Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
So that’s the first question: Which team was known as the “Whiz Kids?” The New York Times had its annual “Baseball Trivia Extravaganza” to wrap up 2023. Unfortunately, since they no longer really have a sports department, having handed that over to The Athletic, you might not be able to access this 50-question test. I […]
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The last one of the year. where did the time go? A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see […]
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A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
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New book? Where has this writer been? The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams came out in August and has been on the “Baseball Best-Sellers” list ever since. (Relatively new, I suppose.) Congrats to the late Gerry Fraley, who won the BBWAA Career Excellence Award on Tuesday. Ohio favorite […]
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A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
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Hope you all had a festive Thanksgiving. As you recover from all that overindulging, here’s some books for thought. Maybe you can pick up some of these at Black Friday sales prices! A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read […]
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The bespectacled slugger passed away yesterday at the age of 87. Known for his gargantuan home runs as well as his size, the “Capital Punisher” lost 382 balls over a 17 year career that included the LA Dodgers, with whom he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1960; the Washington Senator/Texas Rangers, where […]
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Back from vay-cay. Reading an interesting book, The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I, by Jim Leeke. Also finished a novel — a rarity for me — The Fireballer, by Mark Stevens, on the basis of its inclusion as a finalist for Spitball Magazine‘s CASEY Award. Started […]
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A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
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One of the main concerns when MLB announced it would incorporate Negro League statistics into the official canon was “How?” It seemed there were a bunch of problems with that noble effort to recognize Black baseball on a more equal level with the Majors, but the lack of coverage made that difficult. The Black media […]
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♦ Roy Hobbs leads off this New York Times quiz about characters from iconic novels. If you don’t get the answer, you’re dead to me. ♦ This “Behind the Best-Seller List” piece from the Times about Joe Posnanski’s Why We Love Baseball is already online but will appear in the Oct. 1 book review section. […]
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And another legend bites the dust. “Brooksie” passed away today at the age of 86. Here’s his obit from The Baltimore Sun by Mike Klingaman and The New York Times by Richard Goldstein. There was no “Mt. Rushmore” of third basemen; Robinson was ne plus ultra. There have been other great defensemen at his position, […]
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A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (See my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks.”) In addition, occasionally […]
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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
