Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Take heart, Houston. You may have the worst team in the Majors this season, but you can relive past glorious and otherwise amuse yourselves by reading these Astros-related titles, posted by Ray Kerby and Darrell Pittman on AstrosDaily.com.
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The Yankee closer nonpareil became the all-time saves leader when he sealed yesterday’s 3-0 win against the Twins. In his honor, a few appropriate titles for your consideration: Bullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends, and the Future of the New York Yankees Heroes of the Bullpen: Baseball’s Greatest Relief Pitchers Pen Men: Baseball’s […]
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Greg Spira passed along this link to an NJ.com review of five New York-centric books, including (with a “symbolic” thumbs up-thumbs down): 1961: The Inside Story of the Maris-Mantle Home Run Chase, by Phil Pepe (-) Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly, by Mike Shalin (-) Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The […]
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While doing research for my project, I came across this list, published in 2002, of the 100 top sports books of all time as chosen by the editors of Sports Illustrated. Of those 100, “only” 32 were about baseball. The nerve. Anyway, here’s the SI piece, trimmed to just baseball titles, with commentary from the […]
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The first of what will probably be several lists/suggestions: Linda Holmes, over at Monkey See, the pop culture blog for NPR, offered a selection of five sports books for the summer, including Stan Musial: An American Life by George Vecsey. And, what the heck, there’s enough info to consider Scorecasting a baseball book, too. This […]
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Yonamine, the first Asian-American to play baseball in Japan, was born this date in 1925 in Honolulu. He passed away earlier this year at the age of 86. Robert Fitts published his biography — Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball — in 2008.
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Via Baseball-Reference.com’s Bullpen: Carlton Fisk of the White Sox, plays his 2,226 and final major league game, surpassing Bob Boone’s record of 2,225 for most games caught. (Pertinent title: Carlton Fisk: The catcher who changed “Sox”.)
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The Hall of Fame pitcher who spent his entire 18-year career with the New York Giants was born this date in 1903. Books about Hubbell include: Carl Hubbell: A Biography of the Screwball King A Pitcher’s Moment: Carl Hubbell and the Quest for Baseball Immortality And, of course, any book about the history of the […]
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Seems every Edward/Ed gets that nickname. Lopat, born in 1918, pitched 12 seasons, mostly for the juggernaut Yankees of the late 1940s-mid 1950s. He won 21 games in 1951 and led the American League in winning percentage and ERA in 1953. He was one of the subjects of Sol Gittleman’s 2007 book, Reynolds, Raschi and […]
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Werber, who died in 2009 at the age of 100, was the last link to the 1927 NY Yankees, having spent a week on their bench while a freshman attending Duke. He played for five teams over 11 seasons, leading the Al in runs once and stolen bases three times. The Society for American Baseball […]
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“Super Joe” Charboneau, one of those one-year wonders who won Rookie of the Year for the Indians in 1980 and was gone from the Majors after 1982, turns 56. Many Cleveland fans point to his as a prime example of the shortcomings of the franchise and their long-term failure to produce a winner (the curse […]
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The swift Tiger/Expo/White Sox outfielder turns 63 today. The speedy Tiger presented an interesting story of getting that “one in a million” chance while in prison to try out for the Detroit team, which he turned into a book with Jim Hawkins with One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story. The two collaborated on […]
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Hall of Famer Wade Boggs turns 53 today. Books on Boggs includes: Boggs!, by Boggs The Techniques of Modern Hitting, by Boggs Wade Boggs: Baseball’s Star Hitter (Taking Part) What, no chicken cookbook? Also celebrating today, Brett Butler, who turns 54. He published Field of Hope: An Inspiring Autobiography of a Lifetime of Overcoming Odds, […]
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Bud Harrelson, the Mets’ shortstop of my youth, turns 66 (!) today. He published How to Play Better Baseball, an instructional, in 1972 and is a staple of any book on Mets’ history. Also born this date, Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey (1907). Amazingly, there is no stand-alone biography on Dickey, although he’s […]
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Richard Sandomir, who covers sports media for The New York Times, has this on Ian O’Connor’s latest appearing in this week’s Sunday Book Review section. Upshots: “O’Connor rarely elevates his material beyond a narrative about Jeter’s greatness as a man and player. A straightforward storyteller, he gods up his subject without irony, detachment or recognition […]
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Carlos Zambrano turns 30 today. In addition to being one of the best pitchers of the past decade (121-76), he is, as the old announcer used to say, a pretty fair country hitter. He leads all active pitchers-as-batters with 22 home runs and is a three-time Silver Slugger winner. Pedro Miranda wrote The Big Z: […]
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On this Memorial Day, I just wanted to offer a totally inadequate not of appreciation to all the men and women who sacrificed for this country. In addition to Gary Bedingfield’s thorough Baseball’s Dead of World War II: A Roster of Professional Players Who Died in Service, other books on baseball players and wartime include: […]
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Come on, admit it, won’t you miss hearing “Manny being Manny?” The one-time sure-fire Hall of Famer turns 38 today. I wonder if the authors of Becoming Manny: Inside the Life of Baseball’s Most Enigmatic Slugger would consider a revised edition? Also born this date, actual Hall of Famer Amos Rusie (1871). Bonus nicknames of […]
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Frank Thomas turns 42 today. He’s one of the few sluggers of the recent vintage who have not been (overly) tainted with the steroids suspicion brush. He was a two-time MVP and five-time All-Star in his 19-year in which he averaged 36 homers and 119 RBI per season. There have been several books written about […]
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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
