This one is a bit more literary than most, since Dan Quisenberry was a published poet.
On Days Like This: Poems was published in 1998, the year he passed away.
This sample of his work is even sadder because of his untimely death.
BASEBALL CARDS
that first baseball card I saw myself
in a triage of rookies
atop the bodies
that made the hill
we played king of
I am the older one
the one on the right
game-face sincere
long red …

The Wali of Wallop, the Rajah of Rap, the Caliph of Clout, the Wazir of Wham, the Colossus of Clout, Maharajah of Mash, the Behemoth of Bust, the King of Crash, the Colossus Of Clout, the King Of Swing, the Terrible Titan, the Kid of Crash, the Jovial Giant and, of course, the home run king, was born this date in 1895.
Books on The Babe are too numerous to mention …

Another attempt to catch up on almost-forgotten items:

An assessment of the 2011 Topps card set. Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but this looks like a set I’d like to have. Nice look, but there’s something about it that seems almost like a throwback to the days I was collecting (which I haven’t done for at least 10 years, other than a pack or two per issue).
Another list, this time of …

The conclusion of my interview with George  Castle.
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George Castle, the Illinois-based journalist, has made a sideline writing about baseball in general and the Cubs in particular. I had a chance to speak with Castle about his latest title, When the Game Changed: An Oral History of Baseball’s True Golden Age: 1969–1979.
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.m.

Title
Rank

General

Baseball Prospectus 2011
1

Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook)
2

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle rank in category: #5)
3

The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy (Kindle rank: #3)
4

The Extra 2%: …

The long-time Yankee pitcher (with a brief diversion through Houston), will announce his retirement today.
Pettitte was one of the Mt. Rushmore of Yankees who came up through the minor league system and brought a new dynasty in the mid 1990s, including Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera. Pettitte had that one PED bump in an otherwise upstanding career. While his won-loss record is outstanding –  240-138 — his ERA …

This is a response that any interviewer loves to hear. It indicates the interviewee finds the query interesting and/or hasn’t heard it before (or is just buttering up the interviewer).
So here’s a good one posed by TB Sports blog:
“How many baseball books do you read each year?“
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About 20 years ago, I happened upon a used book store in Toronto that had an amazing selection of baseball titles. A) Does anyone know the name of the store, and B) is it still around these days? Merci.
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George Edward Taylor played two seasons in the Majors — seven years apart — in the late 1800s.
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Schoendeinst, that is. Another one of those baseball lifers, he turns 88 today.
The Man Who Fought Back: Red Schoendienst was published in 1962, three years after he recovered from tuberculosis. Almost 40 years later, he released Red: A Baseball Life.
Schoendienst, who managed the St. Louis Cardinals from 1965-76 (back-to-back pennants in 1967-68 and the World Series in ’67) and for partial seasons in 1980 and 1990, was elected to the …

Since I don’t know if you folks get to the comments portion of the program, I thought I’d post these remarks  about the issue of memoirs submitted by Bill Lewers — whose book I reviewed in December — as a stand alone entry.It seems Genzlinger’s comments in the Times‘ Sunday Book Review on the relative (non-) worth of such projects is a lightning rod for discussion.
As someone who has led …

Apropos to what James Bailey and I were going back and forth about last week, this piece by Neil Genzlinger on the merits — or lack thereof — of memoirs in the  Times’ Sunday Book Review caught my eye because one of the four authors included was Sean Manning, who had edited last year’s Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time.
Bailey had written …

The most popular post on this blog was one that resulted from listening to my favorite podcast, NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, hosted by the erudite Peter Sagal, a local hero ’round these parts (who just celebrated a birthday, I might add).
That particular entry involved former Major Leaguer Moose Skowron, the guest for the show’s “Not My Job” segment just about two years ago. I won’t …

I haven’t done the research, but I would venture to guess Jan. 31 has the record for most Hall of Famers born: Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, and Nolan Ryan.
Robinson would have been 92 today. As befits his stature in American as well as baseball history, there are dozens of books written about him, for all age levels. Here are just a few:
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Robinson played himself in the eponymous film …

The man who led the Mets to the 1986 World Championship in 1986 turns 68 today.
Just curious: how come no one raised much of a fuss when he hit 43 home runs in 1973 for the Atlanta Braves? He previous high had been 18 and he never hit more than 15 after that record-setting season. When Brady Anderson hit 50 in 1996, all sorts of eyebrows were raised…
Anyway, Johnson was …

I wanted to give James Bailey’s well-stated comment on my post about reviewing “up front” treatment:
Ron, Just to clarify, I do think we have a greater responsibility to the reader. A reviewer’s responsibility to an author is to be fair, not to be positive. The books I’ve passed on reviewing were typically bad books that most readers would not likely stumble onto on their own. Though there is no limitation …

Intro: As previously stated, the recent election of Robert Alomar and Bert Blyleven got me to thinking: how many Hall of Famers have had books written about them or penned their own stories. Here are the results. Again, this is not an all-inclusive list; almost all juvenile titles have been omitted.

Home Run Baker (Elected 1955):

Frank “Home Run” Baker: Hall of Famer And World Series Hero (Hall of Famer and World …

And by “we,” I mean book reviewers.
My colleague/competitor James Bailey posted this entry about the dilemmas we face when writing about the blood, sweat, and tears of authors on his own baseball book blog:
A great book will usually sink its claws into me pretty quick, pronouncing itself a cut above its peers within a chapter or two. Depending upon the hype, I may begin with high expectations …

I was just looking his numbers. He broke in with the NY Giants in 1956, hitting 23 doubles, seven triples and 22 home runs in 138 games. He drove in 59 runs, batting mostly in the , and stole 15 bases. Impressive. Too bad he was a rookie in the same Year as Frank Robinson, who won the NL Rookie of the Year, winning all 24 first place votes.
White turns …