Tygiel, a professor at San Francisco State, was the author of "The Great Los Angeles Swindle: Oil, Stocks and Scandal in the Roaring Twenties," the fascinating story of C.C Julian and the Julian Petroleum Corporation. Tygiel died Tuesday of cancer. Though based up north, his books focused on historically influential Angelenos. In the baseball world he is best regarded for "Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy," published in 1983. He wrote two more books about Robinson and, in 2000, "Past Time: Baseball as History." In 2004 came "Ronald Reagan and the Rise of American Conservatism." Writes Bob Timmermann, the LAPL reference librarian who blogs at Baseball Toaster: "Tygiel wrote two of the best baseball books I've ever read, along with numerous other works. He had a career that I only can dream I would have."

(He was 59, not 79 as I originally mistyped.)