Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category

Review: Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends

Monday, April 14, 2008
by Geoff Young
By Rob Neyer Fireside: 331 pp., $16 paperback What is baseball without its stories? The game has captured America's heart over the years not only through the calling of balls and strikes but also through the telling of tales. As stories are passed along, sometimes the details get shifted. Other times, they were wrong from the beginning but nobody bothered to check. Now Rob Neyer has checked for us. In Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends, the author dissects more than 80 stories that have embedded themselves in the baseball canon. As a devout follower of baseball, I'm struck by three elements of Neyer's work: how thorough his ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Book Reviews | 41 Comments »

Management by Baseball

Wednesday, May 3, 2006
by Geoff Young
Management by Baseball By Jeff Angus Collins: 272 pp., $22.95 hardcover Don't let the title fool you. Although this book is aimed at actual and would-be managers, the insights can be of use to anyone who has to deal with managers, which is just about everyone. Using lessons learned from field and general managers in the game of baseball, Angus walks us through the four components of effective management: the ability to manage mechanics, talent, oneself, and change. He cites numerous examples, including, among others, Pie Traynor's refusal to rest his regulars down the stretch in 1938 and costing his Pirates the pennant, Mike Scioscia's emphasis on aggressive ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Book Reviews | 8 Comments »

Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

Spalding’s World Tour

Monday, April 10, 2006
by Geoff Young
Spalding's World Tour By Mark Lamster Public Affairs: 368 pp., $26 hardcover Albert Spalding in 1888 led two teams of baseball players across five continents in an effort to bring America's game to the rest of the world (and help Spalding establish his sporting goods empire on distant shores). By ship, train, and even camel, the group played games in locales such as Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Cairo, Naples, Rome, Paris, London, Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin among many others -- 57 games in total between the "Chicago" and "All-America" teams. But the games were only part of the adventure. If you think that labor strife, deceit, and controversy are new developments in baseball and long for the "good old days," then this book will provide the strong dose of reality ...
Keep reading >>

Posted in Book Reviews | 1 Comment »