Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Pedro Martinez turns 39 today. Hard to believe he couldn’t find somebody to take a chance on him in 2010. He was the subject for numerous children’s books in both English and Spanish, as well as Pedro, Carlos, and Omar: The Story of a Season in the Big Apple and the Pursuit of Baseball’s Top […]
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Hats off to Mr. Brosnan, who penned the first of the “in-season” adult autobios/memoirs with The Long Season in 1960. Like Jim Bouton, whose Ball Four was released in 1970, Brosnan was considered something of a turncoat for “revealing” the secrets of the locker room. And this was without all the sex and foul language! […]
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A busy today today with one Hall of Famer and perhaps a future inductee? Ichiro Suzuki turns 37 today. The first position player from japan to make a big splash, it’s understandable Suzuki is naturally the subject of several books, both on his baseball prowess and the cultural significance of his achievements. Ichiro on Ichiro: […]
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The other “Chairman of the Board” turns 82 today, a day after the birthday of his Yankee friend and teammate, Mickey Mantle. In his last two seasons with the Yankees, Ford — inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974 — had a record of 4-9. Subtract that from his career totals and he would […]
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Several high-profile ballplayers share Oct. 20 as a birthday. Tops on the list: Mickey Mantle. There are dozens of books about The Mick. Many of the more recent ones examines his flaws as a person well as his strengths as an athlete, including Jane Leavy’s just-published The Last Boy. Since this book — and by […]
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To Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, born this date in 1876. The Hall of Famer pitched mostly for the Chicago Cubs the last time they were good, compiling a record of 239-130, 2.06 in 14 seasons. He won 20 or more games for six consecutive seasons. And he didn’t even ame his big league debut until […]
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The veteran Tigers’ strongman, Horton turns 68 today. Horton played most of his 18-year career in Detroit, leading them to the 1968 World Championship with 36 home runs and 86 RBIs. He finished with 325 homers, 1,163 ribbies, and a .273 batting average and was one of the most feared batters at the time. Grant […]
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Tim McCarver is either a genius or an annoyance, depending on your point of view. For some, he’s a keen analyst, for others, he just one of those ex-player blowhards with whom the modern rarely finds favor. He’s been accused of trying to make the game too “deep inside,” although there are plenty of fans […]
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The Hall of Fame pitcher (and former underwear model) turns 65 today. Palmer published his memoirs — Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine: The Twenty-Year Friendship of Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer and Orioles Manager Earl Weaver — in 1996.
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Art Shamsky, a favorite of Jewish baseball fans everywhere, turns 69 today. I ran into Shamsky last Sunday at the memorial service for Maury Allen. Still looking good and hoping for a resurrection of professional baseball in Israel; he was manager of the Modi’in Miracle in 2007, the only season for the Israel Baseball League. […]
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This day marks the birth of Rube Waddell (1876), a Hall-of-Fame hurler from the early part of the 20th century. Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist, by Alan Howard Levy Just a Big Kid: The Life and Times of Rube Waddell, by Paul Proia Another member of the Hall, slugger Eddie […]
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Happy birthday, Joe. Can’t believe you’re 70 today. The title of his book — Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud, written with Berry Stainback and published in 1975 — was perfect. He was pretty good — a three time All-Star and Golve Glove winner — but had the bad timing to be on the Yankees […]
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To Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who turns 65 today. Carew, by Carew with Ira Berkow Rod Carew’s Art and Science of Hitting Also marking the occasion, Mark McGwire, who perhaps could have been a Hall of Famer, turns 47. There were two “waves” of books about Big Mac. The first came in 1998 when […]
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To beloved Brooklyn Dodger Johnny Podres, born this date in 1932. Johnny Podres: Brooklyn’s Yankee Killer And to Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, born in 1926. Roberts, one of the last great complete game practitioners, died just this past May. He penned, My Life in Baseball,with the help of C. Paul Rogers III, in 2003.
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“Cro” was once considered a part of the best outfields in the game as a member of the Montreal Expos in the early 1980s. Then he made a name for himself — as well as a book — when he took his game to Japan. He turns 57 today. Slugging It Out in Japan: An […]
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Cover via Amazon A duo of dates. Hall of Famer Robin Yount is 55. Robin Yount: The Legend Lives on All-Star and Cy Young winner Orel Hershier turns 52. Out of the Blue: Orel Hershiser Between the Lines: Nine Things Baseball Taught Me About Life Orel Hershiser: Up Close and Personal Bonus nickname of the […]
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The author of Me & The Spitter The Candid Confessions of Baseball’s Greatest Spitball Artist (or How I Got Away With It) (with Bob Sudyk), turns 72 today. I was at the Hall of Fame once, attending the annual Cooperstown Symposium (which I highly recommend) and word came down that Perry was in the building. […]
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Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka turns 30. Dice-K: The First Season of the Red Sox $100 Million Man Former Yankee favorite Bernie Williams is 42. The Journey Within (since you can put a CD on your bookshelf.)
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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
Birthday greetings
September 27, 2010 · 4 comments
Happy birthday to Johnny Pesky, inventor of Fenway Park’s Pesky Pole, 91 years young today. Pesky was the author or subject of several books about the Red Sox, including Diary of a Red Sox Season Mr. Red Sox: The Johnny Pesky Story, by Bill Nowlin Few and Chosen: Defining Red Sox Greatness Across the Eras […]
Tagged as: Johnny Pesky, Mike Schmidt
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