Archives: baseball

Opening Day 2018: Casey at the Bat

March 29, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;/ .
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;/ .
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,/
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

Raymond Chandler and the development of the ‘private eye’; newsletter, Jan. 12, 2018

January 15, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalists, newsletter, watercolor.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (4,500) on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018. Special note: If you have unsubscribed to this list previously, I apologize for this email. I had some problems with the list over the past couple of weeks — due mainly to my incompetence — and some unsubscribers may have • Read More »

A journalist needs something to write about: Richard Ben Cramer, Alex Rodriguez and the book that did not get written

January 22, 2014 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Home, reporters, reporting, writers, writing.

In 2006 Cramer sold both his publisher and his subject on a book about Alex Rodriguez, the star of the New York Yankees who was recently banned for a year by Major League Baseball for taking banned substances. The book had the title, The Importance of Being Alex: A Life with the Yankees. He had a $550,000 advance from the Hachette Book Group. Rodriguez had agreed to cooperate fully. In fact, he welcomed Cramer into his entourage. What happened after that is a sad tale but, unfortunately, not unique.

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