Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Welcome to a new feature celebrating some of the great moments in the game. On this date in 1963, Jimmy Piersall, then a member of the Mets, hit his 100th home run and marked the occasion by running the bases backwards. You’d think his manager, Casey Stengel, would appreciate the creativity, but apparently he did […]
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Years ago, Vince Coleman made a jackass out of himself by forgetting the debt he and other African-American players owed to Jackie Robinson. I wonder if the same generalization could be made about today’s athletes when it comes to the man responsible for the millions of dollars they receive. HBO’s excellent Real Sports program sounds […]
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“Super Joe” Charboneau, one of those one-year wonders who won Rookie of the Year for the Indians in 1980 and was gone from the Majors after 1982, turns 56. Many Cleveland fans point to his as a prime example of the shortcomings of the franchise and their long-term failure to produce a winner (the curse […]
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Hall of Famer Wade Boggs turns 53 today. Books on Boggs includes: Boggs!, by Boggs The Techniques of Modern Hitting, by Boggs Wade Boggs: Baseball’s Star Hitter (Taking Part) What, no chicken cookbook? Also celebrating today, Brett Butler, who turns 54. He published Field of Hope: An Inspiring Autobiography of a Lifetime of Overcoming Odds, […]
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The semi-regular roundup of things I neglected to post previously. From DriveLineBaseball, this review of The Physics of Pitching: Learn the Mechanics, Science, and Psychology of Pitching to Success. Upshot: It “falls well short of [Robert K.} Adair’s classic text [The Physics of Baseball]. Sure, it looks a lot cooler (the photography is top notch), […]
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Marc Tracy of Tablet.com contributed reviews for the NY Times Sunday book supplement on Shawn Green’s The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 MPH. Upshot: “Those who do not share Green’s earnestness — or fondness for “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” “Siddhartha” and other namedropped works of dormitory Buddhism — may nonetheless […]
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Steve “Psycho” Lyons turns 51 today (so does Barry Lyons, who is no relation as far as I know). Lyons — a “colorful character” (or “flake.” depending on your point of view) batted .252 over nine season for the Red Sox, White Sox, Braves, and Expos. Perhaps his most famous moment on the field was […]
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On this Memorial Day, I just wanted to offer a totally inadequate not of appreciation to all the men and women who sacrificed for this country. In addition to Gary Bedingfield’s thorough Baseball’s Dead of World War II: A Roster of Professional Players Who Died in Service, other books on baseball players and wartime include: […]
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MLB.com ran this piece about Baldassaro, author of the 2011 release, Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball. Other baseball titles by Baldassaro include The American Game: Baseball and Ethnicity (Writing Baseball), Ted Williams: Reflections on a Splendid Life, Ted Williams Reader (editor), and Ed Abbaticchio: Italian Baseball Pioneer.
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With the Red Sox having broken their long, long streak without a World Championship, the Cubs are still standing at the wall, waiting to get into the dance. Chicago Heights Patch, one of the new trend of hyper-local sites, published this story about an appearance by Charles Billington, author of the 2005 book Wrigley Field’s […]
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The Yankee legend turns 86 today. You can’t have a baseball book about the Yankees post-war dynasty without Berra, who happens to be a nominal neighbor of mine in that we live in the same New Jersey town. One of his books is titled The Yogi Book: “I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said. “ […]
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Day 23: New York Mets: 50 Amazin’ Seasons — The Complete Illustrated History Day 24: The Runmakers: A New Way to Rate Baseball Players Day 25: Wizardry: Baseball’s All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed Day 26: Pitchers of Beer: The Story of the Seattle Rainiers Day 27: Bullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends, and the […]
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A middling relief pitcher for the Braves and a couple of other teams in the 1970s, Tom House‘s biggest claim to fame was catching Hank Aaron’s 715th home run in the bullpen. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Since then he’s earned a reputation (not to mention a PhD) as […]
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Pitcher Virgil “Fire” Trucks turns 94 today. Throwing Heat: The Life and Times of Virgil “Fire” Trucks, by Trucks, with Joyner and Bozman, 2004 Also born this date: Sal Maglie in 1917. He earned his nickname because a) he always looked like he was in need of one; and b) hie licked giving batters close […]
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Time once again for a major links dump to make up for bad behavior. Warning: some of these links go back to March. Just sayin’. * A member of Red Sox Nation pays tribute to a “mortal enemy” by giving the NY Times photo book on Derek Jeter the thumbs up. * The Wall Street […]
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by Jerome Charyn. Yale University Press, 2011. * * * This year marks the 70th anniversary of one of those sports records still considered to be unbreakable: Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. While most of the books over the years — especially those written in a long-ago time, when athletes were always heroic rather than […]
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As in Tom Hoffarth’s one-a-day Book reviews: Day 7: The Baseball Hall of Fame Collection Day 8: Baseball — How to Play the Game Day 9: The Bill James Handbook 2011 Day 10: Baseball in the Garden of Eden Day 11: The Greatest Game Ever Pitched Day 12: Mexican American Baseball in Los Angeles Day […]
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Congratulations to Nathan Cordery of Stoney Creek, Ontario, this month’s winner of the Bookshelf Facebook prize: John Thorn’s Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game. The next book prize will be Neil Lanctot’s Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella. In addition, as a special “season opener” bonus, another […]
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Intro: As previously stated, the recent election of Robert Alomar and Bert Blyleven got me to thinking: how many Hall of Famers have had books written about them or penned their own stories. Here are the results. Again, this is not an all-inclusive list; almost all juvenile titles have been omitted. * * * Rube […]
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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
