I reviewed the new Walter O’Malley biography, “Forever Blue” for the New York Post. The review, to the extent you can call it that when you’re given less than 1000 words, can be found here.

Writer Bruce Weber went to umpire school and has a new book out about it. Sounds good: The conundrum of umpiring is neatly posed by the peculiar rule of the knee-to-shoulder strike zone, which Mr. Weber calls the sole instance of a playing area that is demarcated only in the minds of officials. “The strike […]

My mom is great. If she’s ever out shopping and sees a random baseball book of any kind, she buys it for me. Not so much books of prose — she knows I’m critical of a lot of authors and worries that she might get me something I wouldn’t like — but if there’s a […]

Darryl Strawberry on steroids: “Hell yeah I would have used them,” Strawberry said. “Are you kidding me? I mean, c’mon. Some things are part of what athletes go through and they happen …We’re competitive creatures, and we have tremendous drive, a high tolerance, all these things. I’m not saying that it was the right thing […]

Each year, Geoff Young blows his whole winter (and then some) putting together the single most comprehensive single-team book you’re ever going to find. It’s called Ducksnorts, and it has everything you ever wanted to know about the San Diego Padres. It’s so detailed that I’m putting even odds on Geoff being called as a […]

Remember back in January when I told you about the tell-all memoir by former Angels farm hand Matt McCarthy? Yeah, it seems like there may be less there than meets the eye: Matt McCarthy, a graduate of Yale and of Harvard Medical School now working as an intern in the residency program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital […]

A recount of Robert Fitts’ work on the first notable American-born star in Japanese baseball.

Murray Chass misses the books: If this is too much inside baseball, I apologize, but I am too devastated and outraged to write anything else at the moment. Major League Baseball, which can’t kill steroids, has killed the Red Book and the Green Book. Baseball officials would say the books died of atrophy. No one […]

Neyer agrees that with Fremont dead, the A’s need to look at Portland. Or maybe he’s not that serious about it. Hard to tell. What is clear, however, is that Neyer has a new headshot running with his columns. And let’s be honest about this, people: we are now two generations removed from the flannel, […]

This from Beanster, in the Alyssa Milano thead: I don’t believe the Alyssa Effect has received sufficient attention by the statistical community. I took a closer look at the data based on dating information provided by this site. While only 3 of her 26 documented relationships are major league starting pitchers, I think the results […]