Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
February 13, 2014
I don’t usually do this, but since Peter Schwartz, co-author with John Sexton and Thomas Oliphant of Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game was nice enough to tweet about it, I figure, why not. Schwartz will be a guest speaker at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse on March 6 (weather permitting; that’s […]
Tagged as: Baseball as a Road to God, Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, Peter Schwartz
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January 21, 2014
As the saying goes, I don’t know art, but I know what I like, and I like Mark Ulriksen‘s work. The California-based artist has a unique style which has earned him a number of covers for publications like The New Yorker. His approach is entertaining and humorous while being reverential at the same time. Ulriksen’s […]
Tagged as: baseball art, Mark Ulriksen, The New Yorker
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December 11, 2013
Did a writer of Kevin Baker‘s renown really need a gig like this? After all, he’s already has 10 novels under his belt, beginning with his Sometimes You See It Coming, a contemporary version of Ty Cobb’s tumultuous life, published 20 years ago. And just this past September, Baker released The Big Crowd. This doesn’t […]
Tagged as: Becoming Mr. October, Kevin Baker, Ladies and Gentlemen the Bronx is Burning, Reggie Jackson
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September 15, 2013
If you’ve been following baseball for the past couple of decades, you probably have seen Brad Mangin‘s work. His shots have been a staple of Major League Baseball and Sports Illustrated, as well as other websites and publications. As such a veteran, I thought it somewhat counterintuitive for him to publish Instant Baseball: The Baseball […]
Tagged as: Brad Mangin, Photogtrapy
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August 20, 2013
Working on podcasts of interviews with authors Eric R9lfe Greenberg (The Celebrant: A Novel); Brad Mangin (Instant Baseball: The Baseball Instagrams of Brad Mangin); and Thomas Djya (Play for a Kingdom), not necessarily in that order. I am also trying to wrap up editing on a mini-documentary I created on The Merchants of Cooperstown (coming […]
Tagged as: Baseball Hall of Fame, Brad Mangin, Cooperstown, Eric Rolfe Greenberg, Instant Baseball, Play for a Kingdom, The Celebrant, Thomas Dyja
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August 7, 2013
Feast or famine. I can go for weeks without posting any new material but in the past week I’ve had the very good fortunate to speak with three extremely talented artists: Eric Rolfe Greenberg, author of The Celebrant, which is considered one of the best baseball novels by just about every outlet who decides these […]
Tagged as: Brad Mangin, Eric Rolfe Greenberg, Play for a Kingdom, Play for a Kingdon, Podcast, The Celebrant, Thomas Dyja
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July 3, 2013 · 1 comment
I love new technology. There’s nothing like getting a brand new computer and I had the occasion to get two — one for home, and one for work — last month. The downside of that is that since the previous models were acquired about five years ago, I had to replace the audio software used […]
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April 11, 2013
The Yogi Berra Museum, located on the campus of Montclair State University, will host a lunch program on Hank Greenberg on Friday, April 26, at noon. Guests include John Rosengren, author of the new biography Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes; Aviva Kempner, producer/director/writer of The award-winning documentary The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, […]
Tagged as: Aviva Kempner, Hank Greenberg, John Rosengren
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March 12, 2013
As part of the continuing process to make 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die a multimedia experience, I have resumed the author interviews that was put on hold while I was on jury duty. First up, Howard Megdal, author of The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players, which […]
Tagged as: Baseball Talmud, Howard Megdal
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February 4, 2013
Busy with interviews for the 501 Baseball Book website. Recent discussions include Tim Wiles (Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’), Sean Manning (Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick the Favorite Baseball Player of All Time), and Peter Schilling Jr (The End of Baseball: A Novel). This week […]
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February 1, 2013
The latest “501” Q&A with Tim Wiles, co-author of “Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’,” is now available for your listening pleasure.
Tagged as: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Tim Wiles
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February 1, 2013
Posted two more author interviews to the 501 Baseball Book site: Sean Manning, editor of Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time and Peter Schilling Jr., author of The End of Baseball: A Novel. You can hear them by visiting the 501 author Q&A page. The list so […]
Tagged as: 501 Baseball Books, Peter Schilling Jr., Sean Manning
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January 14, 2013
Marty Appel is one of those guys who seems to have his finger in every pie. He has worked as the PR director for the New York Yankees, established his own public relations empire, and co-authored or written more than 30 books.Two of those — Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, […]
Tagged as: 501 Baseball Books, Marty Appel
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January 11, 2013
Marty Appel, author of Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Reggie and George and Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss (as well as many other titles), will be the first guest on the 501 Discussions Podcast. I’ll be speaking with him next week […]
Tagged as: 501 Baseball Books, Marty Appel
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December 9, 2012
I haven’t done one of these in awhile. Part of it has been working on my own book (I’m almost done with the indexing), part of it was being without the computer (kind of surprised it’s lasted this long). So as a way to compensate, this episode is something of a Mets doubleheader. We have […]
Tagged as: Davud Ferry, Greg Prince, New York Mets
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December 6, 2012
Tonight 7 p.nm. at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, Ray Negron will discuss his new book, Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers. I’ll have to read that one soon and compare it with Marty Appel’s Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Reggie and George. Next at the Clubhouse: […]
Tagged as: Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, Foleys, Gre Prince, Lefty Gomez, New York Mets, Ray Negron
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October 21, 2012
Those who are regular readers of the Bookshelf know I rarely deal with fiction. It’s not that I don’t like it (although in many cases I feel the ability to self-publish so easily and inexpensively leads to an overload of stimulation — just too much stuff); it’s simply that I feel inadequately educated to comment […]
Tagged as: Joseph Schuster, Might Have Been
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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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August 13, 2012
Ronnie Joyner is the author/artist of Hardball Legends and Journeymen and Short-Timers: 333 Illustrated Baseball Biographies, published earlier this year by McFarland. It’s a throw-back to a time when newspapers regularly ran drawings of athletes with a few factoids. Joyner was kind enough to quench my curiosity about the craft. * * * * * […]
Tagged as: baseball cartoons, Ronnie Joyner
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July 26, 2012
Before there was film, before there was even television, photography was the only means by which fans could see the players. The medium was still developing (pardon the pun), so the men (almost exclusively), who snapped their shutters were still learning about such things as angles, speed, placement, composition, etc. One of the early pioneers […]
Tagged as: Charles M. Conlon, Neal McCabe
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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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