Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The cover story features Shaquille O’Neill and the Cavs playoff run. Baseball items include a tribute to Ernie Harwell and his generation of broadcasters by Michael Rosenberg a quick look at Bill Madden’s bio on George Steinbrenner an assessment of the suddenly faltering San Diego Padres and the more successful Tampa Bay Rays
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The curent issue of ESPN The Magazine features a survey of 100 MLB players on sundry issues. Here are some of the more unusual questions and results, if you believe them. (Come one, don’t you think a few of the questionees are just playin’?) The city with the best baseball groupies: Chicago How many games […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Cover story: Athletes behaving badly (and that was before Lawrence Taylor). The main baseball story is a profile of Carlos Pena and the Tampa Bay Rays, by Ben Reiter. Other baseball items include: A mini-review of Josh Wilker’s Cardboard Gods (but, hey, just getting your book mentioned in SI is a coup). Ben Reiter’s brief […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Baseball takes center stage once again as Tom Verducci has a roundtable with the Yankees’ Mt. Rushmore: Jeter, Posasda, Rivera, and Pettitte. Also, Joe Lemire on Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs’ new middle relief man.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Man, I wish I had this type of article from Newsweek for other parts of daily life. Imagine: We eat it so you don’t have to. We go to work so you don’t have to. We argue with the wife so you don’t have to. We (fill in the blank) so you don’t have to. […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
About fifty years ago, it was pretty much verbotten for ballplayers to lift weights. The managers thought it would make them too bulky and tight. Nowadays it’s not uncommon to find the athletes gracing the cover of fitness magazines. Case in point: Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals, who appears on Muscle and Fitness‘ […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The NFL Draft takes center stage. Don’t know about you, but I’m tired of other sports — most notably football — turning into a year-round, attention-hogging entity. Not to get too philosophical, but there’s something to be said about absence making the heart grow fonder. Without darkness, there’s no light. Without sour, you don’t appreciate […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The May issue of Playboy features the magazine’s annual baseball feature, by Tracy Ringolsby. Meanwhile, Maxim takes a less traditional approach in picking its favorite players, as contributed by Jeff Pearlman. Sorry, no links. This is, after all, a family blog.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The Masters took center stage this week; congrats to Phil Mickelson. Tom Verducci gives Jason Heyward the treatment in “Legend Before His Time.” (Note to editors: Please, please, please, don’t put Heyward on the cover.) Joe Sheehan on how the Twins are coping without their All-Star closer And a very brief review of Tim Wendel’s […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Baseball’s opening games took a back seat to the Duke Blue Devils and the NCAAs. Baseball items were basically limited to a profile of pitcher Wandy Rodriguez and other possible break-out pitchers of 2010.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Sorry, about the lateness. Life and everything, you know. The Baseball Preview issue. Yes! So, of course, you’re going to have the team profiles. Yada, yada, yada. One-page wonders that list the projected starting lineup, a statistical nugget, a “player to watch,” and a “modest proposal” on how to make the team better. The major […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Roger Angell has long contributed excellent essays to New Yorker magazine. Now he has company in Ben McGrath (the next generation?), who wrote this piece on spring training and the possible surprise stars f0r 2010 in the April 7 issue. Now you have a chance to ask your questions of these entertaining writers. From the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Click here for a search of baseball-related items on Forbes. They don’t happen that often — and naturlaly, deal with the financial side of te game — but the writing is usually worth the wait. Recent articles include: Baseball’s Youth Wave: Smaller-market teams are increasingly locking up young talent in longer deals. That’s bad news […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
For those looking for more info about the ZiPS system, here are a couple of links. The first goes to the BaseballThinkFactory, where it originated/ The second leads to “The Max Info” on ESPN.com, written by Dan Szymborski, EIC of BTF. Note on the latter: you maybe have to be a Insider (additional subscription) to […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Since the whole baseball card scenario has changed since I was a kid, I now look forward to the baseball preview issues from ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated as harbingers of the impending season. ESPN arrived yesterday, and quite frankly, it’s a bit disappointing. In the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Backlogged, as usual. Looking forward to the annual Baseball Issue, but in the meantime, it’s pretty much NCAA stuff. Issue of March 22: Joe Posnanski on Bud Selig’s bizarre realignment plan Ari Fleischer’s new role Jon Heyman on some of this spring’s hot rookies, including Strasburg and Heyward A Ben Reiter profile of the Angels’ […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Spitball magazine is running several reviews on its website, including: High Heat Rum Point Fifty-Nine in ’84 Roger Maris: Baseball;’s Reluctant Hero
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Ha! I knew that would get your attention. Get our mind out of the gutter and onto the green. Golf Magazine pairs up with baseball for its current issue. Among the specific topics: The Power of Angle: The Power Angle, equally valuable in golf and baseball, is the key to a powerful and efficient swing. […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
These weeks (June 7, 14) in Sports Illustrated
June 10, 2010
June 14: A piece on catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s troubles getting the ball back to the pitcher MLB poll: Which outfielder has the best arm? What’s up with all this great pitching? Wave of the Future, by Tom Verducci. More on the MLB draft here, here, here, and here. Joe Posnanski on Stephen Strausburg June 14 […]
Tagged as: Sports Illustrated
{ Comments on this entry are closed }