Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
I have given major props to the L.A. Daily News‘ Tom Hoffarth for his thoughtful month-long series of baseball book reviews. Today’s the last day, so here’s his “whole freakin’ list” which lists and links all 30 titles. He was also gracious enough — self-promotion alert — to mention The Bookshelf in his wrap-up. Thanks […]
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Few things get me misty eyed, but I couldn’t even get through the opening paragraphs of George Vecsey’s column today, about the compassion of opponents at a women’s college softball game. As you will read, Sara Tucholsky, a Western Oregon senior with a four-year batting average way south of .200 had a dream come true […]
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The Wall Street Journal also ran this review by Pete Hausler of the new bio on the Yog by Carlo Devito. In sifting through [more than 4,000 sources], Mr. DeVito makes what seems initially like a strange choice: He includes many stories, anecdotes, and quotes that are now widely considered to be apocryphal (his word). […]
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The New York Times has recently published baseball material in non-sports sections. A review of the American Experience documentary on Robert Clemente ran on Monday, April 21. The program is available for viewing on the American Experience Web site. In the “Escape” section of the Friday, April 25 weekend Arts, this piece about minor league […]
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Remember “The Book,” that Bible-like tome where-in lay all the answers to baseball strategy? Forget it, according to this article in The Wall Street Journal. Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, Ron Washington, and Co. are rewriting the rules, making it up as they go along, bucking traditional/ conventional wisdom to tailor their maneuvers to the modern […]
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The Wall Street Journal published this item about the long-in-the-tooth pioneers of rotisserie/fantasy baseball, including Glen Waggoner, now the executive editor of ESPN books. There’s also a video clip of WSJ “fantasy sports expert” Nando DiFino on these fine fellows who revolutionized the way the game is enjoyed, for better or worse, by thousands of […]
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It’s not often you scoop The New York Times. Back in November of ’07, I wrote this review on Mike Vacarro’s 1941: The Greatest Year in Sports in which I wrote, “Of course, there’s always a problem, especially in the world of sports, of declaring anything ‘the greatest.’ But it does make for some interesting reflection […]
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The tabloid is including the six-part magazine supplement on the House That Ruth Built in its Sunday papers. They do something like this every so often to boost sales. Nice touch. I think it’s worth the price of the edition. But remember, everything — commemorative magazines, thimbles, diner menus — is a “collectible” if you […]
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Here’s a sneak preview of the latest edition of Play, The New York Times‘ sports supplement, which features an article by Jonathan Mahler (Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning) on the change in Yankees stewardship. Hal and Hank Steinbrenner have only been in charge a short while, but they’ve already alienating people with their […]
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(Hope I spelled that right). In recognition of spring training, the Week in Review Section of today’s New York Times has a series of sketches drawn in 1962 by Sports Illustrated‘s Robert Weaver. There’s a slide show of several these drawings — with text by illustrator and art teacher DB Dowd — of the marvelous […]
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Poor Derek. Has to juggle all those daunting tax issues. That’s why you pay an accountant!
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“It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.” Andy Pettitte on signing professionally with the Yankees In the wake of the recent Pettitte press conference, Joel Sherman of the New York Post pulls an excerpt from his book Birth of a Dynasty: Behind the Pinstripes with the 1996 Yankees.
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The New York Times “Play” supplement is turning into one of the better sports magazines around. Combining the newspaper’s reputation for journalism with slick production makes it entertaining and informative without making the reader feel guilty about wasting time reading about frivolous topics. The latest edition gives plenty of “ink” the the Clemens-McNamee hearings, along […]
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A couple of entries ago, I pondered how experts in body language might assess Roger Clemens’ appearance on 60 Minutes. Ask and ye shall receive. Yesterday the Houston Chronicle published this piece, posted within hours of the segment, and today The New York Times did this one based on his Jan. 7 press conference. There […]
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From the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune. Columbians might remember when Mr. Rickey collapsed on Nov. 13, 1965, as he was being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame at the Daniel Boone Hotel and when he died on Dec. 9 at Boone County Hospital without regaining consciousness. Upshoot: “The reader does not have to […]
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The New York Times recently ran this article about sportswriters as the new breed of free agent, moving from publication to publication for higher and higher salaries. Rick Reilly recently left Sports Illustrated for ESPN The Magazine, while Dan Patrick did the reverse (think of it as a trade of two superstars). These are just […]
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Lifted from the Wall Street Journal‘s daily “Opinion Journal”: Wannabe Pundits OK, see if you can guess the topic of a column by Lee Benson of Salt Lake City’s Deseret Morning News. It begins as follows: The financial news from the front–the president wants another $196 billion for wars that have already cost $600 billion–is […]
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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
