Recent book reviews:
Francona:
The Red Sox Years
Just
Win Baby (and other non baseball tomes)
Sports Book
Reviews
By Dr. Harvey
Frommer
(HARVEY FROMMER IS AT WORK ON A BOOK ON THE FIRST SUPER BOWL, 1967.
ANYONE WITH CONTACTS, STORIES, SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE GET IN
TOUCH).
“Nailed,” “501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before
They Die” and much more . . .
“Nailed”
by Christopher Frankie (Running Press, $25.00, 288 pages) is as its sub-title
notes is all about “the improbable rise and spectacular fall of Lenny
Dykstra.” If you are interested in the subject matter - - kiss and tell
– this is the book for you. The author, who needed a better editor,
rambles through page after page of information no would really cares about
showing the unlikable former Met, former financier, former con artist in
all kinds of duplicitous moments like employing Craigslist job ads to get
women to come to him. The former 13th round draft pick had his
high moments – All Star, a hero in the World Series, ownership of an
$18-millon mansion, a widely quoted financial savant. This book is not one
of them.
Ron
Kaplan’s
“501
Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die” (University of
Nebraska Press, paper, $24.95, 420 pages) is pricey for a paperback;
nevertheless, the long time reviewer has outdone himself with this terrific
research job. All types of baseball books are represented among the 501 favored
by the author. Full disclosure – your faithful scribe is well represented
with three of his books Remembering
Fenway Park, Remembering Yankee Stadium and
New York City Baseball. Bravo Ron
– can’t wait for the next volume on
football.
“Bird
at the Buzzer”
by Jeff Goldberg (University
of Nebraska Press, paper, 285 pages) is a through account of one of the legendary
games in women’s basketball – Uconn-Notre Dame, March 6,
2001.
“How to Make Every
Putt” by Dr. Joseph Parent (Gotham, 123 pages) is a slim volume
filled with practical and theoretical tips on putting by a guy who knows
the score.
From Simon
and Schuster comes “Long Shot” by Mike Piazza with Lonnie Wheeler, $27.00,
374 pages). It is standard sports hero fare, a rags to riches story with
a lot of “I did this” and “I did that” along the. This
tome should especially appeal to fans of the Mets.
“Who’s
On Worst” by Filip Bondy (Doubleday, paper) is a likable volume
by the NY Daily News sports columnist.
The work is a cavalcade of shouts and screams about some of the worst performers
in the history of the national pastime.
“I
Never Had It Made” – Jackie Robinson’s autobiography
re-issued by Ecco Press (paper, 279 pages, $14.99 in time as collateral reading
for the flick “42” is a moving and still relevant take on the man
who broke baseball’s color line. The new edition has a classic look
and feel to it.
"Inside
the Baseball Hall of Fame"
(Simon and Schuster,
$35.00, 209 pages) features 200 full color images of bats, balls, player’s
uniforms, historic documents. It is a trivia fan's delight showcasing such
items as Jackie Robinson's Day-by-Day sheet from his rookie season, the "Green
Light Letter" from FDR that urged that baseball go on as usual during the
second world war, spikes worn by "Shoeless Joe" and in full disclosure
buttressing your reviewer’s claim in his "Shoeless Joe ad Ragtime Baseball"
that Joseph Jefferson Jackson wore shoes - expensive ones and baseball spiked
ones, too. HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED.
"The
Baseball Instagrams of Brad Mangin" (Cameron & Company, $18.95,
160 pages) is a delightfully designed book that features photographs through
the lens of an iPhone in the square format of Instagram. The especially tiny
sized tome has very little in the way of words but packs a wallop with a
marvelous variety of baseball photos.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
From author Lucas Mann and Pantheon publishers comes
“Class
A” Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere” (336 pages, $26.95).
This is a beautifully created and lyrical look at a year in the life of
minor-league baseball team and the factory town in Iowa. The story of the
2010 Clinton LumberKings belongs on your sportsbookshelf. It will remain
on mine.
NOTABLE
