Review: “The Father of Baseball”

A review of Andrew Schiff’s new book on Henry Chadwick from Bleacherreport.com.

Upshot:

Even though I consider myself a devoted student of baseball history and lore, I didn’t know very much about Harry Chadwick and everything he meant to the game I love.

But thanks to Andrew Schiff and his wonderful biography, I do now. For that I am very grateful.

More from The Glory of Their Times

From YouTube, clips from Lawrence Ritter’s interviews with “Wahoo” Sam Crawford, Hans Lobert, and Jimmy Austin from his 1966 classic The Glory of Their Times. The video also features the voices of Ty Cobb and Cy Young.

Audio/visual from The Glory of Their Times

An interview by GOTT author Lawrence Ritter with Fred Snodgrass, presented in a slide show backed nicely with Scott Joplin music.

Review: Facing Clemens

Hitters on Confronting Baseball’s Most Intimidating Pitcher

By Jonathan Mayo. The Lyons press, 2008.

Mayo, a senior writer for MLB.com, had his book ready to go before the Mitchell Report was released last month. One can only imagine what he thought about the trickle-down effect caused by the revelation that Clemens was about to replace Barry Bonds as the biggest question mark in the game. And by question mark, I think I’m being charitable; most surveys I’ve seen place public opinion squarely against The Rocket.

After the release of the Mitchell Report, I wondered if any of the 13 players Mayo interviewed in the book would like to revise their opinions. Well, 12 if you give a pass to Koby Clemens, who faced his father in batting practice and an exhibition game. Would they still hold Roger in the same high esteem if they thought his gifts were store-bought instead of natural?

None of that, of course, is Mayo’s fault. He wrote an honest appraisal, supplementing his narrative with plenty of statistical evidence (perhaps too much at times), picking players who faced Clemens on a regular basis (Cal Ripken Jr. and Ken Griffey Jr.) or in limited appearances (Gary Carter); who did well or poorly (Torii Hunter and Phil Bradley) against him; who knew him for a longtime (Dave Magadan, Julio Franco) or recently came on the scene (minor leaguer Johnny Drennen). The rest of the batters include World Series opponents Chipper Jones, Darryl Hamilton, Luis Gonzalez, and Juan Pierre.

Clemens himself wrote the foreword for the book. Needless to say, he had nothing to say about the murmurs that were circulating even before the MR.

Somewhere on the Internet, there must be a website that would tell you who Clemens hit more than any other batter, but one sticks out to any fan of the game: Mike Piazza.

According to Baseball-reference.com, Piazza has a .421 career regular season batting average off Clemens Five of his eight hits (in 19 at bats) went for extra base hits, four for homers. It was after one of those homers that Clemens hit him in the head with a pitch. As if that wasn’t bad enough — Clemens should absolutely no contrition — the Game 2 of the 2000 World Series, the pitcher threw Piazza’s sawed-off bat at him as he trotted to first. (It would have been most interesting to hear Piazza’s assessment of Clemens.)

Overall, Facing Clemens is a “good piece of hitting” by Mayo. It will be interesting to see if the fallout from recent and future events will play into the book’s sales.

Yankees, AG (after George)

Here’s a sneak preview of the latest edition of Play, The New York Times‘ sports supplement, which features an article by Jonathan Mahler (Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning) on the change in Yankees stewardship. Hal and Hank Steinbrenner have only been in charge a short while, but they’ve already alienating people with their manners (or lack there-of).

The Art of Baseball

From the Litchfield County (CT) Times, this article about sports art dealer Bill Goff, whose “primary business is to publish and market, by direct mail and web site, limited-edition, signed and numbered offset lithographs of ballpark/arena/golf scenes and sports still lifes.”

Baseball quiz, mostly movies

From the Palm Beach Post. I’m embarrassed to say I got a 92.

Announcement: Cubs Forever

From the Chicago Sun Times, this report of a local TV documentary on the WGN-Cubs 60-year relationship. An accompanying book, Cubs Forever, is due out from Triumph Books this spring.

This leads to an observation on the recent trend towards “copy-cat” books that use the same format tailored to each team. For example, in addition to the book on the Cubs, Triumph has published similar editions for the titles The Chicago-based company also has a series on “_____” Essentials: Everything You Need to Know to be a Fan for several major league clubs, as well as “______” Forever, which takes a more nostalgic look at a particular ball club’s history (including the Cubs). Their latest “series” is The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from _______ History. So far this imprint includes The Indians, Pirates, Tigers, Twins, and Reds.

Naturally, such specific titles are more suited to fans of the teams in the title rather than general followers of the game, although Triumph is one of the better sports-centric publisher.

Happy Birthday, Pepper Martin

Born Feb. 29, 1904.

A prominent member of the Cardinal’s “Gas House Gang” of the 1930s, Martin had a .298 average over his 13 year career, all spent with St. Louis.

He’s one of 12 major league players who were leap year babies.

The Amazon Report:

The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series–and America’s Heart–During the Great Depression

Review: 101 Reasons to Love the Mets

by David Green. 2008, Stewart, Tabori & Chang.

ST&C have published a series of these books for several teams already, including the Yankees and Red Sox. The binding/dust jacket is reminiscent of an old photo album and that’s exactly the feeling the reader will get. In fact, like that old keepsake, these little books are basically interesting to those with a direct relationship to the team.

Green does a nice job in picking the highlights of the Mets’ 40-plus year history, bringing to many of the highlights (and low ones) and some of the ball club’s most beloved characters/players, including Casey, Choo Choo, Marvelous Marv, Krane, Tom Terrific, Mookie, The Kid, Rusty, Mex, Nails, Straw, Doc, HoJo and a host of others. Then there are those great moments: The 69 world Sries, the Game Sixes of 1986: the playoff against the Astros and the Buckner Boot in the Series; the first interleague win against the Yankees; Piazza’s game-winning home run in the first game back after 9/11. The cover price, a relatively low $14.95, is worth the price of admission to a walk down memory lane.

A few more “Reasons”:

• Harry Chiti, the player who was traded…for himself
• Gil Hodges walking to the outfield to pull a lackadasical Cleon Jones from the field
• David Cone’s 19 strikeout game
• Bret Saberhagen’s 1994 season in which he won more games (14) than walked batters (13)
• Anthony Young’s 27 consecutive game losing streak (Hey, they’re not all gems.)

I could go on, but then there’d be no point in reading the book.

Review: Your Brain on Cubs

Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Edited by Dan Gordon. Dana Press, 2008

You have to feel for Cubs fans. More so than Red Sox fans, who even before two championships in three years seemed to have a sense of entitlement, despite the team’s misfortunes and poor performances. Cubs rooters, at least to New Yorkers, were less fatalistic, more quietly resigned to their fate. Don’t mind me, I’ll just sit in the corner and not bother anybody.

The contributors to this slim collection of essays are mostly professionals and academicians concerned with what actually goes through the brain the participant (”Why Did Casey Strike Out: The Neuroscience of Hitting” by John Milton, Ana Solodkin, and Steven J. Small, and “Risks and Asterisks: Neurological Enhancements in Baseball,” by Bennet Foddy) and the observer (”The Depths of Loyalty: Exploring the Brian of a Die-Hard Fan” by Jordan Grafman).

The common theme is that sport, in one way or another, serves as a drug. It releases chemicals that can have a positive or negative affect and, in many cases, is addictive. How else to explain sticking with a team that does nothing but disappoint year after year (after year after year)?

One of the more interesting articles considers “Curses!,” by Tom Valeo and Lindsay Beyerstein on the (il)legitimacy of superstitions. If someone believes their luck is enhanced by not stepping on a foul line, who’s to argue? (See the episode of Lost at the end of Season Two where the decision is made not to punch in the computer code after the 108-minute period runs out. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, you’re reading too many baseball books).

Another highlight is “It Isn’t Whether You Win or Lose: It’s Whether You Win: Agony and Ecstasy in the Brain,” by Kelli Whitlock Burton and Hillary R. Rodman — if just for the title alone. It reminded me of a documentary about the Cubs which follows several fan/commentators in the Bartman season. Their hopes and excitement were cruelly dashed by that fateful game. The viewer can see them practically deflate before their very eyes.

The nature of this book, with its tendency to rely overly much on jargon and theory, puts it just out of reach of the hard-core but less academically-inclined fan/reader. But diligence has its reward with some provocative themes that might lead the curious to further research.

Announcement: Waxman and Davis request Justice Department investigation on Clemens

You can read the whole sorry story here.

Review: Scout: 2008 Baseball Prospects Guide

Baseball America started the trend years ago, concentrating it editorial content on the minor leagues and college players. This publication began last year and includes reports on the top 300 in the systems (That seems like a lot, but when you figure it’s the top ten per team, it’s not so amazing. Still I’d hate to bee No. 300 in the overall rankings.)

The team reports are written by beat writers for either an individual team’s house publication, such as the Mets’ Inside Pitch, so one would hope these folks know what they’re doing. Each club has a top stud in its system as well as a “sleeper.” It would be interesting to come back in five years and see how these predictions pan out.

Since Scout is strictly about “what might be,” I would imagine its audience would be much smaller than those who purchase the standard annuals or fantasy-based magazines.

On this day…

According to NationalPastime.com:

Effa Manley, former Negro League team owner, become the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The co-owner of the Newark Eagles is one 17 former players and executives elected by a special committee using new statistics from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues.

The Amazon Report:

Queen of the Negro Leagues : Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles

Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles (American Sports History, No 1)

Just an observation…

but did anyone notice that the co-author of Game of Shadows, the book that blew the cover off of Barry Bonds and the whole steroids scandal, is named Mark Fainaru-Wada. That’s WADA, as in World Anti-Doping Agency.

Coincidence? Or destiny?

Hmmm.