Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
One of the major complaints from fans and (especially) non-fans is that the games take too long. Don’t look at it as a lot of down time; instead perceive it as a chance to catch up on your reading. That’s why I love compilations such as those published by The Washington Post‘s Thomas Boswell and […]
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The back page of The New York Times Book Review features a full page advertisement from Bauman Rare Books. I usually don’t pay attention because as much as I lvoe ’em, they’re out of my league, to borrow from a famous title. But a photo of Joe DiMaggio caught my eye and sure enough there […]
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Given the current economy — which has hit the newspaper industry particularly hard — it’s not surprising that many publications are foregoing the extras, like any kind of extra info — let alone a separate supplement — on the new baseball season outside their jurisdiction. For example, the Newark Star-Ledger has only a couple of […]
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Another bi-weekly product, it also features a defensive theme in “Smell the Glove.” Each (very small) team capsule includes a pretty little color-coded chart pointing out the slick, so-so, and sieve spots at each position; a defensive +/- number indicates the team’s “projected total runs saved or lost relative to the ML average.” Huh? Why […]
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The BA March 23 issue serves as the preview for what is almost a trade publication. As always, the whole issue is devoted to baseball, but only part is devoted to a look ahead. Their “Fearless Forecast includes: ALDS: Red Sox over Twins, Yankees over Angels NLDS: Mets over Dodgers, Cubs over Phillies ALCS: Red […]
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The April 3 edition of USA TODAY included a baseball preview supplement. A story about baseball team payrolls — represented by a HUGE picture of C.C. Sabathia — was plastered on page one. There’s also a colorful comparison of the two new New York stadiums. I see that the seats are expanding in both ballparks, […]
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Unfortunately, USA Today Sports Weekly does not have a stand-alone website. In the New York area, the cover features a large photo of the Yankees’ Johnny Damon, and two smaller ones: Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox and Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays (not sure if there are regional covers, but I wouldn’t […]
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Aside from the annual magazines, several weekly and bi-weekly publications put out a preview issue, which, one would think/hope, are more up-to-date. Suffice it to say there are team previews, a.k.a. “scouting reports (duh), so we won’t dwell on them. Suffice it to say each team profile includes a starting lineup, “Consider this: A Modest […]
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More on the decision by MLB to cease the printed publication of the Red and Green Books. Murray Chass wrote about this awhile ago, and sure enough, it’s become a generational thing. David Appelman of FanGraphs.com: … as a younger person who uses the Internet (and sometimes even writes about baseball), I actually do have […]
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Scroll down yesterday’s post on Odd Man Out to read the excellent comments to date. For more, visit The Perpetual Post.
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Earlier this month, The New York Times called out Matt McCarthy for supposed errors and misstatements in his new book Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit. I must admit, I was convinced. After all, it is The New York Times we’re talking here. They wouldn’t make such an […]
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This item from The New York Times casts another shadow over a new book. In The Rocket Who Fell to Earth, Jeff Pearlman’s new biography on Roger Clemens, the author reports an account offered by an unnamed Yankee episode in which Brian Cashman purportedly took Jason Giambi to task for poor performance by shouting at […]
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Most of the annual previews are available as of this writing. I previously analyzed Beckett’s; here a more comprehensive look at the four I’ve purchased to date. Back in the day, the publisher printed only one cover. Now it’s easy to make one for every team or region. The examples here are for the New […]
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Or Green. As in the American and National Leagues’ ‘s Red and Green Book, respectively. The annual publications were conceived as tools for executives and the media, full of all kinds of unusual information, such as the origin of team logos and color schemes, name pronunciations, and of course, all manner of stats. They supplemented […]
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“In the early ’90s, the federal government came into pro wrestling and tried to put (WWE Chairman) Vince McMahon in prison for steroid use of wrestlers,” Ventura told NBC’s affiliate in Denver. “My question is: They’ve now determined 104 baseball players failed their steroid test in 2003 — 104. They indicted Vince McMahon, why aren’t […]
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So what do you think: will the reports of A-Rod on steroids help the sale of Joe Torre’s book? Not that it needs much in the way of a push, according to this piece in the New York Daily News. A suspicious person would wonder about the timing of the announcement. After all, it’s been […]
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A feeling of discomfort brought on by the use of the word “betrayal” by many sports pundits has Joe Torre on the defensive. In this piece from yesterday’s NYTimes.com, the former Yankee manager seeks to right the wrong impressions that the publisher’s marketing department probably looooves. You can practically see them rubbing their hands with […]
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(Man, I wish I had a named that rhymed cooly with something.) Can’t believe WINS radio led off some of its segments with the “controversy” of the new book. One person interviewed sagely opined that the whole media blitz was just a way to sell more copies, to which the reporter added something along the […]
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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
* Enter pressbox, fingers crossed
April 7, 2009
I hope this article from The Wall Street Journal isn’t too prophetic as it warns of newspapers’ shrinking presence in the press box. A few years back, I worked as a part-time reporter for STATS at Mets and Yankees home games. It was a kick, having my own seat in the box, chatting with “real” […]
Tagged as: baseball coverage, baseball media, Sportswriting
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