Baseball aficionados might better be called junkies or addicts – for facts and stats, that is. For many fans, the all-American pastime is as much about accumulating data as it is about watching or even playing the game. Indeed, the baseball sections in most bookstores far exceed the number of titles on any other sport. Just as the weather turns ball-parky, two new books chock-full of surprising new information have been released. If you thought you knew it all, or at least enough, about baseball, check out these titles: Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game by John Thorn and Bullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends and the Future of the New York Yankees by Charley Rosen.

Thorn was named the official historian for Major League baseball by commissioner Bud Selig in 2011. He appears on ESPN, the History Channel and the MLB Network. He was chief consultant to Ken Burns’s PBS series Baseball. The man knows his stuff, and what he doesn’t know, he researches deeper than anyone.

In Baseball in the Garden of Eden, Thorn upends former myths and reveals a few new secrets. Called “a tale of good and evil…full of heroes, scoundrels and dupes,” the story of “America’s game” (so declared by Walt Whitman) is really the story of 19th-century America, “land of opportunity and limitation, glory and greed.” Thorn suggests an alternate inventor of the game and examines how it was shaped by the strife of the Civil War. He describes the involvement of that era’s Transcendentalists and the propensity of fans to fall prey to gamblers and hustlers, all told with a mix of seriousness and humor.

A more contemporary examination of the game is pitched by Rosen, the co-author with Phil Jackson of Maverick and More than a Game. A noted sportswriter and novelist, he is currently the chief NBA columnist for Foxsports.com, and was both player and coach of several Continental Basketball Association teams.

Rosen mixes a detailed assessment of current players from around the league – specifically relief pitchers – with Yankee history and a strong dose of his own memories as a child in the Bronx. His account is full of interviews with key players, coaches and scouts, replete with the drama of blown plays and walk-off grand slams, and laced with funny anecdotes about Yankee greats throughout the years. Rosen uses key games in the 2010 season – acknowledged now as the “Year of the Pitcher” – to highlight strategies and mistakes, then reveals his predictions for 2011 and beyond for baseball’s most storied franchise. Bullpen Diaries is called “a love letter to baseball and a pure joy for all fans of America’s favorite pastime.”

Thorn and Rosen will be at Barnes and Noble in Kingston on Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m. to read from their books, compare notes and tell tall tales. Play ball!

Also at Barnes & Noble in Kingston:

Saturday, April 30 at 11 a.m. – Molly Rausch will be doing a reading/signing of My Cold Went on Vacation in conjunction with the Onteora Class of 2012 Bookfair.

At Barnes & Noble in Poughkeepsie:

Saturday, May 7 at 12 noon – Author and town historian Thom Usher will be signing the book Beekman, New York of the Images Of America Series.

Saturday, May 7 at 2 p.m. – Author Priscilla Gilman will be in the store reading and signing her memoir The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy.

Thursday, May 12 at 6 p.m. – Children’s author S. T. Davis will read and sign his book Musket and Mobcap, the tale of a Revolutionary War-era teen heroine.

Saturday, May 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. – Local Author Day features 12 local authors! Meet authors S. T. Davis, James DeSalvo, M. Theresa Edwards, Josh Greenfield, Dr. Helen Pashley and Lori Adams, Titan Raines, Carney Rhinevault, Michael Vega and M. G. Wells as they discuss and sign their newest books.

Sunday, May 22 at 2 p.m. – Author Molly Rausch will read My Cold Went on Vacation. That cold gets around!

 

At the Golden Notebook in Woodstock:

Saturday, April 30 at 3 p.m. – Anne Nelson is the noted author of The Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Nelson will present a slide lecture that includes scores of archival photographs of repression and resistance from Nazi Germany, bringing the period and its people alive for modern audiences.

Saturday, May 7 at 2 p.m. – Something to Say: Thoughts on Art and Politics in America is a new book by Richard Klin that profiles, in interviews and photographs, an eclectic group of American artists working in a wide range of media. Klin is joined by photographer Lily Prince in discussing the relationship of art and politics in the lives and work of such artists as Pete Seeger, Yoko Ono, Howard Zinn and others.

Sunday, May 15 at 5:30 in the Oriole 9 Restaurant at 17 Tinker Street – Meet Mary Anne Caws and Nancy Kline, translators and essayists for Rene Char’s bilingual anthology of poetry that includes his Furor and Mystery.

At Inquiring Minds in New Paltz:

Saturday, May 7 at 7 p.m. – Doreen Tuman, closet organizer to the stars, will be doing a meet-and-greet and signing for her latest book: My Closet, Myself.

Saturday, May 14 at 7 p.m. – Bill Wolak will be reading from and signing copies of Love Emergencies, a collection of poetry in both English and Persian, co-authored with Mahmood Karimi-Hakak.

At Inquiring Minds in Saugerties:

Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. – Susan Barnett’s e-book of short stories The View from Outside will be featured at a reading hosted by Glaring Omissions. Come meet Susan and find out what it takes to have an e-book published.

At Merritt Books’ Millbrook Book Festival:

Saturday, May 14 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. – This year’s Festival will feature more than 30 critically acclaimed and best-selling authors from the Hudson Valley and beyond, including Nina Shengold, Akiko Busch, Susan Richards, John Darton, Marilyn Johnson and Gwendolyn Bounds, all reading from River of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers.

US Weekly film critic and debut novelist Thelma Adams hosts a panel of mothers who write in Listen to Your Mother. The panel includes New York Post columnist Tina Traster, New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly, Nina Shengold, Jenny Nelson, Daphne Uviler and Carole Maso.

Michael Korda, New York Times best-selling author of Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, will speak, and there will be many other activities, including readings of both children’s and adult fiction, lively discussion panels, lectures and a performance of a new play by the Hudson Valley’s resident professional theatre company the Half Moon Theatre. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.millbrookbookfestival.org.

At Mirabai of Woodstock:

Sunday, May 15 from 2 to 5 p.m. – Author/herbalist Susun Weed will conduct a walking workshop to identify the medicinal and edible plants around us. Author of Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, Breast Cancer? Breast Health the Wise Woman Way, New Menopausal Years, Healing Wise and Down There: Sexual and Reproductive Health the Wise Woman Way, Weed is the preeminent “green witch” who teaches, trains apprentices and coordinates the activities of the Wise Woman Center. If it rains, Weed will lead a trance journey indoors and discover green blessings in many guises. Tickets are $25 if prepaid by May 13, $30 after that date.

At Oblong Books in Rhinebeck:

Sunday, May 1 at 4 p.m. at the Elmendorph Inn on North Broadway in Red Hook – Bard Fiction Prizewinner Karen Russell will read from and sign copies of her novel Swamplandia! This event is a fundraiser for the Red Hook Public Library, presented by Oblong Books and Music.

Monday, May 9 at 6 p.m. at the Rhinebeck High School Auditorium at 45 North Park Road in Rhinebeck – Oblong Books & Music will host a special event with Rick Riordan, author of The Lightning Thief. His new book is The Kane Chronicles, Book Two: The Throne of Fire. Rick will speak briefly about his book, take reader questions and sign books. Tickets are $20 and include one copy of The Kane Chronicles, Book Two: The Throne of Fire or The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid. When purchasing your ticket you must specify which book you would like.

Friday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. – Jo Ann Beard will read from her new novel In Zanesville.

Saturday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. – Legendary Hudson Valley artist Lois Walden reads from her debut novel, One More Stop.

Sunday, May 15 at 4 p.m. Susane Colasanti’s new book So Much Closer is the featured selection for the evening’s meeting of the Hudson Valley Young Adult Society, a memorable and fun partylike “literary salon” atmosphere, with refreshments, conversation and giveaways for attendees.

Friday 20 at 7:30 p.m. – Hudson Valley writer Daphne Uviller celebrates the release of her new comic novel, Hotel No Tell, a sequel to Super in the City.

Saturday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. – Brooke Allen discusses her new book The Other Side of the Mirror: An American Travels through Syria.