{"id":702,"date":"2014-03-26T14:39:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T18:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/?page_id=702"},"modified":"2023-12-11T23:35:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T04:35:37","slug":"byline-cutdown","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/?page_id=702","title":{"rendered":"Byline: Marty Appel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Forewords by Marty Appel<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

My 1961<\/strong> (By Andy Strasberg, Foreward by Marty Appel)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thurm: Memoirs of a Forever Yankee<\/strong><\/a> Paperback \u2013 March 7, 2023 (By Thurman Munson, Marty Appel)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Yankees Home Run Almanac: The Bronx Bombers’ Most Historic, Unusual, and Titanic Dingers<\/strong><\/a> (by Douglas B. Lyons, Foreword by Marty Appel)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotham Baseball: New York\u2019s All-Time Team\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>(by Mark C. Healey Foreword by Marty Appel) April 6, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreword to The Call to the Hall: When Baseball’s Highest Honor Came to 31 Legends of the Sport<\/em><\/a> <\/em><\/strong>(by Kevin Warneke,\u200e David C. Ogden,\u200e Foreword by Marty Appel) January 2018
If there was a Hall of Fame for Declaration of Independence signers (and I don’t think there was), I suppose they would have been informed of their election by the arrival of a courier on horseback delivering the big news. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreword to 2015 edition of Who\u2019s Who in Baseball<\/em><\/strong><\/a>
In the days when fans were called \u201ccranks\u201d and ballparks were wooden, there was a growing number of baseball fans who appreciated the game for its statistics. Statistics provided a measuring device for \u201cwho was good and who was bad\u201d and a sense of order off the field for the well-organized game on the field. The box score was as perfect as the distance between the bases. An extension of the box score into season and career columns of numbers was waiting to be embraced. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

100 Years of Who’s Who in Baseball <\/strong><\/a>(by Douglas B. Lyons) February 15, 2015
Before baseball became a year round, non-stop 24\/7 bombardment of news, with the winter months filled with rumors, free agent signings, trades, blogs, tweets, press conferences, MLB Network, ESPN, and Tommy John surgeries \u2013 we could pause after the World Series, catch our breaths, and gently count the days until spring training. In the really old days, people were said to sit around a \u201chot stove\u201d and talk baseball, and the talk was often things like \u201cwho\u2019s better \u2013 Ruth or Cobb?!\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colonel and Hug: The Partnership that Transformed the New York Yankees<\/a><\/strong> (by Steve Steinberg & Lyle Spatz) May 1, 2015
Shortly after George Steinbrenner\u2019s death in 2010, talk began to sweep across social media about his worthiness for inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame. As one who worked for him for many years, I found myself on the receiving end of that question many times.  And I would answer, \u201cMr. Steinbrenner often said that owning the New York Yankees was like owning the Mona Lisa.  If that was true, then Jacob Ruppert was Leonardo da Vinci \u2013 the man who painted it.\u201d  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction to Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees
<\/a><\/strong>The 1947 Yankees always seemed to stand “alone” to me among the litany of champion Yankee clubs\u2014neither a Joe McCarthy team, nor a Casey Stengel team, carrying over some wartime players and introducing some guys that, frankly, didn’t feel like Yankees. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Fantography: A Celebration in Snapshots and Stories<\/a><\/strong>
Ever increasing forms of social media and continue to expand the ways in which we can root, root, root for the home team, but one thing still connects all generations of baseball fans \u2013 still photography. Is there anything more unique to a modern historic baseball moment than the sight of 40,000 digital cameras flashing at once? more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got ‘Em, Got ‘Em, Need ‘Em: A Fan’s Guide to Collecting the Top 100 Sports Cards of All Time<\/a>
<\/strong>When I worked in the trading card industry in the \u201890s, the \u201chot term\u201d during those collecting madness days was \u201cchase card.\u201d It was a marketing term to indicate the special cards, like a Michael Jordan gold plated, glossy chrome, limited edition, signed, with relic, alternate version, that people would chase to the ends of the earth knowing it would make them rich beyond their dreams. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greatness in Waiting<\/a>
<\/strong>The road towards a new Yankee Stadium actually began with bat days in the early 1970s. The sell-out promotion, beloved by fans and a favorite of newspaper photographers, brought will it a ritual by which young fans with tap their bats in unison against the concrete beneath their feet, hoping to stir a Yankee rally. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Yankees Collectibles NY Yankees Collectibles: A Price Guide to Memorabilia for America’s Favorite Team (Beckett)<\/strong>
<\/a>In 1973, when the original Yankee Stadium was being prepared for partial demolition as part of a $100 million refurbishing, I was a member of the team\u2019s public relations department. And I had my eye on a quaint yet sturdy piece of the team\u2019s heritage. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

N.Y. Yankees Collectibles<\/a><\/em>\/Beckett<\/a> <\/strong>Yankee Memorabilia
<\/strong>With the two world championship trophies earned by the New York Yankees in the last three years, the nation has been reminded again that for better or worse, love them or hate them, this truly has been America\u2019s Team, the national franchise. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Yankee Collectibles<\/em>\/Beckett
<\/a><\/strong>It begins, of course, with the \u201cVoice of God,\u201d the voice of Bob Sheppard, who has handled the public address assignment at Yankee Stadium since bleacher seats were 50 cents, since Mickey Mantle wore his rookie number 6, and since Casey Stengel wore a long sleeve manager\u2019s uniform as Joe McCarthy had. The Yankee top hat logo was four years old; the Yankees Yearbook, two, and the number 4 elevated train was passing behind the bleachers, over Joe DiMaggio\u2019s shoulders. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ron Blomberg Autobiography<\/a>
<\/strong>First off, after all these years, what\u2019s with the \u201cbloom-berg\u201d pronunciation? If it\u2019s \u201cBLOOOM-berg,\u201d how come his first name isn’t pronounced \u201cRoon?\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by Marty Appel in Books by Other Authors<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American<\/i>
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Yankee Front Office<\/strong><\/a>
I wrote a letter to the New York Yankees public relations director in 1967, looking for summer employment. My credentials were modest – I was a knowledgeable baseball fan who was editor of my college newspaper.  I had written sports while in high school for the suburban Rockland (NY)  Journal-News. I assumed mine would be one of hundreds of similar letters and I would not hear back. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball, The Perfect Game<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Talkin\u2019 Baseball, The Man and Bobby Feller –from Talkin\u2019 Baseball (Willie, Mickey & \u201cThe Duke\u201d)<\/strong><\/a>
Baseball fans measure their own lives by the entrance and exit of players. There is the day the son of a major leaguer you saw play is suddenly in the big leagues. There is the day you realize that you knew every manager and coach when they played. There is the day the last active player from your first year as a fan retires. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Baseball Means to Me <\/em>edited by Curt Smith (2002)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What Baseball Means to Me<\/strong><\/a>

What can we say about a game in which spring training begins every winter and the Winter Meetings are held every fall?! For one thing, you can set your watch to it, and if you are lucky, you can set your life to it. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Beckett Media<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Hilltop Park Apartments By Marty Appel<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There aren\u2019t many legacies remaining from the original New York Yankees franchise. The team, born in 1903, is better known today as having been the \u201cHighlanders\u201d and having played for ten seasons in \u201cHilltop Park.\u201d They never won a pennant (coming close once), produced few stars (Jack Chesbro and Wee Willie Keeler are in the Hall of Fame), but at least their wooden ballpark didn\u2019t burn down, a fate not uncommon in that era. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF MANHATTAN \u2013 The 1910 Post-Season Series Between the Yankees and the Giants. By Marty Appel (Special to Beckett Vintage)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the first New York Yankees pennant, and with that, the first \u201csubway series,\u201d \u2013 the Yankees against the New York Giants. We call it a subway series not because the two ballparks were connected by a subway line, but because fans could take the subway to all the games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was actually a Yankees-Giants post-season series played eleven years earlier, in 1910, during the Taft administration, a series so big it threatened to override the World Series. Today it would be unthinkable for baseball to allow anything to preempt the sport\u2019s greatest showcase. But in 1910, it happened. There was no commissioner to stop it, and the three-man National Commission took no steps to prevent it. In fact, the Commission handled ticket sales and disbursement of winning and losing shares, and assigned high-profile Bill Klem and Billy Evans to umpire. They would not work the World Series which began four days after this series. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Magazines & Journals<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Memories and Dreams<\/em> (The official magazine of the Baseball Hall of Fame)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tom Cheney Strikes Out 21 in One Game<\/a><\/strong>
Tom Cheney was a journeyman righthander who both started and relieved over an eight-year Major League career between 1957-1964.  He might be all but forgotten today except for a game for the ages on Wednesday evening, September 12, 1962 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivalries<\/strong><\/a>
In baseball \u2013 the ultimate team sport \u2013 individual rivalries often take a back seat to team goals.  But sometimes, a player vs. player duel will turn into an epic battle within the game. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Designated Hitter<\/a><\/strong>
On April 6, 1973, the Fenway Park public address announcer Sherm Feller cleared his throat and said, \u201c\u2026.batting sixth, the designated hitter, number 12, Ron Blomberg, number 12.\u201d <\/span>more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating Professional Baseball\u2019s Centennial<\/a><\/strong>
Fifty years ago, Major League Baseball decided to throw a centennial birthday party for the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the game\u2019s first true professional team. The celebration proved to be far more – it marked the birth of modern baseball marketing. <\/span>more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Card Backs<\/strong><\/a>
Not every player in the \u201850s and \u201860s spent their off-season hunting and fishing. Of course if one read the backs of baseball cards, it may have seemed that way. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Great Game\/ Vintage Books<\/strong><\/a>
Forty years ago, infielder Billy Herman was part of the \u201cClass of 1975.\u201d He was a popular choice in that he was truly a \u201cbaseball lifer,\u201d and everyone in the game seemed to know him and like him. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RETROACTIVE AWARDS<\/a>
<\/strong>Just how many Cy Young Awards would Cy Young have won? He didn\u2019t win any of course, because the award only began in 1956, eight months after he had died.  Commissioner Ford Frick, sensitive to the repeated failure of Philadelphia\u2019s Robin Roberts to win an MVP Award, proposed the award to distinguish pitchers from everyday players, without removing pitchers from MVP competition. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sons of Major Leaguers<\/a><\/strong>
Back in 1903, when southpaw Jack Doscher took the mound for the Chicago Cubs, a bit of baseball history was made. His father, Herm, was a third baseman and outfielder for five National League clubs between 1872-1882.  Herm was better than Jack.  But Jack was the first son of a Major Leaguer to himself reach the big leagues. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holidays & baseball
<\/strong><\/a>For baseball fans, Opening Day, the All-Star Game, and the start of the World Series are \u201cnational holidays.\u201d But for the national holidays that all Americans celebrate, they have long been special days on the baseball calendar too. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Suzyn Waldman<\/strong><\/a>
For New York Yankees broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, it has all been an \u201cimpossible dream.\u201d She could never have imagined being part of the legacy of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. But the two of them were going to make history together. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque Check: Pud Galvin
<\/a><\/strong>Since baseball may have seen it\u2019s last 300-game winner in Randy Johnson, (at least for a long time to come), we would do well to recall the first member of the club, a pitcher named James Francis \u201cPud\u201d Galvin of St. Louis, Missouri. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billy Herman<\/a><\/strong>
Forty years ago, infielder Billy Herman was part of the \u201cClass of 1975.\u201d He was a popular choice in that he was truly a \u201cbaseball lifer,\u201d and everyone in the game seemed to know him and like him.
Billy broke into professional baseball in 1928 with the Louisville Colonels, played for the Cubs, Dodgers, Braves and Pirates, finished playing with the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League in 1950, managed the Pirates and the Red Sox, and coached for Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Boston, California, and San Diego. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rube Waddell<\/a><\/strong>
Pete Sheehy, who worked in the New York Yankees clubhouse from 1927 to 1985, saw a lot of left-handers come and go during those 58 seasons. And with the wisdom that one acquires observing human behavior, he had the science of \u201chandedness\u201d down to a gesture. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Waner<\/strong><\/a>
When Paul Waner got his 3,000th hit in 1942, he was the only player between Eddie Collins (1925) and Stan Musial (1958) to achieve that feat. It was a span of 33 years, and no one but Waner broke the barrier in all that time. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry Heilmann<\/a><\/strong>
One of the first ballplayers to transition from the field to the broadcast booth was Detroit\u2019s Harry Heilmann, the four-time batting champion whose success at the plate came during an era when legendary hitters were dominant. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque Check \/ Joe Medwick<\/strong><\/a>
He was an occasional member of the makeshift Gas House Gang band, and presumably just as bad as the rest of them, but on a team of popular players with colorful nicknames, he managed to stand out. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque Check \/ Clark Griffith<\/strong><\/a>
In Babe Ruth\u2019s rookie season of 1914, he was up and down between Providence, Baltimore and Boston, but he did finish the year with the Red Sox, and he did pitch in the season finale, a meaningless 11-4 victory over Washington in Fenway Park, as the Red Sox finished second and Washington third. It was one of five appearances Ruth made for Boston that season. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque check\/ Babe Ruth issue\/ Lazzeri<\/strong><\/a>
In 1927, the year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs and Lou Gehrig hit 47 – the baseball world did not implode from power hitting. They were exceptions to the rule, almost as though they were the only ones being thrown lively balls by pitchers. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Brouthers<\/strong><\/a>
For baseball fans in the mid-20th century, the name Dan Brouthers was as well known as Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle is to today’s fans. The time span is the same, and Brouthers was in the conversation of who was the greatest 19th century player. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Doby\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
It would be ironic to say that Larry Doby was the second baseball player honored with a U.S. postage stamp – but he wasn’t. (That was Babe Ruth). Still, when Doby’s time came in 2011, the Buzz Aldrin of baseball received his due. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burleigh Grimes\/Plaque Check<\/a>
<\/strong>As the career of Burleigh Grimes fades further into past, baseball fans have a shorthand recall of him: last pitcher to throw a legal spitball, and nickname of Ol’ Stubblebeard. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Tinker\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
“These are the saddest of possible words: \u2018Tinker to Evers to Chance\u2019 – Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble \u2018Tinker to Evers to Chance\u2019” You didn\u2019t have to follow baseball to know this poem.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacob Ruppert\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
If Jacob Ruppert was able to attend his induction ceremony in Cooperstown this year, it’s possible that his thoughts might drift back to a ceremony filled with pomp and ceremony in 1892, on the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering America 1892. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sol White<\/strong><\/a>
Sol White wasn’t the first sportswriter in the Hall of Fame. That would have been British-born Henry Chadwick, who made it into the big room on his own merits. This was long before the Spink Award was established (1962) to annually honor journalists. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sliding Billy Hamilton<\/a>
<\/strong>Remember the Boston Red Sox second baseman in the 1986 World Series? Marty Barrett. Played nine seasons for Boston. Well, a century before, there was another Marty Barrett, this one a catcher, and he also played in Boston – for the predecessors of the Boston Braves – the Boston Beaneaters. Baseball fans love stuff like this. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbit Maranville\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
Walter James Vincent Maranville, who played Major League baseball from 1912-1935, reminds of us of the reason that fans always seemed to fall for little, light-hitting middle infielders who found so many ways to beat you. And when you had a nickname like \u201cRabbit,\u201d it didn\u2019t hurt either. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Chandler
<\/strong><\/a>Succeeding Kenesaw Mountain Landis as Commissioner of Baseball was not unlike succeeding J. Edgar Hoover as head of the FBI or Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States. After such a long time in office – 25 years in Landis\u2019s case – the job was so associated with one figure, succession would be a great challenge. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilbert Robinson<\/strong><\/a>
The folksy, neighborly image we now have of the Brooklyn Dodgers was largely shaped by Wilbert Robinson, their manager from 1914-1931, during which time sportswriters began referring to the team as the \u201cRobins\u201d in his honor.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry Hooper<\/strong><\/a>
Harry Hooper was the first Red Sox batter in the very first game at Fenway Park, and although he went 0-for-5 that afternoon, he was there for the start of a world championship season, one of four the Sox would win over the next seven years.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Sewell\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
Talk about stepping into a pressure situation. Joe Sewell was 21 years old, and in his second year of pro baseball. He had gone to spring training in 1921, but had failed to make much of an impression on Cleveland manager Tris Speaker. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger Bresnahan\/The Duke of Tralee<\/strong><\/a>
During his playing career of 1897-1915, most baseball people and fans thought Roger Bresnahan was a native of Ireland, and his nickname \u2013 The Duke of Tralee \u2013 spoke to that. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Weiss\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
Before Pat Gillick, the last pure executive inducted into the Hall of Fame was George Weiss, best known as Casey Stengel\u2019s general manager on the Yankees and the Mets. Weiss was selected in 1971, five years after his retirement from the game and a year before his death. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Crawford\/Plaque Check<\/strong><\/a>
In 1913, Yahoo Sam Crawford of Detroit hit his 245th career triple, breaking the lifetime mark held by Jake Beckley. Ever since that day, he has held the career record. That was 98 years ago, and there is no sign that that record \u2013 which wound up being 309 \u2013 is going to fall anytime soon. (Later research brought the total down from 312, as it says on his plaque). more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Kell<\/strong><\/a>
In an era before free agency, it was unusual to find a player of Hall of Fame quality play for five teams during a career of just 14 full seasons. And George Kell was no ordinary player, as demonstrated by his ten All-Star selections, his .306 lifetime average, a batting championship, and as many as 218 hits in a season.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque Check \u2013 Morgan Bulkeley<\/strong><\/a>
The community of baseball is justifiably proud of those who served their nation during time of war, and the Hall of Fame has long called special attention to those veterans of military service who went on to induction in the Hall itself.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Kelly On Stage<\/strong><\/a>
Before there was YouTube, before there was MySpace, before there was television, before there was radio, and before there were movies, entertainers had the vaudeville stage and local saloons to present their acts, and vaudeville was where you wanted to be if you really thought you had some talent. Talent, or at least celebrity. Mike \u201cKing\u201d Kelly of Boston was the biggest sports celebrity in the land in the 1880s. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Mize<\/strong><\/a>
Young St. Louis Cardinals fans in the 1930s loved their Gashouse Gang, but oh, did they wish they had their very own version of Babe Ruth. And then, in 1936, they got him. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pee Wee Reese\/ Sportsmanship
<\/a><\/strong>It\u2019s been more than half a century since Pee Wee Reese played his last game for the Dodgers, but his legacy endures. The dedication of a statue in Brooklyn several years ago showing Pee Wee with a symbolic hand on Jackie Robinson\u2019s shoulder spoke well of how a small gesture can help change social history. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earle Combs
<\/a><\/strong>Forty summers ago, it became official. The hallowed ground of center field in Yankee Stadium, to which everyone thinks \u201cDiMaggio,\u201d \u201cMantle\u201d (and for younger fans, Bernie Williams), was in fact hallowed ground going back to 1925. That\u2019s because 40 years ago, Earle Combs, the gentlemanly, pre-maturely grey center fielder on the Murderer\u2019s Row team, was elected to the Hall of Fame. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque Check \u2013 Johnny Evers
<\/a><\/strong>While today\u2019s publishing industry seems to love books from big stars, it took a long time for books by players to find their way into the marketplace. Mike \u201cKing\u201d Kelly produced a book in 1888, John Montgomery Ward that same year, and then Cap Anson had one in 1900.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spalding\/Barnstorming
<\/a><\/strong>While the pyramids of Egypt would hardly qualify as \u201cbarns,\u201d they did prove the setting of what might be called the very origins of baseball\u2019s barnstorming days.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaque Check\/ Buck Ewing
<\/a><\/strong>In the early years of Veteran\u2019s Committee selections, electors were charged with identifying 19th century players worthy of full Hall of Fame induction. In 1939, the committee (then called the Centennial Commission) was comprised of just three men \u2013 Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, National League President Ford Frick, and American League President Will Harridge. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sy Berger
<\/a><\/strong>This is a bubble gum card story that begins at the kitchen table. Like many tales of \u201coff the field\u201d baseball, it\u2019s a sweet story. Sy Berger, a Bucknell University graduate and a World War II veteran, was a young hire at the Topps Gum Company.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nap Lajoie
<\/a><\/strong>When the American League began play in 1901, two major stars jumped ship from the National League, seeking to overcome the $2400 maximum salary level. One was Cy Young, who would become the winningest pitcher of all time and whose name would live on as the name affixed to the \u2018best pitcher\u2019 award each season. Every baseball fan knows Cy Young. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry MacPhail \u2013 WW I
<\/a><\/strong>Larry MacPhail was the bombastic top executive of the Dodgers, Reds, and Yankees, who brought air travel to teams and night games to Major League Baseball. His creative mind was always ticking. He didn\u2019t procrastinate, he acted. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Ruffing
<\/a><\/strong>This August 5 will mark 70 years since Charlie \u201cRed\u201d Ruffing passed Bob Shawkey as the winningest pitcher in Yankee history. While southpaw Whitey Ford would pass Ruffing in 1965, Red remains the winningest righty, and figures to continue to be so for at least another generation.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slide<\/b>, Kelly, Slide
<\/strong><\/a>The birth of the recording industry came a few decades after the birth of the professional base ball industry, but they came to meet nicely one morning at a recording studio in New Jersey with the production of a little song called \u201cSlide, Kelly, Slide.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Dihigo
<\/a><\/strong>To baseball fans, the first two electees to the Hall of Fame by the special committee chosen to honor the Negro Leagues\u2019 legacy were familiar names \u2013 Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. You had to be a fan who knew Negro League history to know those who immediately followed \u2013 Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, Oscar Charleston and Pop Lloyd.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sliding Billy Hamilton
<\/a><\/strong>For fans of modern baseball, it was Luis Aparicio who heralded in a new era of base stealing in the 1950s, an era that was soon punctuated by the feats of Maury Wills, who broke Ty Cobb\u2019s single season record in 1962. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amos Rusie
<\/a><\/strong>Imagine being a pitcher and having a year so dominating, that they move the mound back ten feet the following season. Not just for you, but for everyone, and you\u2019re the reason. You\u2019re just too good for the game, and it can\u2019t continue under existing standards without too many people striking out. Moving the mound changes the course of baseball forever, and it\u2019s all your doing. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Figures & Politics
<\/a><\/strong>Who is the only New York Yankees player to ever serve in Congress? If you answered Pi Schwert, who caught 12 games for the 1914 and 1915 teams, you are one fine trivia fan. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 500 Home Run Club
<\/a><\/strong>One of the more revealing tales in Leigh Montville\u2019s acclaimed 2004 biography of Ted Williams was a small anecdote that had to do with Williams\u2019 considering retirement following the 1954 season. He was going through a divorce, was concerned about alimony payments coming out of his salary, and some had suggested that he might be better off not playing. He even told the Boston writers that he was going to quit after \u201954. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A free round of golf for Mickey and Whitey
<\/a><\/strong>The first of the two All-Star Games of 1961 was to be played in Candlestick Park, San Francisco. With the game being played on Tuesday, and the Yankees playing Sunday afternoon in Chicago, teammates Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford flew to San Francisco immediately after the game and had a full day off on Monday. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Best Sellers
<\/a><\/strong>Baseball\u2019s place in American literature is not necessarily measured by book sales and a landing on best-seller lists. Indeed, many fine books about the game develop cult followings, strong word-of-mouth, and a treasured place in baseball libraries without being necessarily reflected in sales. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ladies Days
<\/a><\/strong>Ladies Days ended in, naturally, the 1960s, an era when much that was accepted without question in America came under challenge. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly and the Autograph
<\/a><\/strong>By the latter part of the 19th century, people knew that it was a nice thing to own the signature of a Washington, a Lincoln or a General Grant, but the practice of approaching someone and saying, \u201cCan I please have your autograph?\u201d did not exist until young baseball fans followed Mike \u201cKing\u201d Kelly to the South End Grounds on Walpole Street in Boston in the late 1880s. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Birth of Instant Replay
<\/a><\/strong>Using videotape instant replays has changed the way we watch sports over the last four decades. The idea that people saw Bobby Thomson\u2019s historic home run in 1951, and never saw it again until movie theater newsreels a week later is almost unthinkable today. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports Cards Magazine<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Joe DiMaggio Farewell
<\/a><\/strong>Since we baseball fans like to live by the numbers, how about this one \u2013 Joe DiMaggio attended 47 of the 48 Old Timers Days held by the Yankees after his retirement, missing only in 1987 when he was having a pacemaker installed. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Memorabilia Magazine<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Book to Grab When the Waters Rise
<\/a><\/strong>We in the northeast had terrible flooding in April, even 8 inches in one day in Central Park, but for someone like me, living on the 8th floor of a Manhattan high rise, I really don\u2019t worry until the water reaches 79 feet. Still, I was thinking about \u201cwhat if,\u201d and after photo albums, what books would I grab and save? more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankee-Shea Farewell
<\/a><\/strong>Doesn\u2019t it seem like to earth should shake a little when the last out is recorded in Yankee Stadium next fall? Or when the (I can hardly say it) wrecking ball hits? more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding New Records Often Takes Creativity
<\/a><\/strong>These are some thoughts about milestones, and how we in sports love them so much, even if at times, they are a bit of a stretch. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Digest<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tom Villante
<\/strong><\/a>The man who gave him his first baseball job – Fred \u201cPop\u201d Logan – would attend to Cap Anson\u2019s needs in the 19th<\/sup> century when the Anson\u2019s Cubs visited the Giants in New York. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Game I’ll Never Forget<\/a><\/strong><\/b>
<\/a><\/strong>By Bobby Richardson as told to Marty Appel
Not many players can name their biggest hit and their biggest catch, and have the good fortune for both to have been in a World Series with millions looking on.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Villante: From Yankee Batboy to MLB Marketing Czar<\/a><\/strong>
Bill Kane, the 28-year old statistician of the Yankees, enjoyed hunting for stories behind the numbers, even before pocket calculators came along to make the lives of statisticians easier. This was 1968, and Mickey Mantle had begun the season at .302.  He had had three straight years under .300, and a fourth was clearly looming, his once great skills fading.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mantle Last Season<\/a><\/strong>
<\/a><\/strong> Bill Kane, the 28-year old statistician of the Yankees, enjoyed hunting for stories behind the numbers, even before pocket calculators came along to make the lives of statisticians easier. This was 1968, and Mickey Mantle had begun the season at .302.  He had had three straight years under .300, and a fourth was clearly looming, his once great skills fading.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mantle\/50<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup><\/strong> <\/a>
The former baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was dictating his memoir in the mid 1980s, recounting the game\u2019s growth during his tenure, when he suddenly paused and said, \u201cYou know, we did all of this without ever finding another Mickey Mantle.\u201d  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yogi Berra<\/a><\/strong><\/b><\/span>
<\/a><\/strong> When Tom Brokaw created the term \u201cThe Greatest Generation,\u201d he may not have realized that in one Lawrence Peter \u201cYogi\u201d Berra, he had a single figure who represented the whole experience, wrapped up in a chest protector, shin guards and catcher\u2019s mask. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BASEBALL QUARTERLY<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s A Whole New Ballgame!
<\/a><\/strong>I began thinking about this story recently while watching an old World Series movie. It was the 1947 Series, Yankees against the Dodgers, and so many things seemed different. I mean, there were still three strikes and you’re out, ninety feet between the bases and nine innings to a game. But so much else about the general appearance of things seemed dated. And I began to realize how changes can creep into the sport without our particularly noticing them. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankees Magazine<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1910 \u201cSubway Series\u201d Between Yankees and Giants Had New York
<\/a><\/strong>When New York Giants owner John Brush and his manager John McGraw, chose not to play their upstart American League rival Highlanders in a 1904 World Series, it was a great disappointment to the growing legions of baseball fans in New York. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houk
<\/a><\/strong>With the passing of Ralph Houk, age 90, on July 21, the Yankees lost a former manager who won pennants in his first three seasons at the helm, and world championship in the first two. No one has ever accomplished that feat, before or since, and with those world championships, Houk is linked to Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, and Joe Torre as Yankee managers to win more than one. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinstripes – Rizzuto
<\/a><\/strong>When Phil Rizzuto broke in with the Yankees in 1941, the year of the great 56-game hitting streak of Joe DiMaggio, among the pitchers he faced were 41-year old Lefty Grove of Boston and 40-year old Ted Lyons of Detroit. Among the managers in opposing dugouts were Connie Mack in Philadelphia, Bucky Harris in Washington, Roger Peckinpaugh in Cleveland and Jimmy Dykes in Chicago. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halper, Yanks limited partner, passes<\/strong><\/a>
Barry Halper, a limited partner in the New York Yankees and one of the pioneers of baseball memorabilia collecting, died Dec. 18 in Livingston, N.J., following a long illness due to complications from diabetes. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankee Stadium Story
<\/a><\/strong>Although a handful of college football arenas were called \u201cstadiums\u201d in the first two decades of the 20th century, (plus, believe it or not, little Rice Stadium in Pelham Bay Park, the Bronx), Yankee Stadium would be the first baseball field designed to bear the name ‘stadium’. (Washington’s Griffith Stadium had been so renamed in 1920). more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elston Howard
<\/a><\/strong>It was the last of the seventh inning on Opening Day at Fenway Park \u2013 Thursday, April 14, 1955. A sunny sky warmed the 22,246 Bosox faithful who had turned out to see Arthur Fiedler lead the Boston Pops in the National Anthem and to see Willard Nixon duel Bob Grim in what would be the second game of the season for the Yankees. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Can Go Home Again — 44 Yankees Have Served Two Playing Stints in Their Careers
<\/a><\/strong>When Jeff Nelson took the mound at Yankee Stadium on August 7 to begin his second stint with the Yankees, he admitted to being swept up by emotion. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1978 Season
<\/a><\/strong>For a long period in 1978, as spring wound into summer, Yankee fans were beginning to accept the fact that \u201978 was going to be a Red Sox year. A lot of baseball writers were saying that the \u201978 Bosox, under Don Zimmer, were one of the elite teams of all times, certainly of Boston history, and that the defending world champion Yankees just weren\u2019t their equal that year. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1940 – The One That Got Away
<\/a><\/strong>Two games. And it all had much to do with lemon slices, a lost tarpaulin, missing taxis, firecrackers, and one costly error at first. What a difference, in the course of history, they would make. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Virdon’s Excellent Adventure
<\/a><\/strong>When one recalls the general lack of enthusiasm that surrounded the hiring of Joe Torre a few years ago \u2013 only to find him going on to win Manager of the Year honors and turning all skeptics around \u2013 one can\u2019t help but turn back the clock a quarter century to the day Bill Virdon faced a similar reception upon his hiring. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe DiMaggio’s Post-Playing Career
<\/a><\/strong>When Joe DiMaggio turned down another $100,000 contract for the 1952 season, feeling he could no longer play the game at a Joe DiMaggio level, he began the phase of his life in which he would be, simply, Joe DiMaggio, American Icon. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank Crosetti
<\/a><\/strong>To say Frankie Crosetti was \u201cold school\u201d is putting it mildly. Trained in the corporate efficiency of Joe McCarthy, he joined the team in 1932, in time to be there for Babe Ruth\u2019s last Yankee pennant and his \u201cCalled Shot Home Run\u201d in the World Series.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Timers Days
<\/a><\/strong>Since the Yankees are credited with so many innovations over the years \u2013 from numbers on uniforms to triple-decked ballparks \u2013 it has become somewhat fashionable to think they invented the concept of Old Timers Day back on July 4, 1939. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scouting Story
<\/a><\/strong>As with so many elements of the Yankees organization, you go back to the roots of the \u201cTeam of the Century\u201d to see where it all came from. As much as the current team invites comparisons with the 1961, the 1939 and the 1927 Yankees, so too does the current state of the team\u2019s scouting operation. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring training
<\/a><\/strong>Maybe it\u2019s the palm trees. There\u2019s just something about spring training. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catfish Hunter Tribute
<\/a><\/strong>You\u2019ve spent your whole life depending on your arms and your hands. You grew up, the youngest of nine, bonding with your dad and your brothers by hunting and fishing. You were given a gift of being able to hold a baseball and throw it just about as good as anyone who ever lived. You retired to farm life and the inner peace of working your land and driving your tractor, while taking your own boys hunting and fishing. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankees Seek 5th Straight Pennant
<\/a><\/strong>Wasn\u2019t it just yesterday that everyone was saying \u201coh, there will never be another dynasty in baseball; too many teams, too many rounds of playoffs. The dynasty days are over.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankees in the ’60s
<\/a><\/strong>The expression goes, \u201cIf you remember the \u201860s, you weren\u2019t there.\u201d Well, for Yankee fans, there was much to remember and much to forget. The decade began with the arrival of Roger Maris and ended with the arrival of Thurman Munson. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yankees in the ’70s
<\/a><\/strong>For Yankee fans, there was no lower point than the team\u2019s entry into the 1970s. Long accustomed to winning regularly, the fans had now been forced to accept mediocrity as the norm. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juniper Berry Magazine<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Spring 2022
Phil Rizzuto: “Thank you for the most wonderful lifetime one man can have”<\/a><\/strong>
If a young fan first started watching New York Yankees baseball around 1996\u2014when he or she would have been about seven years old\u2014and if that fan goes on to live a long life\u2014then the voice of Philip Francis Rizzuto might still be playing in his or her mind into the 2080s – some 140 years after his debut as a player.
“Holy cow,” the Scooter would say. We can hear it now. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports Collectors Digest<\/em>, Vintage Books Section<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long Overdue Biography of Babe Ruth Rang True<\/strong><\/a>
In this centennial year of Babe Ruth\u2019s professional and Major League debut, it is interesting to note that the first book about him was not published until 1930, by which time he was already one of the most recognized people in America. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Know Me Al
<\/a><\/strong>It’s been nearly a century since Ring Lardner introduced America to a smart-ass ballplayer named Jack Keefe, and readers were able to get inside Keefe’s head with letters he wrote to his pal Al Blanchard back in their hometown of Bedford, Indiana. This was all before Babe Ruth, the lively ball, the Black Sox and radio. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Great Game
<\/a><\/strong>It was 1971, the start of Major League baseball’s 11th decade, and MLB published what was essentially its’ first “coffee table” book, a handsome volume called This Great Game. This was a major feat for baseball, which had never been particularly astute in marketing itself.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Palmer
<\/a><\/strong>From 1951 until its 10th and final edition in 1979, the Official Encyclopedia of Baseball by Hy Turkin and S.C. Thompson was the standard of baseball research in encyclopedic form, even it the stats were limited to games and either batting average or won-lost record. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NYT Best-sellers, 2012 edition, for Vintage Books SCD
<\/a><\/strong>Twenty-eight baseball books made the New York Times best-seller list in the decade of the 2000s (great than the total from 1935-1999). There have been nine so far in the 2010s. Fans are buying baseball books like never before. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commy
<\/a><\/strong>\u201cThis year, 1919, is the greatest season of them all.\u201d So said Charles A. Comiskey, owner of the White Sox, in his biography, \u201cCommy,\u201d published just months before the Black Sox lost the World Series and nearly destroyed the public trust in baseball when eight of its players conspired with gamblers to throw the World Series. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bucky Harris
<\/a><\/strong>Harris is a somewhat forgotten figure in baseball history, but half a century ago, he was one of the best-known in the game, and at the time, fourth among all managers in career victories. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bean and the Cod
<\/a><\/strong>As Fenway Park approaches its 100th anniversary in 2012, I turned recently to a long forgotten book from 1947, which glorified the Red Sox franchise long before it became the darling of literary society and the focal point of a \u201cRed Sox Nation\u201d concept. The book was called The Red Sox: The Bean and the Cod, and if you grew up in the \u201840s and \u201850s as a Red Sox fan, it was \u201cmust reading,\u201d because there wasn\u2019t much else. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Shannon
<\/a><\/strong>The New York sports scene was rocked in late October by the death of Bill Shannon, 69, at a fire in his New Jersey home. Shannon was one of those fellows you thought would go forever, and in fact, never even considered what his age might be. He was best known to New Yorkers as the lead official scorer at both Yankee and Met games \u2013 he\u2019d been doing it since 1979 \u2013 and so occasionally, if a controversial call came up, the broadcasters might mention his name. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McGraw\/ 30 Years
<\/a><\/strong>The Giants world championship last fall, their first in San Francisco, had people recalling how few World Series this storied franchise had actually won over its long history. Even the great John McGraw, the team\u2019s legendary manager, won only three World Series in his ten appearances in the post-season, which would surprise most people.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milton Gross\/ Yankee Doodles
<\/a><\/strong>In preparing a forthcoming volume on the history of the Yankees, I recently stumbled on a fairly obscure book published in 1948, which, it turns out, was a little gem of a book! The reason for it\u2019s high rating is that the author, Milton Gross, was a top rate journalist, part of a hustling team of New York Post sportswriters who would come into their own in the late \u201850s and \u201860s, but by 1948 was already taking shape. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bready
<\/a><\/strong>Before they slipped into their current funk, the Baltimore Orioles were considered one of the classiest, best-run organizations in baseball by those who worked in the game. And as if often the case with such reputations, published material, either by the team or by outsiders reflected that. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breslin
<\/a><\/strong>The original Mets, the 1962 reincarnation of National League baseball in New York, the team that lost 120 games and played in the Polo Grounds, is a team now glorified in New York folklore and sports history. No expansion team since has managed to win over so many fans with such horrendous play.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel Allen
<\/a><\/strong>I wonder sometimes if Mel Allen would get hired today to broadcast baseball. I mean, today\u2019s top broadcasters come loaded with situational stats and the benefit of well spoken colormen, and the ability to brush up on opponents by easily following other teams on the Internet in the days before the games begin. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big Mac
<\/a><\/strong>And now, a word about Big Mac. I\u2019ve been spending a lot of time at Baseball-Reference.com lately, finding new twists and turns, and admiring all that it includes. What a fabulous site it is.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenthal
<\/a><\/strong>It\u2019s been ten years since Harold Rosenthal passed away at 85, and those of us who attended his memorial service (quite a literary affair), still miss the rascal and still grouse about the New York Times not deeming him worthy of an obituary. He was a giant on the New York sports scene for decades, and was even an impact player in retirement, with his letters and occasional columns always stirring up good conversation. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimmy Piersall
<\/a><\/strong>Jimmy Piersall was in the news recently, with some memories stirred over a loony event from 1963 when he hit his 100th home run \u2013 and ran the bases backwards. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daguerreotypes
<\/a><\/strong>Daguerreotypes. Funny name, yes? Da-GUR-e-o-types. Daguerreotypes of Great Stars of Baseball. It was a terrific book in its day, and an argument could be made that it would still be, if updated. But it\u2019s been nearly 20 years since the last edition. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ultimate Baseball Book
<\/a><\/strong>This year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of \u201cThe Ultimate Baseball Book\u201d, and after 30 years, it still does a good job at holding onto that title.It\u2019s not a statistical wonder, and there have been other fine coffee table books published since, but using the word \u201cultimate\u201d was a great marketing tool, and no one who has bought this book has ever felt shortchanged. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SF Giants Oral History
<\/a><\/strong>With the publishing industry entering rough seas during our nation\u2019s recession, (let me know when we can start calling it Great Depression II), many authors of marginally mainstream books are finding happiness in the world of self-publishing.  more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red & Green Books
<\/a><\/strong>Baseball America\u2019s Almanac stands alone as the hard copy annual Guide, and who knows how long that will last. More and more publications are abandoning hard copies in favor of online only versions. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Phillies
<\/a><\/strong>While baseball celebrates the success of the Philadelphia Phillies and their 2008 world championship, it is interesting to recall \u2013 especially for younger fans \u2013 how sad this franchise\u2019s history has generally been. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hank Greenberg Saluted with Cooperstown Ceremony
<\/a><\/strong>The 75th anniversary of Hank Greenberg\u2019s rookie season was celebrated with a day-long symposium and film screening at the Baseball Hall of Fame on June 29, which also featured the introduction of two Greenberg-related collectibles. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farewell Yankee & Shea
<\/a><\/strong>Doesn\u2019t it seem like to earth should shake a little when the last out is recorded in Yankee Stadium next fall? Or when the (I can hardly say it) wrecking ball hits. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douglass Wallop
<\/a><\/strong>I noticed recently that a new version of Damn Yankees was back on the stage in New York. It\u2019s a terrific play that never seems to grow tired, and it gets revived every 15 years or so and finds new audiences. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Sox
<\/a><\/strong>We always hear that the Red Sox attract the most literary attention and bring out the finest in writers whether from the world of sports, or outside of it. Think Stephen King, David Halberstam or John Updike. That is part of what we now know as Red Sox Nation \u2013 a gathering place in sports for the nation\u2019s literati. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerome Holtzman
<\/a><\/strong>Growing up with The Sporting News as a bible (it was, after all, the \u201cBible of Baseball\u201d), those of us of the right age were exposed on a weekly basis to the baseball columns of Dick Young, Joe Falls, Jim Murray, Bob Addie, Shirley Povich, Melvin Durslag, Leonard Koppett, Jerome Holtzman, Furman Bisher and others. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Alexander
<\/a><\/strong>When you think about it, I guess we don\u2019t really need biographies written for every member of the Hall of Fame. The story of Joe Kelley, for instance, who played 1891-1908 and went into the Hall of Fame in 1971, is one we seem to have managed without just fine. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connie Mack
<\/a><\/strong>I was recently researching some facts about the 1950 season, which was Connie Mack\u2019s last as a manager. It has always struck me as fascinating that rookie Whitey Ford actually pitched in the major leagues with Connie Mack in the opposing dugout. In Mack\u2019s first year as a manager, 1894, he managed against King Kelly. Talk about spanning the generations. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mitchell Report
<\/a><\/strong>I needed several days to digest all of the Mitchell Report material and decide how I felt about it, and how it will affect baseball. And now, several days later, there is still too much information to process. I feel somewhat overwhelmed by it all. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil Rizzuto
<\/a><\/strong>The recent passing of Phil Rizzuto, at 89 the oldest living Hall of Famer, brought back so many wonderful memories for me. It was hard to think of Scooter \u2013 even in the week he passed away \u2013 without a smile. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who’s Who In Baseball
<\/a><\/strong>It being the week before Opening Day, I stopped at my local magazine store and purchased the 2008 edition of \u201cWho\u2019s Who in Baseball.\u201d I\u2019ve been doing this now for 47 years, but this is the 93rd edition, as it says on the cover, so I am sure there are others with a longer streak going. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel Bronx
<\/a><\/strong>I had the pleasure of being part of two rather extraordinary events within days of each other recently, with both getting a lot of interest from baseball fans. First, I was on a public relations assignment to Israel for the launch of the first pro baseball league in the Middle East – the Israel Baseball League. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sol White
<\/a><\/strong>So King Solomon White is in the Baseball Hall of Fame! What do you know! I was thinking of doing a column on Sol White’s “History of Colored Baseball” one of these days, and bang, he becomes one of the 17 with Negro League roots to go into the Hall of Fame! more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe
<\/a><\/strong>Phil Pepe has averaged almost a book a year wrapped around a journalism and broadcasting career that goes back to 1954 when he began working part-time for the New York World Telegram & Sun. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

False Spring
<\/a><\/strong>We lovers of baseball books grew up clinging to every word in Jim Brosnan’s two diaries and to Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four,” but in 1975 came a different sort of first person account, one that might have been titled, “Portrait of a Baseball Failure.” more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross Newhan
<\/a><\/strong>Imagine being a pitcher and having a year so dominating, that they move the mound back ten feet the following season. Not just for you, but for everyone, and you\u2019re the reason. You\u2019re just too good for the game, and it can\u2019t continue under existing standards without too many people striking out. Moving the mound changes the course of baseball forever, and it\u2019s all your doing. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowie Kuhn
<\/a><\/strong>Memoirs by baseball\u2019s handful of commissioners are important volumes for students of baseball history, but they have generally been a mixed bag in terms of satisfying our curiosities. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hornsby
<\/a><\/strong>Who was grumpy about baseball way back in 1962? The answer is Rogers Hornsby, that ol’ .358 lifetime hitter, 7-time batting champion, two-time MVP, and probably the best second baseman in the game’s history, who by then had put 48 years in as a player, manager, coach and scout. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book of Baseball
<\/a><\/strong>It’s been 96 years since baseball had its first “coffee table” book, a term that didn’t even exist during the Taft administration. Today, coffee table books about baseball are turned out all the time, but it was a breakthrough then and it was called “The Book of Baseball: From the Earliest Day to the Present Season.” more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting News Baseball Guides
<\/a><\/strong>Quietly, like the passing of Oldsmobiles, Hydrox cookies and sports cartoonists, the Sporting News Official Baseball Guides passed from the scene this year. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books on Commissioners
<\/a><\/strong>Memoirs by baseball\u2019s handful of commissioners are important volumes for students of baseball history, but they have generally been a mixed bag in terms of satisfying our curiosities. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

World of Baseball
<\/a><\/strong>Almost 15 years ago, a beautiful set of baseball books was introduced, intended to be sold as a continuing series, to number 20 volumes when complete, and to take its place among the more handsomely designed books on the game ever issued. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meany
<\/a><\/strong>Tom Meany was one of the gentleman writers of baseball in the mid-section of the 20th century, whose books and magazine articles were a staple of what the nation\u2019s fans of the time seemed to demand: good reporting, nothing too controversial, writing designed to harbor baseball as the National Pastime. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Allen
<\/a><\/strong>If you haven\u2019t noticed, the classic pitching windup is a goner. With the exception of Hideo Nomo, there really aren\u2019t any pitchers who bring their hands over their head prior to delivery, an act that managed to survive for more than a century but has quietly all but vanished from the baseball landscape. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronx Zoo
<\/a><\/strong>The Yankees\u2019 Sparky Lyle was the first relief pitcher to ever win the American League Cy Young Award. A few days after the award was announced, the Yanks went out and signed Goose Gossage to take his job. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Branch Rickey
<\/a><\/strong>Branch Rickey, one of the most influential figures in baseball history, never wrote his autobiography. We have autobiographies from Joe Charboneau, Bo Belinsky, and Eldon Auker, but nothing from the man who integrated baseball, created the farm system, and allowed 13 runners to steal while catching for the New York Highlanders in 1907 (still an American League record). more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fireside Books of Baseball
<\/a><\/strong>The recent publication of \u201cBaseball: A Literary Anthology\u201d by the Library of America (edited by Nicholas Dawidoff) has been hailed as one of the best new baseball books of the year, but to many, it really recalls those wonderful \u201cFireside Books\u201d edited by Charles Einstein beginning almost half a century ago. What fun they were! more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saddest of Possible Words: Tinker to Evers to Chance
<\/a><\/strong>This year marks the 100th anniversary of the appearance in a Cubs box score of a double play marked 6-4-3, \u201cTinker to Evers to Chance.\u201d It would be six years before Franklin P. Adams immortalized the three by writing a poem about them in the New York World under the title \u201cBaseball\u2019s Sad Lexicon.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Garagiola: Baseball is a Funny Game
<\/a><\/strong>As best as I can determine, the first baseball book to ever hit the New York Times best seller list was \u201cBaseball is a Funny Game\u201d by Joe Garagiola, published in 1960. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Smith & Jack Rosenberg
<\/a><\/strong>This is a little column about two baseball pictorial history books I always liked. There is a lot of repetition between them, but you can only tell the story in so many ways. The best part for me, certainly, were the wonderful photos \u2013 hundreds of them, all black and white \u2013 that defined early baseball for me. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob Feller & Stan Musial
<\/a><\/strong>The sad passing of Ted Williams reduces to just two, the last of the \u2018immortals of baseball\u2019, players who were already stars before Jackie Robinson integrated pro baseball and took us into the post-war, modern era. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evolution of Baseball Encyclopedias
<\/a><\/strong>Long before lovers of baseball stats fell in love with Total Baseball and before that, The Baseball Encyclopedia (\u201cBig Mac,\u201d after MacMillan, the publisher), there were three important works that preceded it. And although they are long out of date and as such, not especially important anymore, they were the roots from which Big Mac and Total Baseball emerged. It is worth remembering them. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Honig & David Voigt
<\/a><\/strong>We recently caught up with the man who may be the most prolific of all baseball authors, Donald Honig. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collective Works of Babe, Lou, Joe & Mickey
<\/a><\/strong>It sounds like a joke, right?\u201c The Collective Works of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harold Seymour
<\/a><\/strong>A few months ago we did a column on the late Gene Schoor, the prolific author of sports biographies. In the article, we cited a similar author of the times, Milton Shapiro, and made note of a lawsuit involving his biography of Warren Spahn, which seemed to bring an end to the Messner biographies many of us enjoyed in the \u201850s and \u201860s. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ray Robinson’s Baseball Stars Series
<\/a><\/strong>One of the best series of baseball paperbacks was the long-running \u201cBaseball Stars\u201d books, which began in 1950 and ended in 1975. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putnam Team Histories
<\/a><\/strong>Shortly after Lou Gehrig\u2019s tragic death in 1941, sportswriter Frank Graham approached G.P. Putnam\u2019s Sons, a New York-based publisher, with an idea for a Gehrig biography. The result, \u201cA Quiet Hero,\u201d was one of their major successes for the next two decades, went to more than 20 printings, and was practically required reading for schoolboys. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glory of Their Times
<\/a><\/strong>Two score and two hernias ago, Lawrence Ritter, a professor of economics and finance at NYU, set forth on a 75,000-mile journey that would lead to the publication of what is arguably the finest baseball book ever written. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gene Schoor
<\/a><\/strong>It was in fourth grade that I did a book report on Mickey Mantle of the Yankees by Gene Schoor. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who’s Who in ML Baseball
<\/a><\/strong>Of all the \u201cclassic\u201d early baseball books still to be found at pricey used book stores and through antiquarian dealers, an 8 \u00bd x 11, hardcover volume from 1933 remains one of the most handsome and informative reference works ever associated with the game. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight Men Out
<\/a><\/strong>One of the amazing things about the wonderful book \u201cEight Men Out\u201d is that it was the first book written about the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, and it took 44 years to get the story told. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great Players, Great Games
<\/a><\/strong>When Willie McCovey broke into the big leagues on July 30, 1959, he smacked two singles and two triples in his debut game, and by the next day, the whole nation was talking about Willie McCovey. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only The Ball Was White
<\/a><\/strong>In the history of baseball literature, few books were able to break new ground as did \u201cOnly the Ball Was White,\u201d written by Robert Peterson and published by Prentice-Hall in 1970. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing Up on Babe, Ty & Lou
<\/a><\/strong>I meet a lot of fans today who tell me the first baseball book they remember falling in love with was Jim Bouton\u2019s Ball Four. Those would be fans who are in their 40s now or just about getting there. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ken Smith
<\/a><\/strong>When we watch the sensational fielding in Major League Baseball today, perhaps all the more remarkable because of the risk players throw themselves into despite their guaranteed contracts and enormous wages, we have to wonder, \u201cCan it get any better?\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob Creamer\/Babe Ruth
<\/a><\/strong>The best baseball biography ever written, for my money, was BABE: The Legend Comes to Life, by Robert W. Creamer. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Day in the Bleachers
<\/a><\/strong>The Willie Mays catch. No further explanation is really needed, is it? Any baseball fan who can talk about the great plays in history knows about that over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-plate catch Willie made in Game One of the 1954 World Series (not to mention the throw that followed), and knows it was one for the ages. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Durant
<\/a><\/strong>I have a feeling we are going to see baggy baseball uniforms again in my lifetime. Or maybe in yours. Call it the \u201cwhatever goes around\u201d syndrome, but they can only be tight or baggy, and it just seems to me that the black culture or the Latin culture are going to bring this to baseball just as Chris Webber and his teammates at Michigan changed the look of basketball uniforms in the early \u201890s. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maury Allen
<\/a><\/strong>Maury Allen\u2019s 36th book, Brooklyn Remembered, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers\u2019 only world championship in Brooklyn. Maury has been so closely identified with the Mets over the years, that we found it necessary to ask which was his favorite franchise \u2013 the \u201cBums\u201d or the \u201cAmazins.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dick Young
<\/a><\/strong>More than a half century ago, A.S. Barnes and Company, a champion in the publication of baseball books, created an annual series with biographies of the winners of the MVP Awards. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marc Okkonen
<\/a><\/strong>The recent World Series pairing of the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox found a lot of columnists and commentators recalling the strange history of the uniforms worn by the two teams. From the Astros \u201cColt 45 revolver\u201d uniforms at their inception, to the rainbow Cesar Cedeno era jerseys, there was plenty to smile about. As for the Sox, they were the first team to wear \u201cthrowback\u201d uniforms \u2013 and fulltime at that \u2013 when the 1976 team took on the look of the 1902 team. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bklyn Dodgers
<\/a><\/strong>The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers only world championship (The Marlins have already won two!) also creates an opportunity to look back at some of the literature surrounding this colorful franchise. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim Brosnan
<\/a><\/strong>It\u2019s been 60 years since he signed his first pro contract (at age 16!), and 46 years since the publication of \u201cThe Long Season\u201d, but Jim Brosnan\u2019s place in the hearts of admirers of baseball literature remains secure. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Times Best Sellers
<\/a><\/strong>Here\u2019s something for book collectors to ponder: would it make an interesting collection to have a copy of every baseball book to ever make The New York Times best seller list? more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Assistance Team Journal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

METS B.A.T. Program
<\/a><\/strong>When baseball shuffled its half-century order of 16 teams in the early 1960s, no one was quite sure what to expect. Would \u201cexpansion teams\u201d be accepted? Were they doomed to failure? Would old National League fans embrace a new franchise in New York? more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SABR Baseball Research Journal<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SABR Picks 1900-1948 Rookies of the Year
<\/a><\/strong>A poll of the Society’s members fills the void in the selections made by The Sporting News and theBBWAA. Pitchers are named for almost half the years; the Cards, Indians lead in new choices with 11 each. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Newspapers<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Boston Globe<\/em>, September 28, 2014<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Derek Jeter\u2019s farewell in Boston evokes memories of Mickey Mantle
<\/a><\/strong>The coincidences are too startling to overlook. So are the differences. Derek Jeter, the face of the Yankees \u2014 and maybe the face of Major League Baseball for two decades \u2014 is scheduled to play his final game Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014, at Fenway Park. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Post<\/em>, August 16, 2000<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A tribute to Whitey Ford
<\/a><\/strong>There was no truth to the oft-repeated story that after clinching the Eastern League pennant for Binghamton in 1949, 20-year-old Whitey Ford wrote to Casey Stengel and said, \u201cBring me up and I\u2019ll win the pennant for you too.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Daily News<\/em> April 2002 Yankee Centennial Section<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bobby Murcer’s tribute to Thurman Munson
<\/a><\/strong>Thurman Munson\u2019s death on August 2, 1979, shook us all. It was a genuine \u201cwhere were you when you heard the news\u201d moment. The misty night at Yankee Stadium after his death, when we observed the lengthy period of silence and the catcher\u2019s position stood empty, was haunting. But the game played against Baltimore on the night of his funeral, August 6, was the most memorable of all. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jewish Press<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jewish Press
<\/a><\/strong>I should have paid more attention in Hebrew School. I never knew I’d really be going to Israel. But then again, while I was daydreaming about baseball when I should have been paying attention, I was preparing myself for a career in sports public relations, and that’s what sent me to Israel, so I’m sure there are some Talmudic scholars out there who would see some biblical reason for this all coming together. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

MLB Programs & Yearbooks<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

As appeared in 2003 MLB All-Star Game Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ALL-STAR FIELD OF DREAMS?
<\/a><\/strong>Tom Seaver was 22-year-old rookie with the hapless New York Mets in 1967, but a strong first half of the season had made him the Mets\u2019s lone All-Star selection. He was still in single digits on a career that would find him scaling 300 victories, and he spent most of that July 11 evening in the visiting bullpen at Anaheim Stadium, hardly expecting to see action at all. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As appeared in 2008 MLB All-Star Game Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SECRETS OF YANKEE STADIUM
<\/a><\/strong>In the old third base dugout of Yankee Stadium, which the Yankees occupied from 1923-1945, Babe Ruth would keep a fresh head of cabbage in the water cooler. Every two or three innings he would tear off a leaf and tuck it under his cap to keep him cool. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As appeared in the 1999 World Series Official Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yogi Berra Today
<\/a><\/strong>It wasn\u2019t very long after Joe DiMaggio\u2019s passing that someone first used the term \u201cgreatest living Yankee\u201d in Yogi Berra\u2019s presence. His reaction was very typical of this proud and honest man. \u201cOh, geez, you got Rizzuto, and you got Whitey\u2026..I don\u2019t know.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As appeared in 2002, 2003 & 2004 Yankees Yearbook<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thurman Munson #15
<\/a><\/strong>Thurman Munson was a fan\u2019s player. But it took a special breed of fan to see it \u2013 a New York fan \u2013 and it was Thurman\u2019s good fortune to play before such a knowledgeable bunch of devotees. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Birth of the Yankees
<\/a><\/strong>A hundred seasons ago, the New York Yankees were born. To see the international recognition of the franchise\u2019s storied name today, it is hard to imagine how humble the origins were. Like the majesty of Yankee Stadium vs. the wood and nails of Hilltop Park, it has been, like New York City itself, a remarkable hundred years of growth. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Pinstripes<\/em> — New York Yankees Alumni News<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Ever Get Summoned to See the Boss in His Office?
<\/a><\/strong>If you were a Yankee player, it was highly unlikely. Player visits to Yankee executive offices were quite rare, especially prior to 1968, when the offices were finally centralized in Yankee Stadium. But it took 65 years for that to happen! For the better part of seven decades, the Yankee offices were in Manhattan, removed from the field of play. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank Messer
<\/a><\/strong>“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure.” That was Frank Messer’s signoff when he held the mike at the end of a game, and the words could easily be volleyed back to him by listeners. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DiMaggio, Mantle Passed the Torch in 1951
<\/a><\/strong>Astronomers and astrologers like to talk about planets aligning, heavenly bodies appearing to overlap, and eclipses caused by the positions of the sun and moon. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1973 – Yankee Stadium’s 50th Anniversary
<\/a><\/strong>1973 \u2013 thirty years ago – represented a remarkable anniversary for Yankee Stadium. Not only was the ballpark turning 50, but it would be the last season in the original structure, \u201cThe House that Ruth Built,\u201d which had opened in 1923. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teresa Wright
<\/a><\/strong>Any Yankee fan worth his (or her) salt who hasn\u2019t seen Gary Cooper in Pride of the Yankees at least 15 times hasn\u2019t really passed the test of true belief. Sure, the dialogue seems primitive, and yes, it doesn\u2019t run on TV that much anymore, but you still weep when Coop does his Lou Gehrig farewell speech, and you still feel good for the big lug when he finds romance with a fast Chicago girl named Eleanor Twitchell. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Other publications<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Krause Publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Great Moments<\/strong><\/a>
In 1968, I was a 19-year-old fan mail clerk for the New York Yankees, assigned to spend my summer answering Mickey Mantle\u2019s fan mail. It was the final season of Mick\u2019s 18-year career, although no one knew it at the time. But Mickey probably did. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legendary Yankee Stadium<\/strong><\/a>
Don\u2019t turn the page! My first impression, as a kid entering Yankee Stadium in the \u201850s, was NOT the massive spread of green grass, so strange to an urban child. Once I thought that was an original idea. Now, it seems everyone says it. I\u2019ve read it so often, it almost makes the experience seem ordinary! o I\u2019ve stopped saying it. (Although it was awfully impressive). more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auction Catalog, Lelands.com<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Evolution of the Single Season Home Run Record
<\/a><\/strong>Can you set a single season home record before a season is over? If the answer is yes, the first to hold baseball\u2019s most glamorous record was Ross Barnes of the Chicago White Stockings, who hit the first home in National League history (his only one that season), on May 2, 1876. If you want to be picky and wait for the season to end, you would have to look to the long-forgotten George Hall of Philadelphia, who clubbed five that season and actually held the record for four years! more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

National Pastime Museum<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE TRAGIC DEATH OF SNUFFY STIRNWEISS<\/a><\/strong>
George \u201cSnuffy\u201d Stirnweiss was a war-time middle infielder with the New York Yankees who won an American League batting championship, and who later died a horrific death in a railroad accident, his train plunging into a river. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BIRTH OF THE CY YOUNG AWARD
<\/a><\/strong>The only problem with the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Award and the Jackie Robinson Award, is that no baseball fans call them the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Award or the Jackie Robinson Award. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RUSTY STAUB LEGACY
<\/strong><\/a>Daniel \u201cRusty\u201d Staub, who died in March 2018, was remarkably unique among the more than 19,200 men who have appeared in a Major League box score. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ON DECK CIRCLE EQUIPMENT<\/a><\/strong>
A little development which took place in an on-deck circle in 1967 was revolutionary for a game steeped in tradition. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THURMAN MUNSON\u2019S ROOKIE YEAR
<\/a><\/strong>The story of Thurman Munson\u2019s rookie season with the New York Yankees – 1970 –   is significant, because not only did it lead to his being the first catcher in American League history to win the Rookie of the Year award (and only Johnny Bench had done it in the National League), but because of what was to come with his career. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILLIE MCCOVEY\u2019S DEBUT
<\/strong><\/a>This is a column about the great Willie McCovey\u2019s major league debut, but it is also about the impact that it made when the game\u2019s daily events were so much easier to note and absorb. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ufeffMICKEY MANTLE’S LAST SEASON – 1968<\/a><\/strong>
This year marks the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of Mickey Mantle\u2019s final season in the Major Leagues. 1968 was the Year of the Pitcher, and his .237 average, embarrassingly, reflected that.  To Baby Boomers, the idea that a half century has passed since he played the game must seem extraordinary.  After all, if they were standing back in 1968, a half century before would have put us in 1918, Hughie Jennings last year.  Were fans of a certain age talking about Hughie Jennings (a star infielder for the 1890s Baltimore Orioles) the same way we talk about Mantle? more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maris Asterisk<\/strong><\/a>
It\u2019s the most famous asterisk that never was. In the annals of punctuation mark history, it has its own chapter. In the Hall of Fame for punctuation marks, it has its own wing. In the annals of baseball history, it\u2019s one-word identification for Roger Maris and the 1961 season. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

YANKEES AT SHEA<\/strong><\/a>
When the New York Yankees-Tampa Bay Rays series in September, 2017, was moved to CitiField, home of the Mets (due to Hurricane Irma), the Yankees were the road team, used the visitor\u2019s clubhouse, and saw signage and scoreboard details designed for the \u201chome team\u201d Rays. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHANNELING MICKEY MANTLE\u2019S FAREWELL SEASON WITH DEREK JETER\u2019S<\/strong><\/a>
Watching Derek Jeter\u2019s final season unfold brings both joy and sadness for this lifelong Yankee observer and one-time club employee. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOBBY RICHARDSON\u2019S ENDURING WORLD SERIES RECORDS<\/strong><\/a>
More than half a century has passed, and the World Series records of New York Yankees infielder Bobby Richardson continue to hold fast. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

STENGEL A RACIST?<\/strong><\/a>
When I\u2019ve told people in the last year that I am working on a new biography of Casey Stengel, the most frequently asked question about him seems to be, \u201cwas he a racist?\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV COVERAGE<\/strong><\/a>
There was a time in baseball when the baseball writers could rightfully claim to be the only ones qualified to vote for the Hall of Fame, largely because they witnessed so many hundreds of games. And you didn\u2019t.. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

INVENTORS WITHOUT WHOM\u2026.TIME TO HONOR? <\/strong><\/a>
Imagine the founding fathers of baseball, seated around a wooden table, drinking a little stout, mapping out a playing field, and getting around to the equipment to be used. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THIS WEEK IN BASEBALL (TWIB)<\/strong><\/a>
Before there was an MLB Network, before there was ESPN\u2019s Baseball Tonight<\/em>, before local stations were able to run highlights from around the Major Leagues, there was the scrappy and much beloved This Week in Baseball<\/em>. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE STRANGE CASE OF SPAHN V. MESSNER, INC.<\/strong><\/a>
Warren Spahn died in 2003 at the age of 82, and his legacy in baseball not only remains strong, but some of his accomplishments may never be matched in our lifetime. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FRANK SCOTT<\/strong><\/a>
On the list of things we love about baseball, player agents don\u2019t rank very high. But if you had known Frank Scott, it would have been different. He could charm anyone, except for the old Yankees General Manager George Weiss. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BASEBALL BOOKS ON THE \u201cNEW YORK TIMES\u201d BEST SELLERS LIST<\/strong><\/a>
No baseball book hit the New York Times best sellers list in 2015, the first time that happened in 16 years. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PETE ROSE: PART OF THE CONVERSATION<\/strong><\/a>
Pete Rose is as proud of his hit record as you would expect him to be\u2014it defines him\u2014but he also takes enormous pride in a lesser known record: most winning games played in. That\u2019s quite a feat in itself. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RETIRED NUMBERS<\/strong><\/a>
Ten years after being fired by the New York Yankees (after 10 pennants in 12 years as manager), Casey Stengel was in no mood to accept their Old Timers\u2019 Day invitations. He was still bitter, and he turned down all previous invitations from the team. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ORIGIN OF DH RULE<\/strong><\/a>
On January 11, 1973, about a month before spring training, the American League announced that it would begin using a controversial new rule for the \u201973 season\u2014\u201cthe designated pinch-hitter rule.\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MANTLE COACHING AT FIRST<\/strong><\/a>
The 1970 New York Yankees were in the midst of their long drought between pennants (1964 to 1976 was the actual span), and despite the emerging stardom of Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer, the team was challenged at the box office, especially since the retirement of Mickey Mantle, which he announced in spring training of 1969. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV Coverage<\/strong><\/a>
There was a time in baseball when the baseball writers could rightfully claim to be the only ones qualified to vote for the Hall of Fame, largely because they witnessed so many hundreds of games. And you didn\u2019t. That was because you\u2014those watching at home on TV (\u201cDon\u2019t touch that dial!\u201d) \u2014were seeing double images (ghosting), while walking around the room holding rabbit ears, searching for the best possible picture. It was \u201clow-res TV,\u201d and we were happy to take what they gave us. It was often a hopeless cause, made good only by not realizing better days were coming. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earle Combs<\/strong><\/a>
What does a guy have to do in front of Yankees fans to get a little respect? Hit .325 lifetime?During the 16 years that Bernie Williams patrolled center field for the New York Yankees (and before him Bobby Murcer, among others), there was frequent talk of that piece of real estate being \u201csacred\u201d in the annals of Yankee Stadium history\u2014hallowed ground, as it were, for its having been manned by Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, almost continuously from 1936 to 1966. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chipmunks<\/strong><\/a>
The death in December 2015 of New York\u2013based sportswriter Phil Pepe\u2013an original \u201cChipmunk\u201d\u2013saddened the city\u2019s baseball community, including his devoted readers, who enjoyed his many years with the New York Daily News and his output of more than four dozen books. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Schreiber<\/a><\/strong>
When one-time relief-ace Andrew Bailey took the mound for the New York Yankees this past summer, much was made of it being his first Major League appearance in two years. Well, Paul Schreiber went 22 years between appearances in a Major League box score. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1961 Season<\/a><\/strong>
In the 1961 All-Star Game (actually, two all-star games were played), the National League roster included Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Orlando Cepeda, Don Drysdale and Eddie Mathews – 11 future Hall of Famers on the 28-man roster. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monte Irvin<\/strong><\/a>
The death of Monte Irvin in January, a month shy of his 97th birthday, robbed baseball of one of the finest gentleman to ever play the game, and robbed historians of the go-to source for anything about the Negro Leagues. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin of DH Rule<\/a><\/strong>
On January 11, 1973, just about a month before spring training, the American League announced that it would begin using a controversial new rule for the \u201973 season \u2013 \u201cthe designated pinch-hitter rule\u201d. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sy Berger’s Baseball Cards<\/strong><\/a>
When Sy Berger died at his Long Island, New York, home in December 2014 at age 91, the story ran everywhere\u2014from the front page of the New York Times to NBC Nightly News, and even \u201cWeekend Update\u201d on Saturday Night Live. Surely, a lot of people were scratching their heads over this one. \u201cWho in the world was Sy Berger?\u201d more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herbert Hoover Gets Booed at the World Series<\/a><\/strong>
Politicians in modern America know that being introduced at a sports event comes with some risk. Sports fans, especially after a beer or two, are pretty uninhibited about letting their feelings known for elected officials. As fans have discovered, stadium security will not throw them out onto the street if they boo. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Fever Tom Villante’s Life in Major League Baseball<\/a><\/strong>
A lot of batboys have \u201cmade good\u201d in life, and no doubt the responsibilities instilled in them during those teen years have been a factor. But Tom Villante, who was the New York Yankees batboy in 1944\u201345, has had a dazzling career, largely in and around baseball, in the years since. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game 7, 1960 WORLD SERIES<\/a><\/strong>
On October 13, 1960, the New York Yankees faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7 of the World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, a game that would be Casey Stengel\u2019s last as Yankee manager. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE LAST EXPO AND OTHER SURVIVORS<\/strong>
<\/a>Willie Mays\u2014the last New York Giants player\u2014in 1973 which was his final season. One of these years, one of these players will appear in his final Major League game and depart with a dubious distinction. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO LONGER UNWRITTEN<\/strong><\/a>
There is a fascinating exhibition this year at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. It is called \u201cChasing Dreams,\u201d and although the venue would suggest a Jewish theme, it is in fact an exhibition of how the nation\u2019s immigrant population\u2014Irish, Italian, Latin American, Asian, Jewish, and others\u2014used baseball as a means of assimilating into American culture. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOU GEHRIG APPRECIATION DAY AT 75<\/strong><\/a>
Seventy-five years ago, July 4, 1939, in what has come to be called the day of \u201cBaseball\u2019s Gettysburg Address,\u201d Lou Gehrig delivered an unscripted yet brilliant farewell to baseball before an overflow holiday doubleheader crowd at Yankee Stadium. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAMON RUNYON’S GUYS AND DOLLS<\/strong><\/a>
Sometimes when we write these essays, \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d moments happen. On the day I sat down to write about Damon Runyon, my wife was running in a 5K race at Yankee Stadium to raise money for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund. As I read an obituary on Runyon from 1946, I noted that the last sentence said he was living at the Hotel Buckingham on 57th Street and Sixth Avenue at the time of his death. I raised my head from the computer keyboard and looked out my window. The Hotel Buckingham. more\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KING KELLY: BASEBALL’S FIRST CELEBRITY
<\/a><\/strong>This year marks the 125th anniversary of the first baseball biography (or in this case, autobiography). It was in 1888, at the peak of his fame, that Mike  \u201cKing\u201d Kelly\u2019s \u201cPlay Ball: Stories of the Ball Field\u201d was published. It must be emphasized how difficult it was to achieve \u201cfame\u201d at that time, let alone be worthy of a book. Before radio became a force in American culture in the 1920s, and before national magazines like Collier\u2019s and the Saturday Evening Post made their marks at the turn of the century, the idea of being a national celebrity really didn\u2019t exist. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRACKER JACK OLD TIMERS GAMES<\/strong><\/a>
Between 1982 and 1990, an annual old timers game was played, first in Washington, D.C., and then in Buffalo, New York\u2014an event that drew national attention from its very first inning. It was known as the Cracker Jack Old Timers Baseball Classic, and it was the brainchild of former Atlanta Braves Vice President Dick Cecil. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger Peckinpaugh<\/a><\/strong>
In 1974 I was writing my first book, Baseball\u2019s Best, with biographies of all the Hall of Famers, and I decided to interview Roger Peckinpaugh, who in 1914 became, and remains, the youngest manager in Major League history. He was 23. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My First Game: Ebbets Field 1955
<\/a><\/strong>I think most people take their children to their first game at too young an age. I know I did. I took my son to his first game when he wasn\u2019t even three. He loved the ice cream, and when a Seattle Mariners player offered him a baseball, he turned it down. He was too busy with the ice cream. And I\u2019m sure he has little recollection of the afternoon. My own story is similar, but it has some interesting twists. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Ruffing
<\/a><\/strong>On Saturday afternoon, August 5, 1939, Red Ruffing went out and did what he usually did when he started a game for the New York Yankees. Pitching off the very flat mound of Yankee Stadium, Ruffing hurled a complete game 6\u20131 victory over Cleveland, allowing seven hits and a walk (the run was unearned). As a batter, he went 2 for 2 with a home run (Joe DiMaggio also homered). The game took one hour and 37 minutes and was played before 13,207 fans. Just another day at the office for Red. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berra-Dickey
<\/a><\/strong>This is the story of two Yankee catchers and how the legacy of one soared while the other remained in place. In other words, it is the story of how one player can get better after retirement, and the other not, even though neither has had another hit nor thrown out another runner in all these years. We are talking about Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra, both of whom had their uniform No. 8 retired, the only time two players had one number retired.<\/span> more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mexican League Raids and the Last Full-Season Suspensions
<\/a><\/strong>If Alex Rodriguez\u2019s season-long ban holds up in 2014, he will be the first Major Leaguer to miss a full season for disciplinary reasons since Commissioner Happy Chandler banned the Mexican League \u201cjumpers\u201d for five years following their 1946 defections. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bobby Richardson
<\/a><\/strong>Sport Magazine used to run small notices about joining fan clubs, and there it was in 1961, the address to join the Bobby Richardson Fan Club, operating out of New Jersey. Perfect. I was in. Bobby was my guy. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry Craft\u2013Baseball Lifer
<\/a><\/strong>It was probably September 9 or 10 in 1959, when the manager of the Kansas City Athletics, Harry Craft, sidled over to Casey Stengel during batting practice at Yankee Stadium for a friendly chat. Harry of course, knew Casey. Everyone knew Casey, and so too did everyone seem to know Harry, one of the best-connected, best-liked men in the game. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ring Lardner
<\/a><\/strong>I was thinking about Ring Lardner when the Mets sent Ike Davis to the minor leagues in June. And we’ll get to that in a moment. One thing I really like about Ring’s life, a century after his fame started to take hold, is that he was really just one of us – a sportswriter! And he wound up being spoken of in the same breath with F. Scott Fitzgerald – a great man of letters, an American original. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball’s Centennial “Greatest Players Ever” Poll
<\/a><\/strong>At the time, it was the cornerstone of baseball’s centennial celebration, a much heralded, fan-driven promotion designed to get everyone involved with the festivities. It was 1969, the centennial of professional baseball, 100 years since the Cincinnati Red Stockings started paying salaries for playing ball. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derek Jeter: Channeling Mickey Mantle’s Farewell Season
<\/a><\/strong>Watching Derek Jeter\u2019s final season unfold brings both joy and sadness for this lifelong Yankee observer and one-time club employee. The joy is in celebrating the 20 years of memories, and the sadness is, of course, that it is coming to a close. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel Ott & His Enduring Home Run Record
<\/a><\/strong>The tragic death of St. Louis Cardinals rookie Oscar Taveras during the World Series, victim of an auto accident in the Dominican Republic, brings to mind another ballplayer who died a similar death, albeit long after his distinguished career had ended. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Online Publications<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Bronx Banter: Lasting Yankee Stadium Memory<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the days of Yankee Stadium wound down in September, there was a lot of talk about the majesty and perfection of the original, 1923-73 ballpark, and talk of how the remodeled park (1976-2008) paled in comparison. more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball Hall of Fame<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cooperstown Chatter: The New Yankee Stadium Takes Its Bow<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

(4\/17\/09) \u2014 On Opening Day of the refurbished Yankee Stadium, April 15, 1976, it was nearly 90 degrees and of course, I had overdressed, deeming it appropriate to wear a suit and tie on this formal occasion. I was the PR director; I was the guy on the field trying to make order out of 50 photographers and a long list of VIPs, coordinating the introductions with hand signals to Bob Sheppard in the PA booth. All of my \u201cassistance\u201d from stadium security had vanished, dispatched to Mr. Steinbrenner\u2019s office for his pregame party. more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forewords by Marty Appel My 1961 (By Andy Strasberg, Foreward by Marty Appel) Thurm: Memoirs of a Forever Yankee Paperback \u2013 March 7, 2023 (By Thurman Munson, Marty Appel) The New York Yankees Home Run Almanac: The Bronx Bombers’ Most… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-702","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4s5bl-bk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":99,"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3889,"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/702\/revisions\/3889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.appelpr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}