Unfortunately, my extended absence from this blog left us unable to discuss Timothy Gay's Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert. I did hear from some folks who read it and no one, myself included, seemed particularly dazzled by it.
I have also since heard from some folks who would like to see baseball book club continue. Given my plan to read more baseball books, it seems like a no-brainer to go ahead and continue and give a place for people to voice their opinions about some baseball books (and/or inspire them to read some baseball books they normally wouldn't).
The biggest problems seemed to be deciding what books to read and then figuring out how much time to give everybody to read them. I think I have solutions.
First, I have an idea of some books I want to read. Many of them are about early baseball (pre-1920). The one I am reading right now is the massive first volume of Norman Macht's biographies on Connie Mack. I'm about 200 pages in of the 700 pages. If anyone wants to try and join in, you are certainly welcome to do so (I am enjoying it). Given the size, though, it doesn't seem like a good pick to try and get multiple people to read.
But not everyone is going to want to read about early baseball and I wouldn't mind reading about other aspects of baseball (I intend to, but I think some of the books on early baseball I want to read would make good book club books). My proposal is to have two books a month for baseball book club, one I want to read and one that comes from suggestions from you. I'll post six months of selections so people can pick and choose as they please based on their interest and time commitment. Here are the early baseball books I intend to read:
January: Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball by Norman Macht
February: The Pitch that Killed by Mike Sowell
March: A Game of Brawl by Bill Felber
April: Baseball Before We Knew It by David Block
May: Spalding's World Tour by Mark Lamster
June: Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof
If you know you want to read Eight Men Out, you have plenty of time to prepare for it. All these books should be easily and cheaply attainable, perhaps even free from your local library.
How about other suggestions to complement these? People mentioned Posnanski's books before. I still want to read Jonah Keri's book on the Tampa Rays. There have been some well-regarded mainstream biographies recently on Mays and Mantle. There's the usual fare from McFarland Press (although they don't come cheaply). What baseball books would you like us to read?
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Have a merry Christmas
I hope everyone celebrating Christmas has a lovely time with their friends and families and that those who do not celebrate Christmas have/had an equally splendid time with their festivities.
In November I saw Michael Tolcher perform in concert for the fourth time, the most I have seen a professional musical performer live (technically, I've probably seen my son's youth choir the most times). And not only have I seen Michael Tolcher four times, I've seen him in four different venues. And not only have I seen him in four different venues, those venues were in four different states (Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and....Illinois).
During the concert he broke out a dandy Christmas song he wrote which I thought I would share with all y'all.
Have a merry Christmas!
In November I saw Michael Tolcher perform in concert for the fourth time, the most I have seen a professional musical performer live (technically, I've probably seen my son's youth choir the most times). And not only have I seen Michael Tolcher four times, I've seen him in four different venues. And not only have I seen him in four different venues, those venues were in four different states (Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and....Illinois).
During the concert he broke out a dandy Christmas song he wrote which I thought I would share with all y'all.
Have a merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Best books of 2012 - Part I
I have to apologize yet again. When I vanished from the blog scene and stopped writing book reviews, I thought I left a link to my Goodreads account so that people could still see what I was reading if they were interested.
I did no such thing. So here it is now.
There's no doubt that I enjoy reading. But if you asked me how much time I spend reading, I'd say, not an awful lot. More than your average person but I believed that to be as much of a function of my not having a television as me being some fanatical reader. Thanks to Goodreads, I had to rethink my perception of myself. I read 102 books this year. I'm in the middle of two more but I do not see myself finishing either before the end of the year. Not only does Goodreads allow you to track and rate what you read, it also keeps statistics and it turns out that I read over 26,000 pages this year. Over 365 days, that's over 70 pages a day. Even if you assume I read a page a minute (which I don't), that's over an hour of reading a day. Cow holy, that's a lot.
At the start of the year, I laid out two reading objectives for myself: Read more baseball and read longer books. I'm not sure how I did meeting those objectives. I read six baseball books (as well as one basketball, one soccer, one cricket and one general sports book). I read seven books that were 400 pages or longer. It's silly that I don't read a greater number of longer books. My irrational belief is that I need to devote lengthy stretches of time to bigger books; that they require more focus to enjoy. I also believe that there are a lot of good books out there and that it is better to read two 200 page books than one 400 page one. This is nonsense. Two of my all-time favorite books, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, are massive in size. Of my top ten books this year, six of them were among the thirteen largest I read. More pages enables more story, more development, more analysis. I need to learn.
My reading goals for 2013 are to spend less time reading and more time engaging in writing, read larger books when I do read, read more baseball books (because I have so many) and read more books that I own. Of the 102 books I read, 87 came from various libraries. By definition, reading more baseball books will allow me to read more books I own so that will help. But I have one bookcase of books, maybe 150 books or so, that aren't baseball. Those need to be read, too. Not surprisingly, there's a lot of large books in that case. The two books I'm reading now are large, one is baseball and that one is my own book. I'm off to a good start.
2012 was a really good reading year. My top two books would probably make my top 50 of all time if I were to try and make such a list. Without further ado, here are numbers 10-6 of my favorite books from 2012 with reviews so you get more benefit than just leaping ahead to my Goodreads ratings:
#10 Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew Blechman.
Family and friends had to deal with a good stretch of time this year when I was fascinated by pigeons. My fancy was initially struck when I read a pretty mediocre novel, A Pigeon and a Boy that was about carrier pigeons. I enjoyed reading about the use of pigeons in World War II, part of the time period of that novel, and that led me to look for non-fiction books about pigeons. This one stood out.
Blechman looks at many different aspects of the history of pigeons, their use by humans, and how the perception of the bird has changed over the years. My only problem with this book were that the chapters were too short. I would have been happy to see every chapter turned into a book. This book did get me learning more about pigeons and also led to me reading an unusual book, Spirit Gun of the West: The Story of Doc W.F. Carver, which was about a legendary pigeon shooter of the nineteenth century. It is only through tremendous self-control that I am not joining Mike Tyson in owning pigeons.
#9 Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia edited by Jeff Parker. I started the year reading a lot of Eastern Europe/Russian literature. I have also grown to appreciate the short story much more than I used to. As a matter of fact, I am a big fan of a new magazine (a magazine is a collection of pages of paper with a theme that are bundled and published on a regular basis. In case you didn't know.), The Coffin Factory, which publishes really awesome short stories. Rasskazy is a collection of modern short stories from Russia. Published by the wonderful Tin House Books, I thought this book was an absolute treat. 22 stories from Russia's top literary magazines, gathered into one place and translated into English. The stories are distinctly Russian but refreshingly different from the more recognized late 19th century, early 20th century Russian authors (Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoeyevsky, etc.). As with any collection of stories, some are better than others but all in all, it was a great compilation and one I heartily recommend.
#8 Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon.
Speaking of Kavalier and Clay, my favorite author released a new book. Chabon's stature has wavered with me over the last decade as his efforts have been good but not great. Telegraph Avenue is probably the best book he's written since K&C.
The novel is about two men - one white, one black, who run a record store in San Francisco (a record is a circular piece of vinyl used to play music. In case you didn't know). A "big box" music store is coming into town, owned by a former NFL quarterback, which threatens the livelihood of the two men. Race issues, family issues, relationship issues. Typical Chabon writing with lots of descriptions and 37-cent words. Semi-typical Chabon delving into homosexuality. Interesting characters with no real good guys. I might have it overrated because it is Chabon (the two library patrons to whom I recommended it did not like it) but we're talking about my favorites. So there.
#7 Voice and Vision: A Guide to Writing History and Other Serious Nonfiction by Stephen Pyne
One of our patrons has been working on a master's thesis on histiography and so some good books on writing about history have come through my hands. This one was excellent, possibly the best book on writing non-fiction I've read.
Most of the books I've read on writing are by writers who, while perhaps dabbling in non-fiction, tend to be novelists at heart. It was refreshing to see a book completely focused on writing non-fiction.
Not surprisingly, given the title, the book is very much about finding the right voice for a given writing. Pyne takes examples of different books (which is nice, too. It would be very easy to use articles for examples but Pyne sticks entirely to books), many of which he wrote, to explore how important it is to find the right way to identify the message you want to convey and the best way to convey that message.
#6 I am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett.
My favorite piece of metafiction from this year. Everett appears in this novel as himself (or at least there is a character with similarities to Percival Everett who is named Percival Everett) but the story focuses on the main character, the unfortunately named Not Sidney Poitier (which should really be written Notsidney Poitier given how he is known to people but it's not near as humorous that way, who, in addition to being named Not Sidney Poitier, looks amazingly like Sidney Poitier.
There are a number of other amazing not similarities. Ted Turner is Not Sidney's adoptive father and he happens to be married to Jane Fonda, but these are just characters named Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, and not the actual Ted Turner and Jane Fonda even though Ted is a billionaire media mogul and Jane is a babe.
The book is very funny and has great dialogue. But beyond the humor, there is also a level of seriousness as Not Sidney tries to find his way through a south that, while modern in era, is less so in tone (read: racist).
It is my understanding that if you're a fan of Sidney Poitier movies, there is yet another layer to this book of which I am ignorant as the only movie of his I've seen is Sneakers. All in all an entertaining story, this one from the excellent Graywolf Press.
I'll try and get the top five up before the end of the year but with the kids out of school and Christmas coming out, who knows. In addition, I am a judge again for the scholastic writing contest (no one wanted to do it and I wasn't going to get paid so, by definition, I had to do it again) and so I have two dozen pieces of high school journalism that I have to read, review and rate.
There's no doubt that I enjoy reading. But if you asked me how much time I spend reading, I'd say, not an awful lot. More than your average person but I believed that to be as much of a function of my not having a television as me being some fanatical reader. Thanks to Goodreads, I had to rethink my perception of myself. I read 102 books this year. I'm in the middle of two more but I do not see myself finishing either before the end of the year. Not only does Goodreads allow you to track and rate what you read, it also keeps statistics and it turns out that I read over 26,000 pages this year. Over 365 days, that's over 70 pages a day. Even if you assume I read a page a minute (which I don't), that's over an hour of reading a day. Cow holy, that's a lot.
At the start of the year, I laid out two reading objectives for myself: Read more baseball and read longer books. I'm not sure how I did meeting those objectives. I read six baseball books (as well as one basketball, one soccer, one cricket and one general sports book). I read seven books that were 400 pages or longer. It's silly that I don't read a greater number of longer books. My irrational belief is that I need to devote lengthy stretches of time to bigger books; that they require more focus to enjoy. I also believe that there are a lot of good books out there and that it is better to read two 200 page books than one 400 page one. This is nonsense. Two of my all-time favorite books, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, are massive in size. Of my top ten books this year, six of them were among the thirteen largest I read. More pages enables more story, more development, more analysis. I need to learn.
My reading goals for 2013 are to spend less time reading and more time engaging in writing, read larger books when I do read, read more baseball books (because I have so many) and read more books that I own. Of the 102 books I read, 87 came from various libraries. By definition, reading more baseball books will allow me to read more books I own so that will help. But I have one bookcase of books, maybe 150 books or so, that aren't baseball. Those need to be read, too. Not surprisingly, there's a lot of large books in that case. The two books I'm reading now are large, one is baseball and that one is my own book. I'm off to a good start.
2012 was a really good reading year. My top two books would probably make my top 50 of all time if I were to try and make such a list. Without further ado, here are numbers 10-6 of my favorite books from 2012 with reviews so you get more benefit than just leaping ahead to my Goodreads ratings:
#10 Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew Blechman.
Family and friends had to deal with a good stretch of time this year when I was fascinated by pigeons. My fancy was initially struck when I read a pretty mediocre novel, A Pigeon and a Boy that was about carrier pigeons. I enjoyed reading about the use of pigeons in World War II, part of the time period of that novel, and that led me to look for non-fiction books about pigeons. This one stood out.
Blechman looks at many different aspects of the history of pigeons, their use by humans, and how the perception of the bird has changed over the years. My only problem with this book were that the chapters were too short. I would have been happy to see every chapter turned into a book. This book did get me learning more about pigeons and also led to me reading an unusual book, Spirit Gun of the West: The Story of Doc W.F. Carver, which was about a legendary pigeon shooter of the nineteenth century. It is only through tremendous self-control that I am not joining Mike Tyson in owning pigeons.
#9 Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia edited by Jeff Parker. I started the year reading a lot of Eastern Europe/Russian literature. I have also grown to appreciate the short story much more than I used to. As a matter of fact, I am a big fan of a new magazine (a magazine is a collection of pages of paper with a theme that are bundled and published on a regular basis. In case you didn't know.), The Coffin Factory, which publishes really awesome short stories. Rasskazy is a collection of modern short stories from Russia. Published by the wonderful Tin House Books, I thought this book was an absolute treat. 22 stories from Russia's top literary magazines, gathered into one place and translated into English. The stories are distinctly Russian but refreshingly different from the more recognized late 19th century, early 20th century Russian authors (Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoeyevsky, etc.). As with any collection of stories, some are better than others but all in all, it was a great compilation and one I heartily recommend.
#8 Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon.
Speaking of Kavalier and Clay, my favorite author released a new book. Chabon's stature has wavered with me over the last decade as his efforts have been good but not great. Telegraph Avenue is probably the best book he's written since K&C.
The novel is about two men - one white, one black, who run a record store in San Francisco (a record is a circular piece of vinyl used to play music. In case you didn't know). A "big box" music store is coming into town, owned by a former NFL quarterback, which threatens the livelihood of the two men. Race issues, family issues, relationship issues. Typical Chabon writing with lots of descriptions and 37-cent words. Semi-typical Chabon delving into homosexuality. Interesting characters with no real good guys. I might have it overrated because it is Chabon (the two library patrons to whom I recommended it did not like it) but we're talking about my favorites. So there.
#7 Voice and Vision: A Guide to Writing History and Other Serious Nonfiction by Stephen Pyne
One of our patrons has been working on a master's thesis on histiography and so some good books on writing about history have come through my hands. This one was excellent, possibly the best book on writing non-fiction I've read.
Most of the books I've read on writing are by writers who, while perhaps dabbling in non-fiction, tend to be novelists at heart. It was refreshing to see a book completely focused on writing non-fiction.
Not surprisingly, given the title, the book is very much about finding the right voice for a given writing. Pyne takes examples of different books (which is nice, too. It would be very easy to use articles for examples but Pyne sticks entirely to books), many of which he wrote, to explore how important it is to find the right way to identify the message you want to convey and the best way to convey that message.
#6 I am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett.
My favorite piece of metafiction from this year. Everett appears in this novel as himself (or at least there is a character with similarities to Percival Everett who is named Percival Everett) but the story focuses on the main character, the unfortunately named Not Sidney Poitier (which should really be written Notsidney Poitier given how he is known to people but it's not near as humorous that way, who, in addition to being named Not Sidney Poitier, looks amazingly like Sidney Poitier.
There are a number of other amazing not similarities. Ted Turner is Not Sidney's adoptive father and he happens to be married to Jane Fonda, but these are just characters named Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, and not the actual Ted Turner and Jane Fonda even though Ted is a billionaire media mogul and Jane is a babe.
The book is very funny and has great dialogue. But beyond the humor, there is also a level of seriousness as Not Sidney tries to find his way through a south that, while modern in era, is less so in tone (read: racist).
It is my understanding that if you're a fan of Sidney Poitier movies, there is yet another layer to this book of which I am ignorant as the only movie of his I've seen is Sneakers. All in all an entertaining story, this one from the excellent Graywolf Press.
I'll try and get the top five up before the end of the year but with the kids out of school and Christmas coming out, who knows. In addition, I am a judge again for the scholastic writing contest (no one wanted to do it and I wasn't going to get paid so, by definition, I had to do it again) and so I have two dozen pieces of high school journalism that I have to read, review and rate.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Be careful what you post online or how I became an expert on the Little Drummer Boy
I'm at work at the library today when one of our patrons comes up to me. "So, Jon, I understand that you're an expert on...."
Now, despite being a rather modest individual, there are quite a few possibilities as to that how sentence could have potentially ended. I don't proclaim myself as an expert in much, if anything, as there is always someone somewhere who is far more knowledgeable than myself in any given topic. But still, I was sort of expecting the sentence to end with the word baseball in there somewhere. Or given the setting, perhaps computers or books. For better or worse, I am our computer guru and there are still people who will take a shot and ask me for a book recommendation. But no. The patron continued....
"So Jon, I understand that you're an expert on the Little Drummer Boy".
I had to start laughing. Apparently my co-worker anointed me an expert based on my post from last Christmas and shared my vast appreciation for the song with said patron.
So the patron and I got to talking. Apparently he had heard a version of Little Drummer Boy on the radio this morning that involved bagpipes and he really liked it. We shared a head shaking about the Joan Jett version. Talked about a couple other versions and then he left.
I started looking to see if I could find the version he referenced and, well, there is a ridiculous number of versions of Little Drummer Boy that involve bagpipes. I tried to narrow it down by hitting the websites of local radio stations that play Christmas songs and checking their playlists to see if I could find the version the patron heard but no one played the song this morning (although numerous other awful "Christmas" songs (read in part: Dominick the Donkey)) on any of the stations I checked. I'm left unsure.
But I figured that since I am a recognized Little Drummer Boy expert, I should share some good bagpipe versions. Here you go:
I like this nice instrumental mix by Garrett Viggers. The bagpipes don't come in until late which is good or bad depending on your taste for bagpipes.
Little Drummerboy - Live (Featuring Jefferson Bagpipers) from Garrett Viggers on Vimeo.
If you want bagpipes and vocals there's The Celts version.
You can actually purchase entire Christmas albums of bagpipes. Purchasing seems to be the only way to hear The Munros play it so we'll have to go without for today.
I almost hesitate to share the Highland Bagpipes version of Little Drummer Boy because everyone knows that version.
If I find the version the patron wanted, I'll let you know. In the meantime, while the Scots have influenced Little Drummer Boy, the Scandinavians are really pushing the envelope.
I honestly like this...interpretation...by the Finnish Death Metal Cello Quartet, Apocalyptica. You know I like the cello.
OK, how in Sam Hill did I never hear of Apocalyptica before tonight? I had to stop this post to go listen to a bunch of their songs. I mean, wow! Here's their more traditional version of O Holy Night:
I am definitely going to have to get their albums. Their newest album, 7th Symphony, is simply incredible. But I must forge on. This is supposed to be about Little Drummer Boy.
The Finns might have a hold on awesome versions but the Norwegians have the oddball versions down. Here is Binärpilot. I shrank the screen in order to eliminate the absolutely hideous and inappropriate image a fan put the music to.
I'll wrap up with the version by Norwegian Lindstrøm, at least the short version. Lindstrøm is considered noteworthy by Little Drummer Boy scholars because he created a forty minute version of the song. The below clip is only five which was enough to give me a headache.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to some more Apocalyptica.
Now, despite being a rather modest individual, there are quite a few possibilities as to that how sentence could have potentially ended. I don't proclaim myself as an expert in much, if anything, as there is always someone somewhere who is far more knowledgeable than myself in any given topic. But still, I was sort of expecting the sentence to end with the word baseball in there somewhere. Or given the setting, perhaps computers or books. For better or worse, I am our computer guru and there are still people who will take a shot and ask me for a book recommendation. But no. The patron continued....
"So Jon, I understand that you're an expert on the Little Drummer Boy".
I had to start laughing. Apparently my co-worker anointed me an expert based on my post from last Christmas and shared my vast appreciation for the song with said patron.
So the patron and I got to talking. Apparently he had heard a version of Little Drummer Boy on the radio this morning that involved bagpipes and he really liked it. We shared a head shaking about the Joan Jett version. Talked about a couple other versions and then he left.
I started looking to see if I could find the version he referenced and, well, there is a ridiculous number of versions of Little Drummer Boy that involve bagpipes. I tried to narrow it down by hitting the websites of local radio stations that play Christmas songs and checking their playlists to see if I could find the version the patron heard but no one played the song this morning (although numerous other awful "Christmas" songs (read in part: Dominick the Donkey)) on any of the stations I checked. I'm left unsure.
But I figured that since I am a recognized Little Drummer Boy expert, I should share some good bagpipe versions. Here you go:
I like this nice instrumental mix by Garrett Viggers. The bagpipes don't come in until late which is good or bad depending on your taste for bagpipes.
Little Drummerboy - Live (Featuring Jefferson Bagpipers) from Garrett Viggers on Vimeo.
If you want bagpipes and vocals there's The Celts version.
You can actually purchase entire Christmas albums of bagpipes. Purchasing seems to be the only way to hear The Munros play it so we'll have to go without for today.
I almost hesitate to share the Highland Bagpipes version of Little Drummer Boy because everyone knows that version.
If I find the version the patron wanted, I'll let you know. In the meantime, while the Scots have influenced Little Drummer Boy, the Scandinavians are really pushing the envelope.
I honestly like this...interpretation...by the Finnish Death Metal Cello Quartet, Apocalyptica. You know I like the cello.
OK, how in Sam Hill did I never hear of Apocalyptica before tonight? I had to stop this post to go listen to a bunch of their songs. I mean, wow! Here's their more traditional version of O Holy Night:
I am definitely going to have to get their albums. Their newest album, 7th Symphony, is simply incredible. But I must forge on. This is supposed to be about Little Drummer Boy.
The Finns might have a hold on awesome versions but the Norwegians have the oddball versions down. Here is Binärpilot. I shrank the screen in order to eliminate the absolutely hideous and inappropriate image a fan put the music to.
I'll wrap up with the version by Norwegian Lindstrøm, at least the short version. Lindstrøm is considered noteworthy by Little Drummer Boy scholars because he created a forty minute version of the song. The below clip is only five which was enough to give me a headache.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to some more Apocalyptica.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Joy of a completed series of books
You may have noticed that my return to blogging has been rather bereft of talk about books. As a matter of fact, not a single post has been about books. There is a madness to my method. This has been the most prolific reading year in my life, at least in terms of the number of books I've read. I recently finished my 102nd book of the year. If I had kept blogging book reviews, I wouldn't have had much time to do anything else.
Books are still important to me, obviously, and I will be writing more about what I've read this year in some upcoming posts. Today, though, I'm talking about the collecting of books and my continued quest to build a baseball research library. I'm always on the hunt for certain books and several weeks ago I was able to acquire the first edition of an annual publication that gave me a complete run of the series of books.
The Who's Who run is done, though. The publication lasted for five seasons, beginning with the 1947 copy and ending with the 50 Golden Years anniversary edition.
Books are still important to me, obviously, and I will be writing more about what I've read this year in some upcoming posts. Today, though, I'm talking about the collecting of books and my continued quest to build a baseball research library. I'm always on the hunt for certain books and several weeks ago I was able to acquire the first edition of an annual publication that gave me a complete run of the series of books.
I was able to pick up the 1947 edition of Who's Who in the American Association. The American Association was, for the longest time, one of the premiere minor leagues, representing the highest levels of minor league baseball for many, many years. The league formed in 1902 and ran until 1962 when it disbanded. The league reformed in 1969 when Major League Baseball expanded but disbanded yet again in 1997 (which led to the teams in Iowa, New Orleans and Omaha, among others, to join the Pacific Coast League. If the Mayans are correct, we may see global flooding or something which will turn Omaha, Nebraska into a coastal paradise. Until then, it's jsut silly that they're in the Pacific Coast League). Now the name American Association is used for an independent minor league.
The league also has had a long history of issuing its own publications. In addition to the Who's Who, they put out Record Makers of the American Association, American Association on Parade and All-time Records and Highlights of the American Association. I'm still working on some of them.
I love the covers on these. I also love that with the exception of the 1948 edition, they use generic ballplayer images for the covers but that for the 1948 copy, they use German Heinz Becker to highlight the American Association. Becker war ein Berliner, having been born there in 1915.
In retrospect, I find it an interesting choice to feature a German so soon after World War II. But you can make an argument that Becker is the best professional baseball player ever to have been born in Germany and he was one of the best hitters in the American Association during his era.
The switch-hitting Becker joined the Milwaukee Brewers in 1942 and was second in the league in batting to his teammate Eddie Stanky with a .340 average. The Brewers hired Charlie Grimm midway through the 1941 season to manage the club. Grimm had been one of the few managers to have had any success heading the Chicago Cubs, leading them to the National League pennant in 1932 and 1935. At the helm of the Brewers, he turned a last place team that had lost 98 games in 1941 into a playoff team.
The 1943 season saw the Brewers winning the most games in the regular season but they again lost in the playoffs. Heinz Becker joined the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 1943 season which left him short of qualification for the batting title. He would have finished fourth in batting as he hit .326.
Becker was back in Milwaukee for the full season in 1944 and hit .346 . The Brewers had an incredible lineup that season. Bingo Binks hit .374, Hal Peck hit .345 and four others hit over .340 in part-time play. That's not including the "low-average" power hitters; Bill Nagel (.308, 23 HR (2nd in the league)), Tommy Nelson (.303, 20 HR (3rd)) and Bill Norman (.296, 17). The Brewers scored 954 runs, 100 more than the next highest team. They Brewers also had the league's best pitching staff with a 3.79 ERA. The team won 102 games but were beaten in the playoffs by Louisville. Charlie Grimm took over the Cubs again and was replaced in Milwaukee by Casey Stengel.
Louisville again proved to be Milwaukee's undoing in 1945. The Brewers again had the best record in the regular season, 93-61, but lost out to Louisville in the playoffs with the Colonels winning their second straight American Association title. Heinz Becker spent the entire season with Charlie Grimm in Chicago and the Cubs reached the World Series yet again under Grimm's management. Cubs fans would have to wait another, oh, ever, before they returned to the World Series.
In 1946, Heinz Becker went to Nashville in the Southern Association but returned to Milwaukee in 1947, where, as we know from the cover of the 1948 guide, he won the batting title for Milwaukee. Not only that, but Milwaukee returned to the playoffs (they had a losing record in 1946), and beat their nemesis, the Louisville Colonels, for the league championship. Despite winning the batting title, Becker was not named to the league's All-Star team, the nod being given to Louisville's Paul Campbell. It's easy to see why. Take a look at the stats:
Campbell - .304/.365/.421, 93 R, 71 RBI
Becker - .363/.472/.521, 90 R, 90 RBI
It's obvious that....voting was as inexplicable then as it is now. I guess Campbell had the intangibles.
Becker spent his last season in Milwaukee in 1948, "only" hitting .321 (9th best in the league) and the Brewers lost in the plaoyffs yet again.
That was bit of a digression. I was really writing about these books. I always enjoy seeing where things lead, though, and you probably wouldn't have even given Heinz Becker a thought had I not written about him today.
Returning to the books, they're a neat part of minor league history. The players of each team are featured with a picture (and Becker looks nothing like he does on the cover), their stats, and a short biography (Becker was married with two children), which also included their home address at the time. There are some league stats in each of them and the 1951 edition, naturally, being the Golden Anniversary edition and all, concludes with a history of the league, primarily highlighting some of the stars that had passed through the American Association.
Part of my pleasure in having the complete run of these publications is that no one else seems to have them. The Hall of Fame is lacking the 1947 edition and Worldcat shows no library with more than two editions. On the one hand, it may seem a bit meaningless in that the presumed interest in having a run of sixty year old books about a defunct minor league is rather minimal. On the other, I think it is important that someone has them, especially in our era of digitization. I will be writing more about why this matters and what the plans for my library/collection are in the near future. As for now, let us recall Heinz Becker's hitting prowess and enjoy learning a bit more about the great game of baseball than we previously knew.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
This year's Trade Me Anything with Thorzul
Each year Thorzul perpetuates one of the greatest scams in baseball cards on his blog. He opens a box of Topps Update cards, takes the cards he wants and then offers the rest of the cards in trade for anything.
Each year he gets a lot of junk from his trade partners (myself included) but he also gets cards he needs and given that he requires his readers to send an SASE for their ends of the deal, he's getting good value. Stuff he potentially wants for stuff he doesn't want.
Now everyone enters into this willingly and I'm sure no one feels like they get robbed by Thorzul. I just think it's great that year in and year out he can get a mess of stuff from an unwanted portion of a box of cards.
As for me, I take part in it mostly to take part in it. Here is my link to last year's trade which also has links to the previous two. Yes, this is my fourth year finding stuff to send Thorzul in exchange for a card or two.
This year I'm getting another Mat Latos card and a Steve Carlton card (although the latter isn't really card so much as an ad). So all told I've picked up two Mat Latos cards, an Adam Dunn card, a Chrsity Mathewson, a Jason Bay, a Steve Carlton and a Logan Morrison. That's really not too bad. Yes, it cost me an empty box of stuffing, some magazines and some other miscellanea (not to mention postage), but to paraphrase an overused credit card commercial, the enjoyment has been priceless.
Thanks again, Thorzul. I look forward to next year.
Each year he gets a lot of junk from his trade partners (myself included) but he also gets cards he needs and given that he requires his readers to send an SASE for their ends of the deal, he's getting good value. Stuff he potentially wants for stuff he doesn't want.
Now everyone enters into this willingly and I'm sure no one feels like they get robbed by Thorzul. I just think it's great that year in and year out he can get a mess of stuff from an unwanted portion of a box of cards.
As for me, I take part in it mostly to take part in it. Here is my link to last year's trade which also has links to the previous two. Yes, this is my fourth year finding stuff to send Thorzul in exchange for a card or two.
This year I'm getting another Mat Latos card and a Steve Carlton card (although the latter isn't really card so much as an ad). So all told I've picked up two Mat Latos cards, an Adam Dunn card, a Chrsity Mathewson, a Jason Bay, a Steve Carlton and a Logan Morrison. That's really not too bad. Yes, it cost me an empty box of stuffing, some magazines and some other miscellanea (not to mention postage), but to paraphrase an overused credit card commercial, the enjoyment has been priceless.
Thanks again, Thorzul. I look forward to next year.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Guns, and I'm not talking about Jose Canseco's biceps
I don't do much in the way of soapboxing, either online or in person. I have my own set of personal beliefs that I believe are (I know this is a shock) personal. I don't try to inflict them on other people. I rarely defend my beliefs against others because I believe that there is room for a wide range of gray areas and we don't always need things to be black and white. If I want to vote for Barack Obama, I respect your wanting to vote for Mitt Romney. If I root for the Oneonta Outlaws, you are free to cheer for the Hornell Dodgers. You're a Scientologist? Catholic? Mormon? That's your call. For or against marriage among homosexuals, that's your prerogative. I usually like to know your reasoning if your viewpoint differs from mine if for no other reason than to make me think and rethink my own views. I like to think there is some thought behind your opinion other than that's what Fox News told you to think. Reasoned, logical arguments work wonders. Which is why I don't understand how anyone could have voted Miguel Cabrera for AL MVP. That's an argument about which I just can't be open-minded.
There's another argument I'm a bit closed-minded about, too, about which I'm writing today. I feel strongly about this because I really don't understand the logic by those who have an opposing viewpoint. In the wake of yet another school shooting, a tragedy that is becoming way too common, I have to wonder why we don't have stricter gun control laws in this country.
I've grown up around guns. My parents own. My uncle used to head the state game commission. I have fired firearms as have my sons. I understand weapons for hunting even though hunting is now a sport rather than a means of providing food. I think bows are a better tool but I at least understand the desire to use a gun in that fashion.
Law enforcement should also have firearms available. Military personnel, too, even though the conflicts today are so much more technologically advanced as to make the use of firearms feel quaint at times. The job of both the police and the military is to protect the citizenry of this country, often against others in possession of firearms.
Outside of those reasons, why does anyone need a gun? For personal protection? What kind of world do you live in that you are afraid of someone to the point where you feel the need to have a gun in your possession? And what exactly are you afraid of? Oh yeah, someone with a gun.
Are you perhaps worried about a financial collapse? Where our society collapses into a free-for-all where the strong and well-armed will survive and lead the new martial rule of the Country Formerly Known as the United States? If so, that's why the government requires psychological background checks, and good luck with yours.
One of our patrons came into the library this week to print out the paperwork to apply for a Lethal Weapon License? Why? We live in a town of 5000 people. The last murder here was in 1974. I'd like to keep it that way. There is zero reason for someone to walk into a public library to get application materials for a firearm. Zero.
The law says we have the right to bear arms. The sooner this antiquated piece of legislature from our musket-bearing forefathers gets removed from the books, the better we will all be. It is this so-called "freedom" that resulted in over two dozen people being killed in a Connecticut school today.
It is a freedom that killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.
It is a freedom that killed a dozen people in an Aurora movie theater.
And the ten in the nearby Nickle Mine school shooting.
Twelve in Columbine.
That's almost a hundred people right there, many of them children, who died in the name of freedom. A hundred people whose own freedoms were denied them, along with their lives, by someone with a gun.
But it wasn't the guns that killed those people, it was the people. If guns were outlawed, the gunman today would have gone around and strangled or stabbed all the little kids in the Connecticut school. Or maybe made them drink antifreeze. It wouldn't have mattered whether or not the shooter in Aurora had a gun or not. He could have just as easily killed all those people with a candlestick across the skull.
The fact that automatic or semi-automatic weapons are available to the general public is nonsensical. In what possible situation does one need to empty multiple rounds in a target outside of a school or theatre shooting? Even for hunting it makes no sense. You need to get off several rounds, why? Because the deer will come back with his friends and they'll all be packing heat? No, it's because you suck at shooting.
More than anything else, though, the question that I wonder the most is why should a gun ever be pointed at a child? I question why any normal human being needs to point a weapon at a fellow homosapien, but especially a child. If nothing else, there should be the reason to put further restrictions on firearms.
I could rattle off tons of numbers to support my stance. Since my stance is so contrary and ridiculous and all. But I'm not going to because Jason Kottke did a nice job of aggregating that information on his site. I hope you take a look at the information and I hope it helps prompt you to encourage tighter gun control laws in this country.
There's another argument I'm a bit closed-minded about, too, about which I'm writing today. I feel strongly about this because I really don't understand the logic by those who have an opposing viewpoint. In the wake of yet another school shooting, a tragedy that is becoming way too common, I have to wonder why we don't have stricter gun control laws in this country.
I've grown up around guns. My parents own. My uncle used to head the state game commission. I have fired firearms as have my sons. I understand weapons for hunting even though hunting is now a sport rather than a means of providing food. I think bows are a better tool but I at least understand the desire to use a gun in that fashion.
Law enforcement should also have firearms available. Military personnel, too, even though the conflicts today are so much more technologically advanced as to make the use of firearms feel quaint at times. The job of both the police and the military is to protect the citizenry of this country, often against others in possession of firearms.
Outside of those reasons, why does anyone need a gun? For personal protection? What kind of world do you live in that you are afraid of someone to the point where you feel the need to have a gun in your possession? And what exactly are you afraid of? Oh yeah, someone with a gun.
Are you perhaps worried about a financial collapse? Where our society collapses into a free-for-all where the strong and well-armed will survive and lead the new martial rule of the Country Formerly Known as the United States? If so, that's why the government requires psychological background checks, and good luck with yours.
One of our patrons came into the library this week to print out the paperwork to apply for a Lethal Weapon License? Why? We live in a town of 5000 people. The last murder here was in 1974. I'd like to keep it that way. There is zero reason for someone to walk into a public library to get application materials for a firearm. Zero.
The law says we have the right to bear arms. The sooner this antiquated piece of legislature from our musket-bearing forefathers gets removed from the books, the better we will all be. It is this so-called "freedom" that resulted in over two dozen people being killed in a Connecticut school today.
It is a freedom that killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.
It is a freedom that killed a dozen people in an Aurora movie theater.
And the ten in the nearby Nickle Mine school shooting.
Twelve in Columbine.
That's almost a hundred people right there, many of them children, who died in the name of freedom. A hundred people whose own freedoms were denied them, along with their lives, by someone with a gun.
But it wasn't the guns that killed those people, it was the people. If guns were outlawed, the gunman today would have gone around and strangled or stabbed all the little kids in the Connecticut school. Or maybe made them drink antifreeze. It wouldn't have mattered whether or not the shooter in Aurora had a gun or not. He could have just as easily killed all those people with a candlestick across the skull.
The fact that automatic or semi-automatic weapons are available to the general public is nonsensical. In what possible situation does one need to empty multiple rounds in a target outside of a school or theatre shooting? Even for hunting it makes no sense. You need to get off several rounds, why? Because the deer will come back with his friends and they'll all be packing heat? No, it's because you suck at shooting.
More than anything else, though, the question that I wonder the most is why should a gun ever be pointed at a child? I question why any normal human being needs to point a weapon at a fellow homosapien, but especially a child. If nothing else, there should be the reason to put further restrictions on firearms.
I could rattle off tons of numbers to support my stance. Since my stance is so contrary and ridiculous and all. But I'm not going to because Jason Kottke did a nice job of aggregating that information on his site. I hope you take a look at the information and I hope it helps prompt you to encourage tighter gun control laws in this country.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)