Majors: Book Guide: 2007

Book Review: Sports Illustrated The Baseball Book
Apr. 19, 2007
Don't let the looks of this book fool you: Do not leave it on your coffee table, for you won't want to let your guests crease the pages of this gem of an illustrated history of America's pastime. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: Hideki Matsui, Sportsmanship, Modesty And The Art Of Home Run
Apr. 19, 2007
A new biography on Hideki Matsui is a surprisingly interesting read. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: How Bill James Changes Our View Of Baseball
Apr. 19, 2007
"How Bill James Changed Our View of Baseball" offers 13 light-hearted essays celebrating the contributions of James and the proliferation of Jamesian thought. [...] Continue Reading »

Video Review: The Team. The Time. The 2006 Mets.
Apr. 19, 2007
The Mets' 2006 season video proves to be entertaining, even with a bad ending. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: Opening Day
Apr. 19, 2007
Jonathan Eig provides another interesting read with his latest book: Opening Day. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: The Soul Of Baseball
Apr. 19, 2007
Buck O'Neil's amazing life not surprisingly makes for a great book. [...] Continue Reading »

2007 Book List
Apr. 19, 2007
A relatively complete guide to the new baseball book releases for 2007. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: Brushing Back Jim Crow
Apr. 19, 2007
Willie Tasby summed it up: "I was born in America. I should have been able to play anytime, go anyplace I was able to." But Tasby, an outfielder who endured nine years in the minors before getting his chance, was just one of hundreds of black ballplayers whose access to America's Pastime was impeded by the prevailing, stubborn segregationist attitudes of the Deep South. In his thoroughly-researched Brushing Back Jim Crow, author Bruce Adelson details the hardships many of these athletes faced—often in their own words—as they pursued their dreams of playing in the big leagues during the 1950s and early '60s. [...] Continue Reading »

MLB 2K7 Provides Fun Despite Obvious Flaws
Apr. 19, 2007
Reviews of two new baseball games for 2007. [...] Continue Reading »

CD Review: Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook
Apr. 19, 2007
At the age of 89, William Earnest Harwell seems as sharp and spry as he was during his days as a precocious teen in Atlanta, hustling up stories as a correspondent for the Sporting News in 1933. It's Opening Day, 2007, and though Harwell is five years removed from the radio booth, the voice of the longtime Detroit Tigers radio broadcaster remains full of excitement and energy, all of which is captured in the comprehensive, compelling four-disk audio series, "Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook". [...] Continue Reading »

Die-hard Fans Get Their Wish With New DVD Sets
Apr. 19, 2007
New complete-series DVD sets have proven popular with hardcore baseball fans. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: Branch Rickey, Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman
Apr. 19, 2007
A new book tries to further explain the mass of contradictions that was Branch Rickey. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: A Well Paid Slave
Apr. 19, 2007
A new look at Curt Flood sheds new light on the free agent trailblazer. [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: Once Upon A Game
Apr. 19, 2007
After explaining the history of baseball statistics in his first book, former Baseball America senior writer Alan Schwarz turns to memories in his second offering as baseball legends such as Yogi Berra, Ernie Banks, and Ken Griffey Jr. unveil some of their fondest baseball memories in "Once Upon a Game." [...] Continue Reading »

Book Review: Inside Baseball, The Best Of Tom Verducci
Apr. 18, 2007
om Verducci has a great job — he's the primary baseball writer at Sports Illustrated. This gives him the freedom to take as long as he needs to get the story, and (presumably) the opportunity to choose what he wants to write about. Certainly, there are issues that he has to cover — steroids, for instance — but what comes through in this collection of 21 stories is about his love of the game, a game he writes about so very well. [...] Continue Reading »