Review: Mucking in the Corners (2026)

By Steve Currier

Many adjectives could be used to describe hockey in the 1970s. Stable is not one of them. 

No wonder Steve Currier found some areas for discussion in his book on the era, "Mucking in the Corners."

The sport grew up quite a bit in that decade. The National Hockey League was something of a small blip on the radar for about a quarter of a century. It had only six teams from 1942 to 1967, and two of those were in Canada. If it ever was going to become any sort of competitor with baseball and football in the United States, it needed a bigger footprint. That explains the expansion of 1967, when the NHL magically grew from six to 12 teams in one swoop. It wasn't a good move for the quality of play or competition for championships (the expansion teams figured to be poor for a while), but the move did come with a national television contract. 

Somewhat unexpectedly, though, the teams kept coming throughout the 1970s. Some were placed by the NHL in cities via expansion, while others became part of the action through an entirely new league - the World Hockey Association. Sports history teaches us that if an established league doesn't expand enough to fill a vacuum, a new league will come along to fill the void. That's more or less what happened here. The NHL also expanded in the 1970s, partly to bring in fresh money and partly to prevent the WHA from grabbing attractive cities first. Eventually we reached the natural conclusion two leagues need to merge in some form because the new league usually can't keep losing money indefinitely. The NHL grabbed four WHA teams in 1979 (Edmonton is the only one still in its original city, which says something), and the dynamic was changed forever. 

Still, it was fun in an odd way while it lasted. Anyone who could skate was a candidate to play pro hockey in that era, and the leagues and teams tried almost anything to attract attention and fans. The most obvious technique was to bring more fighting into the game in the hopes of bringing fans who like the rough stuff into buildings. It probably wasn't the best long-term strategy, since fighting probably turns off more fans than it turns on. But who cares about the long term when there are bills in that area that past due?

That's the "macro" picture of the era in a nutshell. Currier is more of a "micro" sort of writer here. He's found 41 subjects for essays about hockey in the Seventies - loosely grouped into seven different departments. They are snapshots of a particular subject - some of which go on for some time, others that are covered in a few pages. Practically any hockey fan will read about some events that are completely new to them here. For example, the NHL one preseason experimented with a way to prevent forced stoppages by freezing the puck by giving the opposing team a free shot on goal as a start to play. It turned out to e a great way to drive goalies to learn how to go into some safer line of work, like bomb defusing. 

Currier runs into some good-sized problems in his effort along the way. Some of the subjects are mere curiosities - such as a run of ties, or a hat trick in which a player never did put the puck directly into the net (bounces, etc.) Some of the stories have a great deal of play-by-play involved, and it's a very tough assignment to make a game from 50 years ago come to life that way. (Currier's book on the California Golden Seals had that problem as well, as I recall.) Do people want to read a full description of a game by the London Lions in international play? Seems like a tough sell from here. That approach is going to lead to some skipped sections. 

Along those lines, the book checks in at more than 300 pages. That's probably too long for a project like this. It would have been an easy task to make the writing more compact and send a few of the less-interesting chapters to the cutting room floor.  

The research also comes across as a little superficial in spots. The Buffalo Sabres have a few chapters devoted to them here, and I'm familiar with stories about them. Our conclusions don't exactly agree. The tales of the Intra-League Draft of 1971 is portrayed as a somewhat maddening quirk instead of as a smart move by Sabres' general manager Punch Imlach that built up his roster as it entered Year Two. I was also surprised to see the team described as underfunded; the Sabres sold out the building for almost the entire 1970s, which was the way success was defined in that era for the most part. At least Currier does tell the stories of Al Smith's departure from the team and the drafting of Taro Tsujimoto - a player who never existed. 

Then there's the obvious issue of age. The two leagues merged in 1979 - 47 years ago, at least from the time of this writing. That's ancient history by now. It's tough to say how many people care about that era now, especially the ones under, say 55 or 60 years old. That's a rather small slice of the market. 

No, "Mucking in the Corners" won't be on the best-seller list. Even so, there's something nice about the idea that Currier was a big fan of the oddities from this particular era of hockey history, and wrote a book that was published about it. Good for him; it's an accomplishment. I'm sure he has some company in his interest, and those readers will rekindle some memories here. 

Two stars

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Review: Crossroads (2026)

By Dusty Baker with Steve Kettmann

What was Dusty Baker's biggest, most unlikely accomplishment in baseball? 

In the early 2020s, Baker was managing the Houston Astros. As you might recall, the Astros were caught in a cheating scandal involving garbage can thrashing that tainted their World Series championship in 2018. The Houston team still isn't exactly warmly received around the baseball world, particularly in New York and Los Angeles. 

Baker was hired in 2020 to change the subject. He did that very nicely, softening the Astros' reputation to the point where many fans felt good that he finally won a long-awaited World Series championship in 2022 in Houston. His many friends and acquaintances were quick to point out how happy they felt that Baker could cap his career that way. 

And quite a career it was, and quite a life he's had. Dusty gets many of the highlights down on paper in his book, "Crossroads," and he keeps you turning the 400 pages (!) along the way. 

How far does Baker go back? Try 1967, when he was drafted out of a California high school at the age of 18. It was a long interesting ride until he finally retired from managing after the 2023 season about 55 years later. Baker missed a few years along the way when he was between managerial jobs (often working in broadcasting), but it was rare to see him out of uniform for more than a half-century.  

Baker was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, and had a couple of cups of coffee with that team in 1968 and 1969 before sticking. That's the time that Henry Aaron was his teammate, and Dusty couldn't have asked for a better man for advice on life in the big leagues. Aaron even warned Baker that no matter how good he was in Atlanta, a segment of the population wouldn't accept him. The Old South hadn't gone away by the early 1970s. ]

Baker put up some good numbers with the Braves, but eventually he became a little expensive for them ... so it was off to Los Angeles in a trade. The Dodgers proved a better fit, as the outfielder became an All-Star and even an MVP contender in 1980 (fourth place). He was a big reason why Los Angeles won the World Series in 1981. Baker stayed with the Dodgers through 1983, when he moved on to the Giants and Athletics for the end of his career. 

Baker tried his hand at business after retiring as a player, but he couldn't stay away from the game. A coaching job proved difficult to refuse, and it eventually led a position as manager of the San Francisco Giants in 1993. He won 103 games in his first year, and the National League pennant in his last. But the Giants opted for some reason to make a change. It was off to the Cubs for four years, which included the agony of a playoff loss to the Marlins in 2003. From there it was on to Reds for six years and the Nationals for two before he finally arrived in Houston at the age of 71. Think he paid his dues? Yeah, that's fair. 

There seemed to be two constants in those years, at least according to the book. One is fishing. Baker seems to have done a lot of it over the years, and at some good spots too. The other is friends. He knows everyone. He had the chance to talk to Barack Obama a couple of times - once in Chicago, and once in the White House. Dusty hung out with everyone from Bill Walton to Miles Davis. He checked in with Bill Walsh and Al Attles for advice on managing. But he's also befriended people who aren't well known; they are merely good people. The acknowledgments in the back consist more or less of four pages of people's names, and he's probably only scratched the surface there. 

Baker explains the title at the end of the book too. He said his father always told him, "Son, when you come to a crossroads, take the road to the right." That doesn't refer to direction; it references correctness - as in right and wrong. Dusty even mentions that the book represented something of a crossroads for him, since he had to look back at the decisions he made. Some of them didn't work out well, but no one bats 1.000 in life. There's very little that's negative in the book. Heck, Baker even has good things to say about Barry Bonds. (The steroid era, which he obviously witnessed, goes more or less untouched here.)

Practically everyone in baseball has said how much they like being around Dusty, and this is a chance to experience those feelings from up close. "Crossroads" certainly will be loved Baker's many fans, and enjoyed by others who appreciated him from a distance. 

Four stars

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Review: Touching All the Bases (2026)

By Dave Winfield with Alan Maimon

Here we go again.

Way back in 1988, Dave Winfield wrote an autobiography about his life called, naturally, "Winfield: A Player's Life.' I read it and even reviewed it for The Buffalo News, saying that it caused a few headlines because it talked about how George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees could be a difficult personality in his dealings with people. OK, maybe that's not breaking news, but it did fill the New York City tabloids with headlines for a few days. 

We're coming up on the 40th anniversary of that book, and Winfield is back with another autobiography. This time he more or less completes his life story with "Touching All the Bases." This one is an improvement over the first time around, although it's not the most dramatic book on the shelf. 

Winfield was by most standards an amazing athlete. He was big (6-foot-6), strong and fast, and drafted by three major sports. (Hockey somehow passed him, up although a large, quick guy on skates might have terrorized opponents.) Winfield chose baseball, and didn't play a single day in the minor leagues. He was one of the first stars in the history of the San Diego Padres' franchise.

But in 1981, Dave was ready for free agency. He signed a huge contract with the Yankees, after considerable wooing from Steinbrenner. George made a big mistake in that record deal - not noticing that Winfield had a cost-of-living elevator clause in the deal that turned out to be a heck of a yearly bonus. Steinbrenner seemed to take it out on Winfield in an odd way - attack the outfielder's charitable foundation. That first book was written in the middle of that dispute. 

So Book Number Two tells the rest of the story. The controversy eventually settled on the story of Howie Spira, who had tried and failed to work for Winfield and then offered to dig up dirt on the star for Steinbrenner. George accepted. That eventually led to a ban from baseball for Steinbrenner, although he was allowed to run the Yankees again a few years later. 

By that time, Winfield had left the Bronx Zoo. He eventually played for the Angels, Blue Jays, Twins and Indians - winning his only World Series ring with the Blue Jays. He finished his career with 3,110 hits and 465 homers - skating his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame without a problem. Since then, Dave has worked in a few different areas. He did some broadcasting, but seemed to have trouble fitting into a niche. Winfield spent considerable time with the Players Association.    

He comes off here as a great player and a good person, with his heart in the right place in several areas. It's hard to say if he completely knew what he was about to go through when he signed with the Yankees. Winfield might have been happier had he stayed in a place like San Diego or Minnesota for almost all of his career, where he could have felt at home and worried about hitting and catching baseballs. But the association lingers, in part because of the disagreements with Steinbrenner. No wonder he's wearing pinstripes in the cover photo. 

It might have been better if "Touching All the Bases" had been published a little earlier in his life. You'd have to be at least 40 to remember him in his prime, when he was one of the top all-around players in the game. But what we have is quite readable, and it offers some insight into a baseball life.  

Three stars

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Review: Just Tackle, Baby! (2026)

By Phil Villapiano with Todd Schmidt

My introduction to Phil Villapiano: 

It was 1980, and I was covering the Buffalo Bills' home games on a regular basis for the first time. The team started the season with a winning streak that showed the previous five years, some of which had been truly dismal, had been put in the past. After games, the reporters gathered around the stars like Joe Ferguson, Joe Cribbs, Jerry Butler, Fred Smerlas and Jim Haslett for the most part ... with one exception. 

Phil Villapiano was a popular interview subject in those days, even though he didn't receive a great deal of playing time. Villapiano had been acquired for Bob Chandler in the offseason, and the idea was that he'd add depth and veteran leadership to the defense. Phil also was a good interview - funny, smart and honest. He didn't play that much at times, but it was always good to stop at his locker to see what he had to say. 

Here we are, more than 45 years later, and people still want to hear what he has to say. Villapiano is out with an autobiography called "Just Tackle, Baby!" If you are looking for stories about a crazy if bygone era of pro football, this is a good starting point. 

Villapiano grew up in New Jersey and went to college at Bowling Green - which was geographically close to the Big Ten but not in the Big Ten. Even so, the Falcons find some football players every year - and Villapiano was one of the best. He was a second-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders in 1971. All of a sudden, Phil was in the midst of some of the great "personalities" in football history ... and fit in quite well with them. 

At the top was Al Davis, one of the most interesting personalities in NFL history. He did almost everything in the sport from assistant coach to league commissioner (AFL). Davis' slogan was "Just win, baby," which is wear the title of the book comes from Life was never boring with Al around. The same could be said about John Madden, the coach of the team during much of Villapiano's time there. The Raiders were always very good under Madden, and even won a Super Bowl once along the way. 

When it came to players, the team featured names such as Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Art Shell, Gene3 Upshaw, Otis Sistrunk, George Atkinson and Jack Tatum. The Raiders played hard and partied hard. They may have bent some rules along the way and broken a few others. It's impressive that the Raiders could do all of that and still be contenders. Villapiano has plenty of stories about those days on the field and nights in bars - you'd call the R-rated stories "examples of team bonding" today. 

Villapiano also is happy to voice an opinion about the most famous play in pro football history (well, at least in the top five) - the Immaculate Reception play in 1972 involving the Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers. You might remember how Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and went in for a go-ahead touchdown in a playoff game. Phil is still angry about what was overlooked on the play - rules violations, penalties, etc. - but the result seems unlikely to be change 54 years and counting later. He and Harris, by the way, became good friends in spite of opposing views of one particular play. 

Villapiano was on the back nine of his football career when he got to Buffalo, and was part of some good times there. Let's just say that Conrad Dobler was quite a character. It might be worth noting to Bills' fans that the linebacker has plenty of good things to say about head coach Chuck Knox. He also praises Kay Stephenson, who was the offensive coordinator at the time. Stephenson was promoted to head coach when Knox left in 1983, and Villapiano's words make that action a better idea than it seemed at the time. (The Bills returned to their losing ways once Knox left.)

A serious knee injury ended Phil's time on the field. It was time to move on with life, and he chose to be attached to the - wait for it - container shipping business. Who knew? It sounds like he's done fine with it, although it's easy to guess that an ex-NFL player with some degree of fame ought to do reasonably well in almost any sales job. After all, his mere name is a heck of an introduction.  

The book comes with a couple of problems connected to it. Villapiano is closing in on 80 years of age these days. There are fewer and fewer of us who have first-hand memories of the Raiders of the 1970s. This could have been written 20 years ago without changing too much of the script. I also noticed some obvious typos that went uncaught along the way. Some names got garbled, and a few facts are wrong. 

Even so, "Just Tackle, Baby!" is easy to read and goes by smoothly. A book like this probably is designed to be a substitute for sitting down with Villapiano at a bar, ordering a couple of cold ones, and having him tell you what it was like to be a Raider when the team had a distinctive personality. It will work well, particularly for those in the proper demographic. 

Four stars 

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Review: Inside the Owner's Box (2026)

By David M. Rubenstein

It seems that David Rubenstein has written another book. That prompts a basic question - where did he find the time?

It takes a few pages of "Inside the Owner's Box" to list Rubenstein's accomplishments. At the top of the list, at least in terms of impact, is that he is the cofounder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, one of the world's biggest investment firms. It is said that the organization manages something like $477 billion in assets, which would seem to be a big task. 

From there, Rubenstein works on the boards of several organizations, and is a member of many more. He has made many philanthropic gifts to help maintain some national treasures, such as the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Library of Congress, and Mount Vernon. He hosts some television shows that run on Bloomberg and C-SPAN, and has written five other books. That's not everything, but you get the idea. 

That is probably enough responsibility for anyone, but he added to his list of responsibilities a few years ago when he became the chairman and CEO of the Baltimore Orioles' baseball team. You'd think he was working on a clock that has 29 hours in a day.

Somehow he now has squeezed in the time to write another book, although "Inside the Owner's Box" sounds like a relatively easy project as these things go. 

Rubenstein starts out by reviewing the process that led him to taking over the Orioles. The team was about to come on the market, and Rubenstein thought he had a chance of making a purchase work. He had some connections to the Baltimore area, and he certainly had the financial means to make an impact. It took some time, but Rubenstein thought he could help the community by purchasing the team. Such actions are complicated, but eventually everything worked out and the sale was completed. From there, the book moves on to what day-to-day life for a pro sports owner is like. 

Rubenstein quickly discovered that he'd have to be a relatively active participant in the team's fortunes, even though he had virtually nothing to do with the on-field product. He also found out that the procedures he followed in the business world, designed to minimize risk in many cases, didn't apply to a baseball team. A lot of work can go down the drain because of a bad hop on a grounder or a fluke injury to a player. 

With that somewhat covered, Rubenstein switches to the meat of the book - interviews with his peers. Owning a major league team no doubt helps get calls returned from other pro sports owners, and the author talks to 14 people who control teams. You'll recognize some of the names - Jim Crane of the Houston Astros, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, Ted Leonsis of the Washington Capitals and Wizards, Jeff Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Tom Ricketts of the Chicago Cubs. The one sort-of-exception is Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, which has four different groups of employees working on NASCAR entries.  

How does this all work? Moderately well. For starters, the stories are rather similar. Most of the people interviewed had some interest in sports growing up, but weren't good enough to play the game at a high level. They learned to do other things well, which turned their lives into spectacular financial success stories. I wish I could explain what some of those activities were, but they deal with high finance and aren't easy to boil down to a simple level - especially for a review without an MBA. All of them say that they enjoy the chance at trying to unite a community through sports, and the rewards are great. They also point out that while there's money to be made in pro sports, it comes at the back end when the sale of a franchise is made (values keep going up and up) and not along the way. That takes a different mindset for a businessman to have. 

Rubenstein stays away from anything resembling tough questions. We don't hear about the Astros' cheating scandal, or Kraft's personal problems. Therefore, we get the point rather quickly - even though the book goes by quite fast. If there's one happy conclusion to be reached, it's that the cross-section of owners interviewed really seem to care about what's happening to the franchise and the surrounding neighborhood, and aren't in the business just to cash out at the end as values continue to rise. 

"Inside the Owner's Box" couldn't have taken long to compile, since it's mostly transcripts of interviews Rubenstein has done in recent years. In other words, this is rather harmless material. There are a few good stories from the subjects, and it might fulfill some curiosity about the responsibilities and demands of owners in today's sports world. Just don't expect much more than that.

Three stars

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