Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Apropos of earlier entries about the 25th anniversary of Major League and a suggested new line of bio-pics, here’s a list from SI.com’s Extras Mustard of “11 Sports Movie Characters Who Would Suck at Their Sport in Real Life.” Two of the 11 come from baseball flics, including Henry Rowengartner in Rookie of the Year Ignoring the fact […]
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For some reason, it seems a lot longer than 25 years since Major League hits the screen. Must be the clothes. To be honest, this was never one of my favorites. I found the characters a bit too cartoonish, especially coming after the more realistic Bull Durham. Although the phrase “Juuuust a bit outside” — […]
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Just discovered that my podcast last week with Jon Paley, co-director of Ballplayer: Pelotero‘ was damaged. Fixed now and also available on iTunes. Sorry for the inconvenience. Carry on.
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I originally posted this on my blog about Jews and sports since Youkilis is one of the handful of Jewish players, but there’s enough book/movie/collectibles that I can kill two birds with one stone, so… * * * Thanks to Robert Whiting, I have been able to find a way to keep tabs on Kevin […]
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42, the Jackie Robinson bio pic, wasn’t nominated for any Academy Awards this year. Too bad. Not that it was a great film by any means, but still. Baseball. We’ve been talking abut baseball predictions lately, but John Axford had a fantastic run of his own when he batted 1.000 in his Oscar picks. Next […]
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With Kevin Youkilis trading places with new Yankees acquisition Masahiro Tanaka of the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan, I was curious as to how he would adjust to the new culture. Sometimes it work, as in the case of Warren Cromartie; sometimes it doesn’t, as was the case for Jake Elliot (although he did, finally, […]
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From today’s New York Times: “Fit for a Film: Suit Filed Against Warner Bros. in Screenplay Theft.” The screenplay in this case being Trouble with the Curve. I saw that movie. Just sayin.’
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Long-time Mets broadcaster Howie Rose put in appearance on The Brian Lehrer Show earlier this month to discuss (ostensibly) his memoir, Put It In the Book!: A Half-Century of Mets Mania. You can listen to it here. * * * Baseball once again was a topic, albeit a brief one, on my favorite NPR show, […]
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Baseball Nation posted this entry about “Ten baseball movie posters worth another look.” It may be a matter of semantics, but I have a problem with some of the selections, even though the blogger includes the caveat that [N]ot all baseball movies have baseball elements on their posters and not all movies with baseball elements […]
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From the film version of Eight Men Out: [Shoeless Joe Jackson is talking to his bat] Shoeless Joe: Big whop now. Big whop, Betsy; you tell me when. Freddie: Does it ever answer you, Joe? Lefty Williams: Probably sleeps with it, too. Lefty Williams: Lay off, you guys. Hap Felsch: You crackers stick together, huh? […]
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Note: This entry is a combination of the official press release sent by the Hall of Fame and my comments/edits. With the release of Legendary Entertainment’s landmark film 42 this spring, the worlds of movies and baseball came together for fans across the globe. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will recognize the […]
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But wouldn’t it be soooo cool? And in 3D, no less! Via John Thorn on Facebook via Jonah Keri.
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Hard to believe it’s only been 20 years since this minor classic came out. That means that the actors, for the most part, are still not yet 40. The movie got the treatment in Sports Illustrated‘s annual “Where Are They Now” issue and has also been the subject of articles from Yahoo Sports and others. […]
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Happy Canada Day, everybody! Here’s a tease from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Allen Barra’s Mickey and Willie (because there’s a pay-wall). Frankly, I don’t know of the first sentence — “Books about Major League Baseball abound.” — would entice me to investigate further. The Albany Times-Union ran this on their neighbor’s new book, Inside the Baseball […]
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It’s a fine line. I am in the early stages of watching Knuckleball!, the 2012 documentary about the “trick pitch” and its practitioners by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg. So far I’m really enjoying every aspect of it: the cinematography, the special effects, the music. But what has taken the total bloom off the rose […]
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The legendary swimmer-turned-movie star died today at the age of 91. She was a surprisingly competent actress, compared with many other sports stars who tried their hand at the silver screen. Studios went out of their way to compose scenes in which she would display her aquatic prowess (and the fact that she looked good […]
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I had the opportunity to watch Big Leaguer yesterday. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I can get a little cynical at times, but I was pleasantly surprised by this modest endeavor about young athletes at a New York Giants try-out camp, led by Edward G. Robinson as a kind-but-firm former Major Leaguer. Sure […]
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That remains to be seen, but Baseball National posted this about one of the few baseball movies that I have missed: the 1953 vehicle Big Leaguer, starring Edward G. Robinson as a former, well, big leaguer. Pro ballplayers Tony Ravish (!), Bob Trocolor, Harv Tomtor (in an uncredited role), and Al “Necessities” Campanis all appeared […]
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The critics seem to fall into two main camps: movie critics with no special knowledge about baseball, who based their comments solely on the production values and storytelling and those baseball nerds with lots of knowledge about the topic who were mostly interested in the attention to detail, some to a most picayune level. Let’s […]
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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
Bookshelf review: 42
April 25, 2013
This will be relatively short (and hopefully sweet?), since there’s not much I can add to the dozens of critiques previously offered on the new Jackie Robinson biopic. Although I had read just about everything I could find on the film, I still believe I went in with an open mind. I am predisposed to […]
Tagged as: 42
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