Author: fartheroffthewall

The book: “Being Ted Williams: Growing Up with a Baseball Idol”
The author: Dick Enberg, with Tom Clavin
How to find it: Sports Publishing, 176 pages, $24.95, due out May 15.
The links: At Amazon.com, at the publisher’s website.

A review in 90 feet or less: It goes back to the Vin Scully line, about making God smile by telling him your plans.
More than a year ago, Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Enberg, about to retire from broadcasting San Diego Padres’ games, wanted to time it so he could come out with a book about his boyhood hero, Ted Williams, just before the 100^th anniversary of The Splendid Splinter’s birth, in August, 2018.
To have it also come out in June, it was also perfectly timed for a Father’s Day gift.
But time didn’t wait for Enberg to see it come through. He passed way last December, 2017 at age 82.
We planned as well to use this as the first book in the 2018 book review series. The release date was pushed back a bit. We have yet to see a review copy. When we do we will update this post. But we couldn’t let this series go without giving it a seat at the table, based only on Enberg was so joyous about this project as he told us about it, and we knew he would enthusiastically do all sorts of author appearances and interviews to support its eventual release.
For now, we’ll go by Enberg told us, and what he also wrote in a previous biography, about how as a kid growing up in Mount Clemens, Mich. (before moving to the San Fernando Valley), he would hit rocks over a telephone wire with a stick as he impersonated Williams’ swing.

In 1969, Enberg’s first year calling Angels’ games in Anaheim, Williams was in town as the manager of the Washington Senators.  Enberg had conveyed this story before: Continue reading “Day 29 of 30 baseball book reviews for 2018: Dick Enberg’s final tribute to Ted Williams hits home” →

Excuse me ….
I was trying to get the attention of someone working the frenzied Friday night floor at Barney’s Beanery atop the Redondo Beach Pier. All the different sports on the dozens of TV monitors throughout the place added to the derangement.
“Excuse me,” I asked a bit louder. “Can you put the Dodgers’ game on?”
On a night when L.A. had no Lakers, Clippers, Kings or Ducks playoffs games to otherwise take center stage, there happened to be a Dodgers-National game of national importance. The marquee matchup of Clayton Kershaw against Max Scherzer taking place at Dodger Stadium, was exclusive to SportsNet LA.
Kershaw was moments away from delivering the first pitch when a couple flicks of the remote eventually got the game onto two screens behind the bar, one more off to the left, and another behind me.
That’s it?
Less than a dozen pitches into the game, Kershaw was trailing 2-0. A cheer came from the bar area.
It was from a Nats fan, waving his menu in the air.
Excuse me, but what’s wrong with this picture?
There are many ways the SportsNet LA experience continues to baffle some, and be completely off the radar for others.
But could things be changing soon? Pay attention to the Department of Justice suit against AT&T trying to take over Time Inc., and the trickle-down effect it could have with SportsNet LA distribution.
More at our weekly media column posted on the Southern California News Group websites.

The book: “The Baseball Fanbook: Everything You Need to Know to Become a Hardball Know-It-All/Sports Illustrated for Kids”
The author: Gary Gramling
How to find it: Sports Illustrated for Kids/Liberty Street/Time Inc., 192 pages, $19.99, released April 3
The links: At Amazon.com.

A review in 90 feet or less: The second part of a “what’s best for the kids” selection has to start with dubious journey Sports Illustrated seems to be on these days.
Its parent company is trying to sell off this asset at a time when the weekly publication cut back to biweekly distribution.
If this is the future of the iconic brand, why bother cultivating the younger demographic? Because, for now, it’s worth the effort. At least in the book department.
The Sports Illustrated Kids, producing a monthly print and digital magazine aimed at the 8-to-14 reader as well as a website, since its launch in 1989, has a supposed circulation of seven million for its magazine, recognized by Parent’s Choice and the Educational Press for its content.
So with that branding, it has produced excellent 101-type books for Little League-aged kids and beyond – in 2017, it had “Big Book of WHO in Baseball” (kindergarten and up).
In 2016, it had “My First Book of Baseball” (preschool to first grade) and “Baseball Then to WOW!” (grades one to three).
Back in 2013, it had a best-selling children’s baseball book with “Goodnight Baseball” (kindergarten to second grade).

Continue reading “Day 28 of 30 baseball book reviews for 2018: With more kid’s stuff like this, at least SI can focus on the future” →

The book: “The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers, and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America’s National Pastime”
The author: Alex Irvine, with illustrations by Tomm Coker and C.P. Smith
How to find it: Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House, 176 pages, $18.99. To be released May 8
The links: At Amazon.com, at the publisher’s website.

A review in 90-feet or less: Circle back to 2018 review No. 1: “Why Baseball Matters.” Author Susan Jacoby has a call to action in the afterward that includes:

“When you take a kid to a ballgame, give her an interesting baseball book afterward. There are so many wonderful books about baseball that it should be possible to find the right one for every child. Try both the sublime (for example, Lawrence Ritter’s ‘The Glory of their Times’) and the ridiculous (like ‘The Baseball Hall of Shame’  by Bruce Nash and Allen Zullo).”
And now, this one (and one more on Day 28 of our reviews).

Comic books were never our thing. We had plenty of friends into it. We laugh watching the crew on “Big Bang Theory” converging at the comic book store.
But there has to be a variety of entry points for a kid in the age range – or even an adult who spends his afternoons browsing through back issues of Spider-Man – to introduce the game’s history and why it matters on today’s media platforms. Continue reading “Day 27 of 30 baseball book reviews for 2018: This graphically illustrates another way to get kids to read more about baseball” →

The book: “Gator: My Life In Pinstripes”
The author: Ron Guidry, with Andrew Beaton
How to find it: Crown Archetype, 240 pages, $24, released March 20.
The links: At Amazon.com, at the publisher’s website.

A review in 90-feet or less: There are a few reasons in this media era that might compel a former ex-big leaguer to come out with a memoir.
We are flatly confused by the motives by the former Yankees pitcher who, not to steal his thunder, but we though was better known as “Louisiana Lightning.”
*Possibility A: Maybe he seeks Hall of Fame attention. Guidry’s stat line: 14 years, all with the Yankees from age 24 to age 37, covering 1975 through 1988. A record of 170-91, with a ridiculous 1978 season of 25-3, 1.74 ERA, nine shutouts and a club-record 248 strikeouts, including a team-mark 18 against the Angels on June 17. That got him a Cy Young, second in MVP, and he led all of pitchers in WAR at 9.6.
He also was 22-6 in ’85 and 21-9 in ’83 when he had 21 complete games. Four All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, two World Series titles, 5-2 in the postseason with a 3.02 ERA. Despite his reputation, he never led the league in strike outs, surprisingly. Continue reading “Day 26 of 30 baseball book reviews for 2018: Don’t want to be a hater, but … Later, Gator” →