Weisman, Jon
WORK TITLE: Brothers in Arms
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 11/26/1967
WEBSITE: https://www.dodgerthoughts.com/
CITY: Los Angeles
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
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PERSONAL
Born November 26, 1967; married; children: three.
ADDRESS
- Home - Los Angeles, CA.
CAREER
Sports writer, editor, and public relations. Los Angeles Dodgers, director of digital and print content, and editor of Dodger Insider, 2013-17; Los Angeles Times blog Dodger Thoughts, founder and writer, 2002; Showtime, vice president of corporate public relations; Variety, associate features editor.
WRITINGS
- The Best of Dodger Thoughts, Shifty Publications 2005
- 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2009
- Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers' Extraordinary Pitching Tradition, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2018
Contributor of articles to publications, including Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, and Variety. Writer of live-action and animation television scripts for shows, including Disney’s Hercules, Men in Black, So Weird, Starship Troopers, and W.I.T.C.H.
SIDELIGHTS
Sports writer and editor Jon Weisman has written several books on the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and is founder and writer of the Los Angeles Times blog Dodger Thoughts. He was director of digital and print content for the Dodgers and editor of Dodger Insider. Weisman has also written for publications like Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com, and was associate features editor at Variety. In children’s animation, he wrote scripts for the Hercules, Men in Black, and Starship Troopers television cartoons. He is now vice president of corporate public relations at Showtime. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
The Best of Dodger Thoughts and 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
In 2005, Weisman published The Best of Dodger Thoughts, a compilation of the best entries in his blog from the 2002 to 2005 seasons. Offering an in-depth look at some of the key players, best stories, and biggest disappointments of the Dodgers’ seasons, the book describes Dodger fever from the fans, broadcasters, coaches, owners, and stadium. Providing a historical resource, Weisman presents a you-are-there record of all things Dodgers with personal insights, reports, research, and insider information. Weisman considers the blog his outlet for dealing psychologically with baseball, life, and the Dodgers in particular. The book includes a foreword by long-time Dodger broadcaster Ross Porter.
Weisman next wrote 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die in 2009. Including stats and history from the Dodgers’ days in Brooklyn, the book presents all the facts, figures, events, and ephemera of the Los Angeles Dodgers. From its historic break of the color barrier with Jackie Robinson, games in Ebbets Field, multiple postseason appearances, and five championships, Weisman chronicles team legends and myths, traditions, and records for the true fan. He talks about manager Don Mattingly, stars Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, long-time sportscaster Vin Scully, and the Dodgers’ place in baseball history. Weisman also touches on the team’s foibles, like the introduction of beach balls and fans arriving to the games late.
With 125 years of Dodgers history in two cities to draw from, Weisman distills it all down into “the absolute best and most compelling, identifying in an informative, lively, and illuminating way the personalities, events, and facts every Dodgers fan should know,” according to Craig Calcaterra on the Hardball Times website. Jim McLennan commented online at AZ Snakepit that Weisman is less successful when giving monotonous play-by-play descriptions of games from the team’s past, nevertheless “Weisman is much better when covering the people and ephemera which surround the franchise,” such as when he explains the best routes to take to avoid traffic and the songs associated with the team over the years.
From the controversial Dodger Dog wiener to the outdated Wes Parker Cycle and the 1998 Mike Piazza trade, Weisman has a tremendous grasp of Dodger history, according to reviewer Eric Stephen online at True Blue LA. Stephen said that 100 Things is a book that no Dodger fan should be without because “Not only is the book chock full of facts, anecdotes, tidbits, and trivia about Dodger history …but the wonderful writing of Weisman gives this book a broad appeal, to hardcore and casual fans alike.” Stephen added the 101 thing Dodger fans should do is to buy the book.
Brothers in Arms
Weisman next published Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition in 2018. Concentrating on 150 years of the Dodgers’ rich pitching history, Weisman describes the careers of Jim Creighton, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Clayton Kershaw, and many more. Pitchers were homegrown and came from Mexico and Asia, and careers were cut short by injury and retirement, yet their legacies continue to inspire. Weisman explores their superb pitching skills, conducts interviews with the legends, and records commentary from players, coaches, broadcasters, and personalities who were there.
Reviewer Phil Gurnee at Dodgers Yesterday and Today found helpful the book’s first chapter that explains sabermetric statistics and how to understand them in the context of baseball pitchers. Gurnee said: “This is a stat-filled book as Jon uses these stats to show why these pitchers got their own chapter but within each chapter is beautiful writing. Each paragraph that starts a chapter can be savored.” Gurnee concluded: “I’ll be using this book for reference over and over.” In Booklist, Wes Lukowsky praised “this fact-laden history, which will prove fun and informative reading for all baseball fans.”
Online at Dodgers Digest, Alex Campos explained how “Weisman runs through each player’s stats and quickly goes over most of their individual seasons, highlighting standout games. …but the best part about the book is the stories that Weisman tells about each player.” Campos added: “Weisman pulls quotes from books, periodicals, websites and video recordings to bring the reader in.” The book is a treat for fans who bleed Dodger blue, noted Larry Mantle online at Air Talk, adding that Weisman’s “deep knowledge of the Dodgers surpasses statistical analysis.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 15, 2018, Wes Lukowsky, review of Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition, p. 13.
ONLINE
Air Talk, https://www.scpr.org/ (March 31, 2018), Larry Mantle, review of Brothers in Arms.
AZ Snakepit, https://www.azsnakepit.com/ (June 19, 2009), Jim McLennan, review of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.
Dodgers Digest, http://dodgersdigest.com/ (April 26, 2018), Alex Campos, review of Brothers in Arms.
Dodgers Yesterday and Today, https://dodgersyat.com/ (May 18, 2018), Phil Gurnee, review of Brothers in Arms.
Hardball Times, https://www.fangraphs.com/ (March 20, 2009), Craig Calcaterra, review of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know.
True Blue LA, https://www.truebluela.com/ (April 25, 2009), Eric Stephen, review of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know.
- 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2009
- Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers' Extraordinary Pitching Tradition Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2018
- The Best of Dodger Thoughts - 2005 Shifty Publications , https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Dodger-Thoughts-Jon-Weisman/dp/B000V93F48/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1538279068&sr=8-10&keywords=Weisman%2C+Jon
- Dodger ThoughtsL - https://www.dodgerthoughts.com/about/
Jon Weisman is the author of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, as well as The Best of Dodger Thoughts, based on the pioneering website he founded in 2002 providing commentary on the Los Angeles Dodgers. For more than 30 years, he has written about sports and entertainment for the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, ESPN.com, SI.com, Variety and other publications, as well as live-action and animation scripts for television. From 2013-17, he was director of digital and print content for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he edited the online and print versions of Dodger Insider. Currently, he is Vice President of Corporate Public Relations at Showtime. Weisman lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
- Think Blue LA - http://www.thinkbluela.com/2012/09/farewell-jon-weisman/
Farewell Jon Weisman
September 19th, 2012 at 3:00 am by Ron CervenkaJon Weisman
As I normally do before shutting down the computer for the night (or early morning as is usually the case – including tonight), I made one last run through a few of the more popular Dodger blog sites. Upon doing so, I stumbled upon one of those posts that you dread seeing. No, it wasn’t a post reporting the passing of a dear friend which, of course, are the worst possible posts you can read, but rather one informing readers that one of the most popular Dodger bloggers is folding up his tent and moving on to another chapter of his life. Sadly, that blogger is Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts.
For those of you who have followed the many Dodger blog sites out there for any length of time, you know that Jon has an outstanding reputation as both a skilled writer and an extremely knowledgeable Dodger fan. In fact, it was Jon’s site and style of writing (and his great sense of humor) that were the inspiration for expanding our original ThinkBlueLA forum into a full blown blog site earlier this year. Jon was kind enough to include ThinkBlueLA in his blog roll and would occasional give us a much appreciated shout-out.
Even though I was a loyal follower of Jon from his early days with the Daily News through his time with the L.A. Times and ESPN, and eventually to his standalone Dodger Thoughts site, I didn’t become connected (for lack of a better word) with him until learning that we were both in Bluetopia – The L.A. Dodgers Movie. As such, and as long-time Dodgers batting practice pitcher Pete Bonfils (who also appears in the movie) put it, we are “Bluetopia Brothers” and connected for life. (I’m certainly in good company, maybe not so much Jon and Pete).
I later met Jon and his two sons at Dodger Stadium one evening when his sons got to “take the field with the Dodgers,” just as my son had done several years before. It was here that I got to see a side of Jon Weisman that very few get to see – a proud and loving father of two very well behaved and handsome young boys (although I imagine that Jon doesn’t always see it that way, but undoubtedly most of the time).
As you may or may not know, Jon is also a long-time writer for Variety Magazine (his real job with a paycheck and everything) and he recently launched an industry-related blog site for them called The Vote, in which he includes a little Dodger stuff every now and then.
Needless to say, Jon Weisman will be sorely missed among the ranks of the daily Dodger bloggers but (thankfully) he has indicated that he may drop in with a post from time to time on his former site, so I encourage all of you to keep checking in over there occasionally, because if you are anything like me, you certainly don’t want to miss anything that Jon Weisman writes.
Godspeed to you, my friend.
Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw,
and the Dodgers' Extraordinary
Pitching Tradition
Wes Lukowsky
Booklist.
114.16 (Apr. 15, 2018): p13. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers' Extraordinary Pitching Tradition. By Jon Weisman,
May 2018. 384p. Triumph, paper, $19.95 (97816293746731. 796.357.
The team most associated with pitching excellence in the modern baseball era is the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the 1950s, Carl Erskine and Don Newcombe set the table for Johnny Podres, Sandy Koufax, and Don Drysdale in the sixties. In a six-year run (1961-66) during Koufax's career, before injuries forced an early retirement, he was arguably the most dominant pitcher in major- league history. Weisman, a journalist who also worked in the Dodger organization from 2013 through 2017, painstakingly chronicles the history of Dodger pitching excellence. While he justifiably devotes the most space to Koufax, Drysdale, and current ace Clayton Kershaw, he doesn't overlook anyone who had even a short stint in the spodight. There's a chapter on the Dodgers' success with pitchers from Asia, another on relief pitchers, and another on Fernando Valenzuela, who took the baseball world by storm in 1981 as a 20-year-old phenom, captivating the the nation with his unorthodox delivery. Weisman conducted more than two dozen interviews for this fact-laden history, which will prove fun and informative reading for all baseball fans. --Wes Lukowsky
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lukowsky, Wes. "Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers' Extraordinary Pitching
1 of 2 9/29/18, 10:39 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Tradition." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2018, p. 13. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com /apps/doc/A537268007/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=ee5c962a. Accessed 29 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A537268007
2 of 2 9/29/18, 10:39 PM
- AZ Snakepit
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2009/6/19/913613/100-things-dodgers-fans-should
Word count: 832100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
7 comments
By Jim McLennan@AZSnakepit Jun 19, 2009, 4:18pm EDT100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
by Jon Weisman
Triumph Books, p.299, $14.95I got all excited when I first heard about this book, mis-reading the title as 100... Dodgers Fans Should... Die. Or, as we refer to it in Arizona, "a good start." Personally speaking, the Dodgers have gone from a team about which I felt largely neutral to the team in the division that I most want to beat: indeed, they probably rank roughly third in the majors among the outfits I least want to see win the World Series.
There's largely one arrogant, dreadlocked reason for that, but in the interest of knowing the enemy, I still requested a review copy - not least because author Jon Weisman's Dodger Thoughts blog remains one of the things that inspired me to get into blogging. So, every time you wince at one of my puns: blame Jon. If anyone could write a book about the Los Angeles Dodgers that wouldn't find its best use in the bathroom [if you know what I mean, and I think you do], it'd be him. After the jump, we'll see whether he succeeded...
100thingsdodgersfinal300px_wi_mediumIf I can't honestly say that I now like the Dodgers, I do at least now have something of an appreciation for their place in baseball history. By itself, the first of the 101 things listed - and entirely justifably #1 - would be enough to cement what the franchise did for the sport, breaking the color bar by playing Jackie Robinson. Now, it's certainly true that it would have happened sooner or later, but taking that first step was a brave and bold one by Branch Rickey and Robinson. If the Dodgers had done nothing since, they would still deserve plaudits from all true fans.
Probably no prizes for guessing what's #2 either: Vin Scully, now in his sixtieth season with the team. Let me repeat that: his sixtieth season. That's longer than there have been Los Angeles Dodgers. From the point of view of a fan whose franchise is in its 12th year, it's a completely mind-blowing accomplishment, even for someone like myself who has not heard much of Mr. Scully in action. It's evidence that there's not really any substitute for the passage of time, with regard to establishing fan passion, loyalties and tradition. Such things can only be generated organically and naturally - I don't think when Scully took the job, he expected eventually to be entering his seventh decade providing commentary for the team.
Of course, these have to be weighed against the debit marks on the Dodgers' record - their introduction to the game of beach-balls and fans not showing up till the game is under way. Both aspects are covered; the former gets a side-bar mention, but Weisman mounts a spirited defense of the late arrivals at #27 - opening with the joke that when a book about the Dodgers is published, fans start reading in the third chapter. I can't say I'm convinced: it's like missing the start and end of a movie, and if you live in LA, traffic can hardly come as any surprise. However, credit to Weisman for at least trying to justify them.
Less successful are the play-by-play descriptions of games from the team's past, which tend to blend into one another, as a series of "somebody doubled, and then someone else singled, bringing somebody home." This isn't where Weisman's strength lies: it's more in evoking characters and specific incidents, not retelling the ebb and flow of a specific game. This is even more pronounced for the series reports, though this is probably an inevitable side-effect of the compression necessary to cover anything up to seven games in a couple of pages. Entire books have been written on things like the 1955 World Series: it's impossible to do them anything like justice here.
Weisman is much better when covering the people and ephemera which surround the franchise - again, something which we in Arizona can only envy. Things like Dodger Dogs, the best routes to take to Chavez Ravine if you want to avoid traffic, and various songs associated with the team over the years - this is where the book comes to life. Maybe in a century or so, someone will get to write a similar book about the Diamondbacks: until then, while this is (obviously) recommended mostly for Dodgers fans, I still enjoyed reading it - and will have some good ideas of where to go eat, the next time I'm in LA!
More From AZ Snake PitArizona Diamondbacks 5, San Diego Padres 4
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https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/100-things-dodgers-fans-should-know-do-before-they-die/
Word count: 269100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
by Craig Calcaterra
March 20, 2009Jon Weisman is a man who knows how to manage his time. For his day job, he is a features editor for Variety. When he’s pretending to edit features, he blogs about the Dodgers for the Los Angeles Times. On top of that he has three kids, one of whom just had his first birthday which, as you parents out there know, is when they start to require much more in the way of physical labor what with the walking and you having to beat them twice a day and everything. In short, Weisman is a busy freaking dude.
But somehow, possibly with the assistance of a time machine or that power those dudes from “Dark City” had, he has managed to write a book too:
Dodgers fans have experienced many good times, including multiple postseason appearances and five championships. But being a Dodgers fan is about more than following a winning team. 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die will help fans of the Dodgers get the most out of being a fan. It takes 125 years of Dodgers history from both Brooklyn and Los Angeles and distills it to the absolute best and most compelling, identifying in an informative, lively, and illuminating way the personalities, events, and facts every Dodgers fan should know without hesitation.
The book comes out in April, but you can preorder now. Show a blogger/father/working stiff some love and reserve a copy today.
- Air Talk
https://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2018/05/31/63116/a-new-title-for-dodgers-fans-brothers-in-arms/
Word count: 347A new title for Dodgers fans: ‘Brothers in Arms’
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RssRSSStarting pitcher Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against Alex Avila #5 of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fourth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on May 1, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. Starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against Alex Avila #5 of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fourth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on May 1, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
AirTalk® | May 31, 2018For those who bleed Dodger blue, Jon Weisman has a treat for you.
Author of “100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die” and “The Best of Dodger Thoughts,” the veteran sports journalist and writer explores the unmatched pitching legacy of his favorite MLB team in his latest book, “Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition.”
Weisman’s deep knowledge of the Dodgers surpasses statistical analysis. Through dozens of interviews with current and former players, coaches, and broadcasters — along with profiles of both fan favorites and underappreciated names — he dives into the teams rich history and how it’s shaped the entire franchise from the mound.
Weisman joins Larry Mantle on the making of the book and some good ol’ Dodger talk.
Jon Weisman will be talking about "Brothers in Arms" on MONDAY, June 18, at the Last Bookstore in Downtown. The event starts at 7pm.
- Dodgers Digest
http://dodgersdigest.com/2018/04/26/book-review-brothers-in-arms-by-jon-weisman/
Word count: 1119Book Review: ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Jon Weisman
Alex Campos 04/26/2018 Random 463 Comments
We all can agree that the Dodgers have a pitching tradition like no other. Since the 1850s, the Dodgers have been at the forefront of pitching dominance in baseball. There have been some hiccups (shout out 2010 Opening Day starter Vicente Padilla), but there has been no more iconic duo in baseball than the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitching.
In Brothers in Arms, author Jon Weisman walks the reader through more than 150 years of Dodger history. Following some explanation about statistics and sourcing, Weisman starts with The Ancestors and takes you from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, highlighting some of the best pitchers in Dodger (and baseball) history. He starts with Jim Creighton, a former Brooklyn Excelsior pitcher that dominated for three years before rupturing a hernia on a home run swing and dying four days later. As he should, Weisman ends the book with Clayton Kershaw, who entered the 2018 season with the third-highest WAR among pitchers in Dodger history. Only Dazzy Vance and Don Drysdale have WARs higher than Kershaw’s 57.4 entering the season. Drysdale’s 61.3 WAR came in 3,432 innings while Vance’s 61.8 WAR came in 2,757 2/3 innings. Kershaw sits just more than 4.0 WAR behind both of them, at only 1,935 innings.
We’re currently watching the greatest pitcher in the history of the franchise with arguably the greatest pitching tradition in the sport. This book reminds you of that, but also reminds the reader of so much more.
Weisman obviously talks about the basic statistics in the book. There’s many mentions of ERA, WHIP, strikeouts and wins. However, Weisman wisely includes WAR and FIP, and includes ERA+, which adjusts ERA for ballpark and the era of the season. This allows you to see how Kershaw’s 197 ERA+ in his 2014 MVP campaign stacks against Dean Chance‘s 200 ERA+ in 1964, as Chance beat out Sandy Koufax for the Cy Young Award.
The book is also an eye-opening look at how baseball has changed over the years. In 2017, 15 pitchers threw over 200 innings. From 1963-66, Koufax threw more than 300 innings three times. Of course, 1966 was Koufax’s final major league season as he retired due to arm issues, but it’s mind-blowing to read about these pitchers consistently throwing over 200 innings. Even more recently, Ramon Martinez threw back-to-back seasons with over 220 innings at 22/23 years of age. Baseball’s name-game has also gotten much weaker in recent years. Weisman introduced me to former Dodger pitchers Nap Rucker and Van Lingle Mungo, who sound like name’s from Key & Peele’s East/West Bowl skit.
Sidebar: Quisperny G’Dunzoid Sr. won an Oscar. What a time to be alive.
Weisman spends a few pages talking about each pitcher. In his “Bullpen Aces” chapter, Weisman rattles off highlights and stats of 19 different pitchers in only 28 pages. Koufax and Drysdale split a 44-page chapter entitled “The Two Emperors”. Kershaw gets his own 28-page chapter, “The Magnificent”.
In fewer than 30 pages, Weisman manages to take the reader through the ups and downs of each player’s career. From their pre-playing career to how they ended up in Brooklyn or Los Angeles and through their Dodger career. Weisman also looks at their careers after leaving the Dodgers (when applicable), and in many cases their post-baseball lives up to their deaths.
Weisman runs through each players stats and quickly goes over most of their individual seasons, highlighting standout games. Any of us could access most of this info on a slow Saturday just running through Baseball Reference for a few hours, but the best part about the book is the stories that Weisman tells about each players. He conducted more than 25 interviews with various writers, players and other organization members for some stories. For others, Weisman pulls quotes from books, periodicals, websites and video recordings to bring the reader in. Half the time, I felt myself reading these stories in Vin Scully‘s voice, which is pretty much the highest compliment I can give to a storyteller.
I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable about the Dodgers and their pitching history, but even I learned a ton from this book. I learned about how close the Dodgers came to trading some of the best players in franchise history. I learned how easily this book could have been about the pitching tradition of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who came close to signing both Koufax and Drysdale. I also learned that the Dodgers could have traded for Randy Johnson, so at times this book can also be infuriating.
I was also reminded of just how good some players from my childhood were. I always knew the name Ismael Valdez, and I’m fairly certain he started the first Dodger game I ever went to. However, I did not realize that his 115 ERA+ is the sixth-highest among Los Angeles Dodger pitchers with at least 1,000 innings, trailing only Kershaw, Koufax, Tommy John, Drysdale and Orel Hershiser. Weisman brings the names we all vaguely remember and puts them in context as part of an incredibly rich pitching tradition.
History books, sports related or not, tend to bore me. However, Weisman does an excellent job of also providing humor. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the intro to the Jonathan Broxton segment legitimately made me choke on tea while reading. There’s a number of stories that break up the at-times dense statistics, and they provide the reader with context about the human side of these players.
In all, Brothers in Arms should be required reading for Dodger fans. It’s broken up in an extremely easy-to-read way despite its nearly 400 pages, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that won’t learn a thing or two from this book.
Brothers in Arms is available to preorder from Triumph Books, Amazon and Barnes & Nobel. The book comes out on May 1, and Weisman will be holding book signings. Two have been scheduled so far, the first on May 5 at Central Library and the second on June 3 at Common Space Brewery.
About Alex Campos
Alex Campos
I'm a writer that has blogged at a whole bunch of places about a whole bunch of sports. I was most recently writing for Chavez Ravine Fiends, but was also the former editor at Dodgers Way. I graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Marketing. At Long Beach, I covered the Dirtbags in the 2014 season as an assistant sports editor at the Daily 49er. - Dodgers Yesterday and Today
https://dodgersyat.com/2018/05/18/brother-in-arms-by-jon-weisman/
Word count: 1365PHIL GURNEE ♦ MAY 18, 2018 ♦
When Jon Weisman announced his new project last year I was excited to see what kind of prose he could put together about the pitchers of my youth and the pitchers I read about in my youth. His book is called Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition and is now available in both hardcover and kindle versions.Even though his book had dropped over a month ago, the Kindle version didn’t drop until this past week on May 15th. I could have bought the hardcover but I’m waiting to buy some of those from Jon himself when he does a book signing at the Brewery on June 3rd.
Book Signing with Jon Weisman – June 3 at Common Space Brewery
Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, opened up earlier this year by Brent Knapp, is hosting a book signing and Dodger game viewing on June 3. For those of you that enjoy beer and/or the Dodgers, which hopefully is most of you, this should be right up your alley. Jon Weisman will be signing copies of his recently released second book – Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition. The event starts at 12:10 with the Dodgers first pitch, and around 2 or 3 Jon will read parts of his book and be available to sign copies of the book or chat.
The brewery will have a food truck on-site and also offer non-alcoholic beverages for those that don’t drink beer. Hopefully some of the DTW crew can make it, as it should be a really fun afternoon and good chance to meet and hear from Jon.
Common Space Brewery is located at 3411 W. El Segundo Blvd., Hawthorne. For anymore information feel free to reach out to Brent directly at 310.666.2825.
I was also given an advance copy of the PDF, but I’ve found that I’m quite addicted to reading now on my kindle so I waited for my kindle version.
I liked that Jon started it off with a full chapter devoted to the type of stats he was going to use. Many of us already understand these stats but for those fans who have never touched a sabermetric stat, and don’t get to listen to Joe Davis explain these modern-day statistics because they don’t have the Spectrum option, it was a good idea to start the book with an explanation of these stats. To be sure Jon does talk about wins a lot, which might seem foreign to someone who just read Keith Law’s Smart Baseball, but in the context of the era that most of these hurlers pitched in, it made perfect sense to use the antiquated Win stat.
Jon starts us off with the legends of the early Brooklyn pitchers, and while it was interesting, he didn’t really grab my attention until he got to Ralph Branca. The Boys of Summer. I had read all about these hurlers back when I was 10 – 15 and knew every name quite well but a boy of 10 didn’t know jack about innings pitched, and as I read how each of these hurlers were slogged by their respective managers, I will have to admit that admiration and anger were the emotions that played around in my mind. I know now, that all pitchers of that generation were used and discarded at the whim of management, but to see the numbers they put up still staggered me. Jon made a great point to show that for every infamous defeat, you could almost always point to how the pitcher was pitching on guts alone.
Jon hits almost all the pitchers I was interested in reading about. One problem with being a Dodger fan as long as I have, you don’t get surprised but for those fans who are new to baseball, or simply were Dodger fans but not crazy fans, these chapters should enlighten anyone about the arms who build the great Dodger pitching legacy. As much as I already knew about these pitchers, Jon found new information that was always a pleasant surprise. It was also cool to see Jon use sources such as Eric Enders who once said something about me that kept me writing when I figured no one was reading. Heck I expected to see Bob Timmermann used as a source and sure enough, he was mentioned in the acknowledgments.
Even the casual fan knows about Koufax, Drysdale, Sutton, Fernando, Orel, and Kershaw, but if they were just learning about Johnny Podres, Claude Osteen, Bill Singer, Burt Hooton and Jerry Ruess there is no better guide than Jon Weisman.
I’m not a proper book reviewer as I’m sure those who do this for a living have a certain way of reviewing a book. I consider Jon a friend so even if I didn’t like the book I would never say that, but since Jon is one of the best writers in the world of baseball that was never going to be an issue. My last several baseball books, I will admit to getting bored and not finishing. Keith Law’s Smart Baseball and Molly Knight’s “The Best Team Money can Buy” both still sit unfinished with the kindle bookmarks ready to start me up again when I feel the urge to jump into it.
Jon had the massive task of trying to fit every notable Dodger hurler into this book and for the most part he succeeded. He did a nice trick called “Moment in the Sun” where if you didn’t make the cut for a full chapter you at least got several notes on why you were part of the Dodger pitching legacy. I would have liked to have seen a few more hurlers have their moment in the sun such as Joe Moeller, Erv Palica, Jose Lima, and Vincente Padilla and I’m anxious to ask him how he decided who got a Moment and who didn’t. Doug Rau got a moment in the sun, I would have liked a full chapter and I expect he wrote one but it didn’t make the editors cut. Chad Billingsley got his moment in the sun, and again, I would have liked a chapter.
Which is a good thing when you want more and not less. I’ll be using this book for reference over and over which is where I hope the kindle search function comes in handy.
This is a stat-filled book as Jon uses these stats to show why these pitchers got their own chapter but within each chapter is beautiful writing. Each paragraph that starts a chapter can be savored. Ah, to write such lead-ins. I’m not going to put any of those in this review. Read the book, find them for yourselves and meet me at the Common Space Brewery on June 3rd where we can talk to Jon and tell him our favorite lines.
Okay, I’ll leave you with one. Jon starts the Bob Welch chapter with this:
Bob Welch is the greatest starting pitcher in Dodger history who is remembered for basically nothing he did as a Dodger starting pitcher. Because he did so much more.
I’m not done with this writing about this book. I have my own thoughts on most of the Dodger pitchers he wrote about, and I hope to put some notes to their names with the memories of having watched them pitch along with the information that Jon provided on them.
There were so many games mentioned in the book that I have actual personal connections with that at times I felt I was reading about my own journey as a Dodger fan. It started with Don Sutton/Bill Singer and is right now in the throes of Clayton Kershaw and Jon hit all the right notes in this symphony to the Dodger hurlers that have touched all of us.
- True Blue LA
https://www.truebluela.com/2009/4/25/853999/100-things-a-must-read-for-all
Word count: 4343
By Eric Stephen@ericstephen Apr 25, 2009,
100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, written by Jon Weisman, is a wonderful book that no Dodger fan should be without. Not only is the book chock full of facts, anecdotes, tidbits, and trivia about Dodger history -- both Brooklyn and Los Angeles -- but the wonderful writing of Weisman gives this book a broad appeal, to hardcore and casual fans alike.Weisman has written about the Dodgers for almost seven years on Dodger Thoughts, and has set a high standard of writing his readers -- myself included -- come to expect. This book did not disappoint. His writing is clever, witty, humorous, and is written in such a comfortable, conversational tone that the reader feels invited, if not compelled, to read further.
Phil Gurnee called Weisman a poet, and at times he was. While Phil was moved by the chapter on Kirk Gibson's homer, and rightfully so, here are a few of my favorite parts of the book:
Dodger history is so full of moments, narrowing them down to only 100 seems near impossible. Weisman worked around this with the occasional sidebar, including a very informative one analyzing Tommy Lasorda's decision to pitch to Jack Clark in Game 6 of the 1985 NLCS
About the Mike Piazza trade in 1998, Weisman eloquently wrote: "It wasn't that the Dodgers were robbed of talent. Sheffield was a tremendous hitter. It was that the Dodgers were robbed of half of a great novel. They got the War without the Peace."
I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Don Newcombe, Peter O'Malley, and the now outdated Wes Parker Cycle
I laughed out loud when, writing about Dodger Dogs, Weisman noted, "Dodger Dogs are controversial, and not for Upton Sinclair The Jungle reasons."
I really can't say enough about this book. I have a pretty good grasp of Dodger history, but this book not only taught me new things but also expanded upon subjects I thought I knew all about. Even though I have read the book once, the 100 chapters make this a perfect reference book to refer to and reread over and over again.Weisman mentioned that there isn't a definitive book about Don Newcome, and that if he didn't write it someone should. Well, if Weisman can write a book about Newcombe half as good as "100 Things," I'll be the first in line to buy it.
I would like to add a 101st item for Dodger fans to do before they die: buy this book.