50 Baseball Books to Savor
The Society for American Baseball Research rolls out an anniversary list
Sports Biblio Reader, 3.21.21
Also in This Issue: The Last Ordinary Inning; Tokyo’s Olympic Decision; Marvin Hagler and Joe Rogan; Renaming the Maracanã; Early U.S. Soccer History; A Boston Marathon Legend; Ma Copley, Belfast Boxing Badass; The Demise of a College Wrestling Program; Wild Ice Skating in Banff; Alexander Wolff; Remembering Joe Tait and Sabine Schmitz
In honor of its 50th anniversary this year, the Society for American Baseball Research has published a book, “50 at 50,” a collection of what its contributors regard as the most “essential” articles the organization has published.
It’s part of the SABR 50 at 50 project, which most recently unveiled a list of 50 baseball books published since SABR’s founding in Aug. 1971.
Many of the iconic works of the genre are listed there, as are some lesser-known but highly-praised volumes, and a handful of novels.
More than 400 books were submitted for consideration, and the methodology for choosing the final list is explained at the bottom.
The anticipated 50th anniversary conference will have to wait, however, as SABR has scotched that event slated this year for Baltimore, as well as its annual Negro Leagues Conference until 2022, due to issues related to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
SABR is holding what it calls a “Summer of SABR” online sessions on selected weekends in June, July and August.
As someone who recently renewed SABR membership after a few years (not for any other reason than forgetfulness), I’ve found the premium access to e-books and other features more than worth the dues, along with several newsletters and updates from the Magnolia Chapter, based in my hometown of Atlanta.
One other SABR-related book note: The recipient of its 2021 Seymour Medal, for biography or history, is Eric Nusbaum’s “Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers and the Lives Caught in Between.”
More here on the other finalists for the Seymour Medal, whose 2020 winner, Jeremy Beer’s biography of Negro Leagues star Oscar Charleston, will be featured at this newsletter soon.
A Few Good Reads
From Sports Illustrated, Emma Baccellieri recalls the last completed spring training game of 2020, on March 14 between the Rays and Phillies, before COVID-19 closings;
Tokyo Olympic organizers have decided to restrict spectators to Japanese citizens only due to COVID-19 concerns, after facing intense public pressure in a nation with more than 9,000 deaths due to the virus. The restrictions also apply to the Paralympics;
The venerable Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, built for the 1950 World Cup and will be renamed for Pelé, but the decision has been a controversial one;
Former middleweight boxing champion “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler died earlier this month at the age of 66 under disputed circumstances, with his widow denying it was due to the COVID-19 vaccine. At the Chicago Tribune, John Kass wrote simply that Hagler was “old school,” and that’s a deeply-missed quality today in the sport: “He wasn’t flashy, but then discipline is never flashy. A will of iron isn’t flashy. The refusal to submit isn’t flashy. Maybe that’s why we miss him. And why it hurt so much when we heard he died;”
At The Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone argues that Hagler never got his due from boxing because he made a clean break after his retirement, opting to move to Italy and starring in some movies and only the occasional ringside commentary appearance: “Unlike Leonard, Hearns, Durán and the other stars who survived that era, Hagler removed himself from our cognizance — and took his greatness with him;”
An interesting artifact from the peak of Hagler’s career is a 1983 drawing of the boxer in the ring by a 15-year-old boy in the Boston area. Joe Rogan would grow up to be an actor, comedian, UFC commentator and popular podcast host, but at the time he recalls being impressed with Hagler’s “maniacal dedication to training and fight preparation, and it had a massive influence on me. I would think of him when I was tired and was considering stopping. I would imagine what he would do and it would always fill me up with energy;”
Meet Ma Copley, a boxing promoter in 1930s Belfast who arranged for “boxing shows” several days a week. While many of the fighters were colorful local characters who never climbed far up the fighting talent ladder, one of those who carved out a successful career from that start was Rinty Monaghan, an Irishman who became the world flyweight champion;
From Trackwrestling, an oral history of the demise of University of Nebraska at Omaha wrestling program, which won six NCAA Division II wrestling championships in eight years before being discontinued in 2011 by then-athletics director Trev Alberts, a former NFL player, who’s clearly pegged as the villain in this 3-part series;
George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures is producing a documentary series with Sports Illustrated Studios and 101 Studios about a long-running abuse scandal in the Ohio State athletics program. The project is based on SI writer Jon Wertheim’s investigative article last October detailing allegations of sexual abuse and steroids distribution to athletes. That story also alleged that a former Buckeyes wrestling assistant, current U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan, ignored complaints of abuse from a wrestling athlete;
From New Frame, a social justice publication in South Africa, a series on sports and climate change begins with the threat posed to sports venues such as St. Andrews, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and winter sports resorts “unless drastic action is taken;”
From the CBC, gorgeous photos from Paul Zizka, a nature photographer in Banff, Alberta, of “wild” ice skating in what he calls “some of the finest settings on earth.” More of Zizka’s work can be found at his website, including several books featuring his landscape photography from the Canadian Rockies.
Sports Book News
Coming in July from the University of Illinois Press: “From Football to Soccer: The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States.” The author is Brian Bunk, a history lecturer at the University of Massachusetts history who has had his own podcast on the subject. His other books are about the Spanish Civil War and modern Spain, and he also specializes in the intersection of boxing history and Latin identities.
Alexander Wolff’s latest book steps away from sports and into some fascinating personal history: “Endpapers: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape, and Home,” published this month by Atlantic Monthly. It details his part-Jewish grandfather’s rise as a prominent book publisher in Germany and his escape to America from the Third Reich, and his father’s service in the Wehrmacht before being captured by the Allies. Wolff spent a year in Berlin researching the story, which includes an exploration of the connection between Hitler and the Merck pharmaceutical firm. More on the book and Wolff, a Vermont resident, from the fine local indie news site VTDigger;
Passings
Joe Tait, 83, was the radio voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers for 41 years, and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He also called games for the Cleveland Indians and three other NBA teams, among other assignments. I never heard him call Cavaliers games, but enjoyed listening to his late-night calls on the West Coast of 1970s Indians games on WWWE in Cleveland;
Dick Hoyt, 80, was a familiar presence at the Boston Marathon for 32 years for his unusual participation: pushing his son, a paraplegic with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair. Hoyt later wrote a memoir about their shared experiences;
Sabine Schmitz, 51, was the only woman to win the Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race on the Formula 1 scene, and she did it twice. She had been battling cancer since 2017.
The Sports Biblio Reader e-mail newsletter is delivered on Sunday. You can subscribe here and search recent archives. The full archives for Sports Biblio Digest can be found here. This is issue No. 236, published March 21, 2021.
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