Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, this from Movieguide on the best movies to watch to mark the occasion, including the Jackie Robinson biopic, 42. Here are a few entries I posted back around the time it came out: The cast of 42: You be the judge 42 Overview Bookshelf Review: 42 […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Because what else is there to do, baseball-wise, besides read and watch movies? Via ScreenRant: According to Rotten Tomatoes, these are the top ten baseball flics. Here’s the criteria: It should be noted that only certified fresh movies are included, as some baseball films have high ratings but only a handful of reviews. Definition of […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Four new inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame come next summer. Some have already been the subject of books, including The Closer, by Mariano Rivera and Wayne Coffey, published when the Yankees superstar — and the only man to be unanimously voted in by the BBWAA — retired in 2013. Edgar Martinez — designated […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The Baseball Writers Association of America has selected Jayson Stark the winner of the 2019 J.G. Taylor Spink Award. The award honors “a baseball writer (or writers) “‘or meritorious contributions to baseball writing,’” according to the Baseball Hall of Fame website. Stark, who now writes for The Athletic after a long career with ESPN.com, will […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Those of you who have been following this blog for awhile know that I like to do a “compare & contrast” of the baseball preview issues for Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine in which I would look at the features and predictions for each, as well as examine “the next big thing” that captured […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The legendary umpire, who did not lack for self-assurance, passed away Saturday at the age of 87. Doug Harvey, who had been in failing health for a few years, published They Called Me God: The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived with veteran baseball journalist Peter Golenbock in 2014. I reviewed that one, along with Al […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Spoiler alert: This entry will discuss the end of The Quitter, which I blogged about in the previous entry. On the other hand, I consider this as saving you a few bucks and/or 90 minutes of your valuable time. You’re welcome. Against my better judgment, I watched The Quitter to its stunning conclusion. I have […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Funny how discoveries are made. My wife and I were having lunch at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, last fall and dropped by the gift shop on the way out. Now usually, I hover around the door, tapping my foot impatiently and watching my watch. But right at the front of the shop […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I’ll watch anything that has to do with baseball at least once, regardless of the reviews or that it has no “star-power” actors. Some are dreadful from any number of angles (writing, acting, theme), so I didn’t have great expectations for Where Hope Grows, a 2014 release that certainly didn’t come to any of the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Next to baseball and books (and, of course, baseball books), I enjoy learning about what goes on behind the scenes in movies. That’s why I enjoy the I Was There Too podcast hosted by Matt Gourley, which features interviews with actors who may not have been the stars of the films in which they appeared, […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
On our first day of our trip to the Berkshires, my wife and I ventured into Lee for dinner. We found an antiques store where I chanced upon this little item. At $85, it was one of the more pricey things in the shop, where it remained as of our leaving. *** Later in the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Jessica Mendoza replaced Curt Schilling as the third person in the booth for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecasts and people lost their minds. I can’t believe the misogynistic vitriol over that decision. Sure, the cynical among us might think it was done solely because she was a woman and ESPN anted to expand their audience. […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Get ready, get set, go… This is the time of year when publishers gear up for their quickie season recaps for teams in the hunt for the World Series crown. But it seems that in recent years, you don’t even have to get that far. Maybe the League Championship series are good enough. Or perhaps […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
is available on Amazon.com,
In my most recent "day job," I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted another blog. Busy, busy, busy.
I did a profile piece on the award-winning cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.
My article on the later biographies of Babe Ruth appears in
My article on the Mets’ 1969 postseason appears in
Profiles of several Jewish baseball figures appear in
