Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Looking over the overlooked in baseball books stuff. In honor of Mothers’ Day, this piece by David Seideman in Forbes urges you to “Forgive Your Mom For Throwing Out Your Baseball Cards.” Is it my imagination or are Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner turning into Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson? MLB.com described Mookie’s new memoir […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I wonder if this is the kind of “news” that has any impact outside of New York (and now, perhaps, Seattle.) In his new book, The Closer, future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera has this to say about former teammate Robinson Cano: There is no doubt that he is a Hall-of-Fame caliber (player). It’s just […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
When I spoke with Dan Epstein (the author from California, not the photographer for my daughter’s bat mitzva), he reminded me that the first interview he ever did for his first book, Big Hair and Plastic Grass, was for the Bookshelf (you can stroll down memory lane here). So I take full credit for his […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Humbly submitted for your interest, a doubleheader featuring They Called Me God by Doug Harvey with Peter Golenbock and Called Out but Safe by Al Clark with Dan Schlossberg; and another one on Stars and Strikes by Dan Epstein that were published by Bookreporter.com yesterday.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Submitted for your convenience, the run of this year’s 30-30 as per Tom Hoffarth’s Farther off the Wall blog: Day 1 – Mover and Shaker, by McCue Day 2 — Where Nobody Knows Your Name, by Feinstein Day 3 — Babe Ruth’s Called Shot, by Sherman Day 4 — A Nice Little Place on the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Because you can keep your tablet and/or smartphone on a bookshelf. It’s not enough that he’s got several best-selling books out, now he’s expanding into the realm of apps? Dirk Hayhurst, who has more titles in print than years played in the majors (four to two), just released Bush League, described as “essentially a baseball […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I’m all for newspapers and that includes student newspapers. Here’s a review form the Royal Purple News, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater about a “local” baseball novel, It Happened in Wisconsin, by Ken Moraff Hmm, haven’t even heard of this one — Just Out of Reach: The 1980s New York Yankees, by Greg Prato — […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
One of my fondest memories was the time I spent at Yankee Fantasy Camp. The team was hosting its first program for observant Jews and I covered it for my paper and a few other outlets. As you might have seen from the video on the sidebar, I compared the dynamic there to that of […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Politics aside, I’ve often wondering why such smart people such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Thomas Oliphant, and George Will (among others), have such an affinity for baseball. here, Will — author of A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred — tries to explain why the game is such a […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The Baseball Project was the guest on the April 22 Soundcheck, performing three songs off their latest album, 3rd. Tracks on the new release include: Stat From Nails To Thumbtacks Hola America! 13 The Day Dock Went Hunting Heads To The Veterans Committee Monument Park Box Scores They Don’t Know Henry The Babe They Are […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top-ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Looking over the overlooked in baseball book news: Tidewater Tides manager Ron Johnson gets a nice profile based on his inclusion in John Feinstein’s Where Nobody Knows Your Name, by John Feinstein. Speaking of which, the Roanoke Times posted this review of the book. Speaking of reviews, Philly.com posted this one on Jackie and Campy, […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
An Illustrated Guide to Ballpark Banter, by James Charlton and Sally Cook; illustrations by Ross MacDonald. Chronicle Books, 148 pages, $14.95. “Quaint” is the first word that came to me as I perused this amusing little volume. While the information herein is obviously not as fulsome any of the Dickson Baseball Dictionaries, it does cover […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
First of all, congratulations to John M. of Hillsborough, NJ, winner of last week’s book, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time, by Tim Wendel. Thank you all for your comments. This week’s offering is the brand-spankin’ new copy of […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
is available on Amazon.com,
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.
My article on Sandy Koufax in the 1965 World Series appears in
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
Is this a conflict of interest?
May 12, 2014
Wayne Coffey, sports columnist for the New York Daily News, wrote this piece about Mariano Rivera, for whom he served as coauthor for the future Hall of Famer’s memoir, The Closer. I’ve been a big admirer of Coffey’s work both as a journalist and author; he was quite generous with his time for a Bookshelf […]
Tagged as: Mariano Rivera, NY Daily News, The Closer, Wayne Coffey
{ Comments on this entry are closed }