It has been some time since I have stumbled across a baseball book that made me question its existence. There have been some books that were bad, some that were misguided or without focus. There have been books that lacked purpose or were written poorly. Not until Bart: A Life of A. Bartlett Giamatti did […]
A Trip to the Library
A Trip to the Library: I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies
Tim Kurkjian’s career is that of a likable individual. I’ve long thought he is exactly that and this book does absolutely nothing to change my opinion of the man, for the first 200 or so pages. During that span, the former Baseball Tonight mainstay comes across as one of the most likable blokes to ever […]
A Trip to the Library: The Negro Leagues Were Major Leagues
If ever there was a topic that is geared specifically for me, it’s the topic that this book purports to be about. I have written extensively about the major league status of the leagues I have come to refer to as the Negro major leagues. Any exploration of this topic is welcome by me as […]
A Trip to the Library: Pete Rose: An American Dilemma
Early on in Kostya Kennedy’s book, it becomes clear that he has no desire to provide any sort of deep introspection into Pete Rose. All he has to offer is a surface-level analysis of, well, nothing. That meant something needed to be added to make the book flash in some way. A book without substance […]
A Trip to the Library: Playing America’s Game
When we talk about professional baseball and the idea of the color line that dominated Major League Baseball’s activities for so many years we are almost exclusively talking about black ballplayers. Specifically, African-American ballplayers. Most discussions of the Negro Leagues are centered on African-American ballplayers. The eventual breaking of the color line is once again […]