Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Yesterday Tyler Kepner posted this “Personal Journey Through the Hall of Fame Ballot” in which he comments on all 36 player who were eligible for listing. The New York Times does not allow their writers to vote on awards, perhaps because of some conflict of interest concerns, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have some […]
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I’m reading The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams for an upcoming review on Bookreporter.com. When I received the galleys, my first thought was similar to Rob Neyer’s, who noted in this post, “Hey, there’s another book about Ted Williams.” (Excerpt here. By the way, although I understand the title, it’s too similar to […]
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Another in an attempt to look over the over-looked news in baseball books. I’ve only just begun listening to the unabridged audio book of Bill Bryson’s newest, One Summer: America, 1927, but if Richard “Pete” Peterson says it’s “a good read for Cards, Cubs fans,” that’s good enough for me. Kevin Baker, who worked with […]
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The World War II veteran who returned from devastating injury sustained in the service of his country to play Major League baseball, passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Brissie, who earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, pitched seven seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians, compiling a 44-48 record with […]
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The grandson of the controversial Hall of Famer will speak at at the Grant Brimhall Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 19 , at 2 p.m. Cobb is the author of Heart of a Tiger: Growing up with My Grandfather, Ty Cobb. I have not read the book yet — […]
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I just love those radio commercials that implore listeners to either call within the next few minutes to take advantage of an extra special promotion (even though the spots run all day), or to be caller number xx. Like they won’t take your money if you’re late. Actually, I always thought of these things as […]
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Multiple Cy-Young winner Pedro Martinez will release his eponymous memoir, Pedro, next spring. The book, co-written by the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The family of Roberto Clemente has collaborated on Clemente: The True Legacy of an Undying Hero, was released last month. The book was the Hall of Famer’s […]
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To steal a line from a regular segment of Pardon the Interruption. Baseball Nation reminds us (okay, reminded me) that today is the 105th anniversary of Merkle’s Boner. Hopefully, this is drumming up some renewed interest in Mike Cameron’s empathetic biography, Public Bonehead, Private Hero: The Real Legacy of Baseball’s Fred Merkle, which is included […]
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I did a post about self-published books awhile back, specifically Mike Gallagher’s The Diamond Deception and how I would pass on it. Kudos to Doug Smith at the Towanda News for devoting the time to reading the novel and writing a review. For me, he sums up my thoughts about such projects thusly: Deception’s” devil […]
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* Lindsey Berra, Yogi’s granddaughter, posted this piece on Allen Barra‘s Mays/Mantle bio on MLB.com. * Speaking of Yogi, this hyper-local site in the Seattle area wants to recommend his book (co-authored with Dave Kaplan), When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It. * The Thousand Oaks Library (Calif.) will feature Chad […]
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To paraphrase a Groucho Marx line (and with all due respect to the PETA faction), you can’t swing a dead cat (if that’s your idea of a good time) at the annual SABR conference without hitting a baseball writer. While in Philadelphia, I caught up with a few of them (writers, not cats) to see […]
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Jackie Robinson on Life After Baseball, edited by Michael G. Long. Syracuse University Press, 2013. Some former athletes botch attempts to remain relevant after their playing days are over. They offer opinions that, while certainly their right to have and express, do little to offer insight (or interest) as to what kind of people they […]
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Author appearance: David King, author of Ross Youngs: In Search of a San Antonio Baseball Legend (TX) (Sports History), will sign copies of his book tomorrow (Aug. 10) from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Barnes and Noble at The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio. The book traces the career of the Hall of Famer, who […]
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Born this date: 1916 – Bob Prince, announcer (d. 1985) We Had ‘Em All the Way: Bob Prince & His Pittsburgh Pirates Lest we forget: 2008 – Jules Tygiel, author (b. 1949) Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy Past Time: Baseball As History\ Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History […]
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In yesterday’s review roundup I wrote: Not exactly sure why there are two new bios about this Pirates’ Hall of Famer at this particular time (no anniversary of his birth or death), but Pete Peterson’s Pops: The Willie Stargell Story is reviewed on Lancaster Online. The other one is Willie Stargell: A Life in Baseball, […]
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Nuckolball posted a review of Robert Creamer’s classic bio, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life. These are kind of like mini-reviews, so I’m including Baseball Nation’s piece on “Your favorite baseball books,” which includes, among others, Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel, The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball […]
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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
