Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
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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I was at my local Barnes and Noble recently and noticed the new March/April edition of baseball Digest on the rack. Shows how long it’s been since I last picked up a copy. The design had changed from the standard “digest” size to a regular magazine. Boo! One of the nice, nostalgic things about the […]
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Metro, one of the all-time baseball lifers, passed away March 18 at the age of 91. Metro was a “wartime Player”; his playing career lasted from just 1943-45 during which he compiled a .193 batting average in 400 at bats. He also spent parts of two seasons as a manager (Cubs in 1962, Royals in […]
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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. * * * Ryne […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, March 18, at 4 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, by John Thorn 1 The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First, by Jonah Keri […]
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How great must it be for John Thorn these days. Not only is his new book, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game, getting good reviews early on, but he was recently appointed Major League baseball’s official historian. Here are just a few of the items that have hit […]
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The Bookshelf topic on the March 14 Internet broadcast of What’s on Second was some events in baseball history that are marking milestone anniversaries in 2011. Among them: Hank Greenberg’s 100th birthday Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to Be One (Jewish Lives), by Kurlansky Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg, by Sommer Joe DiMaggio;’s 56-game hitting […]
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“Any rebroadcast, reproduction [emphasis added] or other use of this game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball is prohibited.” Or not: “Library of Congress Buys Audio Archive“: The library will announce the purchase of [emphasis added] the audio recordings on Wednesday. The archive belonged to John Miley, an 80-year-old retired businessman in […]
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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. * * * “R” […]
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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
