Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, July 16. Title Rank General Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Scott Turbow […]
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The Minnesota Twins slugger would have been 76 today. Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 61 in 1995. In 1967, Hal Butler published The Bob Allison Story. By that time, the athlete was on the downside of his career. In 13 big league seasons — all with the Twins and their predecessor, the […]
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(Got it in under the wire) Born on the Fourth of July 80 years ago. Here’s a review of Bill Madden’s new bio from WasWatching.com. Other titles featuring Steinbrenner include: George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire, by Peter Golenbock The Ballad of Billy and George: The Tempestuous Baseball Marriage of […]
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The Buffalo News posted this one. Upshot: First came “Willie Mays — The Life and Legend” by James S. Hirsch, which skillfully reminded everyone why we remember the Giants’ center fielder as the most exciting player of his time. Following that in the order is “The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron.” Howard Bryant’s […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, June 25. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville 3 The Bullpen Gospels: Major […]
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The Dorchester Reporter posted this Clark Booth review of Bill Madden’s latest title, Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball. Upshot: “It is, I believe, a decidedly important baseball book. Bill Madden is the man to tell it.”
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“King Carl” was born this date in 1903. The Hall of Famer was the subject Carl Hubbell: A Biography of the Screwball King, by Lowell L. Blaisdell, and A Pitcher’s Moment: Carl Hubbell and the Quest for Baseball Immortality, by Fritz A. Buckallew. he also ostensibly contributed a chapter on pitching for Joe DiMaggio’s 1949 […]
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Happy birthday to Shufflin’ Phil Douglas, born this date in 1890. Douglas, who was expelled from baseball for “gambling issue,” pitched for nine years, primarily for the Cubs and Giants and was the subject of the 1978 bio One Last Round for the Shuffler, by Tom Clark. Also celebrating, “Super Joe” Charboneau, 55, one of […]
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Several former Major Leaguers share a birthday today, including: Wade Boggs Boggs!The Techniques of Modern Hitting Billy Williams Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs Babe Dahlgren Rumor in Town: A Grandson’s Promise to Right a Wrong
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To Thurman Munson, who would have been 63, believe it or not.
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My review of Bill Madden’s riveting profile of the Yankees owner was published on Bookreporter.com. You can read it here.
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Those who share my birthday include: The late Mike Coolbaugh, whose death from a line drive in a minor league game was achingly chronicled by S.L. Price in Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America. Lou Brissie, whose amazing comeback from devastating injuries suffered during World War II was the […]
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Yankees.baseball-news-update.com posted reviews of two titles: Dayn Perry’s Reggie Jackson, and 1921, by Spatz and Steinberg. While the writer deems both to be “serious and thoughtful volumes displaying highly impressive research…. neither book quite fully succeeds.” A celebrity first pitch I’d love to see: A profile in Smithsonian Magazine outs Harper Lee, author of the […]
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to Clyde King, who turns 86 today. And to William Elsworth “Dummy” Hoy, the first deaf Major Leaguer, who was born this day in 1862. Hoy was responsible (depending on whose story your believe) for helping to create umpires’ signals. His descendants have created a website in his honor and are coming out with a […]
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to Tommy John, born this date in 1943. Books by/about John include: T. J.: My 26 Years in Baseball The Tommy John Story The Sally and Tommy John Story Also born this date, Hall of Fame outfielder Al Simmons (Al Simmons: The Best)
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This top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, May 21. Title Rank General Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 1 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca 2 The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, […]
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The Life and Thunderous Career of Baseball’s Mr. October, by Dayn Perry. Morrow, 326 Pages, $25.99 Whatever words are used to describe Reginald Martinez Jackson, the Hall of Fame outfielder for the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees (with less effectual stints on the Angels and Orioles), “complex” has to be among them. And that’s […]
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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
