Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Wow, it’s been a rough few days. First Fritz Peterson, now a trio of notables, for different reasons. I’ve never seen anything like this on the obituary page of The New York Times‘ website: Carl Erskine, the last of “the boys of summer,” died Tuesday at the age of 97. “Oisk” was a mainstay […]
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I’ve may have mentioned a project I’m working on: collecting obituaries of ballplayers that have appeared in The New York Times with the notion of how a player is identified in the opening lines. Here’s what Bruce Weber had to say in today’s edition, which had a “refer” on the front page. Fritz Peterson, who […]
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I look at the ages of these guys on Baseball-Reference and they’re all well into their 70s and 80s now. Where has the time gone? Jerry Grote, the backbone behind the plate for the Miracle Mets, passed away Sunday at the age of 81. Here’s his obituary by Richard Goldstein in The New York Times. […]
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One of the unsung players for the World Champion Mets in 1969, pitcher Jim McAndrew has died at the age of 80. He was just 6-7 for the Amazin’s that year (37-53 over seven seasons, the last with the Padres), but he was nevertheless a part of the rotation that included Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, […]
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A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
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Sad news today. Bud Harrelson has passed away at the age of 79. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019. Harrelson, of course, was a key player for the Mets since joining the team in 1965. A member of the Miracle Mets in 1969, he was perhaps better known for his fight with Pete […]
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Come on, you can’t blame FOX for reporting on the death of The Big Hurt, mistaking him for the other Frank Thomas. What, you expect them to actually, like, fact check? It’s so ridiculous that even this British news outlet reported on it: “Fox News apologises after claiming baseball MLB Hall of Famer had died” […]
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No, Michael Nussbaum never played professional baseball. Nor was he an executive or a coach on any level. So what’s the connection? Recognize him now? It’s a scene from Field of Dreams (1989) in which Ray Kinsella and his wife, Annie, attend a school meeting regarding book censorship (unfortunately still a topical issue today. Not […]
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The only pitcher on the 1962 New York Mets with a winning record, MacKenzie passed away December 14 at the age of 89. The Gore Bay, Ontario-born lefty also went 3-1 for the 1963 Mets. Rookie Grover Powell, at 1-1, was the only other hurler not to have a losing record that year. MacKenzie made […]
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This is kind of a tree-falling-in-the-forest thing. If the “paper of record” carries an obituary, does that make an otherwise obscure player more of a celebrity? Probably, since many readers might never have heard of him before. The New York Times published this AP article noting the passing of Vic Davalillo, “a two-time World Series […]
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I was shocked to hear the news this morning that Andre Braugher has passed away. Braugher, 61, made his TV debut on Kojak but really received attention as Det. Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Streets (created by David Simon, a Baltimore Orioles fan). He appeared in numerous movies and other TV shows, most […]
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Rough day to report on writers, although this one happened more than a month ago. Jim Caple, long-time ESPN baseball scribe, died October 1 at the age of 61 after battling ALS and dementia. Caple covered 20 World Series for ESPN, the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I particularly enjoyed his work on […]
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The author of one of my favorite baseball novels, Brittle Innings, passed away on Nov. 13 at the age of 78. Here’s his obit from locusmag.com and his entry from the online Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Normally I don’t rely on Wikipedia, but in this case, the synopsis for the 1994 publication is pretty accurate: […]
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The bespectacled slugger passed away yesterday at the age of 87. Known for his gargantuan home runs as well as his size, the “Capital Punisher” lost 382 balls over a 17 year career that included the LA Dodgers, with whom he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1960; the Washington Senator/Texas Rangers, where […]
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The news that Tim Wakefield had died at the age of 57 from brain cancer was a shocker (the leaked info from Curt Schilling notwithstanding). I heard the sad tidings during the Mets game on Sunday. It never ceases to amaze me how “life goes on” after a few minutes of eulogizing. Back to the […]
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And another legend bites the dust. “Brooksie” passed away today at the age of 86. Here’s his obit from The Baltimore Sun by Mike Klingaman and The New York Times by Richard Goldstein. There was no “Mt. Rushmore” of third basemen; Robinson was ne plus ultra. There have been other great defensemen at his position, […]
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Unless you’re a Mets or Knicks fan, you might not know the nae. But Dennis D’Agostino was a vital cog to both teams, serving as a statistician long before computers were de rigueur. D’Agostino, who passed away last week at the age of 66, was author or co-author of three of my favorite baseball titles: […]
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Before Roger Craig was an innovative coach and manager, he was a pitcher for the fledgling New York Mets (and before that a Brooklyn Dodger) who led the NL in losses with 24 in 1962 and 22 the following year. He also pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in ’64, the Cincinnati Reds in ’65, […]
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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
