Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
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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Born this date: * 1868 – Sol White, Negro League infielder and manager; Hall of Fame (d. 1955) Sol White’s History of Colored Baseball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886-1936 * 1950 – Richard Ben Cramer, author (d. 2013) Joe DiMaggio : The Hero’s Life What Do You Think of Ted Williams […]
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The “ammo” in this case being Mariano Rivera’s fame cutter. New York magazine ran this profile on the NY Yankees retiring closer by Lisa Miller.
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Just because it’s my birthday… Born this date: Lou Brissie (1924), subject of Ira Berkow’s engaging The Corporal Was a Pitcher: The Courage of Lou Brissie. Mike Coolbaugh (1972), subject of S.L. Price’s touching Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America. Also on this date: 1977 – The Dodgers retire […]
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The Huntington News (WV) published this review about Acre, a baseball “fable.” Upshot: “I’m not going to give away the plot points, other than to say to know Acre is to love him.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune posted this about Allen Barra’s Willie and Mickey. The Charlotte Post and Courier ran this review of Larry […]
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In an attempt to clean out all the accumulated links from my Google alerts, this will incorporate the semi-regular “review roundups” with author announcements, etc. You’ll also forgive me if some of these have appeared before; I’m just too damn lazy to go through each one to double-check. My Apologies. Anyway, enjoy. Five nostalgic books […]
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One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed being a member of the Society for American Baseball Research is the cool publications that come with the territory. Well, they’ve only gotten better in recent years. In addition to annual Baseball Research Journal and The National Pastime, SABR has taken to paying tribute to some great ball clubs […]
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Cautiously optimistic about the release of 42 this week. As reported in the Arts & Leisure section of last Sunday’s Times, it’s difficult to boil down the meaning of such an iconic figure in a 128-minute film. As such films are wont, it is “based on a true story.” The list of ballplayers and other […]
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Michigan Live posted this review on John Rosengren’s new biography, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes. Upshot: “Rosengren…lovingly describes the devotion of American Jews to a man who overcame harassment and flat feet to become not just a baseball star, but an inspiration to his people.” Here’s something you don’t see everyday: a British book […]
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The New York Times runs this review of Mike Piazza’s Long Shot. Given that the book was released almost two months ago and they’re just reviewing it now, I won’t give up the hopes that the Times will do something with 501. The review is more of a “what the book’s about” piece than whether […]
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I bring this up because I was reminded of one of my all-time favorite actor’s baseball-related oeuvres by Jonathan Coe’s new pictorial biography, Jimmy Stewart: A Wonderful Life. Stewart’s career is often discussed in two broad periods: pre-World War II, when he generally played lighter, more genial roles, and following the war (in which he […]
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Baseball Nation’s Hot Corner Book Club’s latest consideration is Bob Vanderberg’s new biography of Baseball’s Ultimate Wheeler Dealer (according to the subtitle. While blogger Rob Neyer starts out hopefully — “it’s real good so far.” — he concludes his entry on a quizzical note when he writes “It doesn’t look like the whole book’s going […]
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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
