RIP, Philip B. Dusenberry

From The New York Times, Dec. 31

“Dusenberry was born on April 28, 1936, in Brooklyn, the eldest child of a cab driver. He attended Emory & Henry College, in Virginia, on a baseball scholarship, but he dropped out after the athletic program and his scholarship were discontinued….”

“Mr. Dusenberry also dabbled in the film business. He was a co-author of the screenplay for the movies “Hail to the Chief,” a 1973 political satire, and The Natural….”

Caption for picture, above: “Philip B. Dusenberry in 2001. His ads for New York tourism featured Yogi Berra conducting the New York Philharmonic.”

Lest we forget

At the end of each year, many magazines, newspapers, and TV shows devote some space/time to celebrities who passed away during the previous 12 months.

Sad to say, I’m at the age where the incidence of those baseball figures I recall from my youth are heading for that great dugout in the sky.

Among those who died in 2007 whose baseball cards I still possess are (although not necessarily the ones depicted below):

Closer to home were two interviews I did for my newspaper with Lou Limmer and Mickey Rutner.

I had visited Mr. Limmer at his New Jersey home in 2006 and  he was kind enough to sign a copy of his card, which he “shared” with Mr. Rutner as the two oldest Jewish ex-major leaguers in the Jewish Major leaguers set. This past September, I had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Rutner. Shortly after the piece, I mailed him the card, asking for his autograph as well. A few weeks later, it was returned to me, unsigned, with a note from his wife saying he had passed away shortly before my letter arrived. Timing is everything.

And, of course, as pertains to this particular blog, baseball lost some of its best writers in 2007, including David Halberstam, Jack Lang, Mark Harris, and Charles Einstein.

***

A fine reference for brief ballplayer obituaries can be found in The Baseball Necrology, by Bill Lee (no, not that Bill Lee.)

David Halberstam

Although this piece from the NY Times Sunday Magazine is not baseball related, per se, David Halberstam, produced several well-received books on the game (with additional titles about other sports), including:

• October 1964
• Summer of ‘49
• The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship

It’s rare to find such a well-rounded writer, who can be so eloquent on matters of great, and relatively small, consequence.

Books from unlikely authors

Mel Didier was one of the countless players who rounded out a team’s roster. Never a star, or even a regular player for the most part, he remained in the game on the sidelines, as a coach and scout, so he has a few stories to tell, which he does in Podnuh, Let Me Tell You a Story.

The writer of this piece describes himself as a long time friend, so when he says, “If you buy one baseball book this winter, you can’t go wrong buying this one,” you have to take it with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, it’s the stories of players like Didier that do present a more realistic image of the game than those of the superstars.

Canseco’s new book

I can’t remember which TV sports pundit said it, but it’s a good point:

If the players Canseco has named so far haven’t taken PED, wouldn’t you think they’d have looked into civil suits? Well now it’s reported he’s going to name more athletes in his new book, Vindicated, which is due out in the spring.

This guy would have been great in the McCarthy era.

Aside form the players who might be outed, there are others who aren’t necessarily thrilled with the new project.

Happy birthday, Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg

Every time the High Holidays come around, you can be sure you’ll be reading stories about Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, the two greatest Jewish baseball players of all time. Both refused to compromise their religious beliefs to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews — Edgar Guest even penned a poem in Greenberg’s honor to commemorate his devotion — setting the standard (and putting pressure on) current Jewish players to make a similar decision if and when the situation arises. Some skeptics in the audience consider it more of a “religiously correct” move rather than strict observance since the majority of the athletes don’t attend services.

Koufax was born December 30, 1935; Greenberg on January 1, 1911. There are scores of anecdotes about what these superstars meant to a community not known for its collective athletic prowess, including this one, which appeared in the NJ Jewish News awhile back.

My own story goes like this: The major American Jewish organization I was working for decided to honor Mets owner Fred Wilpon with its annual award. Wilpon invited his good friend and high school baseball teammate, Koufax, to attend. I was in the public relations department and asked the event phtographer to trail me for awhile as I approached the notoriously shy Hall of Famer. I finally was able to corner him for a moment and this is the result (I’m the one on the right, in case you’re wondering. I edited it to sepia because it is a very old picture.):

Koufax’s star was relatively brief, but for five seasons (1966-66), Koufax, in increasing pain for an arthritic elbow, had arguably the best streak of any pitcher. There are plenty of sites were you can find those stats, so I won’t repeat them here. And, like many of his generation, Greenberg — also a member of the Hall — spent several years fighting for his country in World War II.

Books about Koufax include:

• Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy (Harper Collins, 2003)
• Koufax, by Edward Gruver (Taylor Trade, 2000)
• Koufax, by Koufax and Ed Linn (1966)

Books on Greenberg include:

• Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life, by Greenberg and Ira Berkow (Crown, 1989. In 2001, Berkow also released Hank Greenberg: Hall of Fame Slugger, slimmed-down bio, through the Jewish Publication Society of America.)
• Aviva Kempner produced an excellent documentary, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, in 1999.

(Many books about Koufax and Greenberg target young, Jewish readers for the their actions offer but they’re omitted here.)

The Amazon Report: Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy
Koufax, (by Koufax and Linn)
Koufax, (by Gruver)
Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life

This issue in Baseball Digest (Jan./Feb. 2008)

COVER STORY: Deep in talent, Red Sox will be an imposing force again in 2008

Baseball Digest’s all-star rookie team, by George Vass

2007 Player of the year: Phillies Jimmy Rollins, by John McMurray

2007 Pitcher of the year: Red Sox Josh Beckett, by Gordon Edes

Baseball Profile: Devil Rays outfielder Carl Crawford, by Rick Sorci

Colorado slugger on the rise to stadom (Matt Holiday), by Jeff Berlinicke

Statistics/Charts
• Players who had the lowest batting average with 100 RBI in a season
• Perfect game battery mates
• Players with most RBI in one inning
• Managers with most career wins
• Players with most career stolen bases
• Players with most stolen bases, season
• Pitchers with most wins as teammates
• Pitchers with most post-season victories
• All-Star Game results (1933-2006)
• Players who hit for the cycle in the major leagues

Happy birthday, Bill Lee

The Spaceman turns 61 today. Books by or about Lee include:

• Baseball Eccentrics: The Most Entertaining, Outrageous, and Unforgettable Characters in the Game, with Jim Prime (Triumph, 2007)
• The Wrong Stuff, with Richard Lally (Paperback edition by Three Rivers Press, 2006)
• Have Glove, Will Travel: The Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond, with Richard Lally (Paperback edition by Three Rivers Press, 2006)
• The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History, with Jim Prime (Triumph, 2003)

Review: Branch Rickey, Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman

From the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune.

Columbians might remember when Mr. Rickey collapsed on Nov. 13, 1965, as he was being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame at the Daniel Boone Hotel and when he died on Dec. 9 at Boone County Hospital without regaining consciousness.

Upshoot: “The reader does not have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the mesmerizing story [author Lee] Lowenfish weaves.”

The new free agents: Not who you think

The New York Times recently ran this article about sportswriters as the new breed of free agent, moving from publication to publication for higher and higher salaries. Rick Reilly recently left Sports Illustrated for ESPN The Magazine, while Dan Patrick did the reverse (think of it as a trade of two superstars). These are just two of the more recognizable names to a national audience.

The competition for writers has even produced bidding wars, especially for big-name columnists … but also for less widely known reporters. People who were briefed on the deals said that Mr. Reilly’s contract, easily the biggest of the recent signings, was worth more than $3 million a year.

“It’s the exact same model as what happened to athletes,” said Leigh Steinberg, a top sports agent. “We’re seeing free agency for sports journalists.”

Newspaper scribes have been hopping around ever since Guttenberg invented movable type. It’s not surprising to find a Maury Allen or Filip Bondy type who’s written for several papers in the same market, although with the decline of multiple papers over the decades, this is no longer the case:

Rising demand for star sportswriters, driven by rising television and Internet revenue, coincides with the declining fortunes of newspapers, which has left fewer jobs and less money to go around for most journalists. The paradox is not lost on the lucky few who benefit.

I used to love buying the Street and Smith’s Baseball Annual each spring. For much of my youth, it was the only game in town. Now it competes with similar offerings from Athlon, Lindy’s, and others. It was fun to catch up on who was starting. Here’s a brief list of the sportswriters who will be playing for a new team, in addition to Reilly and Patrick:

• Selena Roberts, from the Times to ESPN
• Howard Bryant, Washington Post to ESPN
• Mark Fainaru-Wada, San Francisco Chronicle to ESPN (is there a pattern here?)

“When you lose an established star like Howard Bryant, it’s a terrible blow, because they’re not easily replaceable,” said Mr. Garcia-Ruiz of The Post. “We’re used to being a destination, not a stepping stone.”

Other articles recognize the influence/importance of the sportswriter, including Slate, which refers to the Times’ piece and maintains that “stars” of the industry (Ring Lardner, for one) have always been well-compensated; and this blog entry, which considers “Baseball as an analogy for the writing game…“

McFarland, publisher of eclectic baseball titles

McFarland Publishers has a unique place in the world of baseball literature. Known for their eclectic academic work in the arts, sciences, humanities, etc. they also specialize in topics that might be considered extremely narrow in interest within the national pastime. In fact, it seems comfortable to say that if it were not for this Jefferson, NC-based house, many of these books would either be self-published or not published at all.

A cursory look at their listings shows such wide-ranging titles as Baseball Barnstorming and Exhibition Games, 1901-1962; Watching Baseball, Seeing Philosophy; Baseball and the Blame Game; Class at bate, Gender on Deck and Race in the Hole; Baseball’s Retired Numbers — the list goes on, covering every aspect of genre literature: biography, poetry, fiction, statistical analysis, management, amateur and outlaw leagues, etc.

For the most part, the authors have impeccable credentials and McFarland deserves credit for giving them the forum they might not have outside of academic presses.

Speaking of forums, McFarland also hosts a Web site devoted specifically to their baseball titles which deals not just with promoting the books, but serves as a clearinghouse of information to the community, offering reviews and links to other sites of interest. The forums deal with academic treatment of the game; baseball on the Web and in the media and arts; conventions and meetings; and general book discussions.

You won’t find tell-all autobiographies from the player/flavor of the month here, nor glossy photo montages. One of the knocks on McFarland is that much of their product looks the same — paperbacks with few illustrations, practically never in color. Another is the high price: usually about $30 for softcover, substantially higher for hardcover which can put these hard-to-find subject matters out of reach of readers.

Nevertheless, McFarland is the publisher to turn to for books on your favorite sport that you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.

No baseball titles on Times’ “must-read” lists

Three book reviewers for The New York Times weigh in with their top choices of the year. Not much of a surprise that there are no baseball titles deemed worthy of inclusion (not even on their list of 100 Notable books for 2007.)
I actually have a few of the titles listed, including Michael Chabon’s latest novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, even though I usually don’t go in for fiction. I’m chagrined to say that although I do have these books — including Schulz and Peanuts; Einstein: His Life and Universe; and Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Morality (and I’m sorry, but every time I see The Nine, I automatically think it’s the title of a baseball book. Similarly, The House That George Built seems like it should be about Yankee Stadium) — I have yet to read them. But it seems I’m not alone in that shortcoming, according to, again, the Times.

Yet another list…

Film critic Richard Roeper’s best and worst baseball films of all time:

Best (In order of preference)	Worst (In alpha order*)
The Natural	The Babe
Bull Durham	The Babe Ruth Story
Field of Dreams	The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
Bang the Drum Slowly	The Fan
Pride of the Yankees	Fear Strikes Out
Major League	Major League: Back to the Minors
	The Slugger’s Wife

* because the author says at some point, awful is just awful.

From 10 Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed & Other Surprising Movie Lists, Hyperion, 2003.

These have been culled from Roeper’s lists of all-time best and worst sports movies. There have been a few additional baseball films since this book came out. At the risk of speaking out of turn, I would venture to add The Rookie to the “best” side while some might put the remake of The Bad News Bears in the “worst” category.

If you ever wanted to know…

What, if anything, those rankings mean on Amazon.com or the Barnes and Noble site (BN.com) mean, read Carl Bialik’s March 23, ‘07 column from his Wall Street Journal column, “The Numbers Guy.”

 

Author of We Are The Ship to appear at Negro Leagues Museum

In response to a recent entry on artist Kadir Nelson’s We Are the Ship, Bob Kendrick of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, wanted readers of the Bookshelf to know that the museum will display a number of the original paintings used to illustrate the book in an exhibit beginning January 26, 2008.

“The NLBM already has several of Kadir’s works in its collection that were donated by San Diego Padres owner John Moores. Kadir was the museum’s featured artist in a groundbreaking national traveling exhibition developed by the NLBM called ‘Shades of Greatness.’ So we most definitely look forward to showing off his latest masterpieces,” Kendrick wrote in an e-mail.”The young man is an amazing talent.”

The artist/author will be on hand for the opening of the exhibition — which runs through April 13, 2008 — and will participate in book signings and other programs being developed by the NLBM.