Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
It’s no secret that newspapers are in a bad way. That includes the sports department, and by extension, baseball writers. Some publications have cut staff, others cutting back by sending writers on fewer road trips, opting to take stories from other sources. Techdirt ran this piece on the situation, referring to this article from The […]
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Allan Barra, author of the new bio on Yogi berra, wrote this piece for The Wall Street Journal on how the game has changed over the last half-century.
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In today’s NY Times, Joshua Robinson has a little piece, “Piazza Leaves Quickly, and Quietly, After Ceremony.” He writes about the ceremonial first pitch battery of Tom Seaver and the former Mets catcher. While Tom Terrific hung out afterwards to shmooze, Piazza, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. Escorted by security, he went from the […]
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Here’s one way to do it: Reprint something from your archives and call it a “classic.” That’s what the Christian Science Monitor does with this 1985 review of The Complete Armchair Book of Baseball.
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I hope this article from The Wall Street Journal isn’t too prophetic as it warns of newspapers’ shrinking presence in the press box. A few years back, I worked as a part-time reporter for STATS at Mets and Yankees home games. It was a kick, having my own seat in the box, chatting with “real” […]
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One of the major complaints from fans and (especially) non-fans is that the games take too long. Don’t look at it as a lot of down time; instead perceive it as a chance to catch up on your reading. That’s why I love compilations such as those published by The Washington Post‘s Thomas Boswell and […]
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The best of the New York papers, it goes well beyond the predictions for the Mets and Yankees. Veteran columnist George Vecsey compares special features at Citi Field to the Polo Grounds. The main items consist of a profile of Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay with smaller items on Bobby Cox, who’s now in his […]
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The back page of The New York Times Book Review features a full page advertisement from Bauman Rare Books. I usually don’t pay attention because as much as I lvoe ’em, they’re out of my league, to borrow from a famous title. But a photo of Joe DiMaggio caught my eye and sure enough there […]
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Although I cant stand this tabloid, I have to give credit where it’s due. Nice job on the preview. Not only is there a supplemental glossy magazine about the new ballparks (which “flips” so you have two covers), but the “Here comes opening day” preview is quite nice as well. The Post picks the Mets […]
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Please accept my apology. You did include a supplement about City Field, in today’s issue . (You might have given a person a clue, though: “Next week: Citi Field.”) It’s not on the website (yet?), as is the Yankees new home. Petty much follows the same content as last week’s item, but nice to have. […]
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I don’t usually buy the New York Daily News, so maybe I missed it. If not, will someone please reind the sports editors that there are two NY teams, each with a new ball park this year? The Sunday, March 29, issue included “Welcome Home,” a 48-page supplement all about the new Yankee Stadium. Very […]
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The BA March 23 issue serves as the preview for what is almost a trade publication. As always, the whole issue is devoted to baseball, but only part is devoted to a look ahead. Their “Fearless Forecast includes: ALDS: Red Sox over Twins, Yankees over Angels NLDS: Mets over Dodgers, Cubs over Phillies ALCS: Red […]
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The April 3 edition of USA TODAY included a baseball preview supplement. A story about baseball team payrolls — represented by a HUGE picture of C.C. Sabathia — was plastered on page one. There’s also a colorful comparison of the two new New York stadiums. I see that the seats are expanding in both ballparks, […]
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Unfortunately, USA Today Sports Weekly does not have a stand-alone website. In the New York area, the cover features a large photo of the Yankees’ Johnny Damon, and two smaller ones: Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox and Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays (not sure if there are regional covers, but I wouldn’t […]
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Another review of Bruce Weber’s book on umpires? This one is by Jim Bouton, and the author of the seminal Ball Four, who does his usual witty job. But as interesting as it is to get different takes, one wonders why the publication that employs Weber would publish more than one critique just over a […]
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This item from The New York Times casts another shadow over a new book. In The Rocket Who Fell to Earth, Jeff Pearlman’s new biography on Roger Clemens, the author reports an account offered by an unnamed Yankee episode in which Brian Cashman purportedly took Jason Giambi to task for poor performance by shouting at […]
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Until I get the Roberts’ book, I’m not going to spend a lot of time deconstructing the Rodriguez debacle. But since I enjoy finding baseball-related items from non-baseball sources, here are two pieces from The New York Times: “As Data Collecting Grows, Privacy Erodes,” Noam Cohen’s “Link-by-Link” column in Monday’s Business section. “The way Mr. […]
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Some kids get their love of baseball from their father. Mine was from the old country, born in Russian, coming to the U.S. when he was 16. He never took to sports like some new arrivals do to become “more” American. My father’s main form of relaxation was drawing and he was quite good at […]
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According to this item from the daily Publishers Weekly e-mail. Why is this significant? Both companies have put out several baseball titles over the last few years. Sourcebooks titles include: Do You Know the New York Yankees?: Test your expertise with these fastball questions (and a few curves) about your favorite team’s hurlers, sluggers, stats […]
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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
* Maybe someone should have thought of this awhile ago
April 22, 2009
The Yankee game was on TV last night and I noticed from the centerfield shot that many of the seats behind the plate were vacant. At first I just chalked it up to the early hour; people probably hadn’ arrived yet. I subsequently switched to the Mets game and thought no more of it. Until […]
Tagged as: Citi Field, Mets, ticket prices, Yankee Stadium, Yankees
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