Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
“Knucksie” turns 69 today. The Hall of Famer defied time by pitching until he was 48, amassing a record of 311-274 while playing for some pretty bad teams. One stat I found particularly “enjoyable”: In 1979 Niekro won 21, lost 21, started 44 games, completed 23 (more than entire leagues these days), threw 311 innings, […]
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I especially get a kick when I find references to baseball books from outlets that have essentially nothing to do with the game. Case in point, this review of Lee Lowenfish’s “excellent” biography from the Greater New York blog.
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…in 1978, the A’s end the fifteen-year career of Dick Allen by releasing the aging superstar. The Wampum, Pennsylvania native finishes his stormy relationship with major league baseball with 351 homers, 1,192 RBIs and .292 batting average. (Thanks to NationalPastime.com.) The Amazon Report on Richie Allen: Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen September […]
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Born in 1919, Raschi won 120 games for the Yankees during their juggernaut years, averaging 20 wins from 1948-51, including three straight 21-victory seasons. He also pitched briefly for the Cardinals and K.C. Athletics. Not bad considering he didn’t become a major leaguer until 27, and didn’t join the rotation full-time until he was 29. […]
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Wilfred Santiago pays homage to his countryman Roberto Clemente in graphic novela form, due out later this year. According to the publication’s Web site, 21 is “a human drama of courage and dignity….Facing prejudice during times of change, his talent went unrecognized for most of his eighteen seasons. Clemente, however, never lost of sight of […]
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From FragileFreddy’s Red Sox blog, this review on Johnny Peksy’s Diary of a Red Sox Season. Upshot: Overall the book is a brief but fun read and one I definitely recommend. You won’t learn a lot that is new to you about the Red Sox but you will learn about Johnny Pesky and you will […]
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Joe Posnanski won Spitball Magazine‘s 2007 Casey Award for his bittersweet biography of Negro Leagues legend and baseball Ambassador Buck O’Neil. The elderly O’Neil, who died last year, enjoyed a new-found popularity thanks to Ken Burns’ 1995 documentary on the national pastime.
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by William C. Kashatus. Penn State Press, 2006. Albert Charles “Chief” Bender was one of the best pitchers of the early 20th century, a stalwart for Connie Mack Philadelphia Athletics from 1903-17. During that time (with a one-game comeback in 1925 with the Chicago White Sox) he won more than 210 games and compiled an […]
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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
