Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Rickey Henderson becomes the third player — joining Ted Williams and Willie McCovey — to hit home runs in four decades. Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original, by Howard Bryant (2022) Off Base: Confessions of a Thief, by Henderson with John Shea (1992) Born this date: David Wells Perfect I’m […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
In a 12-month period that has seen the passing of numerous Hall of Famers, it’s nice to be able to wish a happy 90th birthday to Willie Mays. James Hirsch, who wrote Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, the most recent bio of the “greatest living player,” contributed this essay to The New York Times, which […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I don’t know how I missed this. Robinson would have been 100 years old on January 31. The Museum of the City of New York recently launched an exhibit titled “In the Dugout with Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait of a Baseball Legend.” And a brand new JR Museum — also located in New York […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The “New Home Run King of All Time” turns 85 today. Here’s what I posted a few years back in an entry on Hall of Famers and the books about them: Henry Aaron (elected 1982). Like several of his contemporaries, the books on Aaron fall into a few timelines: “regular” releases during his playing days; […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Posting this now in case anyone out there wants to attend… From the The Great Fenway Park Writers Series… At noon Tuesday, August 28, the Red Sox, Bank of America, Writers Series, BoSox, and Residence Inn Back Bay Boston/Fenway, will honor the life of Ted Williams on what would have been his 100th birthday, August 30 […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Dandy Sandy turns 80 today, if you can believe it. Back at the All-Star Game in July, Koufax was anointed — along with Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Johnny Bench — as one of baseball’s greatest living legends. The MLB Network aired a special moderated by Bob Costas featuring the quarter reminiscing and sharing anecdotes. […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Frank Sinatra would have turned 100 tomorrow. He had his fair share of baseball chops. He starred with Gene Kelly in the 1949 feature Take Me Out to the Ball Game in which he played second baseman Dennis Ryan of the famed “O’Brien to Ryan to Goldberg” ditty. Might not have been the greatest baseball […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Haven’t done one of these in a long time and can see no better figure with which to resume than Roger Angell, who turned 95 on Saturday. Greatly looking forward to his new project — This Old Man: All in Pieces — which is slated for release on Nov. 15. Here’s one of my favorite […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
One of my understated heroes turns 93 today. I had the pleasure of doing a Bookshelf Conversation with Hano a couple of years ago. But Jon Leonoudakis — whose previous works include Not Exactly Cooperstown and 5:05 P.M. (about the “Earthquake World Series”) — goes even farther with a documentary about the author of the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The Negro League umpire turned author celebrates the big 9-1 today.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Posted on Facebook by John Rosengren, author of Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes: Babe Ruth’s birthday today. Born 1895. Hank Greenberg thought Babe was the greatest ballplayer ever. In early 1947 he visited Ruth at his Riverside apartment while the Babe was recovering from throat cancer surgery and on a doctor-prescribed beer diet to […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Born this date: * 1868 – Sol White, Negro League infielder and manager; Hall of Fame (d. 1955) Sol White’s History of Colored Baseball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886-1936 * 1950 – Richard Ben Cramer, author (d. 2013) Joe DiMaggio : The Hero’s Life What Do You Think of Ted Williams […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Literary birthday greetings: 1919 – Monte Irvin, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer Nice Guys Finish First: The Autobiography of Monte Irvin, by Irvin and James A. Riley, Carroll & Graf, 1996. 1929 – Syd Thrift, general manager (d. 2006) The Game According to Syd: The Theories and Teachings of Baseball’s Leading Innovator, by Thrift and […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Literary birthday greetings: 1942 – Fritz Peterson, pitcher; All-Star Mickey Mantle Is Going To Heaven, by Peterson, Outskirts Press, 2009. The Art of De-Conditioning: Eating Your Way to Heaven, by Peterson, Light Side Books, 2012. Lest we forget: 1956 – Connie Mack, catcher, manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1862) My 66 Years in the Big […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
