Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
I was shocked and saddened to learn this morning that the long-time sportswriter and author passed away yesterday at the age of 80. Pepe was the epitome of the hard-working New York journalist, working for several papers, hosting his own radio show, and being one of those guys who seemed to know everyone. I had […]
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I frequently think about the statement, “X is going to be the first line in the obituary.” It’s usually offered when someone has a good life but will remembered for some unusual (often unfortunate) incident. Think about Steve Bartman or Bill Buckner, they should live and be well for many years. It’s a bit different […]
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Siebern died Friday at the age of 82. Another one of the “old” players on the cusp of my introduction to baseball. You know how you’re such a terrible judge of age when you’re a kid? This card comes from the 1968 set, when Siebern was 32 and in the last season of his Major […]
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I was surprised to see The New York Times given so much space for Chance’s obituary (by Bruce Weber). All due respect, Chance had a record of 128-115 in 11 major league seasons. Yes, he won 20 games twice, won the Cy Young Award in 1964 for the Los Angeles Angels, and was a two-time […]
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Usually I listen to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, hosted by my Jersey homeboy Peter Sagal, on Mondays on the way to work. But my schedule was a bit altered due to Jewish holidays, so I just got to this today. In the opening segment — “Who’s Bill This Time?” — we were treated to […]
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Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees during their glory years of the 1950s-early 60s, passed away Tuesday at the age of 90. Needless to say, Berra was one of a kind. One of the last great players of his generation as well as a “colorful character,” the media is […]
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The last man standing of the last Cubs’ World Series team. Merullo broke in with the Cubs — his only Major League team — in 1941 at the age of 24. In seven season, he compiled a lifetime batting average of .240 in 639 games with eight home runs and 152 RBI. He enjoyed his […]
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‘Nuff said. The New York Times obituary, by Margalit Fox. And an interview Dior did with MLB.com:
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Although known more for his classic, The Art of Writing Well, William Zinsser — who passed away May 12 at the age of 92 — also published Spring Training, a “memoir” of the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training in 1988. Not surprisingly, it was well-received. Here are the obits from the Washington Post and The […]
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The veteran sportswriter for the Philadelphia Daily News for more than 50 years passed away on April 9 at the age of 86. A “celebration of life” service was held on April 12 at the Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park. I met Hochman in 2012 at a Jewish baseball retreat in Connecticut. He […]
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The 1953 unanimous MVP selection (the first time that had ever occurred) passed away Friday at the age of 91. To my mind, Al Rosen was the last of his generation, a Jewish ballplayer who grew up a time when anti-Semitism was still fairly prevalent, less so than Hank Greenberg but more so than Sandy […]
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This is getting ridiculous. Jeff McKnight was a member of my Mets in the early 1990s (with time out for a season with the Orioles). He has passed away at the age of 52. It’s getting to the point where I’m living a Pete Seeger song: I get up each morning and dust off my […]
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Alex Johnson, the 1970 American League batting champion, died Feb. 28 due to complications from cancer at the age of 72. Johnson played in the heyday of my baseball card collecting — the late 1960s to 70s. As such, he is, unfortunately, one of an increasing number of players from that period who are shuffling […]
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The pioneering ballplayer died Sunday at the purported age of 89 (or maybe it was 90; records are not clear about his exact DOB). Here’s the NY Times obituary by Richard Goldstein. And here’s another from the Chicago Tribune as well as a tribute piece. Books about Minoso include: Just Call Me Minnie: My Six […]
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A shande (Yiddish for “a shame”). Of course, everyone knows Nimoy, who grew up in a observant Jewish home in the Boston area, as Mr. Spock. But one of his earliest appearances came in an uncredited role in the 1951 baseball feature film. Rhubarb. Pay careful attention at the 2:08 mark. But perhaps […]
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One of the first women reports to make it into a mens’ locker room, Alison Gordon passed away yesterday at the age of 72. Gordon, who covered the Blue Jays for the Toronto Star, wrote about her experiences in her 19085 memoir, Foul ball!: Five Years in the American League, which is include in 501 Baseball […]
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What was that about “threes?” Baseball lost one of its colorful characters when Bridges passed away at the age of 87 on Jan. 27. Bridges, who played for seven teams during his 11-year career, had one of the classic “chaw faces” of all time.
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Boy, these things really do come in threes, don’t they? Charlie Williams is the answer to a trivia question: Who was traded for Willie Mays? The 67-year-old pitcher died on Tuesday. No obituary, so far, from the NY papers, but I think (hope) it’s only a matter of time. Williams was actually born in Flushing […]
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Bruce Weber gave Monbouquette, who died at the age of 78 on Jan. 25 , the NY Times obit treatment. Monbouquette was a sturdy pitcher during his 11-year career, winning 20 in 1963 for a Boston Red Sox team that was 76-85. He was a two-time All-Star and threw a no-hitter against the Chicago White […]
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Over due. The baseball community lost one of its real gentlemen when Ernie Banks passed away over the weekend. Banks struck me like a Stan Musial type: a certified Hall of Famer who spent his entire career with one team that didn’t always play that well. He did well enough, though: two consecutive MVP awards […]
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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 blog 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
