Monthly Archives: February 2009

A Brig of War by Richard Woodman: a short review

‘Twould be a better book without Lt. Morris. Except for that, an excellent tale of the Royal Naval’s little war against Napoleon in the Red Sea. Based on fact, but only loosely so.

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Waterloo Diamonds by Richard Panek: a short review

This book is almost entirely about how the Diamonds died. It’s a portrait of the owners, the team officers, and the city slowing coming to realize that the team was no longer viable, and of the efforts of a large number of people to stave off what was perhaps inevitable. It’s also an exploration of the causes of that death. Waterloo Diamonds is a wonderful, if sad, book, and its great strength is its sympathetic portraits of the principal characters. They didn’t all agree, and their differences are the drama. Excellent book; if you can find a copy I highly recommend it.

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Specs (~1946)

The Umpire Cards–really they were repurposed Player Cards–were maintained by The Sporting News from around 1910 to about 1985. All the umpire cards are available on Retrosheet; the TSN player cards are not available anywhere.

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