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Day 15 of 2021 baseball book reviews: It’s Jackie Robinson Day, and his core relevance in a BLM-injected society may be more needed than ever

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“42 Today: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy”

The editor:
Michael G. Long
Forward by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon
Afterword by Kevin Merida

The publishing info:
New York University Press
Washington Mews Books
256 pages
$27.95
Released Feb. 9, 2021

The links:
At the publisher’s website
At Powells.com
At Vromans.com
At The Last Book Store in L.A.
At PagesABookstore.com
At Amazon.com
At BarnesAndNoble.com
At Target.com
At Indiebound.org
At Bookshop.org

“Jackie: Perspectives on 42″

The editors:
Bill Nowlin
Glen Sparks
Len Levin
Carl Riechers

The publishing info:
Society for American Baseball Research
$29.95
324 pages
Released March 19, 2021

The links:
At Amazon.com

The reviews in 90 feet or less

In the second chapter of the new Tom Callahan book, “Gods at Play: An Eyewitness Account of Great Moments,” the author writes about being at Game 2 of the 1972 World Series and finding Jackie Robinson was on the field.

Robinson was 53 “but looked 73,” Callahan writes, “white-headed and virtually blind from diabetes. Nine days later he had a heart attack and died. …

“I followed Jackie as he was led into the Reds’ dugout and up the ramp to the clubhouse, where Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times was standing.
“ ‘Jackie, it’s Jim Murray,’ he said.
“ Aw Jim, aw Jim,’ Robinson said. ‘I wish I could see you again.’
“ No Jackie,’ Murray said. ‘I wish we could see you again.’”

Each year, it’s our hope to see another new book or two that puts Robinson in greater context, knowing so much has already been committed to ink and binding that the challenge becomes greater over time. The books then get the spotlight on the annual Jackie Robinson Day in April.

In 2021, does the angst of our current life and times make Robinson even more relevant as an historical marker?

“Legacies are never easy to describe with accuracy and certainty,” Michael Long writes in the introduction for “42 Today.” “They’re like moral character – best viewed from many different angles, in historical context, and over a long period. Like studies of character, explorations of legacies also lead to a culminating question: Is there anything that ties the different parts together? In this case, is there a unifying element in the various legacies that Robinson left us?”

If one writer/author/historian can only take Robinson through his prism of expertise, why not try more than a dozen?

In the leadoff spot, if anyone could be best suited for the role, it’s Long, an associate professor of Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies at Elizabethtown College, a few hours West of Philadelphia. He’s at the top of the lineup based on three previous notable works on the subject that we have previously reviewed and endorsed:

== “First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson” in 2007
== “Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life After Baseball,” in 2013
== “Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography,” with Chris Lamb in 2017

Dedicating this book to Rachel Robinson, Long’s non-sabremetic approach really is about numbers – those he calls “esteemed contributors … filmmakers, writers, journalists, scholars and activists …  (who add depth and nuance to the Jackie Robinson that our culture has unjustly frozen in 1947.”

Seventeen voices are assembled, with Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, who did the three-part, four-hour Robinson bio project for PBS in 2016, using the forward to re-emphasize Robinson’s “meaningful change” by trying to “remember him in full.”

Continue reading “Day 15 of 2021 baseball book reviews: It’s Jackie Robinson Day, and his core relevance in a BLM-injected society may be more needed than ever” →

Day 14 of 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Dave Parker snakes his way back into the conversation

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“Cobra: A Life of Baseball And Brotherhood”

The author:
Dave Parker
and Dave Jordan

The publishing info:
University of Nebraska Press
480 pages
$34.95
Released April 1, 2021

The links:
At the publisher’s website
At Powells.com
At Vromans.com
At The Last Book Store in L.A.
At PagesABookstore.com
At Amazon.com
At BarnesAndNoble.com
At Indiebound.org
At Bookshop.org

The review in 90 feet or less

Let’s overthrow the cut-off man and cut to the chase here: Does Dave Parker and all his bad-assery belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Has he been unjustly wronged by having been overlooked during his 15-year eligibility that ended in 2000, and then coming up short in two subsequent special committees in 2017 and 2019?

How do we fix this? Or is the fix in?

Because if that’s not on the forefront of the reader’s mind as he ponders the impetus for this piping-hot and pleasantly plump Parker memoir landing with a thud 30 years after his retirement, then you’re not connecting dots.

Indulge us in creating a timeline on the life and times of the man they coolly called Cobra:

= June 9, 1951: Born in Grenada, Mississippi

= June 24, 1973: After three months at Triple-A Charleston, Parker tells the team “I’m out of here” – it’s either a promotion to the big league Pittsburgh Pirates or back home to Cincinnati. When Pirates outfielder Gene Clines is injured on July 10, Parker is brought up, but manager Bill Virdon says it will be a platoon, benching him against left-handers.

= July 12, 1973: About seventh months after the death of Roberto Clemente, the Pirates put 22-year-old Dave Parker into right field, batting leadoff in his major-league debut, as he goes 0-for-4 in the Pirates’ 4-0 win at San Diego. He finishes with a .288 average in 139 games. Three years later, he’s third in the NL MVP voting at age 24.

= 1978: With a league-leading .334 batting average (and a second straight batting title), a league-best .585 slugging percentage to go with 30 home runs and 117 RBIs, he wins the NL MVP award.

= January, 1979: Parker signs a $5 million, five-year contract, making him the first athlete in team sports to earn $1 million a season.

= July 17, 1979: All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in NL’s 7-6 win at Seattle, highlighted by Parker throwing out Jim Rice trying to stretch a double into a triple at third base in the seventh inning, and throwing out Brian Downing trying to score at home in the eighth inning to send the game into the ninth tied 6-6.

= April 2, 1984: After 11 years in Pittsburgh, where fans were more and more disenchanted with his abilities and playing condition, Parker lands with his hometown Cincinnati Reds, who sign him as a free agent to play under manager Pete Rose.

Released in Sept., 2010.

= Feb. 28, 1986: Parker is one of 11 players suspended, and seven handed a whole-season suspension, by commissioner Peter Ueberroth,  later exchanged for fines and community service. It stems from their involvement in testifying during the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials, one of the game’s biggest scandals. Parker’s testimony in exchange for immunity led to the conviction of six Pittsburgh men for distributing cocaine. 

= Dec. 1987 to Sept, 1991: Traded to Oakland (a member of the Athletics’ 1988 ALCS champion team and ’89 World Series winners); signed as a free agent with Milwaukee, traded to the Angels for Dante Bichette; released by the Angels after 119 games, after he put up a .233 average with 11 homers and 56 RBIs as a DH, signed as a free agent with Toronto.

= Oct. 2, 1991: Final game is a 1-for-2 effort in the Blue Jays’ eventual 6-5 win at SkyDome against the Angels. After his sixth-inning double off Scott Bailes, the 40-year-old Parker is taken out for a pinch-runner.

His 19-year career totals: 2,712 hits, 339 homers, a .290 batting average, .810 OPS, 154 stolen bases, 40.1 WAR, three Gold Gloves (a league-best 26 assists from right field in 1977), seven All Star appearances, twice named Edgar Martinez Award for top AL DH, three World Series appearances, two championships.

= 1996: In his first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame, he receives 85 votes (17.5 percent). The next year is his best result – 116 votes (24.5 percent). He topped 20 percent only one more time (1999) in his 15-year run that ends with 15.3 percent in 2010.

= 2017: One of the 10 candidates up for consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame through a vote of the committee judging the Modern Era of Baseball (players whose greatest contributions came from 1970 to ’87). Jack Morris and Alan Trammel receive enough votes; Parker was listed among six who received fewer than seven votes. The voting panel consisted of executives Sandy Alderson, Dave Dombrowski, David Glass, Walt Jocketty, Doug Melvin and Terry Ryan, media members/historians Bill Center, Steve Hirdt, Jack O’Connell and Tracy Ringolsby, plus Hall of Fame players George Brett, Robin Yount, Rod Carew, Dennis Eckersley, Eddie Murray and Ozzie Smith.

= 2019: Again, in the pool of 10 considered for Hall induction by the Modern Era committee, Parker receives seven of 16 votes (43.75 percent), but is fourth best, trailing electees Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller. The same 16 voted on these 10 as they did on the 10 two years earlier. “I think it’s all political,” Parker says of the latest vote. “I’m the best damn player that they had in my era. I did all I could do.”

= April, 2021: “Cobra,” Parker’s memoir, is released.

= November, 2023: The next time Parker’s name comes up for consideration again by the Modern Era Committee.

And the discussion begins all over.

Continue reading “Day 14 of 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Dave Parker snakes his way back into the conversation” →

Day 13 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Before this gets any messier, let’s go Metsy … no, really, can we just move along …

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“So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of
The New York Mets – The Best Worst Team in Sports”

The author:
Devin Gordon

The publishing info:
Harper
400 pages
$27.99
Released March 16, 2021

The links:
At the publisher’s website
At the author’s website
At Powells.com
At Vromans.com
At The Last BookStore in L.A.
At PagesABookstore.com
At Amazon.com
At BarnesAndNoble.com
At Indiebound.org
At Bookshop.org

The review in 90 feet or less

In your best Seinfeld voice, ask yourself the question: So what’s the deal with the New York Mets?

You may have seen how Thursday they managed a wonky walk-off. Guy leans into a strike-three pitch, barely gets nicked, dupes the ump and forces in the winning run. Teammates mob him. To actually … celebrate?

There are only so many ways to legitimately win a baseball game, and this isn’t one of them. And here, with “So Many Ways to Lose,” such as the team did on Opening Day as chronicled by the New York Times,  Devin Gordon brings us up to speed as to why none of this should be surprising, even for the baseball gods looking to balance some karmic conflict resolution.

What makes a Mets fan so “Metsy,” as Gordon writes, is to acknowledge the history of a franchise that came about to replace the void left by the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers moving west and have always been the anti-Yankees in the New York Metropolitan area.

It’s also why, other than those focused on The History of The Yankees, there are at least a few books that come out each spring in hopes of capturing more disposable income of fans from Queens who can’t get enough stabbing pains in the groin.

Despite a “miracle” championship in 1969, less than a decade after their birth and 120-loss season, plus other post-season successes that fans of other teams might sell their souls for, the Mets are an entity that, before “So Many Ways To Lose,” those of us on this side of the coast might not actually care to even muster feigning interest.

Continue reading “Day 13 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Before this gets any messier, let’s go Metsy … no, really, can we just move along …” →

Day 12 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Zen and the Art of Ichiro Logic

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“The Only Way is the Steady Way: Essays On Baseball,
Ichiro and How We Watch the Game”

The author:
Andrew Forbes

The publishing info:
Invisible Publishing
192 pages
$19.95
Released April 2, 2021

The links:
At the publisher’s website
At the author’s website
At Bookshop.org
At Indiebound.org
At Powells.com
At Vromans.com
At The Last Book Store in LA
At PagesABookstore.com
At BarnesAndNoble.com
At Amazon.com

The review in 90 feet or less

One of the self-preservation books we came to lean on during the pandemic was a New York Times’ bestseller from 2018 that continued to stay relevant called “Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones” by James Clear. (Avery Books/Penguin/Random, $27, 320 pages).

The end game is a realization that if you can make yourself better by one percent every day for a year, you’ll end up 37 percent better by the time you’re finished. If you go one percent worse each day, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The analogy is how whacking a rock with a hammer 100 times doesn’t cause it to finally crumble because of that 100th whack, but it was the 99 previous blows that made the small progress leading up to that moment. There’s plenty of biology, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology and more that goes into it. Like, math, maybe …

Sports also has its place in this playing-out-the-string theory.

When he was coaching the Lakers in the 1980s, Pat Riley developed a number-driven formula – Career Best Effort – that captured one’s peak performance and then found ways to force a player to improve upon at by one percent with each new measurement.  “The CBE Program is a prime example of the power of reflection and review,” writes Clear. “The Lakers were already talented. CBE helped them get the most out of what they had and made sure their habits improved rather than declined.”

When Canadian-based Andrew Forbes slowly but surely plowed through his own COVID consternation and produced a follow up to his 2016 book, “The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays,” the focus was back on how small amounts of progress get us by.

And baseball can show how that’s done.

Baseball is habit forming, right?

The title of this collection here comes from a quote of Forbes’ favorite player, Ichiro Suzuki. And not to create any sort of spoiler alert, but this is what Ichiro said when asked about his philosophy of life, and what Forbes holds up to the light.

From page 161:

“I don’t know much about a philosophy of life, but when I think of it as a way I go through life … I can’t work harder than everyone else. Right until the end, you are only measured against yourself. As you do that, as you see your limits, you try to over and over surpass yourself a tiny bit. That’s how I eventually become who I am. One can only do this in small increments, but that is the way to surpass yourself. If you try and change in leaps and bounds, that gap between where you are (and your target) becomes too large and I think unsustainable. So the only way is the steady way.”

You can’t hit a six-run homer, so try going base to base and keep the lineup turning.

Continue reading “Day 12 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Zen and the Art of Ichiro Logic” →

Day 11 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Ground control to Major Bill, in a radicalized non-chronological form

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“The Spaceman Chronicles:
The Life of the Earthling Named Bill Lee”

The author:
Scott Russell

The publishing info:
Stillwater River Publications
447 pages
$24.99
Released Oct. 13, 2020

The links:
At the publisher’s website
At Powells.com
At Vromans.com
At TheLastBookStoreLA.com
At PagesABookstore.com
At Amazon.com
At BarnesAndNoble.com
At Indiebound.org
At Bookshop.org

The review in 90 feet or less

Accepting the premise there are variously shaded gray areas between genius and insanity, creativity and wacked out, linear and off the rails, the terms we have reached at the conclusion of this exercise is that a review relying less on reactive words and more on encouraging a very late-night reading experience of this radicalized homage to “an Earthling named William Francis Lee III, aka Bill Lee and one who would eventually be known as ‘The Spaceman’” would be the most realistic way to introduce this the general population.

In other words, simply noting the book’s existence and hubris may be all we’re authorized to do in this space.


A traditional bio of the now 74-year-old would have notations of trajectory starting with his birth in Burbank, rearing in Canoga Park, success in taking Rod Dedeaux’s USC team to the 1968 College Baseball World Series title, and continual efforts to set records for age-related athletic achievements by pitching in professional contests. Much has already been laid out in various book forms.

The most renowned would be “The Wrong Stuff,” with Dick Lally in 1984 (Viking Press, 242 pages), shortly after Lee realized the MLB world wasn’t ready to keep him around in his late 30s. It was also a year after the success of the movie “The Right Stuff” about the original Mercury 7 astronauts, playing right into Lee’s strike zone. A paperback was reissued in 2006 by Three Rivers Press to coincide with a Hollywood version of his life, but if we recall, there was something lost in the historical portal translating 20th Century events into the 21st Century of entertainment.

Just before the reissue, Lee popped up with “The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History,” with Jim Prime (2003, Triumph Books, 224 pages) as well as another Lally-aided literary piece/followup called “Have Globe Will Travel: Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond” (2005, Crown, 320 pages).

As a way again to revive Lee’s spirit and genius, because we all should never forget it, statistician and long-time Lee drinking pal Scott Russell (who also thinks of himself as someone named Kilgore Trout) writes about how he got Lee’s New Year’s Eve blessing to launch this random-looking look-back and give it the name as homage to “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury.

Continue reading “Day 11 of (at least) 30 baseball book reviews in 2021: Ground control to Major Bill, in a radicalized non-chronological form” →