Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed being a member of the Society for American Baseball Research is the cool publications that come with the territory. Well, they’ve only gotten better in recent years. In addition to annual Baseball Research Journal and The National Pastime, SABR has taken to paying tribute to some great ball clubs […]
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So the entitled Yankee fans are turning their backs on the Bronx Bombers because of a few injuries? Welcome to the world of every other baseball fan. Richard Sandomir chronicled the last time the Yankees fell so low — 1965 — which “No current Yankees player was alive to witness.” He gives a nod to […]
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Hit the mother lode on Kirkus today in a good-news/bad-news scenario. On the plus side, I found several reviews of forthcoming topics for your interest and information. On the down side, 501 isn’t among them. 🙁 Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes, by John Rosengrean (buy it here). Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing […]
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I was watching Saturday Night Live last weekend and the musical guest was Macklemore whose hot song is “Thrift Shop.” Warning: Naughty words render this video NSFW. There are some “clean” versions to be found, but they don’t convey the story without the action, which is why I’m posting the original. I’m not familiar with […]
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Lest we forget: 1991 – Cool Papa Bell, Negro League outfielder; Hall of Famer (b. 1903) Cool Papa Bell (Baseball Hall of Famers of the Negro Leagues), by Shaun McCormack, Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. On this date: 1919 – Christy Mathewson, back from the World War I, rejoins the New York Giants as pitching coach […]
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James Bailey posted this one about Mike Piazza’s Long Shot. Upshot: “I was neutral on him when I began and emerged with a somewhat negative impression. That’s probably not what he was looking for. Your mileage will likely vary depending on how closely you followed his career.” Bill Jordan over at Baseball Reflections did this […]
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by Frank Nappi, 2012, Skyhorse. Nappi continues the story of 18-year-old pitching sensation toiling for the 1949 minor league Milwaukee Brewers, whom he introduced in his 2008 publication, The Legend of Mickey Tussler.` If Tussler doesn’t have many the problems associated with a youngster trying to fit in with a group of older men in […]
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Won’t you come home, James Bailey? After a considerable absence from the blogosphere, Bailey returns to critique action with reviews on One Patch of Grass (upshot: “The champions and the cellar dwellers all get their due in One Patch of Grass, whether in the longer “innings” chapters or in the dozens of sidebars, charts, and […]
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Spitball Magazine has selected Paul Dickson’s Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick as the winner of the 2012 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year. Veeck received two first-place votes and one third-place vote, for a near perfect score of five points (low score wins). According to CASEY judge Jack Griener, a Cincinnati attorney and […]
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The Golden Globes doesn’t have a category for books, but if it did I bet Paul Dickson’s Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick would be in contention. As it is, Dickson’s bio was named winner of the 2nd annual SLA (Special Libraries Association) Baseball Caucus Readers’ Choice Award.
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I don’t often buy Entertainment Weekly. I usually permit myself an issue or two a year, including the “Best and Worst of” issues. Trouble With the Curve, which seemed to go from screen to DVD with amazing speed, was deemed #5 on the list of the worst movies of 2012. According to Lisa Schwarzbaum, We’ve […]
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It’s almost inconceivable to me to think that we are coming on the 40th anniversary of the death of Roberto Clemente. That’s an entire generation ago and makes me feel much older than I am. Kevin Guilfoile took some time out fro his carer as a novelist to write A Drive into the Gap, a […]
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R.A. Dickey, the author of Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball who was ignominiously “dumped” by the NY Mets, makes a class exit with his “farewell to the fans” piece in the Dec. 22 NY Daily News. The paper also named Dickey its “Sportsperson of the Year.” I […]
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Last Saturday, I had the honor of attending the book launch/birthday party for Greg Prince, author of the The Happiest Recap: First Base (1962-1973): 50 Years of the New York Mets As Told in 500 Amazin’ Wins (Volume 1). There will eventually be three additional volumes. Several of Prince’s friends were on hand at Foley’s, […]
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Milb.com, the repository of minor league news, has a new and recurring off-season book review feature by Ben Hill. Up first, Making It in the Minors: A Team Owner’s Lessons in the Business of Baseball, by Arthur Solomon, owner of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and Bowling Green Hot Rods and a former professor of […]
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Couldn’t go without posting something on 12/12/12. Haven’t done one of thee in awhile, but I was reminded about the thrill of audio books from a Facebook post about The Glory of Their Times. While the print publication is a classic, the audio version might be even more illuminating, since you’re hearing from some of […]
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This goes back aways, but David Roth wrote about R.A. Dickey, mold-breaker for the concept of the cliched athlete, in the July 9 issue of New Yorker. More recently, Will Leitch offers these thoughts about the Mets in a “reasons to love New York” retrospective. Bruce Markusen at The Hardball Times posted this piece about […]
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Quite a year for Dickey: First the book, then the movie, then Cy Young season, and now this. Dickey does a nice turn regarding his writing. At least Jon Stewart is a legitimate Mets fan, not like a lot of interviewers who fake it. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / […]
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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
