books

So for the first time in my life I read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was published in 1900 after being written a few years before.  This article is not about if the the Wizard of Oz movie is better that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book; this post is about the...
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After Jackie by Cal Fussman (published by ESPN in 2007) is one of those underrated books that really delivers. After Jackie is a 200 page book which compilies interviews conducted by Fussman and some quotes from other sources. Fussman also does a fantastic job with framing each chapter with a personal and historical preface....
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SI’s Selena Roberts (the reporter who created the last A-Rod fiasco) is releasing her A-Rod book. Snippets that were released by her fellow MEDIA members were picked up by the newswires, so this is a global news story. Bad timing for her publisher, however. Yankees fans are focused on the season and need A-Rod’s bat;...
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Becoming Manny is an “authorized biography” written by Dr. Jean Rhodes and reporter Shawn Boburg which set out to explain why Manny is Manny, by researching Manny Ramirez’s life by interviewing family members, coaches, teammates, managers, and analyzing newspaper, TV, and internet reports. Ultimately, the question is: is Manny Ramirez is a villain or a...
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Here’s a quick list of players mentioned from Joe Torre and Tom Verducci’s The Yankee Years along with how they are portrayed by their peers, trainers, management, etc. (warning: spoilers)- Derek Jeter: A no-nonsense saint who does all the things right. Cross him, and he will cut you out of his life. Didn’t feel like...
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Part of the fallout of The Yankee Years was players and front office members coming out of the woodwork to either dispute the content in the book or say that Joe Torre violated confidentially. After reading the book, I can now give you a clear answer on if Joe Torre and Tom Verducci “crossed the...
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I’ll spare the details in this review post (in future posts, I’ll go into it), as this is just a review. Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci pretty much wrote the history of modern baseball in The Yankee Years. Although everyone- including myself- calls it “Joe’s book”, it truly is a joint effort to cover baseball from...
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And then it was revealed that the New York tabloids tricked the world again. Ironically, the national MEDIA and blogs always bash the New York Daily News and New York Post for being inaccurate, but for some reason, they always cover and spread the exact story the tabloids publish. Let’s take The Larry King Show...
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Ralph Kiner and Danny Peary put together a classy autobiography and post-war baseball history book with 2004’s Baseball Forever. Kiner’s life, stories, anecdotes, and opinions are interesting, informative, and reading this objective book can give the reader a lesson on baseball from the 1940’s to today. Ralph’s Pirates career is detailed in full- he was...
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John Feinstein reports the 2007 season through the eyes of Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina (going through his worst season) and Mets pitcher Tom Glavine (on his quest for 300 wins). Both storylines evolved: Mussina lost his starting role for the first time in his career, and had to make modifications to get better, and watched...
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