Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
As per Frederick Frommer, author of several baseball titles either on his own or with his father, Harvey, comes this appreciation of “Baseball Bugs,” a Looney Tunes favorite that made its debut in 1946. Frommer notes, “The 1946 cartoon is so packed with funny gags, clever puns, imaginative imagery and lively music that it’s still […]
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SABR Day is fast approaching. The Elysian Fields Chapter (Northern New Jersey) will hold its annual event at historic Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ, on Saturday, February 7. The roster of guests includes artists Todd Radom, Ellen Lindner, and Brian Kong. Each of the trio has their own unique […]
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Todd Radom, Ellen Lindner, and Brian Kong will be the featured guests as the Elysian Field Chapter celebrates “SABR Day” at the Muth Museum located in Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ, on Saturday, February 7. Radom, a former Bookshelf Conversation guest for Winning Ugly: A Visual History of Baseball’s Most Unique Uniforms, has a new […]
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In an attempt to recapture my youth, I have of late started purchasing baseball cards again. These purchases fall into two categories. The first is the Topps Heritage series. These are “throwbacks,” that is they use the designs from sets I loved as a kid, primarily from the 196os and early 1970s. One of the […]
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This popped up on my daily Google alerts for baseball book-related stuff from Fine Books & Collections: “Early Baseball Sheet Music, Arrowsmith’s Maps, JFK Presentation Copy: Auction Preview” Image: Potter & Potter — “The earliest known baseball lithograph, for “The Live Oak Polka,” offered at Potter & Potter this week.” According to the accompanying story […]
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♦ The Baseball Hall of Fame will hold a screening of Fielding Dreams: A Celebration of Baseball Scouts on Thursday, Jan. 18. “[T]his new documentary goes beyond moneyball [sic] and features dozens of interviews with some of the scouting legends of the game, including 5 scouts who helped build the 2023 World Series Champion Texas […]
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♦ Soon to be a major motion picture? “For Maggi, 1st MLB hit proves ‘you can do anything’” ♦ The ReviewGeek judges Cross Game, by Mitsuru Adachi, among the best sport mangas. ♦ Speaking of the late Vin Scully, how will you do on this quiz about baseball broadcasters from the Chicago Sun-Times? Warning: it […]
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When it comes to baseball. Of course, much of that was due to Roger Angell‘s excellent essays. Yes, there have been other contributors, but none with the gravitas or tenure of Angell. There have been plenty of covers and cartoons about the national pastime. Many, of the former, including the cover of the current issue, […]
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Heard on NPR’s Morning Edition show, March 6: “Evan Drellich’s new book sheds light on the Houston Astros cheating scandal.” I usually don’t mix baseball with politics with baseball (unless it’s in a good way), but this is important enough to me that I don’t care if I ruffle a few feathers by […]
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Does anyone else have these? I have a number of posters that I’ve been hanging in the stairwell to my basement office and came across these 2′ x 3′ jobs that I can only imagine acquiring via sending in box tops from Kelloggs cereals. They’re kind of cool but as the last images are from […]
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♦ Ron Shelton’s The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit is among USA Today’s “Best Books of 2022.” Here’s our Bookshelf Conversation with Shelton. Meanwhile, True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy and The Grandest Stage: A History of […]
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I’ve probably said this before when talking about an artist: I don’t know the medium but I know what I like. And I like Dave Choate’s work. Quirky. That’s how I would describe it, no offense intended if anyone takes it as such. This particular Conversation came about after I bought some of his work […]
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Dead at 94. His portrait of Joe DiMaggio has appeared in numerous books about baseball art, including the cover of From The New York Times obituary by Richard Sandomir …Mr. Dinnerstein largely depicted the life around him: on the subway, in parks, outside brownstones like his own in Brooklyn. In a rare foray into portraying […]
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In a 12-month period that has seen the passing of numerous Hall of Famers, it’s nice to be able to wish a happy 90th birthday to Willie Mays. James Hirsch, who wrote Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, the most recent bio of the “greatest living player,” contributed this essay to The New York Times, which […]
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Just renewed the domain for another year, so to make it worthwhile I guess I should be posting more often, and not just “Lest We Forget.” I don’t seem to have the free time to read as I did when I was working as a journalist, which is kind of weird, considering these days I’m […]
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According to a translation site, the header above (pronounced “fushigina hōkō e korogaru”) is the Japanese equivalent of “down the rabbit hole,” which is where I fell after finding a story about Shinji Mizushima, “author of the popular Japanese ‘Dokaben‘ baseball manga series, [who] decided to end his career as a manga artist Tuesday, his […]
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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
