The long-time voice of the New York Yankees died today (May 4) at the age of 87.
Sterling was famous for his home run calls — “It is high. It is far. It is…gone!” — along with pet names and phrases he employed such as, “All rise. Here comes the Judge.”
Here’s his obituary by Richard Sandomir in The New York Times. And another from NJ.com, along with this tribute. Since the announcement of his passing came just this morning, look for more commentary in the days to come.
I appreciate his place in Yankees narrative, but I always found his signature calls a bit schmaltzy. Maybe it’s the Mets fan in me. But I know most Yankee fans will long remember Sterling’s silver tones.
Given the number of books published by broadcasters, I was surprised that there has been nothing by or about John Sterling. I expect that will change in short order.
Amazon keeps changing the way they report, so that will be mirrored here. Sometimes there will be rankings of Kindle and audio-books on baseball, other times, not.
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 the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on Amazon’s BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).
Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).
So, with all that said…
The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I had with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a “Ω” means it’s an award winner, almost always in the print version.
FYI, for those who were concerned, I did get my Vermont Lake Monsters cap.
Enough of a representation of Kindle and audio books to list them, even if they’re not an even ten. There were a lot more audio books in Amazon’s Top 100 baseball titles than usual. Same could be said for Ball Four, which pops up frequently.
I noted in yesterday’s “Throwback Thursday” entry, Moneyball and The Science of Hitting are just as popular now as they were 10 years ago as evidenced by their inclusion yet again on the BBS list.
Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.
BUT…
Some exciting news (now we’ll see who’s paying attention and reading down this far).
Necessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to emergency surgery in which I said goodbye to a recalcitrant gallbladder, I have a couple off months for recuperation during which time I will be working on a revision of 501.
The new version will include all the original stuff but as you know if you’re a baseball reading fool, there have been a lot of great books published since 501 came out a dozen years ago. So since this isn’t a ranking where one title might be pushed off the list, the new material will appear as an added chapter.
A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.
If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.
You will notice two books that are still favorites today: Moneyball and The Science of Hitting. I guess these would constitute “classics,” having stood the test of time.
I do not include baseball “romance novels” on this blog, but this caught my eye: “The White Sox held Windy City Series Night in honor of the popular sports-adjacent romantic novels of the same name by author Liz Tomforde, who just published a spinoff of the series titled “In Her Own League.”” (Photo by Jeremy Battle/Block Club Chicago)
From the Beyond the Monster substack, a recent Pod by the River podcast “features a conversation with Michael Clair, author of We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball, a book that chronicles the unlikely rise of the Czech Republic’s national baseball team during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The conversation quickly becomes a reflection on what baseball means when it exists outside the structure, money, and permanence of Major League Baseball.”
“The name Sandy Koufax has become a synonym for ‘great pitcher,'” according to Baseball Digest publisher David Fagley.
Koufax turned 90 this past December and still looks like he could toss an inning or two.
Previous recipients include Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Joe Torre, Dusty Baker, and Bob Costas. Is it just me or does there seem to be a bit of a California bias here?
I can’t remember where I first saw an article about nightstand books, but it made me stop and think.
At any one time, I am juggling my reading. Ninety percent is baseball, but you have to mix in other things just to spice it up.
This is what’s currently on my nightstand. I always try to read a little something before bed. Since new books are coming in all the time, some older titles get shunted off to the bottom or “worse,” off the nightstand altogether. Blame it on my short attention span.
Just a few observations:
I was supposed to have delivered a paper on the collection of The Sporting News’ Daguerreotypes books at this year’s Cooperstown Symposium but unfortunately because I had to take off from work to recover from Covid, I couldn’t spare the time.
The Finest in the Field: A History of Baseball through 50 Iconic Gloves, the latest addition to the nightstand, would make a great Fathers Day present. Sorry, but I find the registered trademark symbol on the book jacket a bit pretentious, legalities aside, and can’t be bothered to include it here.
Wasn’t expecting to have more to say about Vermont baseball following Tuesday’s post but…
We discovered a library on the Smugglers Notch premises, the type where guests “borrow” books and leave behind those they have finished while vacationing, rather than schlep them back home.
I had read the Winfield, Steinbrenner, and Long Gonebooks before. When I saw Boys of Summer, I immediately thought of the Roger Kahn classic, but it obviously was the wrong size and shape, so I passed by it. But on second thought, I took it off the shelf and lo and behold, the full title was Green Mountain Boys of Summer: Vermonters in the Major Leagues 1882-1993, edited by Tim Simon and published by New England Press in 2000.
I really got excited when I opened the book to find autographs, but there was actually another copy of the book which also had “signatures” so I realized these weren’t personally signed. Oh, well.
The most prominent names in Green Mountain, to me at least, are Carlton Fisk and Birdie Tebbets. An updated version would have to include Chris Duffy, a center fielder who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers from 2005-07 and 2009, and third baseman Daric Barton, who spent his entire eight-season career (2007-14) with the Oakland Athletics.
Is it a generational thing? “My grandfather and father were Yankee fans, so that’s who I root for.” “My dad was a Yankees fan, so I root for the Mets, just to piss him off.”
So if a team decides to change its look, would that make a difference? Several clubs now have City Connect togs; in some cases, more than one version. The cynic in me thinks it’s just another way to make money.
The Dodgers recently added a corporate name to their home park: Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. That kind of rattled some traditionalists who bemoan the selling out. There are a handful of teams that have retained their fields’ names through the years, including Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium. What team is steeped in tradition more than the Yankees?
According to this article on the Sports Illustrated website, “The Yankees are the only team in MLB to never wear names on the backs of their jerseys, and they’re also the only team never to wear a regular alternate uniform.”
Not so fast.
The Yankees are considering a new look. Which translates into a new way to extract more cash from their fans from their fans.
From the SI article:
According to a Wednesday report from Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Yankees players recently pitched organizational higher-ups on wearing an alternate jersey — their navy and gray batting practice/spring training tops — for the first time in franchise history.
The Hall of Fame offers this Uniform Data Base, based on Okkonen’s work, but it does not include City Connect or alternate unis.
In an amazing case of timing, I just received this: VegasInsider.com has updated its analysis of the most foul-mouthed MLB fandoms, analyzing over 1 million comments from the subreddits of all 30 MLB fandoms to find out which fans are the most polite and on the contrary, which fandoms are the most foul-mouthed. Additionally, the analysis also uncovered which MLB fandoms are the most positive and which fans are the most negative. You can find that study here.
A synopsis:
“An analysis of 1.264 million MLB fan comments found the Athletics to be the most foul-mouthed fandom, with 6.03% of their fan comments containing swear words, marking the second consecutive year they ranked #1 in this category. The Boston Red Sox placed second with 5.114% of their comments containing swear words, followed by the Los Angeles Angels as the third most foul-mouthed fandom with 5.106% of their comments including profanities.
In terms of sentiment, the Boston Red Sox ranked as the most negative fandom, with 27.6% of their fan comments classified as negative. The Athletics were in second place since 26.61% of their fan comments were classified as negative, while the New York Yankees ranked as the third most negative fandom with 26.47% negative comments.
At the other end of the scale, the St. Louis Cardinals were found to be the most polite fandom since only 3.13% of their fan comments included swear words, followed by the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals as the second and third most polite fandoms. The Colorado Rockies turned out to be the most positive fandom since 46.45% of their comments had a positive sentiment, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals.”
Spent the day in Stowe where we visited the Von Trapp Family Lodge. Attended a lecture about the family’s historic journey from Austria to America. Apparently the version we are familiar with from The Sound of Music isn’t wholly accurate (surprise, surprise). After the main presentation and screening of a documentary about the real Maria, Kristina von Trapp, her granddaughter, did a little Q&A.
Why am I telling you all this? Because there’s a baseball connection, obviously. Seems that the Red Sox celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Lodge by having Kristina throw out a first pitch. The game took place on September 17, 2025, against the Athletics which the Sawx won in the 10th inning.
Burlington, which we visited a couple of days ago, was host to the Vermont Expos, which changed its name to the Lake Monsters when the parent club moved to Washington, DC. until 2020. But that association ended a couple of years ago. These days the Lake Monsters play in a collegiate summer league. So I won’t be able to attend a game, but I’m still going to try to get a cap.
Wendy Parker, who hosts the excellent SportsBibioReader blog, focuses on baseball and television in her latest post.
She also posted this thoughtful essay, which mirrors some of what I’m feeling about baseball these days, “The temptation of falling out of love with sports: Growing older, or perhaps viewing youthful obsessions differently.” I am often asked about baseball these days and have to admit I no longer follow the current game as much as I used to. I could tell you who was the second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1968 (Bernie Allen) but can’t name one player on the current White Sox.
The Beloit Daily News posted this feature about John Graf‘s new book, Simulating Satchel: A What-If History of Integrated Major League Baseball in 1934. Why that year? From the Daily News, “The 1934 season leaped out at me because of all the Negro League greats who would have been players in their primes that year,” according to the author. “Satchel Paige in real life turned 27 during the season and Dizzy Dean won 30 games. And there were a whole bunch of Hall of Famers among the Black players who I added to the 16 teams in what were the exclusionary majors. The simulation game I used to play the schedule — Strat-O-Matic — had all of those teams and players available to recreate what might have been.”
Amazon keeps changing the way they report, so that will be mirrored here. Sometimes there will be rankings of Kindle and audio-books on baseball, other times, not.
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 the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on Amazon’s BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).
Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).
So, with all that said…
The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I had with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a “Ω” means it’s an award winner, almost always in the print version.
Keeping this short since I’m writing from vacation in Vermont where I hope to be able to find a hat for the Vermont Lake Monsters.
Enough of a representation of Kindle and audio books to list them, even if they’re not an even ten. There were a lot more audio books in Amazon’s Top 100 baseball titles than usual.
Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.
BUT…
Some exciting news (now we’ll see who’s paying attention and reading down this far).
Necessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to emergency surgery in which I said goodbye to a recalcitrant gallbladder, I have a couple off months for recuperation during which time I will be working on a revision of 501.
The new version will include all the original stuff but as you know if you’re a baseball reading fool, there have been a lot of great books published since 501 came out a dozen years ago. So since this isn’t a ranking where one title might be pushed off the list, the new material will appear as an added chapter.
A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.
If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.
A bit late in posting this but it’s still relevant, so… Excellent essay in the March 29 Op-Ed section of The New York Times by Devin Gordon, author of So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets — the Best Worst Team in Sports and Bookshelf Conversation guest. “Help! […]
Mr. Baseball, a 1992 comedy starring Tom Selleck, was on recently so of course I watched it, even though I must have seen this “fish-out-of-water” film dozens of times. Similar to the saying about the game itself, whenever you watch, there’s always a chance that you’ll see something you never did before. And it’s true. […]
The most confusing day for those keeping scorecards, as every player is wearing the celebrated Number 42. Here’s what I posted 10 years ago (“Wayback Wednesday”?). The sentiment remains the same, although the list of books about Robinson has grown since then, including, from 2026 alone: Integration at Second Base: Jackie Robinson and the Quest […]
In Her Own League, a novel by Liz Tomforde about the first female team owner in Major League Baseball, is among a recent top five most-read books of the past week by Bookriot.com, which posted, “Almost 25,000 Goodreads users read it this week, and it has a 4.5 average rating.” Tomforde’s novel has to remind […]
I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but I don’t get poetry. I mean there are just so many ways to poeticize and there doesn’t seem to be any definitive right way. I can’t define it, but I know what I like. I guess I go for stuff from people like Bill Littlefield and […]
Amazon keeps changing the way they report, so that will be mirrored here. Sometimes there will be rankings of Kindle and audio-books on baseball, other times, not. 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 […]
Kind of nostalgic, especially since I tested positive for COVID earlier this month. But I’m feeling much better now. The Pandemic Baseball Book Club was a way for authors to promote their books in a period where making the usual rounds to bookstores and other author events was verboten. I wrote a regular roundup of […]
Some of you may know my “rules” about acquiring the caps that line the walls of my office: I (or people who gift me) at least have to be in the state where the teams plays. I don’t necessarily have to be in the stadium or even city, but I can’t just go to a […]
Free 501 checklist available (Excel/spreadhseet format). Makes it fun to check off which books you've read and handy to bring to the bookstore or library to get what you still want to read. Send your request via email to ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf (@)gmail(dot)com.
The envelope, please…
Ron by Roth
In a former life, I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted an award-winning bog about Jews and Sports.
I did a profile piece on the legendary cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was very generous in immortalizing me in this caricature.
Sometimes You See It Coming, by Kevin Baker
Grade: B. I first read this one when it originally came out some 30 years ago. I must say I don't remember it being so raunchy in spots. Draws on lots of real-life events and characters that real fans will recognize.
The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness, by Andy McCullough
Grade: A. I usually don't like titles with superlatives, but in this case the author might be right, although there are probably a couple of Kershaw's contemporaries (Verlander and Scherzer) who fit that description.
The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Kevin Baker
Grade: A. Well-researched, well-written. What else could you ask for? Baker has a lot of street cred writing about New York as well, both in fiction and non-fiction.
The Body Scout, by Lincoln Michel
Grade: C. Perhaps the ultimate performance enhancers -- interchangeable body parts -- help major leaguers of the future. But, as with all of these things, there's a price to pay.
PRINT
Steve Kettman, a 
PRINT
is available on Amazon.com,
Rooting for clothes?
April 23, 2026 · 0 comments
Why do fans root for a specific team?
Is it a generational thing? “My grandfather and father were Yankee fans, so that’s who I root for.” “My dad was a Yankees fan, so I root for the Mets, just to piss him off.”
So if a team decides to change its look, would that make a difference? Several clubs now have City Connect togs; in some cases, more than one version. The cynic in me thinks it’s just another way to make money.
The Dodgers recently added a corporate name to their home park: Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. That kind of rattled some traditionalists who bemoan the selling out. There are a handful of teams that have retained their fields’ names through the years, including Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium. What team is steeped in tradition more than the Yankees?
According to this article on the Sports Illustrated website, “The Yankees are the only team in MLB to never wear names on the backs of their jerseys, and they’re also the only team never to wear a regular alternate uniform.”
Not so fast.
The Yankees are considering a new look. Which translates into a new way to extract more cash from their fans from their fans.
From the SI article:
OMG!
Naturally, not everyone is happy about this. Chris Kirschner at The Athletic believes “Yankees’ alternate jerseys would be another damaging dent to storied tradition.”
What would George Steinbrenner say? For that matter, what would Jerry Seinfeld say?
There’s a great book, Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century: The Official Major League Baseball Guide, by Marc Okkonen, which came out in the early 1990s, so that needs an update. (Todd Radom offers a more opinionated take in Winning Ugly: A Visual History of Baseball’s Most Unique Uniforms.)
The Hall of Fame offers this Uniform Data Base, based on Okkonen’s work, but it does not include City Connect or alternate unis.
In an amazing case of timing, I just received this: VegasInsider.com has updated its analysis of the most foul-mouthed MLB fandoms, analyzing over 1 million comments from the subreddits of all 30 MLB fandoms to find out which fans are the most polite and on the contrary, which fandoms are the most foul-mouthed. Additionally, the analysis also uncovered which MLB fandoms are the most positive and which fans are the most negative. You can find that study here.
A synopsis:
Tagged as: Uniforms
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