Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
♦ I love finding baseball-related stories in unusual publications. Here’s one from The Atlantic featuring former MLB pitcher Steve Trout and what he’s doing in his post-playing career. ♦ Here’s another from the White Coat Investor site: “I Figured My Childhood Obsession Would Make Me a Millionaire; Boy, Was I Wrong.” This harkens back to […]
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Whenever I hear about “the Golden Age of baseball,” I have to ask, who makes that decision? I imagine my golden age would be different than someone thirty years younger (or older). My GA includes people like Mantle, Mays, and Koufax; yours might be Piazza, Griffey Jr., and Barry Bonds. So this headline from the […]
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That is the question. I’ve been collecting Topps Heritage sets for a few years now. I am enchanted by the homages to the designs of my youth, especially the early 60s when I started the hobby in earnest. I figured this might be a good way for me to familiarize myself with today’s players. One […]
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Every day, there seems to be something to remind me how old I am. In this case, it’s the headline from an article on Sports Collectors Daily: Baseball’s Rookie Card Crop of 1986 Turns 40 Thanks a lot, pal.
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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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I’ve been very good… Newly Uncovered T206 Honus Wagner Heads to Auction According to the article, the bidding will start at
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Going old school here. For some reason, despite my best efforts, the video did not come out in not one, but two attempts. No biggie. Prior to the pandemic, I used to do these Conversations by phone, so let us return to yesteryear… My baseball card collecting days only go back to the mid-1960s. But […]
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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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One of the upshots of being home these past few months recovering from surgery was that I could watch as much baseball as I wanted, particularly games on the west coast. But I couldn’t keep my eyes open for the very exciting 6-5, 18-inning Dodgers win in Game Two of the World Series. I’m not […]
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I love backstories, whether they’re superhero original tales or something like “Revealed: The TV Manufacturer Whose Set Design Was Used on 1955 Bowman Baseball Cards” from the Sports Collectors Daily website. Bonus points for citing one of my favorites, The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book, first published by Brendan C. […]
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As I mentioned in the previous entry, Topps traditionally reserved baseball cards ending in “00” for the cream-of-the-crop elite players (not sure about other sports). With one exception, there were at most only seven available “00” slots. Yearly output ranged from 210 in 1955 to a whopping 825 in 1993. It makes sense that the […]
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♦ Depending on when you read this, and where you live, your can still take advantage of this: On Monday, October 6, at 5 pm, the New York State Museum in Albany will present John Thorn, the Official Historian of Major League Baseball, for a special evening presentation on baseball’s deep connection with New York […]
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The Northern: A Novel, by Jacob McArthur Mooney As readers of this blog will recall, I usually don’t delve into baseball fiction. Fiction in general has lost its allure to me over the years. But once in a while I will indulge. And since I’ve been on a baseball card kick for the past month […]
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A bit of a clunky title, sorry. I was a bit too young to start my collection with Topps’ 1959 series, being only two years old with no disposable income, but I always get a kick out of seeing the old cards and how they compare with today’s Hydra of variety. I started reading Phil, […]
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Sports Collectors Digest ran a series on the artists who drew on the cartoons on the backs of Topps cards back in the day. Fun stuff. Part one here. Part two here. FWIW, I was able to read this review of Jane Levy’s New Make Me Commissioner in The Wall Street Journal, but that doesn’t […]
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I guess I’m going into my second (or is it third? Fourth?) childhood. Been visiting eBay looking for various baseball cards sets, primarily Topps Heritage which recreates old set designs with contemporary players such as this one which hearkens back to the 1972 series. So what a coincidence to come across this article — “Best Books […]
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♦ Adding to the previous B&P item about gathering Hall of Fame induction speeches: you would expect writers to be more comfortable with the process than the players. Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell was the 2025 winner of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Career Excellence Award. Here is his acceptance speech. Side note: According […]
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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
