Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A series of recent baseball articles from Forbes: Baseball’s Best Teams For The Buck and Baseball’s Best Playoff Players for the Buck The Plight of the Umpire and the Inevitability of Instant Replay Who Profits from MLB’s Postseason? Baseball’s Most and Least Efficient Teams for the 2010 Season From the last story: The average payroll […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
How about 2,063,333,890 of ’em? That’s the payroll for the New York Yankees at the beginning of the 2010 season, according to USA Today? Don’t know how I missed this one from The New York Times, especially since it has such a cool graphic: Putting a price tag on winning Fans are fairly inured to […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
As the days dwindle down to a precious few, here’s an attempt at a major catch-up: I met Rob Fitts at the SABR convention in Washington, DC, last year. His specialty is Japanese baseball. Here’s his site on baseball cards. The NY Times‘ Alan Schwarz covered the convention’s always-entertaining trivia contest. You know the theoretical […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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 […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will host the Baseball Film Festival in Cooperstown, Oct. 1-3. As part of the three-day event, Billy Crystal, who directed and executive produced the classic film 61*, will be on hand as the Hall of Fame celebrates his 2001 production that told the story of the 1961 […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Sept. 10. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville 3 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Richard Sandomir of The New York Times reports on the generally disappointing documentary on the late Yankees owner, part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series. Upshot: Documentaries soar when they reveal something new and send viewers on new paths. From the start of “One Night in Vegas,” the ESPN “30 for 30” film that had […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Sept. 2. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime by Jason Turbow and Michael Duca 2 The Natural, by Bernard Malamud 3 […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Received the latest (Summer 2010) issue of the BSJ. To be honest, a lot of the statistical stuff therein is a bit over my head/interest level, but there are several book reviews, so it balances out. Among them: Phil Birnbaum on The Bill James Gold Mine 2010 Lee Lowenfish on Satchel: The Life and Times […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Aug. 6. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 Chicago Cubs Cookbook: All-star Recipes from Your Favorite Players 3 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, July 16. Title Rank General Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Scott Turbow […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Ran this on my other blog on Jews and Sports: Bob Sheppard, the voice of the New York Yankees for some 60 years, passed away yesterday at the age of 99. Sheppard, who was known in certain circles as “the voice of God” for his diction, timber, and dulcet tone was not Jewish, but thanks […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
(Got it in under the wire) Born on the Fourth of July 80 years ago. Here’s a review of Bill Madden’s new bio from WasWatching.com. Other titles featuring Steinbrenner include: George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire, by Peter Golenbock The Ballad of Billy and George: The Tempestuous Baseball Marriage of […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Not really, but I thought it was a cute way to introduce this Atlantic article on “How Justice Stevens Changed Baseball,” by Henry D. Fetter, author of Taking on the Yankees: Winning and Losing in the Business of Baseball. In 1951, the future Justice Stevens was a young antitrust lawyer in Chicago when he was […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, July 2. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Scott Turbow […]
{ 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
Bits and pieces
September 17, 2010
Spurred on by the hubbub around the 40th anniversary of Ball Four, Delia Cabe, who hosts the Creative Type blog at Boston.com, had this piece about the best baseball books, not just from her POV, but from those of local celebrities and others. And as the Baseball Reliquary program heralding that anniversary beckons, look for […]
Tagged as: Ball Four, Negro league baseball, Rube Foster
{ Comments on this entry are closed }