Yep....most of Stump's drivel has been discredited....

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Bill James wrote the Cobb was generous towards people of all races dozens of time. Cobb grew up poor, and he always felt out of place so he would lash out. He does not appear to really have been a dedicated racist or violent by the standards of his era though.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

He didn't grow up poor, though. However, according to Leerhsen, he did feel out of place in MLB since none of the big-league cities were in the Deep South.

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Bill James called him a country-hick from Georgia. I don't think he grew up in privilege.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

I haven't read Leerhsen's Cobb book, but his book on Dan Patch was exhaustively researched.

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Don't take it personally.

Ruffcorn, definitely read this book!! You'll like it. It's wonderfully written and researched (and often hilarious).

Leerhsen lays it all out in the book. Cobb's father was an attorney. James either is confusing region with class or is simply misinformed. (I think most people were, though the conflating of "from Georgia" with "hick" says more about American attitudes towards the South than anything else. Cobb was something on an intellectual. And he had a nice ass.)

I just finished the book on Dan Patch. I wanted to see if I could really enjoy it--and Christ, that was a great book. Dan Patch is mentioned in so many other books about late nineteenth/early twentieth century sports....Leerhsen does his homework--and he can write a helluva story. Excellent researcher.

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Dan Patch was the first true celebrity sports hero in America (greater than John L. Sullivan and eclipsed by of course, Babe Ruth) and he was the first sports hero used for advertising purposes.

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Don't take it personally.

It's amazing how popular Dan Patch was.....I had to read that book just to be able to appreciate it.

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Soundgarden: New Metal Crown, by Chris Nickson

I'm not going to re-read it, but I've had this since the mid-90s, and it's a decent intro to the band. Soundgarden had been recording for about six years before this book came out, so there was actually some history to cover, and this book does a passable job doing so. What it didn't do was re-create the entire NW scene in the late 80s, and that's not surprising, as this is a sort of slapped-together rush job by a writer who specializes in them.

The best books on grunge (that I've read) are Everybody Loves Our Town and Grunge is Dead. Hopefully, someone talented will write a bio of Cornell.

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Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues by John B. Holway.

Holway is a baseball researcher who has written extensively about the Negro Leagues.

In the 1960s and 70s, Holway interviewed a number of Negro League stars to collect their stories, and this book does not disappoint. I haven't even finished it, but it's the kind of book you can peruse at your leisure, since each chapter deals with a different player. Holway summarizes the player's achievements before letting them speak, which means you really get a sense of who these guys (and Mrs. Effa Manley, owner of the Newark Eagles) are--and what their game was like. They talk about playing all the great white (or non-black) MLB players in exhibitions and mention other Negro League stars (Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, etc.) who died before the book was compiled. Everyone's here, and it's fun hearing the stories--some are tall tales--from the actual players. Just a fun book to wind your way through.

The biggest names in the book include Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, and Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe. "Double Duty" had my favorite story, since he lived on the South Side after retiring from playing and managing. He worked for Chicagoan Abe Saperstein and the Globetrotters, and later Saperstein got "Double Duty" into scouting. He doesn't mention this, but he fell into poverty and eventually the MLB helped him out. The White Sox honored him a few times, too. I've read this chapter about eight times.

Interestingly, the author did not interview Satchel Paige, though Paige is well-represented in the stories in this book and was something of a media darling himself. I would have loved to have heard the voices of Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston, but they were dead by the 1950s.

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Inferno, Max Hastings.

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Here are three paintings by naive Bronx artist Tommy Cheng that I have hanging in my home office. He does a lot of baseball players and rock stars. In spite of how rudimentary they are, there are enough subtle differences that you can tell who is who.

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Don't take it personally.

You have those in your home office? I'm impressed--those are really cool. I like this kind of folk, Depression/WPA style. (At least, that's what it reminds me of....a little.) Please amend your will to leave these to me.

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Anyone a fan of the W.E.B. Griffin books? I've been reading the Presidential agent series / Charley Castillo novels. Really like them.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The Truth Hurts, by Jimmy Piersall.

This book starts off where Fear Strikes Out leaves off, meaning that it starts in the middle. It also ends in the middle; Piersall recounts getting fired from the White Sox but still managing to hold on to a radio gig, and promises a third edition (which never came). In any case, this should be on your shelf of baseball books (or books about people with no filter).

When I first got this the the other day, I just sort of flipped through it, and I wasn't impressed by the overly casual style. It seemed really sloppy. But when I went back and started at the beginning, Piersall's unschooled style grew on me. The stories are, simply put, hilarious; many are also reveal much about players (like Ted Williams and Billy Martin), managers (Lou Boudreau, Joe Cronin, Tony LaRussa), owners (Veeck, Finley, Reinsdorf), and those in the broadcasting business (Harry Caray, WMAQ's station manager). It's interesting to see some of these Type A personalities clash.

Piersall might not come across as authentic to contemporary audiences, though, since he is not worried about politeness or false humility. He does not so much brag as he celebrates his own accomplishments, and I see nothing wrong with that.

He appears to be generally honest, but we get everything through his lens, and while he makes a point to say that some of his adversaries, though they were wrong in whatever Piersall-related dust-up we hear about, were otherwise good people, he comes off a little like the always-innocent AJ Pierzynski. Yet I like that about this book; Piersall did not have some editor swoop in to make him appear family friendly (though local writer Dick Whittingham helped out on this book). The guy was edgy, and we get to see that. He's not guarded about his impulsivity whatsoever, and that's refreshing, in a way. He was just over 50 when he penned this book, but he had not mellowed at all; for example, he attacks LaRussa, Einhorn, and Reinsdorf so much so that it gets uncomfortable. But, like I said, I'm glad that no editor came and softened these attacks. Whether Piersall was right or wrong, he comes across as real.

If there's a problem with the book, he draws on other people to defend him too much. It does not reflect well on him and sometimes makes this book less of an unfiltered take and more of an apologia.

Fun book, though, and a quick read. Here's a guy who played with Ted Williams and against the Stengel Yankees, whose fielding prowess Tris Speaker commented upon, and who called games in which Harold Baines played. That's a lot of baseball. The Sox were lucky to have a national figure providing color on their games.

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Dream Hoarders. Just came out. I read the Trib article on the book, and the 11 reviews of it on Amazon.

In a nutshell, it discusses how the top 20% of America is using its disposable wealth, job positon, and university legacy system to build a modern aristocracy. This hits close to home because I had no such advantages, but now my kids will.

I am deeply concerned about social mobility and opportunity for all. The reviews seem mixed so far.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

That's interesting, Denis. I will check this out. It certainly seems that this is the way society is going (though I've been wrong before), and much of my angst stems from the fact that I've fucked things up and may have ruined my shot to get my kids "in" . . . right now I am settling on getting them to be resilient, which is hard (for various reasons).

If America ain't got mobility, it ain't America. (And yes, I know not everyone has had the same life chances, and I'm not making light of that, &tc.)

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Malazan is awesome it really is but hot damn it is a lot of work. It is worth the work for sure. Just a tough read.

I am engrossed in Ready Player One. The dialogue is cheesy, and they drop way too many references, but the underlying story is fun. I literally can't put it done and will finish the book tonight, the last third of it.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Anybody use Goodreads? I like that for BROWSING titles.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Currently reading:

Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America: An intellectual history of contemporary anti-government politics, focusing on economist James Buchanan and the Koch brothers.

Wollfgang Streeck, Buying Time: The Delayed Crisis of Democratic Capitalism: Great book on the revolt of neoliberal capitalism/capitalists against the moderating institutional forces of democracy. Streeck's recent work on the evolution of modern capitalist states/neoliberalism has distinguished him as one of the most important political economists writing today.

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Interesting, I may check those out. I also looked at that Good Reads. That may be a thing. I was browsing through their historical fiction section, which I have found to be a great way to learn about history.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I think you would find the Streeck book especially interesting, particularly in its discussion of the transformation of capitalist democracies from "tax states" to "debt states" as a strategy for resolving systemic crises and delaying--but not evading--an eventual economic collapse. Good stuff.

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Oh geesh, yeap right up my alley. There is no doubt in mind that historians will look back at this period and see all the folly in the way we finance society. I love that our solution to every problem is literally more taxes, more debt, or more schemes to put off funding a long term liability like social security or pensions.

Greek bailout:

1) Extend current loan terms on current debt,
2) Lower interest rate charged,
3) Give Greece more debt.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Well, Streeck is takling about the debt problem from a left perspective, so his analysis focuses on the "distributional conflicts" arising from an inherently inequitable economic system as well as how debt became a way of "buying time"--or deferring inevitable massive economic and social upheaval. But I think you would find the book interesting since it engages some of your main concerns, although from a perspective that is almost totally antithetically opposed to a libertarian philosophy.

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I'm re-reading Trees in Paradise: A California History by Jared Farmer. My history teacher senior year was a bit of a hippie -- his course dealt with how nature (oceans, land, trees, vegetation) can alter and shape history. It's my favorite out of all the books we read over the semester.

If you're looking for something similar regarding Chicago history, this book can't be beat: Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. Truly a masterly synthesis of environmental, frontier, and economic history. https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Metropolis-Chicago-Great-West/dp/0393308731

Of course, if you're looking for the true master analysis focusing on the influence of the environment and geography on historical development, the classic text is Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502313862&sr=8-1&keywords=%27guns+germs+and+steel%27

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One L by Scott Turow. It's a memoir of his first year at Harvard Law. Pretty good book, but kind of the same thing as the original film The Paper Chase.

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Rubicon - the last days of the Roman Republic.

That explains it all. Very good.

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline for a long Labor Day weekend. Being made into a major motion picture for 2018 release by Steven Spielberg.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami