Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
March 26, 2008
Another one on the author of But Didn’t We Have Fun? A nice sidebar by the writer, Abe Lebovic, highlights the differences betweeen the game as played in the 19th century and now: Then: Batters were out on caught flies and one-bouncers. Spectators applauded good play by either team and hissed at unsporting play. Umpires […]
Tagged as: Peter Morris
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March 26, 2008
The author of Baseball in Baltimore is the subject of this article on Citypaper.com. The book “cycles through the city’s ballpark evolution, from Memorial Stadium to Municipal Stadium–christened Venable Stadium in 1922–and on back to the old Oriole Park at 29th Street and Greenmount Avenue, which burned to the ground July 4, 1944.” Upshot: It’s […]
Tagged as: ballparks, Baltimore, Photography, Tom Flynn
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March 26, 2008
From the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Tagged as: Fiction, kids books, Mike Lupica
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March 23, 2008
NPR — National Pastime Radio — is gearing up for another season. The March 21 edition of All Things Considered, considers Peter Morris’ latest book, But Didn’t We Have Fun?: An Informal History of Baseball’s Pioneer Era, 1843-1870. The piece includes an interview with the author, a link to the audio interview, and an excerpt […]
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March 18, 2008
Roger I. Abrams, author of The Money Pitch:Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration, Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law, and The First World Series and the baseball Fanatics of 1903 takes an historical look at the seemly side of the game in his latest, as profiled in The Jewish Advocate. (Boston) Upshot: “A baseball buff’s […]
Tagged as: Roger Abrams, steroids
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March 17, 2008
Red Sox Spring Training A Quarter Century Ago, by Dan Valenti (Rounder Books). This review/author profile appeared on Reformer.com, the web-presence of the Vermont publication.
Tagged as: Boston Red Sox, Spring Training
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March 16, 2008
Rather than list a few interviews with Bill James, here’s a link to a Google search for the reader to pick through. Some are from sports publications/Web sites, other from “mainstream” media, including a recent sit-down with Time. However, in the inerest of serving my loyal public, here are a few individual links: Hardball Times […]
Tagged as: Bill James
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March 14, 2008
From the Southwest Florida’s News-Press.com, this interview with Ron Shapiro, father of Indians’ GM, Mark Shapiro , and author of Dare to Prepare: How to Win Before You Begin.”It’s not a sports book, per se, but the interview is heavy on baseball. By the way, it’s pronounced “sha-pie-ro,” not “sha-pee-ro.”
Tagged as: Mark Shapiro, player agent, Ron Shapiro
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March 12, 2008
Akin to Jim Morris’ 2001 autobiography, this literary contribution from catcher Chris Coste is as much about the hopes of the publisher as the author. Dennis Quaid did a great and surprisingly convincing job as Morris, so who gets to play Coste in the movie? So when does The Hoyt Wilhelm Story come out?
Tagged as: Chris Coste, rookie
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March 11, 2008
From Umpbump.com, a Letterman-like list of alternate uses for the weighty 2008 edition of Baseball Prospectus. From a December entry on HardballTimes.com, an interview with the prolific John Thorn. Mary Ann Childers, medical editor for the CBS affiliate in Chicago, on Your Brain on Cubs in which she “takes a look at a new book […]
Tagged as: new baseball books
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March 6, 2008
Matthew Silverman has started his own cottage industry, writing about the Mets. This year alone he has three books out on the Amazin’s, including, Mets by the Numbers (with Jon Springer), Meet the Mets (with Greg Spira), and 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die. He has also contributed to such […]
Tagged as: Matthew Silverman, Mets
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March 5, 2008
Two programs of note, one tomorrow, March 6, the other April 3, sponsored by Gelf.com. Gelf’s Varsity Letters Sports Reading Series returns to New York on March 6 at the Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street. Authors presenting their work include Andy Mendlowitz (Ireland’s Professional Amateurs: A Sports Season at Its Purest), Spike Vrusho (Benchclearing: […]
Tagged as: Book readings
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March 4, 2008
Apropos to my recent review of his book, Facing Clemens, here are a few interviews with author Jonathan Mayo. I’ll post my own later in the week. From Bluebird Banter, a Toronto Blue Jays blog From Was Watching, a Yankees blogger You can read more about Mayo on his own Web site.
Tagged as: Facing Clemens, Jonathan Mayo, Roger Clemens
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February 26, 2008
BrockforBroglio.com recently ran this interview with Tango, author of The Book and proprietor of Insidethebook.com. Upshot: “[N]o man combines the beauty of numbers and baseball more seamlessly.” The Amazon Report: The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball
Tagged as: baseball statistics, Tom Tango
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February 24, 2008
Newsweek published this profile on the man who would be Jose Canseco, at least on paper. According to the article Fenjves met Canseco on Jan. 2—Fenjves’s work on Jessica Canseco’s “Juicy” hadn’t bothered her ex-husband—and had just four weeks to put together the 60,000-word manuscript to meet a March 31 publication date. “He knew what […]
Tagged as: Jose Canseco, vindicated
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February 18, 2008
From AmazinAvenue.com, this interview with MLB.com’s Mayo, author of Facing Clemens: Hitters on Confronting Baseball’s Most Intimidating Pitcher.
Tagged as: Jonathan Mayo, Roger Clemens
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February 7, 2008
“Michael Long has collected the personal correspondences of Jackie Robinson in First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson. From Robinson’s integration of major league baseball, to his involvement in the civil rights movement and national politics, his letters reflect the political landscape of the fifties and sixties. Jackie Robinson’s correspondents included many […]
Tagged as: First Class Citizenship, Jackie Robinson, Michael Long
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February 4, 2008
In his blog, MLB.com beat writer T.R. Sullivan discusses some highlights of Mel Dider’s memoirs, which he helped publish.
Tagged as: Mel Didier
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January 31, 2008
“Two friends worked as a team to introduce more women to baseball.” From the Jan. 30 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Read more about the authors and their book, The Savvy Girl’s Guide to Baseball, here and here.
Tagged as: 2008 titles, women and baseball
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January 25, 2008
Will Leitch, editor of Deadspin.com, recently published God Save The Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (and How We Can Get It Back). King Kaufman (I’d like to see his birth certificate), highlights the verbosely-titled book in his […]
Tagged as: Deadspon, Fans, Will Leitch
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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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