Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The Hall of Fame pitcher was born this date in 1871. The name was most appropriate: He completed 314 out of 381 game starts, averaging 24 wins over a relatively brief career of 10 years, including back-to-back 31+ seasons. And he didn’t even begin his big league career until age 28. Toss out an 8-8 […]
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Extra literary: Rutner, born this date in 1919, appeared in an even dozen games for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1947. He even had one home run. But he was immortalized by Eliot “Eight Men Out” Asinof as the inspiration for the main character in his 1955 novel about the struggles of a veteran minor leaguer, […]
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Legend has it that Lloyd Waner and his brother Paul, aka “Big Poison” — both members of the Baseball Hall of Fame — received their nicknames not because they were so lethal at the plate — which they were — but because simply because some Brooklyn fans couldn’t pronounce the word “person” according to the […]
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The New York Yankees outfielder turns 30 today. Granderson published a book for young kids, All You Can Be: Dream It, Draw It, Become It!, in 2009 while a member of the Detroit Tigers. Proceeds go to help his Grand Kids Foundation, which was established “to help fund educational field trips, art initiatives, science initiatives […]
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Bobby Bonds, Barry’s daddy, was born this date in 1946. Good genes: Papa won three Gold Gloves and was a three-time All-Star. Bobby Bonds, Rising Superstar, by Sullivan, 1976
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Kirby Puckett, the Hall of Fame outfielder for the Minnesota Twins, was brn this date in 1960. Books on Puckett include: Puck! Kirby Puckett: Baseball’s Last Warrior, by Carlson, 2001 Be the Best You Can Be, by Puckett, 1993 I Love This Game!: My Life and Baseball, by Puckett, 1993
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Dock Ellis, perhaps baseball’s trippiest pitcher, was born this date in 1945. Here‘s the entry I posted upon his untimely death in 2008. And a Robin Williams homage to Ellis’ most impressive feat: pitching a no-hitter while on LSD. The pitcher collaborated with the eminent Donald Hall on Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball […]
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Today we mark the birth of the late Lou Limmer. I don’t eBay often, but when I do it’s usually for some bit of Jewish sports memorabilia. Like this Limmer card from the 1955 Topps set. Colorful, ain’t it? I had the pleasure of interviewing Limmer shortly before he passed.
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Ballplayers have had their careers cut short for all sorts of reasons. Jackie Jensen, a three-time All Star and 1958 AL MVP, couldn’t deal with the fear of flying. He averaged 21 home runs and almost 100 RBIs over nine full seasons in an 11-year career, spent mostly with the Red Sox. He retired in […]
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One of our birthday boys is in the Hall of Fame, although their numbers are amazingly similar. 162-Game Avg Player A Player B At bats 638 586 Runs 97 102 Hits 190 171 Doubles 29 30 Triples 6 7 Home Runs 30 33 RBI 113 104 Walks 52 83 Strikeouts 110 144 Batting Average .298 […]
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Willie Stargell, the heart and soul of the Pittsburgh Prates “family,” was born this date in 1940. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988 Willie Stargell: An Autobiography, by Stargell with Bird, 1984 Out of left field: Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates (A Prairie House book), Adelman, 1976 Lefty Grove was […]
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The Hall of Fame pitcher who won “only” 197 games (while losing 140), was born this date in 1891. Charles Arthur Vance spent most of his career toiling for the Brooklyn Robins when they weren’t very good. I guess his seven consecutive years of leading the NL in strikeouts earned him the nickname as an […]
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Hall of Famer Mel Ott was born this date in 1909. Ott spent his entire 22-year career with the New York Giants, splitting playing time with managing from 1942-47 (he also led the team from the bench in 1948.) He died from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1958 at the age of 49 […]
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One of the most compelling characters in baseball history — and perhaps American culture — has to be Moe Berg, born this date in 1902. I’m not going to go into a whole lot of background about Berg. Other have written about him well and at length, including Nicholas Dawidioff’s seminal biography The Catcher Was […]
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Five time All-Star Paul O’Neill, that notorious hot head, turns 48 today. O’Neill published a sentimental memoir, Me and My Dad : A Baseball Memoir, in 2003. Writing runs in the family: his sister is Molly O’Neill, a chef and cookbook author. * * * How do you suppose Monte Irvin got the nickname “Mr. […]
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because you can put a CD on the bookshelf. Arroyo, who turns 34 today, is an accomplished musician. He released Covering the Bases in 2005 and appeared as a guest on sportswriter Peter Gammons’ 2006 project, Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old. (You can hear samples from both albums by clicking on the links.) You […]
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One of the all-time greats of the game, Honus Wagner enjoyed renewed fame because of his rare baseball card. He was born this date in 1878. The books specifically on Wagner (he’s included in many histories of the game) are divided into those about his life and those about the card and the collectibles industry. […]
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Bonilla, who paired with Barry Bonds to form an awesome duo for the Pittsburgh Pirates, didn’t enjoy such good times after joining the NY Mets. he was one of the subjects depicted in Bob Klapisch’s 1993 “exposé,” The Worst Team Money Could Buy. Baseball-Reference lists the 1992 Mets’ total salaries at $42,180,335. Last year that […]
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The Hall of Fame outfielder didn’t make his big league debut until the age of 25 in 1915. Rice spent his entire career with the Washington Senators. Sam Rice: A Biography of the Washington Senators Hall of Famer
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No, not Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, but Ron Cey, the six-time all-star third baseman for the LA Dodgers, and later the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A’s, turns 63 today. I actually found a book “by” Cey: How To Play Third Base: A Movie In Your Pocket, published in 1977 and described by a used book store […]
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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
