Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
One of my favorite sections of the then-Street and Smith,/now-Sporting News annuals is the part devote to player milestone/targets. It remains great fun to see where the contemporary stars rank in relation to the legends of the game. I enjoy looking at a player and counting down, and guessing if he’ll make the goal during […]
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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. Ray Dandridge (inducted 1987) […]
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No, not Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, but Ron Cey, the six-time all-star third baseman for the LA Dodgers, and later the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A’s, turns 63 today. I actually found a book “by” Cey: How To Play Third Base: A Movie In Your Pocket, published in 1977 and described by a used book store […]
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The literary collaboration between former Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga and umpire Jim Joyce — who famously blew the call that cost a perfect game — is interesting on several points. I believe this is the first such venture between an active player and umpire, which leads to all sorts of ethical questions such as, […]
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From the Baseball Hall of Fame, this list of programs in the months ahead: A Celebration of Black History Month – Feb. 21-25: The Hall of Fame will host a week’s worth of programs celebrating Black History Month. Programs will feature Artifact Spotlights, films that feature the stories of Negro leagues legends and a walkthrough […]
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The Wali of Wallop, the Rajah of Rap, the Caliph of Clout, the Wazir of Wham, the Colossus of Clout, Maharajah of Mash, the Behemoth of Bust, the King of Crash, the Colossus Of Clout, the King Of Swing, the Terrible Titan, the Kid of Crash, the Jovial Giant and, of course, the home run […]
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The conclusion of my interview with George Castle. http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/RKBBCastleConclusion.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 28 at noon. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane […]
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As I mentioned in a previous entry, look for new bios about Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven to come out before the inductions (I wouldn’t be surprised if manuscripts are in prep already). I was wondering: out of all the personnel — players, executives, managers, etc. — enshrined to the Hall of Fame, how many […]
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By the way, it’s still winter so why aren’t we hearing snow-themed songs anymore? “Winter Wonderland” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” among others, are not “holiday” songs, per se, so they’d still be valid. Just sayin’. Thought I saw my first “annual” at the bookstore last week, but it was a fantasy publication, so it […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by […]
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Another in a series of futile attempts to catch up. Because you can keep minutiae on your bookshelf, here’s a new community baseball site that looks like it’s going to be fun: Eephusleague.com.It has a cool design and icons that take the visitor to a host of categories, including uniforms, rules, articles, photos, scorekeeping, etc. […]
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“The Great Emancipator” would have been 72 today. Flood published his story — The Way It Is — in 1971, the year he retired from the game. Since then, several books about Flood’s role in creating the free agent dream (or nightmare, depending on your point of view), have been released with lesser or greater […]
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Sharing the special day is one current and one future Hall of Famer. Dizzy Dean was born on this date in 1910. The star hurler was the smiling face of baseball during the Depression, know for his folksy Arkansas sayings that are the staple of quotations about the game. The current Redbird is Albert Pujols, […]
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Haven’t done one of these in awhile, so here goes. MLB.com posted this story about Andrew Zimablist, who published Circling the Bases: Essays on the Challenges and Prospects of the Sports Industry last October. WithLeather blogs about Jose Canseco’s upcoming (and unpromising?) appearance on he new season of Celebrity Apprentice. Speaking of television, will baseball […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 14, 1:37 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 3 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 4 […]
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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
Rob Neyer: My idol and my curse
February 2, 2011
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 […]
Tagged as: Rob Neyer
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