Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
But savvy baseball cards buffs like Night Owl Cards caught them. To be fair, back int he day when the company released one series at a time, instead of all at one (kids, ask your parents), they often airbrushed logos onto the hats and/or unis of players who had been traded during the season. In […]
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When you’re a young kid, you don’t have any real concept of age. One of the first things you say to a new contemporary is, “I’m seven; how old are you?” When you go to camp, you think the counselors are adults, even though they’re only a few years your senior. But now that I’m […]
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The latest from Hardball Times’ Bruce Markusen’s “Baseball Card Mystery” series: Lenny “Len” Randle. Enjoy.
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I don’t know if the young collectors nowadays recite this mantra as they go through their friends cards, but back in the day… Gary Cieradkowski, the artist behind the Infinite Baseball Card Set, is having a finite sale of his work. As I’ve written in the past, these are exquisite and imaginative little works of […]
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There are plenty of outlets that will take a photo of you and turn it into a ersatz baseball card like this one I had done on a trip to Cooperstown back in the late 1980s: None, however, will do it up in as artistic and classy a manner as Gary Cieradkowski, creator of the Infinite […]
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When I was a kid, the back of typical non-star card included info about the players hobbies (“Tim likes to read”; “Bob hunts inn the off-season.” Here’s one for former Major Leaguer Jim Piersall, who suffered from mental illness in the early 1950s and wrote about his experiences in the best-seller, Fear Strikes Out. Was […]
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From Abebooks.com, a new twist on the old theme of losing one’s prized baseball card: Using it as a place keeper but forgetting to remove it when selling the volume to the local used book store. THE SPORTING “A Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card. It was the original 1952 Topps #311 baseball card and not […]
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The Infinite Baseball Card Set Blog posted links to a few reviews about the fun new publication, including that of the Bookshelf.
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Since I started blogging about baseball literature and collectibles, I’ve become increasingly enamored with and appreciative of the “art” of the game. Not the way the players perform, but by those who depict those performances through the pencil, the paintbrush, the camera, or any other method. It’s especially rewarding to find “unknown” artists (although they […]
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For those collectors out there, or anyone interested in the “backstory” of things, this is on the MLB Network tonight at 10 eastern/7 Pacific.
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Since there haven’t been any books written about him. Yet. The NY Mets’ likable Ike Davis turns 24 today. I received a shipment of cards yesterday including this one. This wasn’t Davis’ first card. Nowadays they have prospect cards, minor league star cards, etc., in multiple incarnations from multiple manufacturers. When I was a kid […]
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Today we mark the birth of the late Lou Limmer. I don’t eBay often, but when I do it’s usually for some bit of Jewish sports memorabilia. Like this Limmer card from the 1955 Topps set. Colorful, ain’t it? I had the pleasure of interviewing Limmer shortly before he passed.
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One of the all-time greats of the game, Honus Wagner enjoyed renewed fame because of his rare baseball card. He was born this date in 1878. The books specifically on Wagner (he’s included in many histories of the game) are divided into those about his life and those about the card and the collectibles industry. […]
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Following an earlier post about creating a baseball room, I heard from Dave Kaplan, executive director of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, who wants to help you get started on the project. The Museum, located on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, NJ, is currently under renovation and is offering […]
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When I was a kid, I used to collect — in addition to baseball cards — a set of major league logos. If memory serves — and I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong — they were produced by Fleer and you could peel them off the card and apply them to various […]
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And I would have him on my bookshelf if I still had it. Sabath Anthony Mele, 89-years-young today.
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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
Behind the Times
February 1, 2011
Not sure what’s going on at the “paper of record” lately. Maybe it’s staff cuts. But here are two stories that appeared recently on the pages of the newspaper that appeared elsewhere some time ago. Gil Meche turned down the last year of a $12 million contract because he knew he wouldn’t be able to […]
Tagged as: Gil Meche, Honus Wagner baseball card
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