Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
When I was a kid, about 10 years old, I used to get a weekly allowance of 50 cents, which I normally would use to purchase a baseball magazine. One week, while running errands for my mother, I took the audacious step of using some of the change to supplement my stipend to buy both […]
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Cy Young or Cy Not? (Can’t believe I got four wrong!)
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The Oct. 24 issue carried items about “Goats of Octobers Past,” Joe Sheehan on the Rangers; and Tom Verducci on the Series in general The Oct. 31 issue carried Verducci’s update on one of the most exciting Fall Classic in recent years ; a “sympathy note” to Red Sox Nation, and a sneak peek at […]
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At the risk of sounding jingoistic, if the Fall Classic doesn’t take place in New York, it posts a problem for local sports pages. How much should they be writing, and would their readers care that much. So you go looking for filler. In this case The New York Times published this cool piece last […]
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As promised, here are the baseball-related items from the current issue, which features the release of Moneyball as its cover story. Austin Murphy on “Brad Pitt Deals“ Tom Verducci on “The Art of Winning An (Even More) Unfair Game“ And a brief history of Sabermetrics Also, Joe Posnanski on uber Cubs fan Steve Hirschtick.
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Hope not, because Moneyball gets the honors for the Sept. 26 issue. The stories aren’t up yet, but I’ll post when available.
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Ryan Braun? Too bad. Nyger Morgan? It’s been real, man. Prince Fielder. Crowned. Sports Illustrated features Milwaukee’s finest on its Aug. 29 cover of Sports Illustrated. And you know what that means. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
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Michael Sokolove has cover story honors for the Sunday Magazine, which looks at Derek Jeter as the poster boy for aging athletes — and not necessarily in a good way. Man, I wish I could be 37 again. I wish I could remember 37 again. In a related note, here’s a look at the “decline” […]
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Joe Posnanski profiles the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista. Albert Chen on the perils of young stud pitchers.
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When did Fred Wilpon become George Steinbrenner? Perhaps the pressure of the season — with all the Madoff business, the rumors about being forced to sell the team, etc. — have finally gotten to the Mets owner. at least that’s what some might say given this story in The New Yorker. I have not read […]
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How hot are the Indians? (And why don’t more fans care?) MLB Poll: Who’s the nicest player in baseball? That’s all, folks.
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Watch out, Starlin Castro! The Cubs shortstop gets the dreaded cover treatment in the May 9 issue, written by Albert Chen, with a little something extra by Joe Sheehan. In addition An SI poll names Shin-Soo Choo as MLB’s most under-rated player. Sheehan also writes about the Twins’ recent woes. UPDATE: Chen is the subject […]
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Yay! The April 4 issues of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine finally gets down to bidness! Cover Cover price $5.99 $4.99 Can I read it on-line (no smartphone apps or iPads gizmos)? Yes, but without the images. Only if you’re an ESPN “Insider” (subscription) Main Features “Radar Love,” by Tom Verducci — An examination […]
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A while back, The New York Times occasionally published Play, a sports supplement magazine. Sadly, that welcome Sunday extra disappeared, undoubtedly a victim of declining revenues. But the Times hearkened back to those flush days this week in its regular Sunday magazine. The excellent Pat Jordan opines — and not always favorably — on the […]
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I was at my local Barnes and Noble recently and noticed the new March/April edition of baseball Digest on the rack. Shows how long it’s been since I last picked up a copy. The design had changed from the standard “digest” size to a regular magazine. Boo! One of the nice, nostalgic things about the […]
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Went over to the local Barnes and Noble on my lunch hour. I always take a look at the “remainder” table to see if there’s a possibility I missed seeing some relatively recent baseball title. The answer is almost always “no,” unless it’s the occasional book produced especially for the store. These are usually coffee-table […]
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With the NCAA taking flight, the March 21 issue of Sports Illustrated offers just one baseball item: Joe Posnanski on the plight of the (his beloved) KC Royals. Now last week, that was a different story, and my apologizes for not reporting in a timely manner. Joe DiMaggio graces the cover, to mark the 70th […]
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The Yankee Captain gets the GQ treatment as the April cover and profile by Seth Mnookin, author of Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top, about the arch rival Red Sox.
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As I’ve said in the past, I greatly enjoy the annual baseball glossy magazines, despite their increasing anachronistic qualities. But like a parent of a child in a school play, my major complaint is that thesy don’t pay enough attention to my team. Enter Maple Street Press. Their slogan: “1 Team. 128 Pages.” Sweet. I […]
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I’ll have to pick up on these again, now that the (pre-) season is getting under way again. The Feb. 28 issue cover sported young Atlanta players Fred Freeman and Jason Heyward and additional items on some top rookies to watch (follow the rest of the links therein). The March 7 issue includes a short […]
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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
