Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Who knew the three-time All-star catcher was a writer? I had not heard of his 2007 publication If They Only Knew, but I would definitely like to get my hands on a copy. Which leads to the inevitable question, if we only knew what? According to Wikipedia, that great bastion of scholarship Daulton holds a […]
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The former perfect game-hurler turns 47 today. Cone teamed up with baseball commentator extraordinaire Roger Angell to produce the cerebral A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone in 2001.
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One of the minor characters in the Black Sox Scandal was a former ballplayer named Billy Graham, who had sought to disguise his identity by changing his name to Maharg. Brilliant disguise. So in that spirit, Happy Birthday to Loyd Christopher, a close proximity-reversal of the name Christopher Lloyd, who played Sleepy Bill Burns, Maharg’s […]
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Dandy Sandy turns 75 (!) today. Can it really be? I hope I look that good when I’m his age. Or ever. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to refer to previous links about the Dodger (and Jewish) legend from Kaplan’s Korner, my blog about Jews and sports. Because you can never get enough […]
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Bill Lee turns 64 today. The flaky, quirky, “spacey” lefty had an interesting 14-year major league career, to put it mildly, including being called on the carpet by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for admitting to sprinkling marijuana on his pancakes. Books by and about Lee include: Amazon.com Widgets Also marking a birthday today: “Sunday Teddy” Lyons, […]
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No literary birthdays today, but did you know that before he was a famous humanitarian Albert Schweitzer played for the St. Louis Browns? “Cheese,” as he was called by his friends, was born this date in 1882. I’ll go you one better: Many people complain that Gary Cooper was a lousy athlete and a poor […]
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The birthday boys include 10-time All-Star Steve Garvey, Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton, and long (long) time manager Connie Mack. Garvey has a number of books by and about him, including My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer (Scribner, 2008); Garvey (Crown, 1986); and The Secret Life of Cyndy […]
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Trying to catch up here: December 20 noted the birthdates of Fred Merkle (1888), Gabby Hartnett (1900; Gabby Hartnett: The Life and Times of the Cubs’ Greatest Catcher) and David Wright (1982; Mets Pride: For the Love of Mookie, Mike, and David Wright). Andy Van Slyke turns the big 5-oh today. Odd that his name […]
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Branch Rickey was born this Dec. 20, 1881. When asked why he fought to make Jackie Robinson accepted in the Major Leagues, Rickey often told the story of a black teammate from his college days who was shunned by opponents. There are numerous books about Rickey, but perhaps none more detailed and insightful than Lee […]
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Ty Cobb was born this date in 1886. Among the scores of books written about this intense, bigoted ballplayer are: My Life in Baseball: The True Record Ty Cobb (Sport in American Life), by Charles Alexander Ty Cobb: Safe at Home, by Don Rhodes Ty and The Babe: Baseball’s Fiercest Rivals: A Surprising Friendship and […]
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They don’t get much more literary than this, which comes from the Hall of Fame’s Time Wiles via Facebook: Happy birthday to one of the first baseball writers, Jane Austen. From Northanger Abbey: …it was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, baseball, riding on horseback, […]
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Mo Vaughn turns 43 today. I never saw a hitter get so bad so quick. He was a slugger for the Red Sox from 1991-98, winning the AL MVP in ’95 and had two more great years with the Angels before falling through a trap door with the Mets and calling it a career. For […]
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Craig Biggio, the last player to join the 3,000-hit club, turns 45 today. The book on him: Biggio: The Final Game. Honorary mention: Scott Hatteberg. Who’s he, you ask? Basically, Hatteberg — who walked 562 and struck out just 503 times and had a .361 OBP over his 14-year career — was one of the […]
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A whole bunch today, beginning with Fergie Jenkins, the Hall of Fame pitcher, who turns 68. You often read about how dark-skinned Hispanics players such as Robert Clemente or Vic Power were amazed by the prejudice they encountered in the 1950s and 1960s, coming from countries where none existed. I wonder how Jenkins felt, coming […]
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Bill Nicholson was born this date in 1914. He was considered one of the great sluggers of his generation, leading the National League in home runs in 1943 and 1944. He retired in 1953 with 235 four-baggers. With so many athletes serving in WWII. I would love to see — just out of curiosity — […]
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Mike Mussina, who turns 42 today, was considered one of the brighter players in the game, if for no ohter reason than the fact he did crossword puzzles…in pen, yet! He shared the spotlight with Mets’ pitcher Tom Glavine as the focus of John Feinstein’s 2008 book, Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, […]
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Anyone else surprised that “Little General” was Johnny Bench‘s nickname? The Hall of Fame catcher turns 63 today. Books on Bench include: From Behind the Plate Catch You Later: The Autobiography of Johnny Bench Catch Every Ball: How to Handle Life’s Pitches In addition, Bo Belinsky was born this date in1936. He collaborated with the […]
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Larry Bowa turns 65 today. The long-time Phillies shortstop (he also played with the Cubs before batting .105 in his final year with the Mets; yeah, thanks for that) was also a short-tempered manager for the Padres and Phils. He wrote two books: Bleep: Larry Bowa Manages in 1988 and Larry Bowa: I Still Hate […]
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Walter Alston was born this date in 1911. He struck out in his only at bat: Sept. 27, 1936 as member of the St. Louis Cardinals against the Chicago Cubs. But he more than made up for that as a Hall of Fame manager for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Alston was inducted into the Hall […]
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Bo Jackson turns 48 today. The pop culture icon published Bo Knows Bo, Autobiography of a Ballplayer with Dick Schaap in 1990.
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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 blog 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
