The talk of the town usually at year's end and new year's beginnings usually gets down in many sports quarters to rankings of the best of the best. Agreement is sometimes a hard fought but not often achieved goal. I, however, have a no-brainer for all - -hands down or up as the case may be - -the best of the best baseball teams is the '27 Yanks.

The club was so consistent in every way that its roster was not ever changed that glorious season. The team began with ten pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders, five outfielders, and ended that way.

Hear Harvey talk about defnitive book on Fenway Park, autographed copies available http://www.wzid.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5595034

With the hot stove baseball season in full swing, fans are eagerly awaiting the next one still many months away. Some have moved over to follow other sports. Some Yankee fans scour the news for free agent and trade rumors and moves. Others read Yankee books. Still others soak up what they can of Yankee history, trivia, oddities. For the "still others," this partial list of New York Yankee nick-names is for you.

With the hot stove season in full swing and baseball news about free agents and trades dominating the headlines, for fans of baseball's greatest franchise, the Yankees, there is also a treasure trove of history to appreciate. So enjoy:

Yankee Stadium Factoids and Oddities

Atlanta, Ga. – August 3, 2011 – While baseball fans in Texas and St. Louis likely have big interest in the 2011 World Series between the Rangers and Cardinals, Americans do not.

The rambling, shifting, stream-of-consciousness syntax of Casey Stengel has filled thousands of newspaper and magazine pages with anecdotes amusing and wise, droll and banal, sometimes vulgar.

Keep up with all the action for today's playoff baseball right here: Russ will comment on the Phillies game later

Click here:
Playoff Baseball Surround

Some players have posters made with the definition of “Greatness” like Wayne Gretzky. What did this hockey player do to gain this stature in his sport? Was it the way he carried himself? Was it about performing in the clutch? Was it the way he dominated the game?

It never fails to amaze one to see the volume and variety of sports books - -terrible economy or not - -that keep being published. It is a testament to the scope and hold our games have on us and the "acts of faith" by publishers and writers to serve up these tomes - - some of top quality and others middling in many ways. None of the volumes reviewed below fit into the latter category - -all belong on your sports bookshelf.

(Excerpt from Remembering Fenway Park: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox/Abrams 2011 - - now available in stores and on-line and direct from the author)
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JOHN SHANNAHAN: The summer of 1962 my uncles Patrick and Teddy took me to my first game, a weekday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins. We sat on the third base side, upper box seats. I asked my uncles which team is which. Red Sox are in the white uniforms and the Twins in the grey, they said. But in the bright summer sunny afternoon they all looked white to me.