Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here
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The Brooklyn Dodger pitcher who famously lost a ground ball in the sun during the 1952 World Series died on July 15 at the age of 80. His obituary, written by Richard Goldstein, appeared in yesterday’s New York Times. Like many of his teammates, enjoyed a renewed popularity through books such as Roger Kahn’s The [...]
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The crime novelist, perhaps best known for his “Spenser” series, passed away at the age of 77. As much as I enjoyed the TV version, starring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks, the novels were all pretty much the same. Parker branched out in later years. He wrote a few mysteries with a female protagonist as [...]
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Several new titles consider World Series past. Two — by Joe Posnanski and Mark Frost — deal with the 1975 Red Sox-Reds contest, which was highlighted by Carlton Fisk’s game-winner in the sixth game, the closest to that point Boston had come to winning a title since 1918. The next most recent is Perfect, by [...]
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From journalists/sports guy Paul Oberjuerger, this considered assessment of the new Walter O’Malley/Brooklyn Dodgers book by Michael D’Antonio. Upshot: What makes this book important? The author had access to “tens of thousands of items” from the O’Malley family archive. And, naturally, that O’Malley-centric material tends to paint Walter O’Malley in a kinder light. If only [...]
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The Providence Journal posted this review of yet another account of the Dodgers’ (and Giants’) move to California. Upshot: To the dwindling circle of Brooklyn Dodger fans, Walter O’Malley will forever remain a despised #@%&*. If they can bring themselves to read it, Murphy’s book will reinforce their notion.
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Jonathan Eig, author of Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinon’s First Season and Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, does the honors for Michael Shapiro’s new book on the exit of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the ultimate entrance of the New York Mets.
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The Sons of Steve Garvey Blog posted this review of Steve Traver’s new book, one of his many projects this year. Upshot: …Dodger fans might already be quite familiar with most of the tales Travers recounts, and he often doesn’t go into the depth necessary to capture the drama of a moment or emotion of [...]
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Would it seem silly to you to devote an entire book that showed a particular baseball was not the one hit by Bobby Thomson in the 1951 playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. That how I felt when I read this piece in The New Daily News on Miracle Ball: My Search for the Shot [...]
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No one can nurse a grudge like a Brooklyn guy can nurse a grudge. Take, for example, this article on Michael D’Antonio’s “apology” for Walter O’Malley. D’Antonio’s biography was the result of that ultimate Faustian bargain: in exchange for giving the elder O’Malley a fair shake, the family gave the author access to thousands of [...]
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In my "day job," I'm the features and sports editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper. I'm also the editor of the Bibliography Committee Newsletter for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
I did a piece on the award-winning cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.
My article on Yankees Fantasy Camp appears in the current issue of Broadside Bombers.
My article on the later biographies of Babe Ruth appears in
My article on the Mets' 1969 post-season appears in
The Bookshelf was featured in in this column by Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News
An overview of several sports titles is one of the featured articles in the May/June issue of ForeWord Magazine.
What I'm reading now:
Banned in the Bronx: The Yankee Hater Memoirs 1953-2005
So far, so: refreshing, since I'm a Yankee hater, too.
Beyond Batting Average
So far, so: surprisingly comprehensive.
Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with Its History, Numbers, People and Places
So far, so: early.
What I just read:
Born to Play: My Life in the Game
Grade: C. Average memoir, but Pedroia would be the first to admit he was an average student, so I don't think he'd be upset by the grade.
What's next:
L'Époque Glorieuse des Expos, by Alain Usereau (Still. Merde.)
"Housecall service for your pet"
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* Bits and Pieces
June 17, 2009 · View Comments
Time to play a little catch-up: From Pressboxonline.com, a Baltimore-sports oriented site, a review of Bert Randolph Sugar’s new coffee table book about the Hall of Fame. “[The author] left nothing out and I can’t think of a better way to educate those whom are grasping for a better understanding of baseball’s history than to [...]
Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, baseball books, Baseball Hall of Fame, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Curt Smith, Michael Shapiro, Roger Clemens, steroids, Vin Scully
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