It’s been said that to understand baseball, you have to understand its rules. But how many of us want to read the official rules of baseball? That’s where the Baseball Field Guide by Dan Formosa and Paul Hamburger comes in.
It adds illustration and explanation to the rules of baseball – and will definitely add [...]
Every off season we talk about free agents on the market – but the idea of a free agent has always been a part of baseball. Prior to 1975, players were subject to the reserve clause, effectively ensuring that they were the property of the team they played for, and giving them little bargaining power [...]
When I was a kid, my uncle Ted used and I used to play catch, and every once in a while he’d slip in a knuckleball. Dancing through the air, it both fascinated me and made me laugh at how it moved unlike any other pitch.
Author Dave Clark shares my love and fascination for the [...]
My Uncle Ted recently turned me on to a book that I know you’ll either love or hate by just reading the first chapter – it’s called Baseball & Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter’s Box. It’s a collection of 24 short essays written about the philosophical side of baseball – from the warrior ways of [...]
With September upon us, we’ll see several new faces in each of the dugouts of the major league clubs, and among those new faces, several will be part of a big league ball game for the very first time – certainly a memorable moment in any ballplayer’s life.
Josh Lewin has compiled the memories of some [...]
Whenever my buddy Neal and I go to a ball game, we always end up having these hilarious conversations about baseball – which turn into hilarious conversations about other things. It’s the same way that Michael Kun and Howard Bloom came up with the idea to write The Baseball Uncyclopedia.
Two guys on opposite sides of [...]
One of the main reasons I love baseball – and reading about baseball – so much, is that there are so many things to write about. The history, the stories, the stats – it’s all there to spend some ink on.
And just when I thought I’d pretty much seen it all as far as topics, [...]
Do you write letters anymore? I admit, I don’t as much as I should. And when I ask if you write letters – I mean with a pen and paper…not an e-mail.
Well, author Seth Swirsky does – and in his book Baseball Letters, he writes to his heroes – ballplayers, some famous, some not so [...]
With the season in full swing and the draft just completed, I was interested in reading Roy Rowan’s new book – Throwing Bullets. It’s the story of two young pitchers in the Minnesota Twins’ minor league system chasing the dream of making it to the big leagues.
From the moment I picked up the book – [...]
Blunders. What a word – it’s more than a blooper – you know, those clips we see on the big screen at the game of outfielders running through the wall or players running into each other. Bloopers make you laugh.
Blunders are much bigger – you almost have to say they’re more thought out. But at [...]
