Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
This spring, Triumph released memoirs/bios about Oil Can Boyd and Willie Mays Aikens. All props to these guys for being members of the select fraternity of those who made it to the Majors. But they really “deserve” books about them? Boyd was 78-77 over a 10-year career while Aikens played eight seasons (done by 31) […]
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♦ Baseball Prospectus chose an odd assortment for this list of “10 Favorite Baseball Books”‘ which I suppose could be considered min-reviews. ♦ The Boston Globe published this review of They Call Me Oil Can: Baseball, Drugs, and Life on the Edge, by Oil Can Boyd with Mike Shalin. As regular readers of the Bookshelf […]
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My annual spring baseball book roundup appears on Bookreporter.com. Titles include: Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, by R.A. Dickey and Wayne Coffey Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets, by Bud Harrelson and Phil Pepe Driving Mr. […]
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Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets, by Bud Harrelson with Phil Pepe. Thomas Dunne Books, 2012. Harrelson’s new book is a bit a throwback. One could easily imagine reading this in the pre-Ball Four era. Other than a scant mention of disappointment for the […]
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♦ Bill Jordan at Baseball Reflections on Tim Wendel’s Summer of 68. ♦ Tom Hoffarth kicked off his annual “30 book in 30 days” feature yesterday with Baseball Prospectus 2012. Today’s book is Trading Manny: How a Father & Son Learned to Love Baseball Again, by Jim Gullo. (Here’s another review from The Oregonian.) ♦ Sticking […]
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One of the best players of his generation not to be elected to thew Hall of Fame, Allen turns 70 today. Allen published his autobio/mem — Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen, written with Tim Whitaker. He was also the focal point for books about Philadelphia’s racial attitudes, as profiled by William Kashatus […]
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Lenny Dykstra was sentenced to three years “in a California state prison after pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement.” Dykstra published his memoir Nails: The Inside Story of an Amazin’ Season shortly after the Mets’ 1986 World Championship.
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As Dan Epstein over at Big Hair & Plastic Grass reminds us, “On this date in 1973, Yankee pitchers Fritz Peterson (front) and Mike Kekich (second from left) shock their team, baseball, and the country with the announcement that they’ve swapped families — their wives, children and pets are all included in the deal.” Seems […]
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Robinson was born this date in 1919, which means he would have been 93 today. Sadly, he passed away almost 40 years ago, way too young. It isn’t necessary to repeat all the sacrifices he made, all the doors he opened. One would hope everyone in this country — baseball fan or not — would […]
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“The Kid” is not doing so well these days. The NY Times‘ Richard Sandomir wrote about Carter’s condition a couple of days ago, focusing on Carter’s daughter, Kimmy Bloemers, and her efforts to keep fans up-to-date through a blog, which appears to be invitation only to view. The article refers to this 7-Up commercial, which […]
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Small wonder in that they had to do with Jackie Robinson. Robinson’s teammate, Don Newcombe, recalled ameeting between the two iconic figures for a piece in Time Magazine in 2007: Do you know what Jackie’s impact was? Well, let Martin Luther King tell you. In 1968, Martin had dinner in my house with my family. […]
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I found the headline of this article — “Will Expanded Replay Lead to More Women Umpires?” — most intriguing. Aside from the deeper question about the opportunities (or lack thereof) for “women in blue,” as discussed in this article on the Baseball Reflections blog, I have yet to hear why the adoption of technology should […]
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They were associated with other teams as well, but their primary fame came with St. Louis. Bob Gibson turns turns 76(!), while The White Rat, aka Whitey Herzog, is 80. Both are enshrined in Cooperstown. Well done, gentlemen. Stranger to the Game: The Autobiography of Bob Gibson Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame […]
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by Jimmy Piersall with Al Hirshberg. Atlantic Monthly Press/Little, Brown and Company, 1955. Jimmy Piersall was a two-time All-Star who sent 17 seasons in the Majors…and one summer in a mental institution. That’s the crux of this underrated autobiography from the mid-50s, well ahead of its time in discussing the issue of mental illness. Piersall’s […]
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Lasorda, the “Dodgerest” of them all, turns 84 today. I Live for This: Baseball’s Last True Believer The Artful Dodger Dierker, All-Star pitcher and later manager for the Houston Astros, turns 65. This Ain’t Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind My Team: Choosing My Dream Team from My Forty Years […]
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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.
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
