Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
February 23, 2009
The author of romance novels is also an avowed Yankees fan and writes about the objects of her affection in Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York Yankees. Heller is profiled in this piece from MLB.com.
Tagged as: Jane Heller, New York Yankees
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February 1, 2009
Joe Torre has hit the book tour trail. His first appearance: Larry King Live. (Will someone please remove the hanger from Larry’s shirt?) SportingNews.com provides a transcript of the segment. King, a big baseball fan, came out with a book of his own, titled, simple enough, Why I Love Baseball. Here’s an audio sample, read […]
Tagged as: Joe Torre, Larry King
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December 27, 2008
Thanks to eagle-eye Greg Spira for provided the information. Necciai was a legendary minor league pitcher, who regularly struck out opposing batters in the double digits. His record-setting performance came as a 19-year-old in a 7-0 no-hitter in 1952. Author George Stone (not to be confused with pitcher for the Atlanta Braves/NY Mets or the […]
Tagged as: Ron Necciai
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December 23, 2008
Coming on the heels of the Veteran’s Committee election of Joe Gordon, this Endicott, NY author released The Men That Cooperstown Forgot as featured on NewsChannel34.
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December 23, 2008
NovaNewsNow.com, a Nova Scotia outelt, featued this profile of perennial Red Sox author Jim Prime, who once again collaborated with Bill Nowlin to produce The Boston Red Sox World Series Encyclopedia. The book not only allows readers to relive the 2004 and 2007 World Series victories, but also the remainder of the 11 series, some […]
Tagged as: Bill Nowlin, Boston Red Sox, Jime Prime
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December 23, 2008
The Baseball in Arlington blog (Texas Rangers oriented) featured this two-part reader-contributed Q&A with Goldstein, a writer for Baseball Prospectus. Part 1 Part 2
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December 15, 2008
As per the Philadelphia Inquirer, this combo review/author profile of Mark Stang and his new collection of snapshots about the Phillies, published by Orange Frazier. I’m guessing the book was planned before the Phillies won their championship, but the timing can only help sales. Key point: “According to Stang, the majority of baseball photos through […]
Tagged as: baseball photography, Philadelphia Phillies
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December 15, 2008
Chetwynd, a native of Great Britain, is author of British Baseball and the West Ham Club. He was interviewed by BaseballGB , a surprising and excellent source of baseball news of our friends “across the pond.”
Tagged as: baseball in Great Britain, Josh Chetwynd
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December 8, 2008
William Ryczek, author of The Amazin’ Mets 1962-1969, was interviewed by MetsWalkOffs.com, which is just what it sounds like. Actually, it’s better than what it sounds like.
Tagged as: New York Mets
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December 1, 2008
From the Red Sox component of MLB.com, this profile of Nowlin, who not only writes about the team, but founded Rounder Records, which specializes in Folk-type stuff.
Tagged as: baseball author, Bill Nowlin, Boston Red Sox
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November 18, 2008
via the Sports by the Numbers blog.
Tagged as: Zack Hample
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November 4, 2008
The author of The Boys of ’62:Transcending the Racial Divide, a book about little league in a small Canadian town, gets the treatment from the The Halifax (Nova Scotia) Chronicle Herald.
Tagged as: discrimination, Litlle League, racism in baseball, segregation
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November 4, 2008
The author of the new baseball Delayed Steal was interviewed by the Ashland (OR) Observer. According to the article, the book …is chock full of interesting what-do-you-knows: that the author’s father played in the bush leagues of New England against future Hall of Famer Leo “Gabby” Hartnett; that Hartnett’s sister Anna played alongside her brothers […]
Tagged as: baseball fiction, Delayed Sreal, Marshall Umpleby
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November 4, 2008
The predecessor to Jim Bouton turned 79 on Oct. 24. Brosnan wrote The Long Season and The Pennant Race two books while still a player, but they never received the notoriety or earned him the same pop culture recognition as Bouton. For what it’s worth, here’s an excerpt from his Wikipedia entry: The first of […]
Tagged as: Jim Bouton, Jim Brosnan
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November 2, 2008
The Daily Nebraskan, the independent newspaper for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, ran this appreciation for Radar, a James L. Sellars professor of American history and sport at the school, on its website. Radar is the author of Baseball: America’s Game, which, the article gushes, “has been called one of the greatest single volume histories of […]
Tagged as: baseball history, Benjamin Rader
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October 25, 2008
Dan Gordon, coauthor of Haunted Baseball, has guaranteed he’ll be remembered and interviewed every Halloween. This year he’ll be appearing at the Newbury Public Library to discuss his work. Boo!
Tagged as: baseball ghosts
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October 17, 2008
From the Oct. 6 issue of The New York Times.
Tagged as: Cuban baseball, Ernest Hemingway
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October 15, 2008
David Smith, founder of Retrosheet, got this nice write-up in UD Review, the student paper at the University of Delware, where he teaches biology. My ambition was always to be that kind of poly-activity guy, someone who can do his job, write books, publish in high-profile magazines…; hopefully, there’s still time.
Tagged as: David Smith, Retrosheet
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October 14, 2008
To Tom Stanton, author of Ty and The Babe, The Final Season and The Road to Cooperstown, for winning the 2008 Michigan Author Award from the Michigan Center for the Book. The Award will be presented at the Michigan Library Association “Shaping Our Tomorrow” conference at a luncheon on Friday, Oct. 24.at the Radisson Plaza […]
Tagged as: book awards, Tom Stanton
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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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* Crossing the line
November 14, 2008
I love it when baseball slides into areas with which its not normally associated. George Will writing two books on the game, for example, of W. P. Kinsella’s Fantastic Baseball collection of science fiction stories. Here’s another one: Nate SIlver, who is not only one of the producers of Baseball Prospectus but also created fivethirtyeight.com […]
Tagged as: baseball and politics, Baseball Prospectus, Nate Silver
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