As reported yesterday, the only book that was cancelled in the closure of ReganBooks was 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel. Peter Golenbock's version of the baseball legend's life story—told through Mantle's first-person narration—had sparked controversy from the beginning, and in the end, Michael Morrison told the Associated Press, "With all the press attention on this book, and all the controversy surrounding it, Peter and I agreed it would probably be best if it would have a fresh start somewhere else." Morrison added that he liked the book and had read it twice. The NYT sports bureau got an expanded rationale: "There was so much unfair attention paid to the book based on what happened with Judith [Regan]. People were lumping the two books [7 and If I Did It] together." (Which, you may recall, is what we told you all along, although it's a shame the Sirius conversation I had with Golenbock and Regan on the subject will probably never see the light of day.)

The Times also got a reaction from Golenbock to the cancellation: "I'm disappointed. But I certainly have prospects. There is serious interest out there for it." No word yet on how this affects the Mantle biography Jane Leavy is supposed to be writing for David Hirshey at HarperCollins, mentioned in PW's original coverage, but we'll see if we can't get some phone calls made later this morning.