Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
I can’t remember so much chatter on the web about the selections for the Hall of Fame as this year, both before the elections were held and after Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were voted in. Most are all about comparisons: why Player A should be in, especially if similar Player B was elected. The […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 7, at 1 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 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis […]
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to forget to post about Hank Greenberg‘s 100th birthday, which would have been Jan. 1. Andy Wolf posted this tribute on Dec. 30. Mark Kurlansky, author of The Eastern Stars, is about to release anew biography — Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to be One — from Yale University Press in March. Previous […]
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Congratulations to Robert Alomar and Bert Blyleven, this year’s inductees. Alomar — who was inducted into the Canadian baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 — was elected on his second go-around with 523 (of 581) ballots cast; Blyleven made it in his next-to-last year of eligibility with 463 votes. Look for books on both of […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 31,2010. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, by 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Baseball Prospectus 2011 4 Beyond […]
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(and other media, of course.) With the close of 2010, I thought I take a few moments to review the highlights of the past 12 months as pertains to our favorite topic. It’s been a banner year for baseball biographies. We’ve enjoyed munch-anticipated titles from major publishers on Hall of Famers such as Hank Aaron, […]
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The year-end issue pays tribute to the sports figures who passed away in 2010. Baseball notables included Bob Feller, Ron Santo, Bobby Thomson, George Steinbrenner, Phil Cavarretta, Sparky Anderson, Robin Roberts, Gil McDougald, Willie Davis, Dorothy Kamenshek (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League), Bob Sheppard, Jose Lima, Jim Bibby, Ernie Harwell, Ralph Houk, and Mike Cuellar […]
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The legendary documentarian died this weekend at the age of 84. I met Greenspan in 2007 at a program hosted by the Yogi Berra Museum for the premier of his last major project, Pride Against Prejudice: The Larry Doby Story. He was already in failing health but wanted to be on hand out of respect […]
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The birthday boys include 10-time All-Star Steve Garvey, Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton, and long (long) time manager Connie Mack. Garvey has a number of books by and about him, including My Bat Boy Days: Lessons I Learned from the Boys of Summer (Scribner, 2008); Garvey (Crown, 1986); and The Secret Life of Cyndy […]
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Branch Rickey was born this Dec. 20, 1881. When asked why he fought to make Jackie Robinson accepted in the Major Leagues, Rickey often told the story of a black teammate from his college days who was shunned by opponents. There are numerous books about Rickey, but perhaps none more detailed and insightful than Lee […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com, as of Friday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]
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The pride of The Greatest Generation died yesterday at the age of 92. Feller was one of the bona fide star athletes who served with distinction in World War II, sacrificing prime seasons away from the game when they might have been able to find ways around the draft; Feller could easily have claimed status […]
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A whole bunch today, beginning with Fergie Jenkins, the Hall of Fame pitcher, who turns 68. You often read about how dark-skinned Hispanics players such as Robert Clemente or Vic Power were amazed by the prejudice they encountered in the 1950s and 1960s, coming from countries where none existed. I wonder how Jenkins felt, coming […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 10, at 11 a.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]
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Larry Bowa turns 65 today. The long-time Phillies shortstop (he also played with the Cubs before batting .105 in his final year with the Mets; yeah, thanks for that) was also a short-tempered manager for the Padres and Phils. He wrote two books: Bleep: Larry Bowa Manages in 1988 and Larry Bowa: I Still Hate […]
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The popular Chicago Cubs and White Sox third baseman died Wednesday at the age of 70. At the heyday of my fanhood — 1969 — the Cubs were the hated enemy and Santo was the epitome of the arrogant, self-entitled rival, deeming the Mets unworthy to shine the shoes of the Chicagoans. But later in […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 3 at Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton with Tim Keown 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by […]
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Walter Alston was born this date in 1911. He struck out in his only at bat: Sept. 27, 1936 as member of the St. Louis Cardinals against the Chicago Cubs. But he more than made up for that as a Hall of Fame manager for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Alston was inducted into the Hall […]
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Unfortunately, one incident can define your life. Just ask Bill Buckner. Gil McDougald, who died Nov. 28 at the age of 82, was a solid player for the juggernaut Yankees teams of the 1950s, averaging 14 home runs, 76 RBIs, and .276/.356/.410 for 10 seasons. He was Rookie of the Year in 1951, a five-time […]
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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
Readers, take “note”
December 8, 2010
Three baseball entries are among the non-fiction titles on The New York Times as “100 Notable Books of 2010.” THE LAST BOY: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood. By Jane Leavy. (Harper/HarperCollins, $27.99.) Many biographies of Mantle have been written, but Leavy connects the dots in new and disturbing ways. THE LAST HERO: […]
Tagged as: Hank Aaron, Howard Bryant, James Hirsch, Jane Leavy, Mickey Mantle, New York Times, Willie Mays
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