Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
♦ Bleacher Report posted this one about Golden Boys: Baseball Portraits, 1946-1960 by the late Andy Jurinko. Upshot: “Seldom does a book come around that can boast about being magnificently illustrated as well as historically captivating, let alone a book based on the Golden Age of baseball.” ♦ SouthBendTribune.com posted this review of Andre Dawson’s […]
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by Arnold Hano. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1964. After reading his classic A Day In The Bleachers and interviewing him for a Bookshelf podcast, I was thrilled to find this little gem available through my local library coop. What makes Sandy Koufax: Strikeout King interesting is the fact that it was published before his famous decision […]
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Probably only a few die-hard Dodger fans or baseball historians remember, but Ed Stevens was the man Jackie Robinson replaced when he joined Brooklyn in 1947. I think it’s kind of sad that that is how a person is remembered (Wally Pipp), but at least he is remembered As the New York Times‘ obituary by […]
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Came across an interesting website recently: Forgottenbooks.com. I think it’s worth it to reproduce their mission statement in its entirety 1,000,000+ Free Books by Forgotten Books! You have reached the world’s largest online library of high-quality eBooks. Forgotten Books is an independent book publisher, boasting over 1,000,000 different titles, and offering all of our titles […]
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I often wonder why some of our most intellectual writers would want to do baseball. Perhaps, as Star Trek‘s Mr. Spock said in the episode “Shore Leave” (Geek alert!), “The more complex the mind, the greater the need for play.” So when a George Will or a Tom Olpihant or a Doris Kearns Goodwin starts […]
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♦ The Wilmington Star News posted this review of James Bailey’s novel Bull Durham. Upshot: “The Greatest Show on Dirt will appeal to any hardcore reader of box scores who doesn’t mind the feel of wooden bleachers and isn’t put off by tobacco chaws.” ♦ This review of Robert Fitts’ Baseball, Espionage, & Assassination During […]
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An American Odyssey, by Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone. Ballantine Books, 2012. Note: My review of this bio of an overlooked superstar appears on Bookreporter.com and is reproduced here for your convenience. Vernon “Lefty” Gomez, one of the greatest pitchers in New York Yankees history, came on the scene at roughly the same time as […]
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♦ The New York Times posted their annual baseball roundup, albeit with fewer titles than usual. But remember, it’s quality, not quantity. Jim Bouton offers his review of two Yankees books: Marty Appel’s Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss and Damn Yankees: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on […]
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A hamsa is the Jewish symbol for protection. Although I know my daughter doesn’t cotton to such gestures, I have her one before she started college. Here’s one “featuring” Hank Greenberg that appears in an on-line baseball magazine published by EephusLeague.com, wonderfully eclectic baseball entity for the artistically oddball items of the game. The navigation […]
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One of the “problems” working on my book is that I haven’t had as much time to read other books. Several authors have been kind enough to send me their work and I apologize for be so slow to get to them and hope to remedy that in the near future. At the moment, I’m […]
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♦ In its Sunday edition, the Boston Globe published this roundup of sports book reviews, including A People’s History of Baseball by Mitchell Nathanson and Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick by Paul Dickson. Thumbs up for both books. ♦ The Lemuria Bookstore Blog offers mini-reviews for three baseball novels: The Art of Fielding, The Might […]
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♦ The London Free Press (Ontario) published this piece on Calico Joe. Upshot: Calico Joe has home run power. The baseball portions, particularly the first 100 pages or so, are more delicious than a Fenway frank. But Grisham saves his heaviest hitting in the 198-page Calico Joe for the second half, where push comes to […]
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So, back to bidness. ♦ The Hardball Times reviewed Great Hitting Pitchers, published by the Society for American Baseball Research. ♦ Baseball Reflections posted this on Major League Dads: Baseball’s Best Players Reflect on the Fathers Who Inspired Them to Love the Game. ♦ I don’t know if this really counts as a review, but […]
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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
Bits and pieces
July 10, 2012
* John Rocker‘s memoir is not exactly new but it’s still getting some buzz. Whether or not it’s good is besides the point. I think a lot of people want to know if he’s as big a train wreck as he came off in that Sports Illustrated piece in 1999. * Dennis Anderson sent me […]
Tagged as: John Rocker, Sports Illustrated
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