Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
A shande (Yiddish for “a shame”). Of course, everyone knows Nimoy, who grew up in a observant Jewish home in the Boston area, as Mr. Spock. But one of his earliest appearances came in an uncredited role in the 1951 baseball feature film. Rhubarb. Pay careful attention at the 2:08 mark. But perhaps […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This whole Brian Williams business (not this Brian Williams, although he might have his own stories to tell) has a lot of tongues wagging. If he was “lying” about some of his experiences — being in a helicopter in Afghanistan that was shot down, seeing a body floating on the water in New Orleans after […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
You ever have one of the experiences where a picture falls off a wall for no reason? Then you find out later that the person in the photo has had an accident or worse? This just happened as I was working on blog posts: The mini-bobblehead of Alex Rodriguez, then a member of the Texas […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Didn’t want the day to go by without a mention of Martin Luther King Jr. and his baseball connections. Here’s a piece I posted on the last MLK Day. One from two years ago by The Baseball Sociologist. And another from 2008 by the popular and thoughtful Dave Zirin on King and Roberto Clemente in […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
At the suggestion of Bookshelf friend David Jordan, this will serve as a home for older “recently read” snippets as they get replaced by newer items. Not all of them have reviews or author conversations, but I have included links when they are. There’s a separate page at the right of the navigation bar, and […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Yippe ki-yi-ya! Finally finished the manuscript for The Jewish Olympics so I can finally get back to my comfort zone. Greatly looking forward to catching up on some of the books that have arrived in the last few months, as well as the bounty that 2015 promises to bring. Also look for more podcast interviews […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Headnote: It’s been awhile since my last post. Sorry about that, but the deadline for the Maccabiah book is just about a month away (barring an extension). But this piece, which comes from my other blog, has a connection to this one as well so here you go. * * * I have always aspired […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
But so much of it. Giancarlo Stanton, the slugging sensation for the Miami Marlins, just signed a 13-year contract for $325 million. Let me repeat: 13 years, $325 million. That’s an average of $25 million per year. That’s about $154,000 per game. Until he’s 38. Let’s say each ball game equals a single work-day (no […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
“Been away so long I hardly knew the place,…” Haven’t forgotten my peeps. Just been crazy busy with my new book. Kind of interesting, having had the experience with 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die with it’s bipolarness — highs when the book was doing well and the interviews were frequent, and […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
What? The season is almost over? Where did the time go? Went to the Mets-Marlins game last night. Pretty depressing. The announced attendance was 23,892, or 57 percent of capacity. Seemed like whole sections were empty. With just three home games left, against the Houston Astros over the last weekend of the season, doesn’t look […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Is something I’ve never been into. I find very little “real” about it. And I don’t mean to keep on picking on Brandon Steiner (see here and here), but I accidentally came on his eponymous SNY show, The Hookup with Brandon Steiner, last night. I say “accidentally” because my on-air TV guide said it was […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Not bloody likely if you’re talking about the (gold)keystone combination of Derek Jeter and Brandon Steiner. Last week I gave some heat to this memorabilia stupidity. I guess if Steiner can find some fans who don’t know what to do with their money and are willing to part with it for Jeter tchotchkes, more power […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I understand that MLB wants to honor the members of our armed forces and I’m all for it, even if the cynical side of me thinks this is just about piece of merchandise to market. (I believe the profits from those sales should go to military support organizations.) But in all honesty, I think they’re […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
That’s my advice to any athlete approached by Sports Illustrated for a cover story. Mo’ne Davis, the 13-year-old pitcher for the Mid-Atlantic/ Philadelphia entry at the Little League World Series, has been all the buzz lately, thanks to her dazzling success and poise. Well, that streak ran out last night as her team was defeated […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
What kind of a world are we living in where my BFF Bob Costas gets a mulligan after a botched ceremonial first pitch? It seems rank has its privileges. You know his coworkers at the MLB Network will be getting a bit of mileage out of this. And it’s not like it was even that […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I guess as the season goes on and the team in question is not doing particularly well, sportswriters and broadcasters have to look for ways to appear fresh. Is this the best you can do? Follow some anonymous reliever (with all dues respects) as he makes the courageous journey to the ball park on — […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I would probably not be reading this 2003 release anyway, so the cover wouldn’t be a make-or-break issue. But with all due respect to the publisher, designer, and author, this is a strange deal. Composition: Is this a photograph or an illustration? It certainly looks “layered,” like the body is superimposed on the background, at […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Brought to you as a public service announcement: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will host a blood drive, sponsored by the American Red Cross in conjunction with Bassett Healthcare, on Saturday, Aug. 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Cooper Park adjacent to the Hall of Fame in a Red Cross […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Listening to the podcast of Wait Wait Don’t Tell me is a staple of my Monday morning commute. I always pay attention, but even more so when baseball is included in the conversation. From the latest show’s “Bluff the Listener” segment: Announcer Bill KURTIS: Taking baseball into the future. Host Peter SAGAL: Americans started playing […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
What I
likehate about you…February 20, 2015
Bruce Nash, co-author of the Baseball Hall of Shamebook series, contributed this piece to the Huffington Post. While I agree with most of his issues, I would add a few items, including: The music that many teams feel they have to constantly blast, lest the fans enjoy a quiet moment. The inability to purchase a […]
Tagged as: baseball fans, baseball stadiums, Bruce Nash
{ Comments on this entry are closed }