Michael Shapiro » Reviews

Praise in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer

mshapiro — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:19:17 +0000

“A fascinating look at an almost forgotten era. . . . One of the best baseball books of recent seasons. Grade: A.”

Bloomberg News Review

mshapiro — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:37:25 +0000

“This season brings a bumper crop of books about baseball in New York, the best of which concerns a team and a league that don’t even exist. Michael Shapiro’s ‘Bottom of the Ninth’ . . . is one of the best tales of what might have been, how baseball might have harnessed the power of television and how the sport might have staved off the rise of football.”

–David M. Shribman, Bloomberg News

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Boston Globe Review

mshapiro — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:06:08 +0000

“(An) engaging look at a significant, though often forgotten, chapter in
the game’s history.”

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“Compelling” says LA Times

mshapiro — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:52:15 +0000

Shapiro, author of the terrific “The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together,” does an admirable job telling this complex story.

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Editors’ Choice NY Times Book Review

mshapiro — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:08:30 +0000

Boston Globe Review

mshapiro — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:16:16 +0000

Michael Shapiro elegantly describes the ill-fated effort to establish the eight-team Continental League in “Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball From Itself.”

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Prasie from blogger Chris Lynch

mshapiro — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:08:07 +0000

The book was written focusing on two men – Branch Rickey and Casey Stengel much like Moneyball was written with a focus on Billy Beane and Bill James. If you enjoyed Moneyball you surely will enjoy Bottom of the Ninth. I can’t recommend it enough.

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New York Times Book Review

mshapiro — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:09:31 +0000

“There’s something refreshing about a book in which the heroes both fail. Shapiro makes us feel their pain. He captures the sense of loss — not only for Rickey and Stengel, but for baseball and its fans. As Stengel once said, “Without losers, where would the winners be?”

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Praise in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

mshapiro — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:13:48 +0000

“a fascinating piece on a long neglected aspect of baseball’s past.”

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Praise From Sports Illustrated

mshapiro — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:21:28 +0000

Exactly how the Continental League gathered strength and then faltered, and exactly how its impact is felt today, are treasures to be unearthed in Ninth. There are others, many in Stengelese.

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