Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
May 2, 2025
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
Tagged as: Bill Madden
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 22, 2025
This is really getting to be old-home month, give or take. First it was Danny Gallagher, author of several titles about the Montreal Expos. Then it was Robbie Hart, with his new documentary. Next week, Curtis Pride, the deaf ballplayer who made his Major League debut with the team in 1993, the first of six […]
Tagged as: Montreal Expos, Terry Mosher
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 15, 2025
If you’d asked me a few years ago about my favorite teams, I definitely would have said the Mets, followed by the Montreal Expos. But now? It just might be the reverse, since I’ve been living in the past lately. I spent many a happy summer in Montreal, where the maternal side of my family […]
Tagged as: Montreal Expos
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
April 11, 2025
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
February 7, 2025
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
January 31, 2025
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
January 7, 2025
The passing of Rocky Colavito last month was the impetus for this one. The majority of people with whom I have these Conversations are your standard interview fare. By that I mean I only know them because of their work. In this case, I can honestly say the subject is a good friend. When I […]
Tagged as: Scott Raab
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
January 3, 2025
Here we go again… A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
December 27, 2024
Last one of the year! Where did the time go? A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
December 21, 2024
I have been a poor host. Other than the weekly best-seller list and the (thankfully) occasional “Lest We Forget” posts, I have not done enough to fulfill my self-appointed responsibilities of bringing you the latest news. Maybe that will be one of my resolutions. But we all know how long those last… Anyway… A feature/Q&A […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
December 20, 2024
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
December 13, 2024
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
December 6, 2024
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
November 1, 2024
A reminder: The Amazona rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 25, 2024
A reminder: The Amazona rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
Tagged as: Fernando Valenzuela, World Series
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 18, 2024
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
October 17, 2024
I’ve long believed that the death of a famous athlete leads to renewed interest in any books about him, a theory that holds when you look at the weekly Baseball Best-Sellers. Sure enough, the recent passing of Pete Rose provided an uptick in sales of books about the controversial superstar and since Keith O’Brien wrote […]
Tagged as: Keith O'Brien, Pete Rose
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
August 9, 2024
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
August 8, 2024
Just about 30 years ago, I bought Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon. Even if you’re not a connoisseur of the early 20th century game, I’m willing to be you’ve sen photos taken by Conlon. Many of the close-ups are haunting. To me, the players always seemed much older than the 20- […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
June 28, 2024
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
Tagged as: Boston Red Sox, Dwight Evans
{ 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.
