Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
March 13, 2009
It’s quite a leap from romance novels to baseball non-fiction, but Jane Heller has traversed the expanse surprisingly well. Heller, author of 13 books including Infernal Affairs and An Ex to Grind, has parlayed her life-long love for the Bronx Bombers into Confessions of a She-Fan: The Course of True Love with the New York […]
Tagged as: Jane Heller, New York Yankees
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February 26, 2009
Actually, Andy and John Buchanan are both “wise guides,” as in their series of guide books to baseball stadiums and other venues. In 2007, the brothers — John is a banker and Andy a freelance writer and also part-time Journalism professor at Columbia College of Chicago — published small books on the ballparks of the […]
Tagged as: ballparks, baseball guide books, Wise Guide
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February 19, 2009
It’s been quite a year for Kadir Nelson. The author of We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion) has been racking up awards right and left. In recent weeks he has received the Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children and the Coretta Scott […]
Tagged as: Kadir Nelson, Negro Leagues
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February 12, 2009 · 2 comments
Dave Baldwin pitched for the Washington Senators, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Sox during his six-year career (1966-70 and ’73). Used strictly in relief, he compiled a 6-11 record in 176 games, but posted a very respectable 3.08 ERA, giving up just 190 hits in 224-plus innings. But numbers can never tell the whole story. […]
Tagged as: baseball memoirs, Dave Baldwin, Snake Jazz
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January 27, 2009
(No, not Jackie Robinson. Actually this should probably be called the tiny experiment.) I spoke with the prolific author Paul Dickson on the painstaking tasks involved in creating and editing the third edition of The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, which will be released in March by W.W. Norton and Son. Dickson specializes in intensely-researched baseball titles […]
Tagged as: baseball dictionary, baseball reference, Paul Dickson
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January 22, 2009
This article appeared in the Jan. 22 edition of the New Jersey Jewish News: *** In 2003, Martin Abramowitz created JewishMajorLeaguers.org with the “mission” to create a set of cards that included every “member of the tribe” to play big-league baseball. To mix sports metaphors, Howard Megdal has taken this idea and run with it. […]
Tagged as: Baseball Talmud, Howard Megdal, Jewish Major Leaguers
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October 23, 2008
The fourth and final one for the year, as edited by yours truly. SABR Bibliography Committee Newsletter, October 2008
Tagged as: SABR Bibliography Committee Newsletter
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October 15, 2008
Time marches on. That was Art Shamsky’s sentiment at a program hosted by the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls on Sept. 21. With the closing of Shea Stadium days away and the 40th anniversary of his “Miracle Mets” on the horizon, the former Major Leaguer discussed his experiences in the United […]
Tagged as: Art Shamsky, Israel Baseball League, New York Mets, World Series
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October 11, 2008
Yogi Berra is one of America’s most beloved characters. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a player, followed by several more seasons as a manager and coach. His simple, gentle demeanor — and unique ability to turn a phrase — have kept him in the embrace of an adoring public long after his days on […]
Tagged as: Dave Kaplan, Yofi Berra
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September 14, 2008
“One of the interesting things to me is that there’s such a long history of baseball in these places that preceded the interests of Major League baseball,” said author Adrian Burgos. “The game was there before MLB stepped onto the scene.” Burgos, an associate history professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, is the author […]
Tagged as: Adrian Burgos, Latin America, Latino baseball
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September 12, 2008
Ever since the announcement was made that 2008 would be the final year for Yankee Stadium, baseball fans and players have been waxing nostalgic about The House That Ruth Built. Legendary names come to mind as the memories flood in: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Gandhi. Gandhi? What, you never heard? The Bronx landmark has been […]
Tagged as: baseball film, Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival, Gandhi at the Bat
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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