Review: Moses and the Doctor (2026)

By Luke Epplin

It's turning into a good year for the American Basketball Association. 

It has been 50 years since the ABA stopped bouncing its red, white and blue basketball in order to complete a merger with the National Basketball Association. Earlier this year, Amazon Prime started showing a good-sized documentary on the ABA, complete with rare video clips that few have ever seen before. 

Joining that project in 2026 has been a new book about two of the biggest names in the ABA. It's called "Moses and the Doctor." If you don't know the full names of those two guys, this book might not be for you. Come to think of it, you probably even aren't on the correct website.

Luke Epplin's second book is somewhat split into three interwoven portions - two of them essentially short biographies. Julius Erving probably remains the face of the ABA, even though he spent more years in the NBA. "Doctor J," as he was known by everyone, might have been the last of the legends in basketball. He came up through the University of Massachusetts in an era when every college basketball game wasn't on television. He left early to join the ABA, which didn't receive a great deal of attention either from the TV networks. 

So you had to go to see a game to watch The Doctor operate, which was something of a chore. However, it probably was worth the effort. Erving was something of a descendant of Elgin Baylor, who took a relatively earth-bound game and took it to the air. Erving more or less perfected it, turning basketball into artistry in a sense. When the two leagues merged in 1976, Dr. J ended up with the Philadelphia 76ers - and people in the rest of the country couldn't wait to see him. 

The other title character was a great player too, but in an entirely different way than Erving. Moses Malone didn't even bother to go to college, as he had his heart set on turning pro right out of high school. The Utah Stars allowed him to do that. Malone immediately showed that he was a tremendous rebounder even at the pro level - a machine who gobbled up loose balls like no one had ever played the game.

Malone bounced around in his career - including a week's long stay in Buffalo with the Braves (it still hurts hoop fans in Buffalo to think about that episode) - before landing in Houston. There he became the league's Most Valuable Player. Malone was so good that the Rockets couldn't really afford to keep him at that point. 

That brings us to the third part of the story, the 76ers. Their history was often the story of "good but not good enough." Many times the Boston Celtics were in their way, and that team was a little bit better most of the time. Philadelphia piled up some painful playoff losses in the 1970s and 1980s with Erving around, and it was easy to wonder if the team would ever reach the mountaintop.      

Then Moses arrived in Philadelphia to lead the Sixers to the Promised Land (you knew that was coming). Philadelphia had a terrific team in 1982-83, dominating the regular season and then only losing a total of one game in three playoff series to win the championship. It was essentially the first and only time that a couple of the ABA's best were the main parts of an NBA championship. The combination of Erving and Malone were worth noting because they were such different players. Erving brought his ABA grace to dazzle onlookers, while Malone could have brought a hard hat and lunch pail to work - thus fitting in with the NBA stereotype of substance over style. 

What might not be remembered about this group is that its fame was fleeting. Erving's flame was starting to flicker at that point thanks to age, and Malone's body also soon started to rebel against the heavy, year-round workload. The 76ers were good but never contender-good for the next few years as the pieces scattered, which they always do eventually. The subtitle of the book is "Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball." It's difficult to make the case for that last part, even if it was a heck of a one-year ride.

Epplin's first book, "Our Team," was a terrific look back at the Cleveland Indians of the late 1940s as they helped usher integration into baseball. The author is back here with a slightly less compelling premise for a book, but he still does a fine job of putting the pieces together. Plenty of research went into this, and there are guaranteed to be some stories here you've never heard. 

"Moses and the Doctor" captures a particular era of NBA history quite nicely. It brings the story of two greats and their time apart and together back from the past, and delivers it in an easy-to-read manner. The target audience immediately responded once this was published, as it was on the New York Times best-seller list. 

Four stars

Learn more about this book from Amazon.com. (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn money from qualifying purchases.)

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Review: The Bosses of the Bronx (2026)

By Mike Vaccaro

Members of the sports media, particularly in New York City, must miss George Steinbrenner. 

Yes, the late owner of the New York Yankees (he died in 2010) certainly had his faults. But - if nothing else - George was good for business. That's especially true if you worked for a newspaper in the New York area, and it was especially, especially true if you worked for one of the tabloids in New York. Steinbrenner craved appearances on the back page of those papers like the rest of us crave air and water, and was an expert with supplying sportswriters with stories - true or manufactured.

Can you blame, then, Mike Vaccaro for giving George's baseball life yet another review in his book, "The Bosses of the Bronx?" Probably not - even if it's territory that has been well covered in publications over the years. In other words, a lot of trees have fallen to chronicle the Steinbrenner Years. 

How was it? Graig Nettles summed that era up nicely one day: "When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and join the circus. With the Yankees, I've accomplished both." 

Way back when Steinbrenner first bought the Yankees in 1973, he was name only known to sports trivia experts. He was the owner of the Cleveland Pipers of the American Basketball League, a rival to the National Basketball Association in the early 1960s which was funded by Harlem Globetrotters boss Abe Saperstein. It's mostly remembered now as the place where the three-point shot was born. Steinbrenner signed Ohio State star Jerry Lucas and tried to force his way into the NBA, but the plan eventually collapsed and so did the whole league. From there, George had hopes of buying the Cleveland Indians in baseball, but that never quite worked out. 

But when CBS decided to sell the Yankees in the early 1970s, Steinbrenner led a group that bought the team at something of a bargain rate. The deal was announced on January 3, 1973, and it didn't take long to realize that Steinbrenner's management style was on the flamboyant style. We were all off on a unique ride that really didn't end until George's health started to fail in the 2000s. 

That ride was stressful to almost everyone involved, but it was never boring. Steinbrenner could stop hiring Billy Martin to manage his team, and he couldn't stop firing him either. It happened five times, and No. 6 seemed likely until Martin died in a car accident. By that time reporters were referring to a particular time period of Martin's managing with Roman numerals, as in Billy V. A couple of other managers received second chances too. 

The playing roster was always interesting too. Steinbrenner wasn't exactly the most patient of men when it came to baseball development, always trying to win now rather than wait for young players to ripen. That had its benefits at free agent time, when Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield signed big contracts. But it also led to some top prospects heading elsewhere for major-league mediocrities (i.e. Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps), and the Yankees also came close to trading a couple of young players named Ron Guidry and Mariano Rivera before they backed away. Not coincidentally, the Yankees did their best work a few years after Steinbrenner had been suspended by baseball - not once, but twice. The staff had the chance to build up the team without interference, leading to the championship runs of the late 1970s and late 1990s. 

Not many could have pulled off yet another interesting book on those years, but Vaccaro is up to the task. He's one of the most readable columnists out there, and certainly did some good research into some of the most famous moments of Steinbrenner's time on the job. There are many fun little bits of information that sweeten the recaps of events nicely. 

It's at least interesting to note that Vaccaro doesn't spend a great deal of time on George's sons, Hank and Hal. The Yankees usually have been very good since George gave up his spot of control with the team. Steinbrenner was technically still in charge when the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. But they haven't won it since then, only reaching the final playoff round in 2024. 

It's easy to wonder a bit if we need another book on that era. But at least Vaccaro has the sources and the writing style to keep people reading "The Bosses of the Bronx." Yankee fans of those years certainly will find reasons to smile when going through this worthwhile effort.

Four stars

Learn more about this book from Amazon.com.  (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn money from qualifying purchases.)

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