Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
March 11, 2015
Note: Wrote a version of this one for the March 12 issue of New Jersey Jewish News. * * * Major League Baseball bigwigs worry that the game is losing young fans at a rapid pace. Among the issues are games that are just too long, lasting more than three hours and potentially lasting past […]
Tagged as: baseball history, Matt Nadel
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March 9, 2015
As Humphrey Bogart famously said, “A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz.” Certainly one of the most important off-field enticements these days is the food, so when teams design their new homes, they make sure there are plenty of places to get a bite that offer more than […]
Tagged as: ballpark food
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March 2, 2015
Dr. Seuss wasn’t considering baseball fans when he published his best-selling book Oh, The Places You’ll Go. He left that for Josh Pahigian to deal with. Pahigian first published 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out in 2010, following his joint venture with Kevin O’Connell, Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: A Fan’s Guide To Major […]
Tagged as: baseball museums, baseball places, Josh Pahigian
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September 8, 2014
Nicholas Dawidoff has pretty much done it all when it comes to non-fiction writing: memoir, biography, anthology. And done it all well. The Flyswatter, a sentimental recollection of his grandfather, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. His first book, The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, is considered the […]
Tagged as: anthology, Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, Moe Berg, Nicholas Dawidoff
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September 2, 2014
Jealousy reared its ugly head once again when I saw the full-page review of Josh Ostergaard‘s The Devil’s Snake Curve in The New York Times‘ Sunday book supplement in June. It brought back memories of Chad Harbach’s 2011 debut novel, The Art of Fielding, which garnered him tremendous kudos, not to mention a huge advance. (The […]
Tagged as: Josh Ostergaard, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees
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August 25, 2014
Few things bring a smile to my face more than memories of Montreal. My maternal family hails from that city and I spent many happy times there, including five summers working at Camp Maromac in the Laurentian Mountains. So it’s only natural I would become a fan of the Montreal Expos. And disappointed when they […]
Tagged as: Jonah Keri, Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals
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August 18, 2014
Last week, I spoke with Jason Kendall, the former major league veteran and co-author of the new book, Throwback: A Big-League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played. This week, we have his collaborator, Lee Judge, who blogs about the KC Royals for the Kansas City Star, but is perhaps more widely recognized as […]
Tagged as: Jason Kendall, Lee Judge
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August 11, 2014
This is a typical Jason Kendall photo. It is a picture of intensity and passion. There are a few books out there, ostensibly written by pro athletes describing how to play the game. Joe DiMaggio published one (Baseball for Everyone), so did Bob Feller (Pitching to Win). But those were just white bread, without nuance, […]
Tagged as: baseball analysis, Catching, Jason Kendall, Kansas City Star, Lee Judge
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June 30, 2014
Jayson Stark, the long-time columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is a senior writer for ESPN.com. In addition to his writing, he appears on radio and television, including SportsCenter, ESPNews, Baseball Tonight, and a weekly segment during baseball season with WHB 810 in Kansas City. He is another in a pool of veteran scribes who has […]
Tagged as: ESPN, Jayson Stark
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June 12, 2014
One of my favorite movie quotes comes from Men in Black when Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is trying to recruit police officer Edwards (Will Smith): Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you […]
Tagged as: baseball writing, Hal Bodley, USA TODAY
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May 27, 2014
Many books try to link a premise with a larger theme. If you try hard enough, you can find connections between any items. But Chris Donnelly does a better-than-most job of convincing readers How the Yankees Explain New York. Let’s be honest: a lot of people outside the Big Apple think its residents have a […]
Tagged as: Babe Ruth, Billy Martin, George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees
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May 23, 2014
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 […]
Tagged as: Chicago Cubs, George F. Will, Jason Kendall, Kostya Kennedy, Mariano Rivera, Michael Feinstein, minor leagues, Moneyball, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Pete Rose, Ted Williams, Willie Randolph, Wrigley Field
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May 19, 2014
Veteran actor Dwier Brown appeared as John Kinsella, the father of Kevin Costner’s character, Ray, in the 1989 classic Field of Dreams. He was only on screen for about five minutes at the end, but for many, those are the most powerful moments, with the ability to turn otherwise composed men and women into misty-eyed […]
Tagged as: Dwier Brown, Field of Dreams
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May 11, 2014
I first met Judy Lynn Johnson at Hoftsra University’s symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the NY Mets. Along with Jason Antos, we presented papers on literature about the team; hers was a lot more literary than either Jason’s or mine. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that she was publishing a baseball […]
Tagged as: baseball memoir, Judy Lynn Johnson, women and baseball
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May 9, 2014
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 […]
Tagged as: Chicago Cubs, Dan Epstein, George Will, John Feinstein, Kostya Kennedy, Mariano Rivera, minor leagues, Mookie Wilson, Pete Rose, Ted Williams, Wayne Coffey
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May 8, 2014
Obsessive as I am, I like to check the stats to see how this blog is doing and, being as niche as it is and considering the work I put into it, I can’t say I’m too disappointed. This ain’t The New York Times or Google, so I know it won’t draw huge numbers. I […]
Tagged as: baseball movies, Dwier Brown, Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner, Shoeless Joe, W. P. Kinsella
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April 7, 2014
As of the end of the 2013 season, Jewish athletes had accounted for about 170 of nearly 19,000 Major Leaguers. So you wouldn’t expect the new “Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American” exhibit at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia to have the breadth of material one would see in Cooperstown. Nevertheless, […]
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March 31, 2014
John Feinstein is one of the more prolific sportswriters of this generation. He has published more than 25 books on college and pro basketball, college and pro football, tennis, golf, and, of course, baseball. His 2008 title, Living on the Black, a doubleheader of a biography on Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine, pitchers on the […]
Tagged as: John Feinstein, minor league baseball
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March 10, 2014
It’s a hard-knock life for many of the young men in the Dominican Republic aspiring to become major leaguers. Baseball fans have long known about the economic and social discrepancies between American-born athletes and their Latin American counterparts, especially when it comes to signing bonuses. Sometimes it’s even more nefarious. Look it’s a business, we […]
Tagged as: baseball documentary, baseball movie, Baseball Pelotero, Dominican Republic, Jon Paley, Miguel Sano, Mother Jones
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March 3, 2014
Forgive me if I can’t cite a specific source, but I ‘m guessing more books have been written about Babe Ruth than any other athlete. Stand to reason; Ruth made his major league debut 100 years ago as a phenom for the Boston Red Sox, so there’s been a lot of time to digest what […]
Tagged as: Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth Called Shot, Chicago Cubs, Ed Sherman, New York Yankees, World Series
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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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