Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
A belated Happy Birthday to Stan Musial, who turned 90 yesterday. George Vecsey, who is working on a biography of the Hall of Fame outfielder who spent his entire 22-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, offered his own greetings in his NY Times column yesterday. (My favorite Musial stat: 1,815 hits at home, 1,815 […]
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(Sorry, no nickname. This is becoming more and more of a problem as the players get younger.) Robert James Monday (how do you get Rick from that? You get Rick from Richard; you get Bob from Robert) turns 65 today. A solid outfielder for the Athletics (he was the number one overall pick in the […]
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Hall of Famer Roy Campanella was born this day in 1921. Books about the ill-fated catcher include: His own It’s Good to Be Alive, first published in 1959, a year after the accident that put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella, an in-depth biography […]
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Also born this date, Jay Hook, who earned the first of the Mets’ 3,734 victories.
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Also known by Mets fans as The Franchise, Tom Seaver turns 66 today. This is one of the “heroes” of my youth and an education that regardless of your perceived value, an athlete is basically a commodity, to be bought, sold, traded, discarded (although that term seems a bit harsh). After expressing dissatisfaction with the […]
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I have been remiss. Recent notable birthdays include Nov. 13: Mel Stottlemyre, 1941 (Pride and Pinstripes: The Yankees, Mets, and Surviving Life’s Challenges) Johnny Kling, 1875) (Johnny Kling: A Baseball Biography) Nov. 14: Jim Piersall, 1929 (Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story, plus the movie version starring the badly miscast Anthony Perkins, Fear Strikes […]
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Congrats to Tim Sackett, winner of the October Bookshelf Give-Away: Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye. The book was named winner of the two top baseball literary awards: The Seymour Medal from the Society for American baseball Research, and Spitball Magazine‘s Casey Award. The November book will be another […]
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Two notorious players — one from the old days and one more contemporary — share a birthday today. Carl Mays, the submarining hurler for the Red Sox, Yankees, Reds, and Giants in a 15-year career, was born in 1891. Mays was the only pitcher in Major league history to kill a batter with a thrown […]
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Although not together. Pie Traynor was born this date in 1898. The Hall of Fame third baseman is the subject of a recent biography — Pie Traynor: A Baseball Biography, by James Forr and David Proctor. Born in 1891, Rabbit Maranville was one of those players whose inclusion in the Hall has been a source […]
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Baseball lifer George “Birdie” Tebbetts was born on this date in 1912. A catcher, he spent 14 seasons as an active player before taking of the managerial reins of the Cincinnati Redlegs, as they were called in the early 1950s during the Communist scare, as per this Wikipedia entry: “Twice in the 1950s (the McCarthy […]
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Hall of Famers — and former Cardinals — Bob Gibson (75) and Whitey Herzog (79) share a birthday today. Books on Gibson: Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the Game is Played Stranger to the Game: The Autobiography of Bob Gibson From Ghetto […]
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Jerry Remy, the Red Sox’ popular second baseman from the late ’70s to mid ’80s, turns 58 today. A local product who made good in Red Sox Nation, Remy became a broadcaster following his active career and wrote a couple of primers on the game: Jerry Remy’s Red Sox Heroes: The RemDawg’s All-Time Favorite Red […]
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A couple of book-related birthdays today: Jim “Kitty” Kaat, turns 72 today. This is one of those “longevity” cases for Hall of Fame consideration. Kaat won 283 games, but he did it in 25 seasons. He published his memoirs, Still Pitching: Musings from the Mound and the Microphone in 2003, looking back on his playing […]
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Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Janey Leavy. Harper, 2010. If she’s not careful, Jane Leavy will earn a reputation as the Boswell of the battered ballplayer. In 2002, she wrote the definitive biography (to this point) of the role model to Jewish boomers everywhere in Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. In […]
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Bob Feller, one of the fastest pitchers in Major League history, turns 92 today. Feller was one of those “Greatest Americans” who served in combat in World War II (as opposed to ballplayers who continued to play, albeit within the confines of military service). He lost more than three prime years. Several sabermetricians have posited […]
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Thanks to Greg Spira for this list of links to reviews of Jane Leavy’s latest: The Cleveland Plain Dealer The Oregonian Dallas Morning News Christian Science Monitor (author interview) Ottawa Citizen CBS News (feature with excerpt) Los Angeles Times SecondAct.com (feature) Here’s another from the Watching the Game blog, which is quickly becoming one of […]
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Johnny Vander Meer, owner of one record that is unlikely to be broken, was born this date in 1914. The Dutch Master, The Life And Times Of Johnny Vander Meer, by Paul Lichtman Also born on Nov. 2, Al Campanis, the Dodgers’ baseball lifer who made an infamous name for himself with his remarks about […]
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Fernando Valenzuela hits the big Five-Oh today. As a rookie in the strike-shortened 1981 season he won the hearts and imaginations of baseball fans everywhere — as well as the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award — and years later got a shout-out from Annie savoy in Bull Durham. The impetus behind “Fernandomania” […]
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Mickey Rivers turns 62 today. Rivers was one of the ex-Yankees down in Florida last year when I attended Fantasy Camp. He wasn’t one of my coaches, so I didn’t have too much interaction with him. But one indelible memory: After the games one day, the campers and staff gathered in the plush snack bar […]
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Marking the occasion: Ed Delahanty and Bill Terry. Born in 1867, Delahanty was one of the games first superstars, plying his trade for the primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980s. In his 16 year career, he batted .346 with 101 home runs and 1,466 RBIs. He met his fate under odd circumstances that […]
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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
