock

Fans of Darryl Brock will find much to admire in his novel Havana Heat. It is very reminiscent in feel and tone to his classic If I Never Get Back and its sequel Two In the Field. There is no time traveling in this novel but it is a  travel back in time. The hero [...]

When Twelve Weren’t Enough

Where were you on the afternoon of April 17, 2010? That afternoon the Cardinals and Mets embarked on a 20-inning game that lasted close to seven hours. On the way to their 2-1 win, I wonder if anyone on the Mets had epiphanies of Harvey Haddix. Haddix pitched a perfect game for 12 innings in [...]

Honig Gives Boost to All

Sit down to watch “A Hall for Heroes,” “Baseball’s Golden Age,” “When It was a Game” or any number of other baseball programs. No doubt you will hear plenty from Donald Honig. Maybe you have delighted in one of 12 baseball books he has authored. This week, allow the man with plenty of baseball yarns [...]

Talk about a Gathering!

We’ve all seen the photo. It’s the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Opening Day in 1939. Naturally, “The Sultan of Swat” sits in the center. Nine men, who may or may not have been Ruth’s equals but were without question baseball immortality, surround “The Babe.” “A Great Day in Cooperstown“ begins with this photo. My, oh [...]

Baseball Cards as Life

This week, Josh Wilker puts a sweet and sour blend of nostalgia on to simmer in “Cardboard Gods.” All of us remember the ritual of opening a fresh pack of cards. This task could only be handled with held breath and a pair of rubber gloves to ensure corners remained perfect and legends’ faces un-fingerprinted. [...]

Speaker Spoke Plenty Loud

Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle. All four men bring to mind ideals you want in an outfielder. How about Tris Speaker? Speaker joined Cobb and Ruth on the membership roll when the Hall of Fame opened in 1939, yet not much is said or written about him. Speaker didn’t have Ruth’s power [...]

Humdingers and Head Scratchers

Why not start the new year with a jolt? From a man who mixes pot and pancakes, throws his own pitch (the Leephus), and has something to say about everything comes “Baseball Eccentrics.” Read Bill “Spaceman” Lee’s collection of anecdotes and one-liners because: 1. Lee presents his cast of characters as just that, men who [...]

Under the Baseball Big Top

Quick, look over there. You better not blink because you just might miss the best play you will ever see. For better than 40 years, that’s what folks came to expect when teams like the Indianapolis Clowns came to town. Think of the Harlem Globetrotters in their heyday. The Clowns might pull off some hijinks [...]

From Bicycle Spokes to Back Rooms

Only days before Thanksgiving this year, a news story hit the wire that a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card brought in big money at auction.  That the Wagner card went for $262,900 is, of course, no surprise. Who that money went to transcended sport. A group of nuns from the School Sisters of Notre Dame in [...]

Marvelous Mack

Connie Mack, “The Tall Tactician”, Major League Baseball’s longest-tenured manager for 50 seasons with the Philadelphia A’s, employer of the $100,000 infield. If ever you wanted to discover something about Mack or the dawn of baseball, chances are you will find it in “Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball“ by Norman L. Macht. [...]

The Beacon of Birmingham

In the midst of a dark and all-too predictable world, Rickwood Field became a beacon. Birthed out of a conversation with Connie Mack, the ballpark started with a handful of rivals but outlasted each of them to stand peerless. Read Allen Barra’s “Rickwood Field: A Century in America‒s Oldest Ballpark“ because: 1. Similar to last [...]

The Sweet Swing of a Slugger

Nowadays, it’s difficult to think of baseball players without talk of steroids, performance enhancers, or at least strength training. More than a century ago, however, raw skill and equipment formed a power-packed duo that dictated a player’s success. “Sweet Spot: 125 Years of Baseball and the Louisville Slugger” by David Magee and Philip Shirley is [...]

“That’s the Way Baseball Go” On

The San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers held their season-ending rallies on Wednesday. What’s a baseball fan to do? How about reading about one of the two World Series participants? After an MVP-caliber regular season, Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton returned from injury to lead his team to the Fall Classic. So what if [...]

Mickey Mantle: The Last Boy

“Get the f___ outta here. It’s like a cemetery to me.”     – Mickey Mantle National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum When I first saw Mickey Mantle he was standing next to a barbecue grill in the late afternoon light outside a motel room in St. Petersburg, Florida.   He struck a relaxed and happy pose, [...]

Book Review: Strike IX

“This is bad.” With those three words, the horrific truth of their future thrust upon the Providence College Friars. Paul Lonardo’s Strike IX highlights the final season of the Providence College baseball team. In this stimulating account of pride and passion, Lonardo brilliantly ties together the motivated young stars who put together a historic, memorable [...]

Bigger Than the Game: Bo, Boz, The Punky QB and How the ’80s Created the Modern Athlete

In a span of 366 days, four players changed the landscape of sports as we know it. Without the use of a hot tub time machine, author Michael Weinreb takes us back to 1986 in Bigger Than the Game: Bo, Boz, The Punky QB and How the ’80s Created the Modern Athlete, a remarkable study [...]

How Does It Feel?

“Numbers merely describe the surface of baseball . . . No incisive statistical pocketknife, wielded however skillfully, can dissect and reveal the heart of baseball to the serious souls who study the game.” David Baldwin, Snake Jazz For the past few months I’ve been studying baseball and reading its literature almost exclusively, at the expense [...]

“Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain”

In January 1977, shortly before resigning as Director of Public Relations for the New York Yankees, Marty Appel approached team captain Thurman Munson about collaborating on the catcher’s autobiography. Initially, Munson, who had recently been named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, was reluctant. “I’m only twenty-nine,” Munson said. “No one does an autobiography at [...]

Black Ball, Both Real and Imaginary

I’ve never been a huge fan of baseball fiction. The game’s natural mythology and unforgettable luminaries since the turn of last century is so rich and entertaining by itself that I never felt a need to delve into stories and characters separate from the real ones. I did make an exception for W. P. Kinsella’s [...]

Story of 1921 Expertly Researched and Written

1921: The Yankees, The Giants, & The Battle For Baseball Supremacy In New York by Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg is one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time.  Spatz and Steinberg put a lot of time and effort into their 515-page recollection of the 1921 season and it shows.  In fact, [...]

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 [...]

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