Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
This it the time of year when the baseball media offer their considered opinions on their favorite prospects. Sometimes they’re spot on, other times, not so much. So I thought, why not apply this to the upcoming “rookie crop” of baseball books? That is, titles that are making their debuts in 2014 — no reprints/reissues […]
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Although that’s not quite accurate for what I’m trying to relate here. I do not take joy in others’ misfortunes. They’re not even misfortunes and I’m sure the Germans have a better word for what I’m trying to say. I just take a small degree of satisfaction in knowing that, as of this writing, 501 […]
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I used to think it was unfair that a sports media giant like Sports Illustrated can make even more money by dipping into their archives and publishing the compilations or photos or writing. But you have to give them credit; they do come out with some mighty good products. The latest from the SI library […]
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Another in an attempt to look over the over-looked news in baseball books. I’ve only just begun listening to the unabridged audio book of Bill Bryson’s newest, One Summer: America, 1927, but if Richard “Pete” Peterson says it’s “a good read for Cards, Cubs fans,” that’s good enough for me. Kevin Baker, who worked with […]
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The list is in for finalists for the 2013 CASEY Award for “Best Baseball Book of the Year,” as designated by Spitball magazine. Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, by Lucas Mann Color Blind: The Forgotten Team that Broke Baseball’s Color Line, by Tom Dunkel Going the Distance, by Michael Joyce Heart of […]
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Can’t figure out the maze of links for this one. The Campaign for the American Reader posted this item posted by Marshal Zeringue on “Five top works of baseball fiction,” according to Leigh Montville, the author of two wonderful biographies on Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. The initial offering is The Brothers K by David James […]
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Baseball Nation posted this appreciation of “The 10 greatest World Series program covers,” beginning with I’m kind of partial to this one, which came in at No. 4 in Jim Baker’s list:
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Baseball Nation’s Jim Baker posted this list of “The 10 best songs about baseball players.” Counting down from ten, we have: 10. “Ken Griffey, Jr.” by Doe B. featuring Jr. Boss 9. “One Man, Five Tools” by Puig Destroyer 8. “Move Over Babe (Here Comes Henry)” by Richard (Popcorn) Wylie 7. “Panda and the Freak” […]
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Like “Light the menora at your Thanksgiving feast”-early. So it’s not too soon to think about gifts for that baseball book fan on your list. Might I suggest (in addition to 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die, which is perfect for off-season reading-by-the-fireside), the new Sports Illustrated Baseball’s Greatest. As one has […]
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Last month, Baseball Nation posted this entry about baseball-themed movie posters, even if the movies weren’t about the game itself, which led to some semantic reservations by yours truly. This time they come out and say that these are “The top 10 baseball scenes (in non-baseball movies)” The piece, by Jim Baker, is especially timely […]
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A Worldwide Dictionary, 1869-2011, by Richard Worth. McFarland, 2013. 416 pages, $55. What’s in a name? More than you’d think, according to this entertaining reference. In some 400 pages, Worth lists every name of every professional franchise — including Negro and foreign leagues — according to city/town, from Abbeville, Alabama, to Zion, Utah, totaling more […]
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Author and Sports Nation guy Rob Neyer posted this piece based on Dan Epstein’s Esquire piece, “The 20 Best Baseball Books Ever,” which Neyer posted mere hours before mine appeared. A lot of comments I’ve read around the Interweb deal mainly with the order of the ranking as well mas omitted favorites. Great minds and […]
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See what I did there? I combined Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, with the publication to which he contributed this article on “The 20 Best Baseball Books Ever,” his choice for the top 20 non-fiction titles in the genre to […]
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Nuckolball posted a review of Robert Creamer’s classic bio, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life. These are kind of like mini-reviews, so I’m including Baseball Nation’s piece on “Your favorite baseball books,” which includes, among others, Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel, The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball […]
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The best way to play catch-up is via a “Bits and Pieces” entry so here goes: James Bailey offers this appreciation for W.P. Kinsella’s The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. Rob Neyer, Grant Brisbee, and Murray Chass on Mike Piazza and his new book, Long Shot. Don’t know where this excellent Simpsons/Moneyball mashup came from, but Brisbee […]
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Literary birthday greetings: Poor Feb. 1. It has a tough act act to follow with Jan. 31, which celebrates the arrival of such legends Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, and Nolan Ryan, who, between the three of them, have been the subjects of scores of books. Turns out there are no players who were born on […]
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Look, there are only so many flicks that could possibly fall into this category, so it’s just a matter of how they’re ranked. This list comes from The Hollywood Reporter, so they should know. No real surprises here. Damn Yankees leads off, followed by Bang The Drum Slowly, The (original) Bad News Bears, The Natural, […]
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(To borrow The New York Times‘ motto) Marty Appel recently revised his helpful list of baseball titles that have appeared on the Times‘ best-seller list. The article appears on the Sports Collectors Digest website. As Appel, a former PR director for the New York Yankees, notes there are several familiar books that are conspicuous in […]
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I don’t know about you, but being the curmudgeon that I am, I have trouble with the folks who jump on the baseball bandwagon once the regular season is over. This ain’t the NBA or NHL, bud, where everyone gets into the playoffs so you don’t have to pay attention until there are just a […]
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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
How the Grinch stole SI‘s “Top 10 postseason walk-off home runs” joy
October 10, 2013
In this case I am the Grinch; I am the one who knocks…Ben Reiter’s list on SI.com, written after the Tampa Bay Rays’ Jose Lobaton beat the Boston Red Sox with a walk-off on Monday night. I think you would agree that the most exciting situations are one where there’s no tomorrow, where everything is […]
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