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.
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.
An interview by GOTT author Lawrence Ritter with Fred Snodgrass, presented in a slide show backed nicely with Scott Joplin music.
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.
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).
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.”
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.
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:
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”:
I could go on, but then there’d be no point in reading the book.
In my "day job," I'm the features and sports editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper. I'm also the editor of the Bibliography Committee Newsletter for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
I did a piece on the award-winning cartoonist and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.
What I'm reading now:
Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain
Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between
So far, so: funny and depressing
What I just read:
Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress
Grade: A
Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, World War II, and the Long Journey Home
I hate to say anything bad abut the story of a member of the Greatest Generation whose war-related injury prevented was what supposedly would have been a brilliant career, and I applaud the author -- the subject's son -- for the affectionate effort, but this was way too sentimental and cliche-ridden; this would have been an appropriate release 60 years ago.
Grade: A for the motivation, D for the presentation.
What's next:
Open, by Andre Agassi
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