Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
March 5, 2014
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me ran one of its “highlight shows” last week, including a “Not My Job” segment with Jim Bouton. Always a pleasure to hear him. It’s impossible for players to publish a book these days without a reference to Ball Four; Dirk Hayhurst — who is release his fourth title this spring […]
Tagged as: Bill Littlefield, John Feinstein, John Rosengren, National Public Radio, NPR, Only a Game
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March 3, 2014
John Feinstein, author of Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball will be making the rounds on the various sports-talk radio and other shows. Here he is on Only a Game and on CBS’ Dallas-Ft. Worth affiliate. I know this will sound like sour grapes, but prolific guys like Feinstein (and […]
Tagged as: Brooks Robinson, Fantasy baseball, Jeff Loria, John Feinstein, Jonah Keri, Miami Marlins, minor leagues, Montreal Expose, Survivor
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February 14, 2014 · 1 comment
One of these days I have to get out to the San Diego Public Library. They frequently have good baseball-themed programs, including this one, which starts tomorrow. Tom Clavin, author of The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream will be a keynote speaker on March 8 at 1 […]
Tagged as: Casey Award, Dirk Hayhurst, Spitball Magazine, Tom Clavin Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb
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January 23, 2014
Looking over the over-looked in baseball book (etc.) news… Now that the Yankees have once again spent a gagillion dollars restocking their pond, it’s time for another book examining how eeeeee-vil they are. And that’s the premise (and most of the title) of The Little Book of Yankees Evil by Brook Zelcer and Jelena Aleksich. The […]
Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, Larry MacPhail, Moe Berg, New York Yankees, Richard Ben Cramer, S.L. Price, Sports Illustrated
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December 13, 2013
Looking over recent overlooked items… The Voice of Russia (!) posted this interview with Craig R. Wright on his new book, Pages from Baseball’s Past. Because Russia invented baseball, don’t you know. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, author of A Princess of Passyunk, “a novel of magical realism (published by Book View Cafe) which combines baseball magic […]
Tagged as: baseball fiction
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September 17, 2013
How different would the literary world be if Tom Wolfe had grown up to be a baseball player? So where’s his baseball novel? John Rosengren, author of Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes, will put in an appearance at his alma mater — Saint John’s University — on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. to […]
Tagged as: Donald Honig, Hank Greenberg, John Rosengren, Kadir Nelson, Negro Leagues, Pete Peterson, Tom Wolfe, Willie Stargell
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August 12, 2013
Had the pleasure of talking with Bill Donohue on The Talk of New York Sports last night about 501 Baseball Books. You can listening to it here at about the 29:30 mark:
Tagged as: 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die
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June 28, 2013
One of the founding parents of what we now know as fantasy baseball was a guest on NPR’s quiz show, Ask Me Another. You can listen to his segment here. In addition to all the cool stuff they talk about on the show, Okrent is the author of several good baseball titles, including Nine Innings; […]
Tagged as: Daniel Okrent
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June 26, 2013
* That’s nice: Members of the Wareham College baseball team in the Cap Code area will read to local kids at a July 2 event. Details here. * The All Alabama site published this profile of Birmingham native Allen Barra, author of the new book, Mickey and Willie: Mantle and Mays, the Parallel Lives of […]
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June 7, 2013
Thinking about renaming this segment of the blog “This or That.” Waddya think? Anyway… Author Tom Clavin put in an appearance recently to discuss his latest, The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, and Their Pursuit of the American Dream. Here’s an “op-ed”/review of Joseph Sutton’s The Years The Giants Won The Series: A […]
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March 12, 2013
‘Tis the season when authors start popping up on NP programs, and I hope to join their ranks this year. Mike Piazza was on Fresh Air last week to discuss his memoir, Long Shot. You can read/listen here. Robert Fitts, who was recently named winner of SABR’s prestigious Seymour Medal, was a guest on last […]
Tagged as: Japanese baseball, Mike Piazza, Only a Game, Robert Fitts, Trading Bases
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January 22, 2013
Just received Francona: The Red Sox Years. Hope it’s better than the last couple managerial memoirs (Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre). One person who’s evidently looking forward to reading it is current Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish. As per the Boston Herald, “I absolutely plan on reading it,” Kalish told the Track. “I’m 2 1⁄2 books […]
Tagged as: Terry Francona
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January 3, 2013
Jeff Pearlman did this interview with SI‘s senior baseball writer Tom Verducci and Rob Neyer added his thoughts based on a single passage, which I reproduce here because I think it’s going to change my professional life: Imagine Johnny All-Star tells you his father used to throw bottle caps to him to hit in their […]
Tagged as: Jeff Pearlman, Tom Verducci
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October 25, 2012
The author of the recent Yankees history, Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss, was a guest on a recent installment of WNET’s MetroFocus.
Tagged as: Marty Appel, New York Yankees
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October 22, 2012
Saturday was a busy day for baseball news. One of the questions on Wait Wait Don’t Tell me involved a certain high-priced player on a certain recently-vanquished playoff team: PETER SAGAL: Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week’s news. Luke, Alex Rodriquez, the most highly paid player in baseball […]
Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, Tony La Russa
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October 2, 2012
♦ The Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel published this piece by Mark Souder, a former congressional representative, about his favorite White Sox books, including this year’s Paul Dickson contribution, Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick. ♦ Tony La Russa is making the rounds on his book tour. He was a recent guest on NPR’s The Leonard Lopate Show (which […]
Tagged as: Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox, Leonard Lopate, National Public Radio, Paul Dickson, Robert Siegel, Tony LaRussa
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September 20, 2012
The documentary featuring Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey begins its national run this week. Here’s a review by Scott Tobias on the NPR website. By the way, the film will be shown in my neck of the woods as the Yogi Berra Museum on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can […]
Tagged as: Knuckleball, RA Dickey, Ricki Stern, Tim Wakefield
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September 19, 2012
The High Holy Days are upon us and each year brings the inevitable question: will the handful of Jewish Major Leaguers play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, or will they sit? The most prominent stars to refrain from taking the field during this time were Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax […]
Tagged as: Chicago White Sox, Hank Greenberg, High Holy Days, Ray Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Yom Kippur
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September 11, 2012
Now that the 501 manuscript has been returned to — and received by — the copy editor, I can take a breath and get back to the business of blogging. So here’s an attempt to catch up with a few items from recent days. ♦ The RadioIowa site posted this piece on Bob Meyer, author […]
Tagged as: Art of Fielding, Cardboard Gods, Joe Rudi, R.A. Dickey, Tony LaRussa
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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
August 30, 2012
Time for the occasional declutter of the accumulated links and stories, so here goes. “Dan Barry’s Bottom of the 33rd has won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing, which honors a nonfiction book on the subject of sports.” More here. From the Yogi Berra Museum: Former Yankee star second baseman Bobby Richardson, a cornerstone […]
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