Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
XX Because this is an ongoing concern and I can’t be bothered to remember how many of these I’ve done before. You know how many baseball “experts” picked a World Series in which the Boston Red Sox faced the St. Louis Cardinals? According to PunditTracker, zero. Where do I apply for a job in the […]
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Forgot to post this amusing standoff between Joe Kelly of the St. Louis Cardinals and Scott Van Slyke of the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the final game of the NLCS (love the frustrated umpire towards the end of the clip). Enjoy.
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One day, God willing, it’ll be “a million.” But in the meantime, after a complicated determination process, it has been decided that Dennis Anderson of Dunlap, Illinois, was the 100,000th visitor to my Baseball Bookshelf. His reward? A signed copy of 501. Bound to be worth thousands of pennies a century from now. I asked […]
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The Cardboard Connection ran this story about Teddy Kremer, a 30-year-old with Down syndrome, whose love for the Cincinnati Reds is apparently as big as his heart. Kremer had the opportunity to serve as honorary bat boy for the Reds, was asked to return, and had a hand in this special moment for Todd Frazier […]
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Wonder what the pitcher’s coach said to him after this one: And someone check that batter’s ID; he’s bigger than the umpire.
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Took a perfect game into the ninth inning, but lost it with one out. Retired 22 questions in a row before erring on the next to last one in this (Boston-based) Christian Science Monitor quiz about the Red Sox.
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One of my go-to on-line haunts is Baseball Nation. It’s a combination of in-depth analyses, funny/off-beat features, and general bric-a-brac about the national pastime and its place in pop-cultural. Yesterday this intriguing title caught my eye: “The least surprising mystery of all time,” by Jason Brannon. (If it’s not surprising, can it still qualify as […]
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Jeremy Blachman at FanGraphs.com suggest these baseball non-titles for non-reading.
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As first seen on HardballTalk (the writer is no relation):
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Because who’s associated with fashion more than the future Hall of Famer? Whatever. An item might make a handsome addition on your bookshelf.
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I’m not a big Ales Rodriguez fan, but I do think MLB is trying to pull a fast one with its 211-game suspension, more than double any of the others handed down this season. Due process and all, yo. So the following is brought to you as a public service announcement. (Personally, I don’t think […]
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At some point — perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow –this incarnation of the Bookshelf will welcome its 100,000th visitor. I just wanted to say thanks to all the loyal followers of the blog, and you know who you are — lovers of baseball and books with a smattering of pop culture. A very small subsection. […]
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There’s a line in the film version of The Natural in which the following exchange occurs between Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) and the unctuous sportswriter Max Mercy (Robert Duvall): Hobbs: Did you ever play ball, Max? Mercy: No, never have. But I make it a little more fun to watch, you see. And after today, […]
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There’s an old saying to the effect that it is better to be silent and have people wonder how dumb you are than open your mouth and eliminate all doubt. That’s the first thing that came to mind when I heard about remarks made by former NY Mets manager Bobby Valentine concerning the rival Yankees […]
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Weatherpeople and sports pundits. Those seem to be the only professions where you can be so wrong so often and not only still keep your job, but have people rely on your expertise. Just a quick look at the USA Today‘s Baseball 2013 magazine: five out of eight writers picked the Tampa Bay Rays to […]
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Up until the day I received my first check (and the only one for the year. Seems these things come annually, not quarterly as I had hoped), the most-asked question I received was “how is the book doing?” I know the questioner means well and I appreciate the thoughts. But the truth was, until I […]
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I imagine the overall (at least the “loudest”) consensus is that Alex Rodriguez and the “Twelve Men Out” are a disgrace to the game, to America, and to all that is sacred or holy. Monday’s Baseball Tonight podcast featured a conversation between host Buster Olney and The New York Times‘ Tyler Kepner that took a […]
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Don’t want to get involved with the whole A-Rod ban business, but couldn’t pass up this from the New York Post, which I usually only consider when lining the birdcages. Of course, if you want to get picky about it should be “played” on, but close enough for jazz. Say what you will about Rodriguez […]
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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
Because I’ll never miss an opportunity to bash FOX sports
November 1, 2013
I’m grateful for this piece in today’s New York Times by Richard Sandomir critiquing the network’s handling of the last game of the World Series. A main point is the use made popular in the last few years of the baseball version of the “sideline reporter,” only much less serious. In football, a SR will […]
Tagged as: Boston Red Sox, Fox Sports, New York Times. Erin Andrews, Richard Sandomir
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