Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
July 27, 2009
I listened with extra care to this week’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. The guest for the “Not My Job” segment was ex-major leaguer Doug Glanville. I was waiting for a Moose Skowron/ Rob Neyer moment, but as far as I can tell, it never came. (In fact, part of me fantasized that host Peter […]
Tagged as: Doug Glanville, Larry Tye, NPR, Zev Chafets
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July 22, 2009
With the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies coming up, look for Chafets to be even more in the limelight. This Q&A comes from the current edition of The Jewish Week and this one comes from The Forward, another Jewish publication.
Tagged as: Baseball Hall of Fame, PED, steroids, Zev Chafets
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July 22, 2009
Last week we ran the first part of a Q&A with editor Paul Dickson from VisualThesaurus.com. Here’s the conclusion: The Bountiful Lexicon of Baseball, Part 2 Last week, in part one of our interview with author Paul Dickson, we talked about the work that went into the new edition of his Dickson Baseball Dictionary — […]
Tagged as: baseball dictionary, Paul Dickson
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July 17, 2009
The author of Long Gone: A Novel passed away Saturday, Jul 11, at the age of 73. Written in 1979, Long Gone doesn’t get as much praise as other titles; Some say was it was too cliched, with stock characters, but I thought it was a good ‘un, dealing with minor league baseball in the […]
Tagged as: baseball fiction, baseball writer, Paul Hemphill
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July 15, 2009
In honor of All-Star week, NPR carried a few baseball-related items on WNYC this week. July 13 was a good day for Jewish sports authors. Both Howard Megdal (The Baseball Talmud) and Lee Lowenfish (Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman) were interviewed on The Leonard Lopate Show. You can listen to the Megdal segment here: and […]
Tagged as: Branch Rickey, disco, Howard Megdal, Jewish Major Leaguers, Lee Lowenfish
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July 13, 2009 · 1 comment
From the Visual Thesaurus website, comes the first of a two-part Q&A with the editor of The Dickson Baseball Dictionary. Thanks to Abby Meth Kantor, managing editor of the New jersey Jewish News, for the heads-up. * * * The Bountiful Lexicon of Baseball As Major League Baseball heads into the All-Star break, we’re taking […]
Tagged as: baseball dictionary, Paul Dickson
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July 7, 2009
The author of Worth The Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies gets the treatment from the Reading Eagle.
Tagged as: Jayson Stark, Philadelphia Phillies
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July 3, 2009
* Yesterday, Larry Tye, author of the new Satchel Paige biography, was a guest on The Leonard Lopate Show. Hear it here: * A recent episode of Radio Lab considered the likelihood of athletics streaks, including Joe DiMaggio’s 56-gamer. Superior ability or just random chance? You can here it here: * The June 23 program […]
Tagged as: Baseball music, Bruce Weber, NPR, satistical theory
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June 29, 2009
Dugout Central conducted this interview with Reynolds, author of ’78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game, and a Divided City
Tagged as: Bill Reynolds, Boston Red Sox
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June 29, 2009
The collaborator and biographer work at different ends of the life story spectrum. The former writes an as-told-to memoir controlled (but not always read) by the star. The biographer broadens the story in ways that may upset the star or his family. Formers Yankees PR director Marty Appel, who worked with the late Yankees catcher […]
Tagged as: Marty Appel, Richard Sandomir, Thurman Munson
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June 21, 2009
From the AP comes this report: All-Star Japanese pitcher, philanthropist and model Yu Darvish can now add writer to his ever-growing resume.The 22-year-old Darvish, considered by many to be Japan’s best pitcher, has written an instructional baseball book that reveals his techniques for throwing a variety of pitches including change-ups, curves, sliders and sinkers, the […]
Tagged as: Japanese baseball, Yu Darvish
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June 21, 2009
3G, a Yankee-centric blog, posted this Q&A with the author of The Greatest Comeback Ever: A Fan’s Daily Diary of the 1978 New York Yankees Championship Season.
Tagged as: New York Yankees, pennant, World Series
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June 19, 2009
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published this piece on the author of the new Vin Scully biography. The Amazon Report on Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story
Tagged as: baseball broadcasters, Curt Smith, Vin Scully
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June 17, 2009
Time to play a little catch-up: From Pressboxonline.com, a Baltimore-sports oriented site, a review of Bert Randolph Sugar’s new coffee table book about the Hall of Fame. “[The author] left nothing out and I can’t think of a better way to educate those whom are grasping for a better understanding of baseball’s history than to […]
Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, baseball books, Baseball Hall of Fame, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Curt Smith, Michael Shapiro, Roger Clemens, steroids, Vin Scully
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June 16, 2009
I was catching up on my Tweets and found an entry by our old friend Peter Sagal referring to an interview he gave to the NY Daily News‘ “Touching Base” blog. It was quite an in-depth conversation, he notes, “In which I wax on, at great length, about baseball.” While reading through it my spider […]
Tagged as: Baseball News, Peter Sagal
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June 16, 2009
With all the rave reviews Paul Dickson’s Baseball Dictionary has received this year, I wouldn’t be surprised to find his own name in the reference staple some day. This piece comes from the May13 edition of The Nation.
Tagged as: baseball dictionary, Paul Dickson
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June 16, 2009
King Kaufman conducted this Q&A with the new Berra Boswell. You can read it here or hear it here: http://media.salon.com/media/mp3/2009/03/conversations_barra.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Tagged as: Allen Barra, King Kaufman, Salon.com, Yogi Berra
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June 15, 2009
An audio interview, downloadable, as featured on Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest.
Tagged as: Curt Smith, Vin Scully
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June 15, 2009
On the FOX show On the Record with Greta van Susteren. VAN SUSTEREN: “Safe at Home,” a great new book. Did you have fun writing it? MILANO: I did. I had a lot of fun. I was a little terrified at first. Prior to the book, I had only written blog entries, you know, which […]
Tagged as: Alyssa Milano
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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.
In Forbes Magazine re: Baseball Business Books
On Will Carroll’s “Under the Knife” substack
Most recent books read updated 12/21/24:
Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
Grade: A. The most in-depth bio to date, focusing on Rose's gambling addiction.
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 Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era, by Andy Martino
Grade: B+. Even this non-Yankee fan found the deep background with its Moneyball-like machinations interesting
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.
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.
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!
Mike Shannon on "Diamond Classics II" ( video)
Todd Radom, Ellen Linder, and Brian Kong ( video)
Rick Cerrone (Baseball Digest, video)
Kevin Baker (Sometimes You See It Coming, video)
Curtis Pride and Doug Ward (video)
Dan Epstein on James Earl Jones (video)
Jim Gilmore and Tracy Holcomb (video)
"The Lost Tapes": Conversations prior to 2011 (audio)
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
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* Bits and pieces
July 20, 2009
Trying to play catch-up once again: From SlidingintoHome, a Yankees-centric blog, a couple of new titles about the Bronx Bombers. Boogiedownbaseball, another blog about the Yankees, is one of several outlets that profile the new Marty Appel biography on Thurman Munson. For more, check out BaseballHotCorner. The JorgeSayNo blog features an interview with the author […]
Tagged as: baseball books
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