Showing posts with label Author. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Author. Show all posts

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Baseball Happenings Podcast | Author Eric Moskowitz On The New World Of Baseball Card Collecting

Eric Moskowitz, author of the recent Atlantic piece, "How Baseball Cards Got Weird," joined the Baseball Happenings Podcast to discuss his venture into the new waters of collecting baseball cards online.


During the interview, Moskowitz explains how during his research he caught the collecting bug through watching online breaks, and eventually found a community through their chat rooms that has substituted for a lack of local card shops.




Monday, February 18, 2019

Phinally! The Phillies, the Royals and the 1980 Baseball Season That Almost Wasn't | Book Review

Nineteen-eighty marked a pivot for Major League Baseball as it entered a decade that was marred by a work stoppage, a drug scandal, and a nasty collusion case. Fortunately, for baseball fans, the 1980s opened with an exciting season that preceded the looming drama of the next few years.

Author J. Daniel takes readers through a complex journey that was the 1980 baseball season in his new book, "Phinally!: The Phillies, the Royals and the 1980 Baseball Season That Almost Wasn't" (McFarland: 220pp., 2018).

Phinally! / McFarland

Once glance at the cover would lead those studying its intricacies that "Phinally!" is solely about the Philadelphia Phillies winning their first World Series title in franchise history; however, that could not be farther from the truth. Daniel went deep in the archives with his work, capturing every significant detail that the 1980 season offered.

While Daniel dives into the big stories of J.R. Richard's health woes, George Brett's season-long flirtation with .400, and Reggie Jackson getting up close and personal with a gun barrel, each event is interspersed with the less heralded happenings that serve to create a "This Week in Baseball" atmosphere.

His strength is certainly the tremendous depth in which he chronicles the season, as "Phinally!" reads more like an anthology than an oral history. He relies on a variety of newspaper and magazine accounts to narrate the season rather than rose-colored interviews with players almost 40 years later that leave out the gritty details they may have selectively forgotten.

While this nuanced approach fits Daniel's style, some will find it exhausting at times to keep up with the constant jumping around the league from page to page, as he goes through each month's dealings. Despite some of the challenges to keep up with the multitude of anecdotes that Daniel tracks, he holds the suspense of the Phillies World Series victory until the end, leaving the final page with the late Tug McGraw victorious on the mound with his hands raised in the air for the fans to once again celebrate.



Monday, January 30, 2017

Baseball Happenings Podcast: Kevin L. Mitchell - Author of Last Train to Cooperstown

Kevin L. Mitchell, author of Last Train to Cooperstown: The 2006 Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees from the Negro League Baseball Era, is the guest for this episode of the Baseball Happenings Podcast. In this episode, Mitchell discusses how his love for the history of Negro League Baseball motivated him to capture the careers of this most recent group of Negro Leaguers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mitchell profiles the 17 inductees who might likely be the last members of the Negro Leagues to ride the train to Cooperstown.

Last Train to Cooperstown / Black Rose Writing


Thursday, December 30, 2010

Angel Torres, Cuban baseball historian dies at 82

Famed Cuban baseball historian Angel Torres passed away Wednesday morning in Pico Rivera, California from a long standing illness. He was 82.

Known as the "Bible of Baseball" for his extensive knowledge of the game, Torres came to the United States through Mexico in 1964, landing in New York for three years before moving to California where he would develop his journalism career.

As an author, he has penned five books, including, "La Historia del Béisbol Cubano, La Leyenda del Béisbol Cubano, Tres Siglos del Béisbol Cubano, La Biblia del Béisbol y El Legado Deportivo de Angel Torres."


In 2009, he was honored by the city of Hialeah, Florida with a day in his name on November 14th.

He most recently maintained columns on La Estufa Caliente (The Hot Corner), Terreno de Pelota (The Baseball Field) and worked for Fox Sports doing their Spanish language regular season and World Series broadcasts with Ulpiano Cos Villa.

More Info -

Fallece el destacado historiador cubano Angel Torres -  El Nuevo Herald

El Mundo de Béisbol, Angel Torres - La Estufa Caliente (Torres' Online Articles)

Angel Torres Column @ Terreno de Pelota - Terreno de Pelota