Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Next to baseball and books (and, of course, baseball books), I enjoy learning about what goes on behind the scenes in movies. That’s why I enjoy the I Was There Too podcast hosted by Matt Gourley, which features interviews with actors who may not have been the stars of the films in which they appeared, […]
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Received several e-mails in response to the theme behind my “review” a couple of weeks ago on the Kevin Costner vehicle For Love of the Game. They were close, but they wouldn’t pass muster on my favorite show Jeopardy, so …, The correct answer: What is the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles […]
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Fastball, the acclaimed new documentary film, celebrates the game’s signature delivery and headlines the 10th Annual Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival Sept. 25-27 in Cooperstown. All films will be shown in the Hall of Fame’s Bullpen Theater. Produced by National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Board member Thomas Tull (the producer of 42), […]
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Note: There’s a hidden message here marking a fairly important anniversary. See if you can figure it out. I had to take a few liberties, but I hope I’ll be forgiven in the form of an autographed copy of 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die plus the bonus checklist to the first […]
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Maybe I should make it “2L2W,” along the lines of W2W4 (what to watch for, for the uncool out there). After reading his spot-on critique of the Sunday ESPN Game of the Week between the Mets and Nationals in today’s New York Times, I exchanged a few emails with sports media columnist Richard Sandomir. During […]
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Happy to hear the news that Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig, will be turned into a feature movie. From the New York Post of July 17: George Steinbrenner’s grandson, Robert Molloy, will be part of a program Friday on the grounds of the former Yankee Stadium. Molloy is […]
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NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
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Some of you might be old enough to remember a time when for one admission at the movie theater, you got a double feature, a cartoon, and maybe a short subject. Welcome back. This week I finally had a chance to watch No No: A Dockumentary, about the life and wild times of Dock Ellis, […]
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And, let’s not forget Anthony Perkins. These three popular actors made baseball films that were memorable for one reason or another and none of them displayed an ounce of athletic talent portraying, respectively, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jim Piersall. Sure there were others who probably should have turned down such demanding roles, but those were […]
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One of the things I missed most about not blogging here regularly was the opportunity to conduct these podcast interviews. There’s always someone interesting to talk with a bout their new project, be it a book, a move, a musical album, etc. I spoke with Joe Siegman as a major player in the U.S. Maccabi […]
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Two gentlemen with some interesting attachments to baseball. Hermann, one of my favorite actors, passed away Wednesday at the age of 71. Frankly, I thought he was older. He played Lou Gehrig to Blythe Danner in the 1978 TV movie, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story. I haven’t seen this one in […]
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Just found out about 108 Stitches on a Facebook post. I could have done without it. When Roger Clemens blurbs the movie with “If Animal House, Bull Durham and Major League had a threesome, 108 Stitches would be its kid,” you know you’re looking at real art. Of course, that’s assuming that Clemens really did […]
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With eight days to go, Heather Quinlan’s Kickstarter project is less than $10,000 short of the $50K goal. Make it happen, people!
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is available on Amazon.com,
In my most recent "day job," I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted another blog. Busy, busy, busy.
I did a profile piece on the award-winning cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.
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
Throwback Thursday (aka, links dump)
September 10, 2015 · 1 comment
Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]
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