This seems very cool.
I’ll take a Shoeless Joe and a Great American Novel, please
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Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
December 7, 2010 · 6 comments
Previous post: Kudos to a couple of writers
Next post: Literary birthday greetings: Moose Mussina
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.
In Forbes Magazine re: Baseball Business Books
On Will Carroll’s “Under the Knife” substack
Updated 9/20/23
Calico Joe, by Robert Grisham
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski (via Bookreporter)
The Last Miracle: My 18-Year Journey with the Amazin’ New York Mets, by Ed Kranepool with Gary Kaschak
Most recent books read updated 3/20/24:
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.
Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards, by Josh Wilker
Grade: A. Re-read in preparation for a Bookshelf Conversation with the author. Had a deeper meaning than when I first read it more than a decade ago.
No Crying in Baseball: The Inside Story of A League of Their Own: Big Stars, Dugout Drama, and a Home Run for Hollywood , by Erin Carlson
Grade: B-. A bit too much about director Penny Marshall. Could have used more info about thew actual filming of the movie. Not enough about the "lesbian issue," but that might be for a different book.
The Bookshelf Conversation
Discussions about all things baseball with authors, journalists, filmmakers, musicians, artists, et al
Subscribe to the "Bookshelf Conversations" podcast on iTunes and please leave a rating and/or review. Gracias!
Jim Gilmore and Tracy Holcomb (video)
"The Lost Tapes": Conversations prior to 2011 (audio)
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
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{ 6 comments }
Although I’m a big fan of Philip Roth, ” Great American Novel” is not among his finest. If I’m going to hang up two baseball novels, make it “Bang the Drum Slowly,” and “The Natural.”
Very cool indeed. Speculating what part of Great American Novel I’d want illustrated.
Both excellent choices. I just blurted out the first two favorites that came to mind.
I’d love to see a baseball card set for the Ruppert Mundys.
“You Know Me Al” might be fun, too. And the font size could be legible from a bit of a distance.
I would probably take The Celebrant and The Bingo Long Touring All-Stars and Motor Kings. Shoeless Joe would have been my first choice, but I already have a framed W.P. Kinsella work where he drew several items on his personal letterhead. The letterhead lists all his books to that point. It came with a note that Kinsella felt it would bring over $100 at an auction. I grabbed it at the auction in 1990 for around $20. He also included a couple of typed pages from a short story titled Shifting Sand.
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