mlb – Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall

Day 14 of 2026 baseball books: Any legal recourse to egalitarian promises not delivered?

May 8, 2026May 11, 2026 fartheroffthewall

“Bleacher Seats and
Luxury Suites:
Democracy and Division at the
Twentieth-Century Ballpark”

The author: Seth S. Tannenbaum, Ph.D.
The details: University of Illinois Press, 304 pages, $30; released March 31, ’26
The links: The publisher, the author, Bookshop.org

A review in 90 feet or less:

To anyone of a certain age still most profoundly comfortable printing out an airline boarding pass because this idea that a QR code will stay secure in your smart phone after TSA is done running it through their radio-active scanners — or, more realistic, the problematic consequences of watching that smart phone fall into a Terminal 5 restroom urinal just 10 minutes before Group 12 is called — the plight of Errol Segal doesn’t sound all that bothersome.

A so-called “long-time season-seat holder” — as if that is a necessary qualification — Segal’s end game recently was to just get the Dodgers to just give him printed-out Dodger Stadium entrance tickets. Yes, everyone else seems A-OK with the post-COVID practice of having tickets downloaded to an app, to be waved in front of an infrared light with the aid of a very useful employee there to problem solve. You just hope this works through your glass-cracked phone screen, and, if you’ve bought tickets on the secondary market, the company’s software is compatible with with the stadium’s approved ticketing partner.

Plus, Segal is just fine with his flip phone and how it fits in his day-to-day business. His age or whether he can afford some kind of iPhone/Android upgrade shouldn’t be a factor either.

It’s perhaps with some irony that this story didn’t seem to grab many people’s attention until — thanks to modern technology — it became a thing on social media.

Those seeking more intel on Segal’s struggle and his feeling he had been “thrown under the bus” by the team’s administrators sticking to policy could access a) an extended video interview Segal did on a local TV news channel that, after airing a couple times, was now on the company’s website; b) the MSN.com cut-and-paste steal of a California Post story; c) AOL hjijacking a story it found on the demographically-aligned Fox News Channel; d) an earnest follow-up piece by the helpful publisher of the Los Cerritos Community News, and e) this Facebook post that, of course, didn’t quite frame the fan’s age accurately according to other reports, and then provided a perfectly toxic discussion thread, where punctuation-challenged pinheads could chime in with things like:

“Ill be that guy. If you cant use an iPhone in 2026, thats on you. He was 63 when the first iPhone came out. Im sure hes smart, hes had plenty of time to learn how to use apps. Also, iPhones are pretty user friendly for the older community”

“Lots of people feeling sorry for this guy who has had season tickets for 50 years … nah. I appreciate his fandom, but it’s better for him if he learns to live in today’s world. I’m sure someone can teach him how to use a phone. If it’s the learning something new that’s frustrating, that’s not the Dodgers’ problem. I’m GenX, and when we started working, we had to learn how to use all kinds of technology, still working, have learned to use AI, and will continue to learn my whole life. “I don’t know how” is a lame excuse.”

“Can’t wait for the Gen Z’s to get rejected cuz the eye scan doesn’t recognize ‘ancient eye rolls’ in the 22th century!”

“Wait til he tries to buy a hotdog with a $20”

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Day 10 of 2026 baseball books: When the galaxy of stars first came into view

April 24, 2026April 27, 2026 fartheroffthewall

“The First All -Star Game:
Babe Ruth, FDR, and
America at the Crossroads”

The author: Randall Sullivan
The details: Grove Atlantic, 496 pages, $30, to be released June 2, ’26
The links: The publisher, the author, Bookshop.org

A review in 90 feet or less:

Hail and farewell, Garret Anderson.

The sudden death of the retired Angels’ outfielder at age 53 on April 16 at his home in Newport Beach from pancreatic issues was a real cause to pause.

GA gave us more than just general admission access to witness him as the only player to wear a team jersey spanning the California (1994-96), Anaheim (1997-2004) and revived Los Angeles (2005-2008) branding names. Which, coupled with his own rather common-man name, made it easier for him to slip under the national radar despite holding that unique spot in the franchise’s history.

The team’s current all-time leader in games played (2,013), hits (2,368), at bats (7,989), total bases (3,743), doubles (489), RBIs (1,292) and sacrifice flies (76), Anderson is momentary now tied with Mike Trout with most extra-base hits (796), second to Trout in runs scored (1,024), third in batting average (.290, behind Vlad Guerrero’s .319 and Rod Carew’s .314), and, if this comes as a surprise, he’s also third in home runs (272, behind Trout and Tim Salmon).

Garret Anderson carries the World Series trophy after the Game 7 win in Anaheim on Oct. 27, 2002. (Don Emmert/Getty Images)

One other key thing perhaps overlooked when those writing about his legacy covered his “graceful and enduring” 17-season MLB career:

Anderson was the first player to ever win a World Series title, a Home Run Derby title and an All Star Game MVP within a one-year span.

Not so trivial.

In the 2002 World Series, ending with so far the only title in the Angels’ 66-year history, Anderson’s bases-clearing double in the third inning of Game 7 gave the Angels a cushion to ride over San Francisco.

In the 2002 playoffs, covering 16 games, he was 21 for 70 (.300) with two homers, 13 RBIs and 11 runs scored.

In the 2023 Home Run Derby, Anderson proved he belonged — he did have a career-best homer total for a season with 35 in 2000, a year when he only walked 24 times. Anderson outlasted Albert Pujols in the final round to win it, using efficiency to get the job done.

“I don’t look at myself as a home-run hitter, but I know I’m capable of hitting some balls out of the park, and it’s just another platform to go out and show America what I can do,’‘ Anderson said after the eight-man, three-round competition. “That swing I used is not a swing I try to use during the season. It was just strictly for trying to hit the ball over the fence. During the season, mentally and physically, I don’t do that. I look for mistakes and try to hit them hard.”

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Day 6 of 2026 baseball book reviews: When Jack was rooked

April 15, 2026April 24, 2026 fartheroffthewall

“Kings and Pawns:
Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America”

The author: Howard Bryant
The details: Mariner Books/HarperCollins, 320 pages, $32, released Jan. 20, ’26
The links: Publisher site, author website, Bookshop.org

“Royal Treatment:
Jackie Robinson, Montreal,
and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Barrier”

The author: Sean J. McLaughlin
The details: University of Nebraska Press, 296 pages, $36.95, released April 1, ’26
The links: Publishers website, Bookshop.org

A Jack Robinson Day preamble

Only a year ago, as we rounded up the book reviews for Jack Robinson MLB Appreciation Day — or however they’re selling it — the disgust over crude governmental redaction of all things DEI was front and center. It may seem like such a long time has passed. But it’s still lingering.

What would Jack Robinson had done if he was invited with the Dodgers’ championship team to be vetted in the Trump White House? What would his reaction be if he saw that a bio on his World War II military requirement that’s heralding him on the U.S. Department of Defense’s website had been taken down “by mistake” during a Trump-mandated cleansing history.

What could the Dodgers players do, as they were being “honored” for their 2024 World Series triumph, in protest to mark the occasion — all wear No. 42 jerseys? Give Trump a 42 jersey?

It was all the wishy-washy white washing that was abhorrent, and called out.

The irony of this public service announcement is positioning Jackie Robinson next to Bob Feller. In 1947, Feller, an established star pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, publicly expressed skepticism about Robinson’s ability to succeed in the major leagues, predicting he would not be able to hit elite pitching. Feller later observed Robinson with admiration for his courage and composure under extreme pressure, acknowledging his tremendous impact on the game. They were inducted together in the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1962.

When the Dodgers were recently in DC-adjacent territory over the Easter weekend to face the Washington Nationals, they said “a scheduling conflict” precluded them from making a Trump/Easter Egg roll re-visit to mark their 2025 title. Maybe they’ll reconnect sometime later in the season when some of the push back dies down. Hopefully not.

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Day 5 of 2026 baseball book reviews: M(ake) E(nshittification) T(errible) S(omewhere) in the N.Y. branding

April 13, 2026April 16, 2026 fartheroffthewall

Embrace the disgraced general concept of enshittification as it pertains specifically to the New York Mets and, by geographic circumstances, also to the New York Yankees.

As pent-up anger and frustration ruins the way we wade through an existing world of A.I. slop, we learn that the Enshittocene — a noun coined by author Cory Doctorow and then fleshed out in his 2025 book about “Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to do About it” — expanding the definition beyond soul-crushing Big Tech stalwarts can be a healthy exercise for those who need a way to explain their grief and lack of relief.

If the Amazin’ Mets are an Amazon-Meta mashup, and the Yankees, way more than Waymo or Yahoo in their Oracle world, continue to reflect as the IBM of baseball, you Reddit right that it all happens under what locals call the Big Apple, but really it’s acting on algorithms engineered by the gigabytes of Tim Cook’s Apple Inc.

No wonder the Mets and Yankees start this new week having each lost on five consecutive days for the first time in history, according to Sportradar.

An AI query about how any of this might Venn diagram itself on the circles of despair looks like this:

Plenty of other sources that explain how Steven Cohen, who in 2020 bought the Mets for $2.4 billion from his hedge-fund stash that wasn’t penalized for insider trading, has granted the team a MLB-top $352 million payroll for the 2026. The Mets have under contract the highest-paid player in outfielder Juan Soto, averaging $61.9 million in salary. He is currently injured.

The Dodgers circumvent much of this by deferring payments that otherwise would boost their ’26 payroll to $395 million. They also are on tap to pay the highest tax rate on the Competitive Balance Tax payroll for exceeding MLB’s $244 million threshold. The Mets and Yankees are second and third on that list.

For all the lamentations that the Dodgers are ruining baseball with their ownership spending … why is it every July 1 that we’re all reminded that it is the Mets who continue to give 1999 retiree Bobby Bonilla a $1.193,240.20 paycheck and will do so through 2035 for its example of how defer payments continue to haunt a fanbase looking for excuses to be even more disheveled?

ESPN already has already crunched the numbers to deduct that this Mets-Dodgers matchup is on the hook for more than $1 billion in salary liability. Last year’s meeting between the Mets and Dodgers was the previous most expensive series at $764 million in combined payroll — $36 million in total payroll behind this year’s matchup. When you add in their tax bills, the total jumps to over $1.07 billion, surpassing last year’s record of $1.025 billion. The Dodgers and Mets have ranked first and second (in some order) in total payroll four times since 2022. 2023, when the Mets ranked first and the Dodgers fourth, is the only exception during that stretch.

Aside from cash flow, there’s the Zeitgeist/ethos comparison that can also provide more entertainment.

When the New York Times ran an essay in its opinion pages recently with the headline — “Help! My Favorite Athlete is an Idiot” — it was no coincidence that the author was Devin Gordon, who in 2021 produced the most intriguing and pointed book “So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets — the Best Worst Team in Sports” (our review here).

His riff was about how the franchise that continues to provide him with comedic fodder had to be somewhat dismantled over the last offseason because of political ideology that was contaminating the clubhouse vibe. Note: That was Brandon Nimmo batting leadoff for the Texas Rangers during last Dodgers’ homestand instead of what we’ve been used to seeing the Mets as they come into town this week.

As with most NYT stories, some of the best material is buried in the reader responses. Such as:

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Day 3 of 2026 baseball book reviews: The Class of ’68 Brigade

April 3, 2026April 14, 2026 fartheroffthewall

“Before They Wore Dodger Blue: Tommy Lasorda
And the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History”

The author: Eric Vickrey
The details: August Publications, 348 pages, $24.95; released Dec. 7, ’25
The links: Author site, publisher site, Bookshop.org

A review in 90 feet or less:

The time capsule that Sports Illustrated has become, in the musky scent of its recent emasculation, can still be a bit jarring.

When the SI issue of May 19, 1969 arrived at our house, proclaiming a group of “hot young” Dodgers were about come to the rescue of a franchise still trying to find its footing from a 95-win team getting swept in the ’66 World Series, then watching Sandy Koufax retire, and now braced for Don Drysdale heading in that direction, there was some reason for optimism for all the kids in my neighborhood. The magazine’s 40-cent cover price our parents paid was also worth an investment in seeing the future as predicted by our wise elders.

Manager Walter Alston, as we were shown, had Bill Sudakis, Ted Sizemore and Billy Grabarkewitz all ready for the reboot. Tell Danny Goodman to start cranking out World Series trinkets.

Given that those ’69 Dodgers would finish 85-77, fourth-best and just eight-games out in the newly created National League West, it was a bit of an illusion, but much easier to compartmentalize after taking in a 76-86 showing in ’68 (seventh in the elongated NL, 21 games back) and a 73-89 free-fall from ’67 (eighth place, 28 1/2 games back).

Yet, these three Musketeers fresh out of the Mickey Mouse Club would bring it back to glory.

With mixed results.

Sudakis, a catcher and third baseman who signed as a free agent in 1964 a year before the MLB Draft began, hit .234 that ’69 season in 132 games, age 23. Sudsy, as was his nickname, seemed to be all but washed up by ’72 when the Dodgers waived him. The Angels kicked the tires on him before the ’75 season, then released him mid-way through after he hit .121 in 30 games.

Sizemore, a 15^th round draft pick in 1966, somehow won the ’69 NL Rookie of the Year Award following Johnny Bench (in ’68) and Tom Seaver (in ’67) in an otherwise so-so year for up-and-coming talent. Starting at second base, Sizemore would have a career-best 4.2 WAR, hitting .271 in 159 games, age 24. After upping that to .306 in ’70, the Dodgers capitalized on his value, sending him to St. Louis with backup catcher Bob Stinson for Dick Allen (which didn’t end up so well). Sizemore came back to the Dodgers in ’76 via a trade for Willie Crawford, but by ’79, the Dodgers were done with him again, sending him this time to Philadelphia.

Grabarkewitz, taken in the 12th round of the ’66 Draft, was bestowed jersey No. 1 when he came up for 34 games that ’69 season, going 6 for 65 (.092). But the next year, he was on the NL All-Star team, hitting .289 in 156 games with a team-leading 17 homers, 92 runs scored, 84 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.

Then, poof.

In the 2024 book “Baseball’s Shooting Stars: Improbable Ascents and Burnouts in the National Pastime,” author David J. Gordon devotes a special chapter to Grabarkewitz, the man “who led the league in consonants” but was “stymied by badly timed injuries.” His 6.5 WAR in his career year in 1970 — a stat that didn’t even exist at the time but often used in modern times to measure former players in a new light — wasn’t that remarkable, but in the aftermath, Gordon write that Grabarkewitz “may have been the most extreme one-year wonder of any non-pitcher in MLB history … I can find no other historical example of a position player with a career lasting at least five years who posted a > or = 6.5 WAR in one season but played at or below replacement level for the remainder of his career.” Why he was out of the game by age 29, after a brief time with the Angels, can be baffling to some, but Gordon has a thought on that:

“My reflexive take on one-year wonders like Grabarkewitz is their career years were flukes and the law of averages caught up with them. But Grabarkewitz is something else. Nothing about his sterling 1970 season seems lucky or flukish. A combination of lesser injuries and an overloaded Dodgers farm system — not regression to the mean — conspired to prevent him from becoming the player everyone thought he would be for more than one season. I view Grabarkewitz mainly as a very unlucky player who might very well have achieved long-term success on a different team and under more favorable circumstances.”

Gordon allusion to “an overloaded Dodgers farm system” goes to why Vickrey’s book gives a greater context to how and why the team’s 1968 MLB draft remains, by consensus still today, the greatest haul of talent in the game’s history.

Dialing back to that ‘69 season, there was a brief glimpse of a 20-year-old Steve Garvey (1-for-3), 19-year-old Bobby Valentine (five pinch-running appearances) and 19-year-old Bill Buckner (0-for-1).

Valentine, Buckner and Garvey were prized pieces of a collection that included Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Tom Paciorek, Doyle Alexander, Joe Ferguson and Geoff Zahn. Adding in Bill Russell, Charlie Hough and Tommy Hutton, the Dodgers’ foundation had been laid and would last more than a decade — let’s call it the 1981 World Series, after they team decided to let their prized infield break into pieces.

The link to all of them is Tommy Lasorda. As Vickrey details, it was Lasorda, that scout, who was a key figure in the Dodgers’ acquisition of talent before the instution of the 1965 MLB Draft — the first pick of that draft was Rick Monday, an outfielder from Santa Monica High who had gone to Arizona State and was all but signed as Dodgers home-town talent before the Kansas City A’s were allowed to take him. Just prior to that, Lasorda was the important figure in the Dodgers signing local talent Willie Crawford from Freemont High in L.A., one of the last of the “bonus baby” players who had to spend time on the major-league roster likely before they were ready.

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