On Marty Noble’s MLBlogs Network

Interesting book released today from Michael Shapiro, a baseball historian who has written about, among other things, the Brooklyn Dodgers in the past. “Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself” is about Rickey’s vision for how to “save” baseball, largely through the creation of a third major league, the Continental League.

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Daily Beast Recommends Bottom of the Ninth

Did football become the national pastime because baseball got greedy?

Football may not have been as popular today had baseball followed the lead of legendary executive Branch Rickey and created a third major league.

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San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Baseball Books 2009

Allan Barra writes: Shapiro (author of “The Last Good Season,” about the old Brooklyn Dodgers) is a terrific writer. His accounts of Branch Rickey’s struggle and eventual failure to create a third major league, the Continental, as well as the last Yankee season of baseball’s most successful manager, Casey Stengel (whose team lost the 1960 Series on Bill Mazeroski’s home run in the seventh game), makes for compelling reading.

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Review on Harvey Frommer’s BaseballGuru.com

Shapiro, author of “The Last Good Season,” is in top form breaking new ground and providing new awarenesses of a little reported on chapter in American sports history – the aborted attempt by Branch Rickey to create the Continental League and Casey Stengel’s yen to remake the ways in which the national pastime was played. A good read.

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Review on AtHomePlate.com

Read Richard Coreno’s review

Review and Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Shapiro tells his tale with verve. . . . It’s an enjoyable ride.”

The Weekend Journal’s review by Richard Tofel

and an excerpt from the introduction

Review from Sunday’s NY Times City Section

Kind words about Bottom of the Ninth from Sam Roberts:

Mr. Shapiro dramatically builds his tale to a walloping conclusion, the 1960 World Series, which, he writes, “marked the end of almost one hundred years when baseball stood atop all sports.”

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New Site Launched!

In anticipation of my upcoming book Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself (out May 12th and available for pre-order), I’ve launched a new site with a new blog.