Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
When my wife gave me a kindle for the Hanukka, it was with the understanding that I would bring fewer books into the house. Yeah, that’s not working out too well right about now, as new baseball titles just keep coming. I have been asking for them in Kindle format whenever possible, but it’s not […]
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First it was regular interleague play. Then the Brewers switched leagues. Now the Astros will move to the AL (why couldn’t they have just left the Brewers alone?) But now, Sports Illustrated‘s Tom Verducci asks “Is the designated hitter coming to a National League park near you?” I get it. They’re trying to pump up the […]
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But I’m getting tired of all the pundits who are saying that just because Ryan Braun’s appeal has been upheld, that doesn’t make him “innocent.” Perhaps not, but why are they so abso-freaking-lutely sure that he’s “guilty” (and how do they define that word)? Just because the panel of three arbiters cited concerns with the […]
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My commentary from the Huffington Post.
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Haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I have a bit of backlog I’d like to clear, so here goes. * We’ll have to agree to disagree. One card collector can’t stand the new 2012 Topps series. Another calls it the best one yet. What do you think? * LibraryJournal.com posted this piece reviewing […]
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Sorry, but that seems to be a big part of the memoir industry these days. It’s all “I was a victim of _____ abuse” or “I came from dysfunctional family” or some other situation that I would say a good portion of the non-celebrity population has to deal with. Only we don’t have the benefit […]
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The nominations for the Academy Awards were announced this morning and Moneyball came away with a “cycle” of sorts. The unlikely cinematic version of Michael Lewis’ best-seller is up for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin). UPDATE: Moneyball also […]
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I’ve been in a cave most of the time, so it’s just now dawning on me: When it comes to movies and books like Moneyball and The Art of Fielding (which you just know is going to be turned into a feature film before too long), who should be considered the more credible reviewers? Should […]
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Because you could put a commemorative hat on your bookshelf until MLB tells to you take it off. So the New York Mets wanted to show their solidarity for the commemoration of 9/11 by wearing hats from various city service organizations: NYPD, FDNY, etc. You wouldn’t think it was a big deal. After all, they […]
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Almost done with the first go-around on Project 501. One thing that slows the process is that I want to re-read a lot of these books, which I will definitely do once I send the manuscript off to the publisher. Another thing that slows the process is that my typing skills are failing me, at […]
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I was super-psyched when I heard about this new website — under the aegis of ESPN — that would feature some of my favorite writers opining on all sorts of sports topics and issues (man does not live by baseball alone). Goodness knows there was enough pre-release hype. Sadly, from what I’ve seen so far, […]
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San Francisco Giants’ star catcher Buster Posey was severely injured on a collision at the plate with Scott Cousins of the Florida Marlins on Wednesday. By all accounts it was clean play, the kind that’s been a part of the game since its inception. The runner’s job is to try to score at all costs […]
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I don’t know, what name would you suggest for an award to honor the best baseball performances? At Oscar time, Jim Caple of ESPN’s Page 2 offers his take on “Academy Awards for Baseball Movies” (he dubbed his awards the “Oscar Madisons”). No real surprises here, although I would have selected Costner over Matthau, Davis […]
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I originally had not planned to buy this one, but on my next appearance on the What’s on Second Internet radio program (shameless self-promotion), I’ll be discussing the annual publications, so that’s how I justified the purchase. Actually, it’s better than I first thought. Although it’s light on features, the team profiles more than make […]
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Tonight I’ll be making my regular guest appearance on What’s On Second on Blogtalk radio at 9 EST. I’ll be on around 9:40 to discuss spring training books.
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After 15 years at ESPN, Rob Neyer is moving on to SB Nation. Neyer and I have exchanged occasional emails over the last few years, but I do not know him personally, so I can;t say if he’s being self-effacing when he makes note of his career change in a “oh, by the way” manner […]
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Not sure what’s going on at the “paper of record” lately. Maybe it’s staff cuts. But here are two stories that appeared recently on the pages of the newspaper that appeared elsewhere some time ago. Gil Meche turned down the last year of a $12 million contract because he knew he wouldn’t be able to […]
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I wanted to give James Bailey’s well-stated comment on my post about reviewing “up front” treatment: Ron, Just to clarify, I do think we have a greater responsibility to the reader. A reviewer’s responsibility to an author is to be fair, not to be positive. The books I’ve passed on reviewing were typically bad books […]
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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
Let’s take a breath, people (Matt Kemp)
April 17, 2012 · 2 comments
Matt Kemp has had a wonderful start: Six home runs in the Dodgers’ first 10 games, as well as 16 RBIs, and a BA/OBP/SLG line of .487/.523/1.026. But someone has to be a bit more ambitious, or at least less lazy. ESPN projects a player’s end-of-season/162 game stats based purely on what he has […]
Tagged as: ESPN, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun
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