Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
I am working on a “Bookshelf Conversation” podcast with Heather Quinlan, producer of a new documentary about the 1986 New York Mets. Quinlan is trying to raise $50,000 for her project via Kickstarter. (There are similar sites , but who has time to go through them all? Perhaps this will motivate you to investigate further.) […]
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I am signed up for a bunch of daily Google alerts which inform me about various sports topics, including baseball stuff and Jewish-related items for my other blog. Sometimes I even read them. After the death last week of baseball lifer Don Zimmer, I received a GA for a story appearing on the very serious-yet-entertaining […]
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From the Associated Press: Advanced Stats Find Way Onto Baseball Cards The advanced-stats movement is making headway in another area: baseball cards. Topps added WAR (wins above replacement) to its cards last year in a sign that the oft-debated metric is becoming more accepted by the mainstream. As a company that’s been making baseball cards […]
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And it’s even literary, technically.
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No offense to Woodstock. To honor Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, MLB has commissioned a series of statuettes depicting several Peanuts characters in baseball motif. The characters, which sell for $24.99, include good ol’ Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Schroeder, Pig Pen, Franklin, and Belle. The 2014 All-Star game will be hosted by […]
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Call me old-fashioned, call me a baseball dinosaur, call me irresponsible (kids, ask your parents), but I think this is just wrong Of all the teams, you expect the Yankees, who boast about their proud tradition and heritage as the “uber-franchise,” to stay the sartorial course. And several fans apparently agree with me. My complaint […]
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But how sad is this: The Newark Bears Professional Baseball team and its concessions company are hosting a liquidation sale and auction at 10am on April 26, 2014. Location: Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, 450 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102 Business and personal items will be available for purchase. There will be items offered through set pricing as […]
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The Yogi Berra Museum and Education Center on the campus of Montclair State University is holding a fun and potentially profitable event on Saturday: America’s Roadshow: Memorabilia Appraisal Event Wondering what an old baseball card or autograph or your other memorabilia is worth? Check out America’s Roadshow at the Museum on Sat. April 5 from […]
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First of all, congratulations to Jim M. of Austin, Texas, winner of last week’s book, A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters & the Battle for the 1897 Pennant, by Bill Felber. Thank you all for your comments. In an attempt to encourage even more commenting, and brighten up your week when you need […]
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(As opposed to this; you can stop watching at about the one minute mark.) What else can you say about the new set of Jewish Major Leaguers cards? The updated edition, the first since the 2010 “Deck of the Decade,” features all-new photography for the players who appeared during the 2010-13 seasons (including a clean-shaven […]
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The Wall Street Journal ran this cute piece about several members of the NY Mets who got married during the off-season.
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The beverage, not the drug. Honestly, get your mind out of the gutter. From Mark Aubrey, my “proofreader,” comes this item on eBay: “1967 Coke Cap RARE PASSOVER variation Willie Stargell Pittsburgh Pirates HOFer” Asking price: $75. When I was a kid growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, there was a kosher […]
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Well, that was relatively easy. The Boston Red Sox are your new World Series Champions! As a newspaper buff, I always like to see how the local press covers such high-profile sports events. Frequently, tabloid publications employ “wraps,” using the entire front and back page for one large photo, like these from the Boston Herald. […]
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Brought to you by the folks at Mental Floss, the magazine that gave me my first national exposure and cover story (right). Have these World Series matchups ever happened? (Not to brag but I aced it.) The Baseball Card Brand Quiz (a lot tougher; ugh, I only scored 64%, which was slightly higher than the […]
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Baseball Nation posted this appreciation of “The 10 greatest World Series program covers,” beginning with I’m kind of partial to this one, which came in at No. 4 in Jim Baker’s list:
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The Killeen (TX) Daily Herald posted this review of Steve Rushin’s new title, The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobbleheads, Cracker Jacks, Jockstraps, Eye Black, and 375 Other Strange and Unforgettable Objects. (Is it just me or are these subtitles getting longer and longer?) I’ve started reading this one and am […]
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Remember when you were a kid and you would go through a stack of your friends’ baseball cards: (Okay, so it’s not baseball cards; work with me here, people.) Fans aren’t the only ones who collect memorabilia. This excellent and somewhat sad story by Richard Sandomir from the Sunday NY Times is a bit different, […]
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Or attic, or basement? From the Yogi Berra Museum: What’s your old signed baseball, family heirloom, or favorite piece of Americana worth? Check out America’s Roadshow at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center on Sat. Sept. 21 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Visitors can bring up to three items to be appraised by […]
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Josh Levin of Slate’s Hang Up and Listen podcast posted this educational piece on “The Worst Baseball Card of All Time.” Spoiler alert: It’s Bob Hamlin in the 1996 Pinnacle Foil set (card no. 289). Levin’s essay makes some very good arguments and offers a mini-history lesson on the industry, full of links to examples […]
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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
Baseball best-sellers, April 25
April 25, 2014
The top-ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]
Tagged as: Ball Four, baseball rules, Chicago Cubs, George Will, Jim Bouton, John Feinstein, Jonah Keri, Kostya Kennedy, Montreal Expos, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Ted Williams, Wrigley Field
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