Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The CASEY Award was inaugurated in 1983 by Mike Shannon and W.J. Harrison, the editors and co-founders of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine, to honor the authors and publishers of outstanding baseball books, a heretofore unrealized notion. Seven books were named as finalists for the first CASEY: Baseball’s Greatest Experiment, The Celebrant, Hoopla, Invisible Men, […]
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Every time the High Holidays come around, you can be sure you’ll be reading stories about Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, the two greatest Jewish baseball players of all time. Both refused to compromise their religious beliefs to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews — Edgar Guest even penned […]
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The Spaceman turns 61 today. Books by or about Lee include: Baseball Eccentrics: The Most Entertaining, Outrageous, and Unforgettable Characters in the Game, with Jim Prime (Triumph, 2007) The Wrong Stuff, with Richard Lally (Paperback edition by Three Rivers Press, 2006) Have Glove, Will Travel: The Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond, with Richard Lally (Paperback […]
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Three book reviewers for The New York Times weigh in with their top choices of the year. Not much of a surprise that there are no baseball titles deemed worthy of inclusion (not even on their list of 100 Notable books for 2007.) I actually have a few of the titles listed, including Michael Chabon’s […]
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From Delaware Online, this list of five good reads to keep a fan warm during the off-season. The subjects range in “age” from the early 1900s to the mid 1990s, with, mercifully, no mention of cheating or steroids. The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter John McGraw, by Charles C. Alexander The Era, by […]
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One-Minute Book Reviews offers a list of their choice for the 10 best books of 2007. Surprisingly, it includes a baseball title. Not so surprisingly, it’s not really about baseball; it’s really about poetry — haikus specifically — with baseball themes. Baseball Haiku: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball (Norton, $19.95), edited and […]
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Compiled by Peter L. de Rosa. Includes works prior to 2000 in the categories of: General Histories Reference Works Anthologies and Collections Biographies Memoirs and Oral Histories Season and Team Histories Novels and Related works Specialized Works Periodicals Simulations and Games Movies and Documentaries
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From Memories of Summer: When Baseball Was an Art, and Writing About It a Game, the famed baseball writer offers his favorite dozen reads, including: Nice Guys Finish Last by Leo Durocher with Ed Linn (Simon and Schuster, 1975). (Co-winner) Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris (Alfred A. Knopf, 1956). The Glory of Their […]
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From time to time, various writers, editors, publications, etc., will offer their list of “best” or “essential” baseball titles. So from time to time I’ll pass them on, FYI, with or without comment. First up, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, two members of the Brewers front office and a local college professor weigh in on […]
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by Mike Shannon (McFarland, 2007) As one who collects baseball books, I was happy to come across Mike Shannon’s latest offering. After reading it, however, I find myself depressed, contrary to the author’s philosophy. I — along with everyone else, according to the author — will never be a “completist,” that is one who acquires […]
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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
Baseball titles included in Amazon list of "20 Books That Changed Men's Lives"
December 11, 2007
Two baseball titles account for 10 percent of “Books That Changed Men’s Lives,” according an Oct. 3 entry on Amazon Bookstore’s Blog. I’m guessing these are not in any kind of order, but Michael Lewi’s Moneyball is listed second. I daresay the most unusual addition to the eclectic list (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns? The […]
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