MLB

From blogger to author NJ teen pens baseball history tome

He is a 15-year-old ninth-grader at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., who has interviewed President George W. Bush, Hank Aaron, Yogi Berra, Sandy Alderson, Eddie Einhorn and Billy Crystal, among others, for his entertaining baseball blog. Matt Nadel started Baseball with Matt two years ago, and now the wunderkind has a forthcoming book this fall entitled “Amazing Aaron to Zero Zippers, An Introduction to Baseball History,” published by Summer Game Books.

“It’s 26 chapters, and each chapter shows an aspect of baseball history,” Matt told the Rumble. “It’s either a player, a team, a certain statistic, anything basically, that is quintessential to baseball history.”

Asked why the public should pick it up, Matt said, “First of all, I just want to mention all proceeds of the book will be going to four specific charities involved in baseball … the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Lou Gehrig ALS Foundation, the Hall of Fame’s charity and then Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation.

“Another reason is if you want to learn about baseball, whether you’re 1-year-old or you’re 100 years old and you just want to learn something about the games, something basic that your friends are talking about, you can pick this book up, and I’m sure that you’ll find something interesting that you can say to anyone and hopefully they are impressed with your baseball knowledge.

“Baseball has been one of the many, I guess, glues that has kept our nation together in tough times, so the book is supposed to kinda teach you about where baseball was, and where baseball is now.”
Matt has been invited up to the Hall of Fame this summer to cover their 75th anniversary “Cooperstown Concert.”

Gee excited about Ryan bobbleheads

Dillon Gee might be greedy and ask for more than one Nolan Ryan bobblehead Saturday night, which will be given out to fans before the Mets take on the Phillies at Citi Field.

Gee, who grew up Cleburne, Texas, said he loved to watch Ryan, who won a World Series title with the 1969 Mets, when he pitched with Houston and Texas later in his career.

“I always admired the way he had so much success at a later age,” Gee said. “He was always in command on the mound and never wasted a pitch.”

Dillon got to meet the real Ryan a couple of years ago when the Mets played in Texas.

“I was a little nervous meeting him, but he was great with me,” Gee said. “He even signed a couple of balls and I was shocked when he said he saw me pitch on TV a couple of times and liked what he saw. That made my day.”

The Mets will give out the Ryan bobblehead, presented by Delta Airlines, to the first 20,000 fans Saturday night. Tickets for the game are available at mets.com or by phone at 718-507-TIXX. … SNY’s “Kidcaster Contest” returns this year with a once-in-a-life opportunity for kids ages 7-12 to call a half an inning of play with the Mets broadcast team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. Fans interested in entering can do so by visiting the SNY website, web.sny.tv/promotions/2014/contests/kidcaster/form.jsp. Deadline for entry is Friday.

Soccer stars out for new book

Soccer royalty, including U.S. legends Tab Ramos and Jeff Agoos, will be gathering Thursday night at the Heartland Brewery in Manhattan to celebrate the upcoming release of Major League Soccer Medical Coordinator John Gallucci Jr.’s first book, “Soccer Injury Prevention and Treatment: A Guide to Optimal Performance for Players, Parents and Coaches”, published by Demos Health. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the book will be given to benefit select local youth soccer organizations.

For more information on the book and to order an advance copy, visit http://www.jagpt.com.

S.I. tackles numbers game

Sports Illustrated’s new book “Any Given Number, to be released on Tuesday, provides an interesting analysis of jersey numbers in professional sports. It takes every number between 00-99, presents the top athletes across all sports who wore it, and ultimately declares which pro athlete wore the digit the best.

It can be complicated. For instance, at No. 12 — Joe Namath is up against Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady. No. 33 has basketball stars Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at odds. And, at No. 24, Willie Mays takes on Jeff Gordon and Kobe Bryant.