Two books hit shelves earlier this week, and one is a championship contender.
I highly recommend Peter Gammons’ book “It’s All About The Players.” A memoir of sorts, the narrative is framed through decades of relationships in the game and experiences covering players. Yastrzemski, Fisk, Tiant, Clemente, Bonds, Ripken, and Puckett. The stories are fantastic, the details immaculate. I found myself often amazed how Gammons has both held back and held onto these stories for so long.
The recipient of the 2004 J. G. Taylor Spink Award — an honor bestowed by the Baseball Writers Association of America for outstanding baseball writing — Gammons brought so many of us closer to the game, whether as kids, young adults, or fully former fans. He began his career covering the Red Sox for The Boston Globe, before expanding his purview as a national columnist. And while he wrote for both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, it was on Baseball Tonight where fans of all ages and of all teams were properly introduced to him. Gammons shared his love of players with generations of fans, sparking deeper connections for so many of us. I am eternally grateful for his work.
In “It’s All About The Players: What I’ve Learned from Baseball’s Best,” Gammons reveals his uncanny ability to share stories of personal encounters with players, coaches, and executives, and remain modest while doing so. You can still smell the infield grass in decades-old details.
There is mention of the time in 1978 when a young player was taking batting practice off his father at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Don Zimmer didn’t believe Gammons when he identified the kid hitting as only 17 years old. The Red Sox manager was sure Cal Ripken, Jr., was a college player — so sure that he promised Gammons dinner at Obrycki’s if the batter was still a teenager. Yes, it’s a relatively inconsequential detail across 360 pages that chronicle, among other things, the struggles that Roberto Clemente and Felipe Alou faced as Latin American ballplayers in an unaccepting country. It’s also the attention to detail that the game rewards.1
Last night in New York, Orioles owner David Rubenstein took the stage at the 92nd Street Y to discuss “Inside the Owner’s Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports.” Joining him in conversation was the subject of Gammons and Zimmer’s wager, Cal Ripken, Jr., himself. Only about five miles away, Rubenstein’s team was wrapping up a rain-soaked double-header split with the playoff-bound Yankees.
The Orioles owner has written several books already. My challenge to Rubenstein for his next title is to write openly and originally after participating in labor negotiations and consecutive disappointing seasons. I feel like he’s holding back on us.
“Inside the Owner’s Box” is a book in two parts: The first section details his acquisition of the team, while the second portion features transcriptions of interviews with other owners of major franchises. Some of the interviews were not conducted exclusively for the book and instead recycled from already-distributed channels. It felt a little like when a frugal franchise would attempt to excite fans by signing an over-the-hill player in his final seasons.
The interviews are at times trite. They expose an insecurity in how to behave as an owner — a fan still adjusting to life as the boss — wondering where he should sit during games and how often he should (or can) enter the locker room.
I’ll admit that reading this book during a lackluster Orioles season colored my experience. I am far from a neutral observer. But I question what actually motivated Rubenstein to write the book.
At one point, he expresses hope that his stories may help an owner-to-be. That’s quite an audience. Even at the height of brick-and-mortar bookstores, I don’t think there was much real estate dedicated to “Prospective Sports Owner” titles. (For my Baltimorons out there, you’ll recall that Bibelot never featured such a section.)
While Rubenstein generously shares private details of his purchase of the franchise, he also subjects us to his analysis of the 2025 season. I found it odd for an author to date the book so intentionally. Perhaps if he owned the Dodgers or even the Blue Jays, a post mortem of the team’s campaign would possess staying power, but who will ever feel nostalgic for a 75-87 season?
Rubenstein also offers excuses for his team’s shortcomings. Frankly, it’s unbecoming. More than once, I became uncomfortable reading through his excuses for the team’s struggles.
One paragraph he may regret includes a rundown of the players acquired leading into the 2026 season. After comparing significant free-agent signing Pete Alonso to Frank Robinson, the author follows by naming Ryan Helsley, Shane Baz, Taylor Ward, Andrew Kittredge, Chris Bassitt, and Zach Eflin.
When he shared those paragraphs with his confidants and his editor at Simon & Schuster, did no one have a red pen handy — or did Rubenstein not want to listen?
Last weekend, O’s rookie manager Craig Albernaz called out two of his players in the media. I’d love to know what kind of feedback, if any, he received after remarking that Jeremiah Jackson’s decision to swing at the first offering from a pitcher who had just loaded the bases via two walks and a hit batter “embarrassed” him and was “not winning baseball.”
One day earlier, outfielder Rece Hinds lost a ball in the sun. Albernaz publicly vented: “I thought you would have some sunglasses.” Turns out there’s a lot to shade yourself from at Camden Yards these days.
Earlier today, Justin Verlander made his final pitching appearance. After 5.1 strong innings, Tigers manager AJ Hinch walked towards home plate umpire Laz Diaz. Meanwhile, Verlander’s seven-year-old daughter, Genevieve, sprinted to the mound to remove her father from the game.
I cried watching it, and I’m tearing up just typing it. Those are the special moments that make baseball more than a game. Peter Gammons expertly captures them in “It’s All About The Players.”
Go buy that book — and buy a copy for a friend.
Obrycki’s has since moved from the Fells Point location where Gammons cracked open his winnings from Zimmer. In a true sign of the times, it can now be found in Concourse B at BWI Airport. Too bad no scouts will be traveling to Baltimore for postseason advance scouting duties.
AND Gammons had a byline in Baseball America.