Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
September 4, 2008
This profile of the former NY Times’ veteran baseball columnist appears in the current issue of the New Jersey Jewish News. During the interview I did not bring up the fact that I was blogger (as you will see, his views on the subject are crystal clear ), lest I incur his wrath. * * […]
Tagged as: baseball web sites, Murray Chass
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
August 19, 2008
The Perfect Season, Matt Wentworth’s new book on the Detroit Tigers, is obviously a labor of love. He spent more than a year combing through microfilm to achieve his goal: find 162 of the best Tiger wins in the franchise’s long history. And not just any 162 wins, plus post-season. He picked the best Opening […]
Tagged as: Detroit Tigers, Matt Wentworth, The Perfect Season
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
August 12, 2008
It’s been a long time between baseball themes, but Kevin Baker, author of the 1993 novel Sometimes You See It Coming, is back on track with a non-fiction volume about the national pastime in the Empire State. With the working title of The New York Game, Baker’s project is tentatively scheduled for a 2010 release […]
Tagged as: baseball fiction, Kevin Baker, New York baseball
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 22, 2008
From Alex Beam of the Boston Globe: the Boston Review has unearthed a 1981 letter from the late Harvard philosopher John Rawls, ruminating on baseball. Rawls, citing some insights that sprang from a conversation with University of Chicago legal scholar Harry Kalven, offers up six reasons why baseball “is the best of all games.” Which […]
Tagged as: baseball and philosophy
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 11, 2008
Steve Garvey is making the rounds with his new book My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer (Scribner). From Jackie Robinson, he learned about passion; from Gil Hodges, dignity He learned about faith from Sandy Koufax. “I’m Catholic but anyone who knew about Sandy his connection to his religion would […]
Tagged as: baseball book, Dodgers, Steve Garvey
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 4, 2008
The old Dodger slugger w0uld have been 84 today, not too unreasonable. But he died at age 48 while at spring trainer with the Mets. Some believe Hodges should be in the Hall of Fame. I’m not among them. In 18 seasons, he played in more than 140 games 10 times, and only twice hit […]
Tagged as: Gil Hodges, Tom Olip[hant
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
March 16, 2008
My interview with Jonathan Mayo, author of Facing Clemens, appears in this week’s issue of NJ Jewish News. Among other things, Mayo, a senior writer for MLB.com specializing in the minor leagues, reveals the “oy vey” moments he experienced after the release of the Mitchell Report in December, several months after his book in which […]
Tagged as: Jonathan Mayo, Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens, steroids
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
March 6, 2008
Would you pay $400 for a book of baseball photographs? One thousand bibliophiles did. Some didn’t even blink when the price rose to $700 for Ballet in the Dirt: The Golden Age of Baseball, a coffee table collection of lensman Neil Leifer’s best work, published in late 2007 by Taschen Books. Leifer, 65, got his […]
Tagged as: baseball photography, Neil Leifer, Sandy Koufax, sports photography
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
February 22, 2008
George Lee Anderson turns 74 today. The brains behind the World Champion Big Red Machine and Detroit Tigers is one of the all time great characters. I had the chance to speak with him in 1999 following the release of his book, for the scholarly baseball journal, NINE. The article is not available on-line, so […]
Tagged as: Nine, Sparky Anderson
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
January 23, 2008
Veteran sportswriter Tim Kurkjian joined ESPN in 1998 as both a reporter for Baseball Tonight and a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. His extensive background covering baseball included a stint at Sports Illustrated as a senior writer from 1989-97. Like many of his sports brethren, he took a large chunk of his accumulated anecdotes […]
Tagged as: baseball author, Tim Kurkjian
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
January 22, 2008
Patrick Smith’s 2007 memoir, Extra Innings takes a honest and amusing look at life on the senior circuit. No, not the National League, but the amateur baseball leagues that fill the towns across the country. Smith, a resident of Baltimore, took some time to answer a few questions about the nuts-and-bolts of working with McFarland […]
Tagged as: Extra Innings, interview, McFarland, Patrick Smith
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
January 16, 2008
I had an opportunity to pose a few questions about Harvard Boys with the father and son writing team of Rick and John Wolff, about life in the minors, parental advice, and the process of putting the book together. Their responses, via e-mail. : Bookshelf: John, knowing what your dad went through, the difficulties he […]
Tagged as: Harvard Boys, John Wolf, minor leagues, Rick Wolf
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
November 16, 2007
Regardless of the success a professional sports team achieves, they always come up short when compared to the standard set by the 1927 New York Yankees, who won 110 of 154 games and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. Dartmouth University professor Harvey Frommer takes a fresh look at the model in Five […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 29, 2007
Dan Gordon and Mickey Bradley would love it if instead of candy, you handed out copies of their new book Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends, and Eerie Events. Gordon said in an e-mail interview that timing is everything. The publishers — The Lyons Press — released the book a few weeks ago, to take advantage […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 19, 2007
Beyond the Sports Page The 2007 season ended not with a bang, but with a whimper as the New York Mets frittered away a seven-game National League Eastern Division lead with 17 games to play. Years from now, how will fans recall the events of this major disappointment? If they are as thoughtful as author […]
Tagged as: Baseball News, Books, Mets, Richard Grossinger
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 3, 2007
Matt Murphy, the lucky fan who corralled Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th home run on Aug. 7, should be grateful that Zack Hample wasn’t at the game. Hample, 30, is an expert in the art of procuring balls, whether snagging them himself with a specially-made glove in batting practice or simply asking for them. As of […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 2, 2007
Sports and politics: strange bedfellows As the son of Brooklyn Dodgers fans, sportswriter Dave Zirin developed an appreciation for the power a single act can have on not only sports, but the larger community as well. “I grew up in a house that revered Sandy Koufax, and I heard the story of him ducking out […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
June 19, 2007
Dodger photographer highlighted game off the fields Barney Stein was an elfin man who loved his work, and it shows in the faces of his subjects, the Brooklyn Dodgers, for whom he served as official shutterbug for 20 years. In an effort to preserve his legacy, Stein’s daughter, Bonnie Crosby, collaborated with Dennis D’Agostino to […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
May 25, 2007
For more than a quarter-century, Mel Allen owned the most recognizable voice in America. Filmgoers listened to his MovieTone newsreel narrations while a national radio audience was soothed by his smooth introductions to numerous programs. But most of all, baseball fans followed his calls of the New York Yankees, his signature “How about that!” signifying […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 24, 2007
The literary world lost one of its greats with the untimely death of David Halberstam. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is one of those writers whom I always admired for his ability to transcend subjects, whether writing about politics (The Best and The Brightest), American history/pop culture (The Fifties, my favorite of all his books), or […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
Get smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme from DIYthemes.
