Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
It’s not Kevin Youkilis, but Bob Uecker, who turns 76 today. I guess it’s a catcher-thing. Perhaps sitting behind the plate, with the whole field out in front of you, you have the perspective for contemplation. That’s why guys like Uecker, Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra (albeit perhaps unwittingly) have such sense of humor. All […]
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By the way, it’s still winter so why aren’t we hearing snow-themed songs anymore? “Winter Wonderland” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” among others, are not “holiday” songs, per se, so they’d still be valid. Just sayin’. Thought I saw my first “annual” at the bookstore last week, but it was a fantasy publication, so it […]
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to Ozzie Guillen, who turns 47 today. I know. I found it surprising that there are two books by/about him: The Wit And Wisdom of Ozzie Guillen and A Passion for the Game: Ozzie Guillen’s Insights, Outbursts, Kudos, and Comebacks.
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“The Great Emancipator” would have been 72 today. Flood published his story — The Way It Is — in 1971, the year he retired from the game. Since then, several books about Flood’s role in creating the free agent dream (or nightmare, depending on your point of view), have been released with lesser or greater […]
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Sharing the special day is one current and one future Hall of Famer. Dizzy Dean was born on this date in 1910. The star hurler was the smiling face of baseball during the Depression, know for his folksy Arkansas sayings that are the staple of quotations about the game. The current Redbird is Albert Pujols, […]
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Haven’t done one of these in awhile, so here goes. MLB.com posted this story about Andrew Zimablist, who published Circling the Bases: Essays on the Challenges and Prospects of the Sports Industry last October. WithLeather blogs about Jose Canseco’s upcoming (and unpromising?) appearance on he new season of Celebrity Apprentice. Speaking of television, will baseball […]
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to forget to post about Hank Greenberg‘s 100th birthday, which would have been Jan. 1. Andy Wolf posted this tribute on Dec. 30. Mark Kurlansky, author of The Eastern Stars, is about to release anew biography — Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to be One — from Yale University Press in March. Previous […]
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Hall of Famer Early Wynn was born this date in 1920. He hung around for 23 Years, missing the whole 1945 season for military service. I was under the impression that he retired right after he won his coveted 300th game, but I was in error. He actually appeared in another15 games after his July […]
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When I was a kid, I loved to find players with my name (Ron Hunt got extra points because he was a Met). It gave me some sort of coolness by association, I thought. So happy birthday to Ron Kittle, who turns 52 today. He lent his name to Ron Kittle’s Tales from the White […]
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The former perfect game-hurler turns 47 today. Cone teamed up with baseball commentator extraordinaire Roger Angell to produce the cerebral A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone in 2001.
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 31,2010. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, by 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Baseball Prospectus 2011 4 Beyond […]
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Dandy Sandy turns 75 (!) today. Can it really be? I hope I look that good when I’m his age. Or ever. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to refer to previous links about the Dodger (and Jewish) legend from Kaplan’s Korner, my blog about Jews and sports. Because you can never get enough […]
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Bill Lee turns 64 today. The flaky, quirky, “spacey” lefty had an interesting 14-year major league career, to put it mildly, including being called on the carpet by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for admitting to sprinkling marijuana on his pancakes. Books by and about Lee include: Amazon.com Widgets Also marking a birthday today: “Sunday Teddy” Lyons, […]
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The birthday boys include 10-time All-Star Steve Garvey, Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton, and long (long) time manager Connie Mack. Garvey has a number of books by and about him, including My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer (Scribner, 2008); Garvey (Crown, 1986); and The Secret Life of Cyndy […]
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Trying to catch up here: December 20 noted the birthdates of Fred Merkle (1888), Gabby Hartnett (1900; Gabby Hartnett: The Life and Times of the Cubs’ Greatest Catcher) and David Wright (1982; Mets Pride: For the Love of Mookie, Mike, and David Wright). Andy Van Slyke turns the big 5-oh today. Odd that his name […]
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Branch Rickey was born this Dec. 20, 1881. When asked why he fought to make Jackie Robinson accepted in the Major Leagues, Rickey often told the story of a black teammate from his college days who was shunned by opponents. There are numerous books about Rickey, but perhaps none more detailed and insightful than Lee […]
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Ty Cobb was born this date in 1886. Among the scores of books written about this intense, bigoted ballplayer are: My Life in Baseball: The True Record Ty Cobb (Sport in American Life), by Charles Alexander Ty Cobb: Safe at Home, by Don Rhodes Ty and The Babe: Baseball’s Fiercest Rivals: A Surprising Friendship and […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com, as of Friday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]
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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
