Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The inventor of instant replay died Jan. 18 at the age of 81. In a way, I blame him for ruining sports and perhaps culture in general. Because IR is so pervasive, there is no “dead time,” pardon the expression, any more. If you watch a baseball, you will invariably see at least two replays […]
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Two gentlemen with some interesting attachments to baseball. Hermann, one of my favorite actors, passed away Wednesday at the age of 71. Frankly, I thought he was older. He played Lou Gehrig to Blythe Danner in the 1978 TV movie, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story. I haven’t seen this one in […]
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The baseball card scion died yesterday at the age of 91. If you were a red-blooded American boy, you probably collected some form of “sports cards” as a kid. Most likely, they were the offspring of Berger, who created Topps back in the early 1950s. Although trading cards have been around for more than 100 […]
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Sad that more and more of the ballplayers I grew up with, and whose cards I collected, are passing away. The latest, Ray Sadecki, died Monday at the age of 73. Sadecki was a reliable lefty with a lifetime record of 135-131 and a 3.78 ERA for six teams in his 18-year career. He made making […]
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The pepperpot player and manager died today at the age of 92. I’m guessing this was expected, considering how quickly his obituary appeared on Robinson Funeral Home site. Dark had a 14-year career in the Majors, beginning with the Boston Braves in 1946. After a two-year stint in the military, he returned to the Braves, […]
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The former Diamondback, Yankee, and As pitcher died last Friday as the result of fall in a climbing accident. The exact circumstances surrounding his demise remain unclear after an autopsy.
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The movie icon passed away yesterday at 89. There’s not much of a baseball connection here, although I did find this: Would love to know the backstory here: what were the circumstances in which she came to sign a baseball? Anyway, as of this posting, the ball is selling on Amazon for $1,299. Of course, […]
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Robin Williams died Monday, in an apparent case of suicide. The outpouring of grief and condolences would probably still be going on if not for the short attention span of an entertainment-gobbling public that has diverted their thoughts to yesterday’s passing of movie icon Lauren Bacall. To be honest, I found Williams a kind of […]
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Have to rearrange the schedule a bit between last holiday weekend and next weekend’s vacation to California. So… Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, […]
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The former Major League pitcher and the first to adopt the behind-the-scenes memoir as an active player and set the path for future writers such as Jim Bouton, Dirk Hayhurst, and others, died on June 28 at the age of 84. Brosnan, who was 55-47 in nine seasons for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, St. […]
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The former general manager Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets passed away yesterday at the age of 88. Cashen, who was hugely successful with both franchises, was scheduled to release a new memoir, Winning in Both Leagues: Reflections from Baseball’s Front Office, in September. Richard Goldstein wrote the obituary for The New York Times.
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Waaay too early. A damn shame, but perhaps also a lesson. Books by and about the Hall of Famer include: The Art of Hitting Tony! Tony Gwynn’s Total Baseball Player Gwynn was also a major component of George F. Will’s Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. My mind may be playing tricks on me, […]
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Sadly, this fell under the radar because there was no “official” obituary. Eisen, one of three Jews to play in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, passed away May 11 at the age of 92, coincidentally, her birthday as well I had the honor of interviewing her for the New Jersey Jewish News in 2006. […]
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I am signed up for a bunch of daily Google alerts which inform me about various sports topics, including baseball stuff and Jewish-related items for my other blog. Sometimes I even read them. After the death last week of baseball lifer Don Zimmer, I received a GA for a story appearing on the very serious-yet-entertaining […]
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The former embattled Major League pitcher passed away yesterday at the age of 57. Welch wrote about his addiction issues in Five O’Clock Comes Early with George Vecsey. Originally published in 1981 with the subtitle “A Young Man’s Battle with Alcoholism,” it was re-released a decade later with “A Cy Young Award-Winner Recounts His Greatest […]
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The testimonies are coming in fast and heavy for Zimmer, who was proud of the fact that he never drew a paycheck outside of baseball for 66 years. Zimmer passed away on Wednesday at the age of 83. He published two memoirs since 2001, but with the assistance of Bill Madden: Zim: A Baseball Life […]
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The renown poet passed away today at the age of 86. Her baseball connection? She was supposed to be be recognized as a 2014 Major League Baseball Beacon of Life honoree at Friday’s Beacon Awards Luncheon on May 30, marking MLB’s annual Civil Rights Game in Houston.
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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
