Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Join me tonight at 9 p.m. EST when I make my weekly appearance on the What’s On Second Internet radio program. (Actually, I’ll be on closer to 9:40.) This week we’ll be discussing annual baseball magazines and whether they’ve gone the way of the dodo.
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One of my favorite sections of the then-Street and Smith,/now-Sporting News annuals is the part devote to player milestone/targets. It remains great fun to see where the contemporary stars rank in relation to the legends of the game. I enjoy looking at a player and counting down, and guessing if he’ll make the goal during […]
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In a sense — and as much as I have loved them since childhood — I don’t know why they bother with these print editions anymore. You know a good portion of the information will change by the end of spring training, if not sooner, rendering some of the speculation and predictions useless. For example, […]
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I knew I was in trouble when one of the co-hosts of last night’s What’s On Second program on BlogTalkRadio didn’t know who the Smothers Brothers were (are, actually). I figured the SB’s were one of those cultural icons that transcended age, but I guess I was wrong. Then I look at GQ‘s poll of […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]
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I can’t remember so much chatter on the web about the selections for the Hall of Fame as this year, both before the elections were held and after Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were voted in. Most are all about comparisons: why Player A should be in, especially if similar Player B was elected. The […]
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Actually, with the way it works, the Dec. 20 issue was last week (Tim Linceum graces the Dec. 27 year-end issue)), but there’s a goodly amount of baseball items in “The Year in Sports Media” issue that I didn’t want it to go by unremarked upon. The robots are taking over! Steve Rushin writes about […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com, as of Friday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]
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TIME magazine published its top 10 list of everything this year, including sports. Baseball is at the top of the top: Baseball’s Imperfect Game (no further explanation needed) LeBron’s Bad Decision (no further explanation needed) A College Basketball Cinderella Comes Oh So Close (Butler vs. Duke) Football Uses Its Head (concussions) Ghana’s World Cup Giveaway […]
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The publishers of American History magazine just came out with 100 Greatest Sports Movies (and you know how I feel about the use of “Greatest” and “Best” in the title). Extracting just the baseball films, we have, in order: The Pride of the Yankees (#4 overall) Bull Durham (#6) Major League (#12) A League of […]
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Sports Illustrated‘s Tom Verducci considers one of the questions I’ve been wondering about for a long time: Why do teams keep hiring the same old managers rather than give someone new a chance? I’ve often thought of baseball in terms of television shows: you keep getting the same actors in different roles though similar roles. […]
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Go, Giants! They get the cover story treatment from Tom Verducci (Giant Moment). But that’s it for awhile, I fear.
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(with a side of shameless self-promotion. A “simcha” is a joyous occasion.) From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Duo celebrating bar mitzva of counting Jewish athletes Edmon J. Rodman OCT. 28 — Down in Texas, the Rangers have an All-Star second baseman who has added flavor and flair to the 2010 season, helping propel his team […]
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It’s World Series time, but the cover story is about violent football hits. No quarrel there. Tom Verducci: Can You Say Cliff Hanger? Joe Sheehan: A November to Remember
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A series of recent baseball articles from Forbes: Baseball’s Best Teams For The Buck and Baseball’s Best Playoff Players for the Buck The Plight of the Umpire and the Inevitability of Instant Replay Who Profits from MLB’s Postseason? Baseball’s Most and Least Efficient Teams for the 2010 Season From the last story: The average payroll […]
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Jonathan Mahler, author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, wrote this profile of Texas Rangers president and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan in this Oct. 3 Sunday Times Magazine. I like Ryan. He’s old school. None of the pitch-count BS. […]
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Sadly, the only baseball feature in the NHL Preview Issue is The Last Stand of Billy the Kid, a profile of Braves’ closer Billy Wagner by Michael Bamberger. There’s also a Joe Sheehan item about why Felix Hernandez deserves the AL Cy Young Award. Get used to it.
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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
Bookshelf review: Lindy’s Sports Baseball 2011 Preview
February 24, 2011
I originally had not planned to buy this one, but on my next appearance on the What’s on Second Internet radio program (shameless self-promotion), I’ll be discussing the annual publications, so that’s how I justified the purchase. Actually, it’s better than I first thought. Although it’s light on features, the team profiles more than make […]
Tagged as: annual baseball publications
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