Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf — If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here

Throwback Thursday: Vermont Baseball Redux

April 23, 2026 · 0 comments

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 Gone books 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.

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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:

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.

Mar 24, 2026; Mesa, Arizona, USA; New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr against the Chicago Cubs during spring training at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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:

“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.”

Tagged as: Uniforms

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Baseball in Vermont

April 21, 2026 · 0 comments

Because that’s where I am right now, on vacation.

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.

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Bits and Pieces, April 20, 2026

April 20, 2026 · 0 comments

Congratulations to Brad Smith whose novel, Bill Crawford’s Double Play, has been added to the 2026 long list for the annual Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. The list of 10 will be parried down to three, which will revealed in mid-May. The winner of the Medal and $25,000 prize will be celebrated at an annual gala dinner in Orillia, Ontario, in June.

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.”

Frank Tursi will discuss his new book, Tar Heel Boys of Summer: North Carolina’s Major League Ballplayers, on Saturday, April 25, at the Core Sound Museum Store, 806 Arendell St. in Morehead City.

I wish I had these problems. From The Athletic, “Hate doing your taxes? Be thankful you don’t have to do an MLB player’s books.”

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Baseball Best-Sellers, April 17, 2026

April 17, 2026 · 0 comments

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.

PRINT

The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner, by Mike Vaccaro
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω
Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance, by Rob Friedman
Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team, by A.M., Glittzlitz
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene (my Bookshelf review here)
Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole
The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir, by Bill Madden
The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω

KINDLE

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler
Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, by George F. Will
How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed, by Thomas Gilbert
Baseball Obscura 2026, by David Fleming
Hot Foot: My Hijinks and Upside-Down Life with the World Champion New York Mets, by Roger McDowell with Doug Feldman

AUDIO BOOKS

Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America, by Howard Bryant
Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Posnanski
Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original, by Howard Bryant
Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform – and Maybe the Best, by Jeff Pearlman (narrated by the author)
The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever, by Jack Curry (narrated by the author)
Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams (narrated by Scott Brick)
Ninety Percent Mental: An All-Star Player Turned Mental Skills Coach Reveals the Hidden Game of Baseball, by Bob Tewksbury and Scott Miller (read by Tewksbury)

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.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 535,372 in books overall; last time, 3,145,947. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,504,441; last time, 1,943,075.

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.

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Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be pro athletes

April 16, 2026 · 0 comments

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! My Favorite Athlete Is an Idiot.” is a reminder, or perhaps a warning, of why we shouldn’t get too close to our “heroes,” lest they break our heart.

An illustration of a wooden baseball bat tied in a knot.

Juxtapose Gordon’s suggestions with A.M. Gittlizt’s thoughtful Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team, which is full of political activism (but mostly on the liberal side).

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Throwback Thursday: Two places at once? (1992)

April 16, 2026 · 0 comments

Mr. Baseball - Wikipedia 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.

Selleck is Jack Elliot, a former All-Star slugger whose reduced productivity has rendered him unwanted by American teams. So he winds up in Japan on the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons, managed by a former legendary slugger. There are all the cliches one might expect: Japanese apartments are too small for big Americans. Team owners are only interested in making profits and saving face. Communication is difficult, etc. Fortunately, there’s another American — the ubiquitous Dennis Haysbert (Major Leagues franchise) as Max Dubois, a Warren Cromartie-type — who shows him the ropes and helps him adjust to the nuances of Japanese baseball.

Towards the end of the film, there’s the familiar “let’s all pull together and win this thing” scene. Of course, they’re playing their dreaded rival and most successful team in Japan, the Tokyo Giants. And of course the manager’s job is on the line. And of course Elliot’s chances of returning to the U.S. hinge upon how he performs, with his agent and an executive of a team that might be interested in signing him sitting in the stands.

It’s late in the season. Because he is on the verge of breaking the home run record set by his crusty manager, opposing pitchers dare not throw Elliot a strike since it would be unacceptable to have a gaijin do so.

With the Dragons trailing in the middle innings, Elliot is hit by a pitch. After some scuffling between the teams because the pitcher was late in tipping his hat as a sign of contrition, a Japanese custom, peace is restored. Dubois hits a single to put runners on first and second. The next batter, Toshi Yamashita, hits a home run to bring the Dragons within a run. Here’s where the ‘seeing something new” comes in.

There’s a shot of the dugout with all the Dragons going wild, including Dubois, who stands in the back swinging a makeshift weighted bat. Kind of hard to do that since he’s still running the bases.

You would have thought someone should have caught that in post-production.

Does it need to be said? Thanks to Elliot’s acceptance of the Japanese way — he bunts, driving home the decisive run while preserving his manager’s sacred record — the Dragons win. I don’t even think that merits a “spoiler alert.”

Just a real quick review of Mr. Baseball. Selleck, a fierce Tigers fan, plays the ugly American well, but his Japanese costars are very wooden as they struggle to express themselves in English. The love story seems superfluous, especially — spoiler alert — when the woman just happens to be the daughter of said crusty manager, thereby adding an extra element of communication issues (surprise: the manager spoke English all along, but never let on, even as Elliot was insulting him and acting out). Maybe that’s why the movie merited just a 6.1 from IMDB and 12 % from Rotten Tomatoes.

And just for fun — and still adhering to the Throwback Thursday theme — here’s an “All-Star Baseball Movie Lineup” from Bleacher Report in 2008 which includes both Jack Elliot and Max Dubois.

Tagged as: Japanese baseball, Mr. Baseball, Tom Selleck

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Happy Jackie Robinson Day

April 15, 2026 · 0 comments

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 for Black Citizenship, by Peter Eisenstadt
Royal Treatment: Jackie Robinson, Montreal, and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Barrier, by Sean J. McLaughlin
Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America, by Howard Bryant
Note that these don’t include the many titles geared towards younger readers. The exception is a three-part comic book series, Becoming Jackie Robinson, since adults read comics, too.

Tagged as: Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson Day

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Bits and Pieces, March 16, 2026

April 15, 2026 · 0 comments

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 one of In a League of Her Own, an historical fictional/biography of Effa Manley. Here’s my review of that one, which was published in 2024. And just by the way, how about a different kind of title? Some version of “league of her own” has been used as a title of several works of fiction and non-fiction in both sports and non-sport genres.

I discovered Jimmy O’Brien, aka Jomboy, by accident, scrolling through YouTube videos. Thought he was really funny and appreciated his style of story-telling, using multiple camera angles and speeds along with his talent for lip-reading (even if he did get a bit repetitive). But I didn’t realize he was that big a deal until I saw this piece — “How Jomboy is Changing the Way Baseball is Watched” — in The New Yorker. I guess it’s a generational thing. Folks my age believe baseball should stand on its own history while young ‘uns are looking for more “fan experiences.” Anyway, here’s one of my favorites (warning: naughty language, over and over).

From Forbes,

Memorabilia from the first five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame will be available for sale at the annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair.

The 66th annual fair will occupy the Park Avenue Armory from April 30-May 3. More than 170 exhibitors from three-dozen different countries are expected to attend.

Like some of you out there, I had the opportunity to watch a game at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, MA. Sad to see it go.

From The Guardian, this review of Mike Vaccaro’s The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner. Authors of books about New York teams already have a leg up. Yankees and Mets fans can be very literary-minded, willing to snap up anything about their favorites. Writers also benefit from writing about teams in the largest media market in the country, with virtually endless opportunities for interviews. In this one, Vaccaro discusses why Steinbrenner should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

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The Bookshelf Conversations #207: Steve Biondolillo

April 14, 2026 · 0 comments

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 E. Ethelbert Miller, both of whom have appeared as guests for Bookshelf Conversations. I have made a few lame attempts, but after talking with Steve Biondilillo, founder of the National Baseball Poetry Festival, it just confirms that I don’t really have a clue (even though I wrote a weekly Torah haiku when I was the arts and features editor for the New Jersey Jewish News).

Biondilillo has made it a point to make the Festival as inclusive as possible. The event attracts people from around the country and beyond. And it’s not just for adults either. Young people — future baseball and poetry fans — have the opportunity to participate.

You can find lots of baseball poetry in outlets like Spitball Magazine and on Bardball.com, where — full disclosure — I had contributed a few pieces.

For those interested in trying their hand, I recommend When Words Collide: A Crash Course in Writing Poetry, by A.L.S. Vossler.

The Fourth Annual Festival will take place from May 7-10 at Polar Ballpark in Worcester, MA.

Tagged as: National Baseball Poetry Festival, Steve Biondolillo

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Baseball Best-Sellers, April 10, 2026

April 10, 2026 · 0 comments

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.

So, with all that said…

PRINT

The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner, by Mike Vaccaro
Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team, by A.M., Glittzlitz
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω
Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance, by Rob Friedman
Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game, by John Sexton
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene (my Bookshelf review here)
Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life, by Dusty Baker *
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
The Baseball 100, by Posnanski
The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω

KINDLE

How Retrosheet Saved Baseball, by Jay Wigley
Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, by George F. Will
The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobbleheads, Cracker Jacks, Jockstraps, Eye Black, and 375 Other Strange and Unforgettable Objects, by Steve Rushin
It’s a Beautiful Day for Baseball: The National Pastime in the 1960s, by Doug Kurkul

AUDIO BOOKS

Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton
The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform – and Maybe the Best, by Jeff Pearlman (narrated by the author)
Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America, by Howard Bryant
The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen
72 Stories: From the Baseball Collection of Geddy Lee, by Lee (narrated by the author)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler
The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life, by Mike Matheny
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton and Tim Keown
The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, by Nicholas Dawidoff

I attribute the inclusion of Sexton’s 2013 book to the debut of a new documentary, Baseball: Beyond Belief. I wonder if some people got the title confused with Josh Hamilton’s memoir. Here’s a sort of “Bookshelf Conversation” I had with Sexton while I was with the New Jersey Jewish News. Haven’t had the chance to talk with Hamilton yet.

Also new to the BBL, Dusty Baker’s overdue memoir.

Steve Rushin’s book — also originally published in 2013 — brings to mind this piece from MLB.com on “Each team’s best promotional giveaway in 2026.”

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.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 3,145,947 in books overall; last time, 2,991,092. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,943,075; last time, 871,386.

BUT…

Some exciting news (now we’ll see who’s paying attention and reading down this far).

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.

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Throwback Thursday: The Pandemic Baseball Book Club

April 9, 2026 · 0 comments

Kind of nostalgic, especially since I tested positive for COVID earlier this month. But I’m feeling much better now.

Pandemic Baseball Book Club Gives MLB Fans Alternative To Lost Game 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 things the Club was doing, including this one from just about four years ago.

Here’s a Bookshelf Conversation I had with Jason Turbow, founder of the PBBC, in 2021.

Tagged as: Pandemic Baseball Book Club

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Do clothes make the man? (New City Connect unis)

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

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 […]

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Lest We Forget: Davey Lopes

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

The stolen base maven who spent the majority of his 17-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers passed away April 8 at the age of 80. Lopes, who stolen 47 bases at the age of 40 (with just four caught-stealing), got a late start, joining the Dodgers at the age of 27 in 1972. He […]

Tagged as: Davey Lopes

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Bits and Pieces, April 7, 2026

2026 title

Tim Wiles, a past director of research for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, will give a presentation of “Got her, need her. Got her, need her,” the story of women’s professional baseball as told through baseball cards at the Guilderland Historical Society on Thursday, April 16, at the Guilderland Public Library. To celebrate […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, April 3, 2026

2025 title

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 […]

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Throwback Thursday: “We were slaves, now we’re free. Let’s eat.”

2019 Title

Since we’re in the Passover season, I thought this piece from 2019 would be appropriate. Click here for more information about the book.

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Bits and Pieces, March 31, 2026

2026 title

The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC featured two pieces about baseball recently. On March 28, Sportswriter Ken Dawidoff and pediatrician Dr. Harley Rotbart spoke about their new book, 101 Lessons from the Dugout: What Baseball and Softball Can Teach Us About the Game of Life (jump to the 56:00 mark). A few days later, A.M. […]

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My cup does not runneth over

collectibles

Because you could obviously put one of these on your bookshelf… I have a few baseball-themed drinking containers on my shelves, but this cup will not be among them. (The belt is a nice touch.) It goes for $75 at Dodger Stadium but I took this picture from eBay, where it’s listed for $239 plus […]

Tagged as: baseball food

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Baseball Preview Issues: A Dying Breed

2026 title

Baseball preview issues. I really don’t know who the audience for these paper dinosaurs is anymore. As a pre-Internet kid, I looked forward to that period in early spring when they hit the news stands en masse. Some were Some were just “one-year wonders.” Others, like Sport, The Sporting News, Street & Smith, Inside Sports, […]

Tagged as: Baseball magazines

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