Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
When I first saw the headline in Saturday’s NY Times, I thought the writer, David Waldstein, was speaking metaphorically. Turns out Dickey — the surprise pitching star for the Mets in an otherwise dismal 2010 — actually is writing a book, with the help of Wayne Coffey of the NY Daily News. From the Times‘ […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 18, at 3:30 p.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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The New York Mets “star” pitcher — who turns 81 today — lost 46 of 51 decisions in the team’s first two seasons (but still complete 27 games). Throw out 1962-63 and Craig, who broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955 and finished with single seasons on the Cardinals, Reds, and Phillies, was a […]
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Intro: As previously stated, the recent election of Robert Alomar and Bert Blyleven got me to thinking: how many Hall of Famers have had books written about them or penned their own stories. Here are the results. Again, this is not an all-inclusive list; almost all juvenile titles have been omitted. Ray Dandridge (inducted 1987) […]
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The NY Times‘ George Vecsey wrote this piece focusing on Stan Musial and basketball’s Bill Russell as among the latest group of recipients for America’s highest civilian honor. Isn’t it kind of funny: no matter how much of a big shot they are — they could be President of the United States or a billionaire […]
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The poster boy for the unathletic-looking male, the one who gave millions hope that they, too, could fit in with the slim/muscular types, turns 50 today. Kruk was one of those players who was pretty good, but… He finished his 10-year career with an even .300 batting average and hit .348 in the 1993 World […]
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The Wali of Wallop, the Rajah of Rap, the Caliph of Clout, the Wazir of Wham, the Colossus of Clout, Maharajah of Mash, the Behemoth of Bust, the King of Crash, the Colossus Of Clout, the King Of Swing, the Terrible Titan, the Kid of Crash, the Jovial Giant and, of course, the home run […]
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George Castle, the Illinois-based journalist, has made a sideline writing about baseball in general and the Cubs in particular. I had a chance to speak with Castle about his latest title, When the Game Changed: An Oral History of Baseball’s True Golden Age: 1969–1979. Amazon.com Widgets http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/RKBBGeorge-Castle1-2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts […]
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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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The long-time Yankee pitcher (with a brief diversion through Houston), will announce his retirement today. Pettitte was one of the Mt. Rushmore of Yankees who came up through the minor league system and brought a new dynasty in the mid 1990s, including Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera. Pettitte had that one PED bump […]
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I quite enjoyed Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) and the follow-up, SuperFreakonomics. Not that I’m great at economics, but I love the analysis stuff. So it was kind of a “eureka moment” when I discovered Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won, by […]
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I was just looking his numbers. He broke in with the NY Giants in 1956, hitting 23 doubles, seven triples and 22 home runs in 138 games. He drove in 59 runs, batting mostly in the , and stole 15 bases. Impressive. Too bad he was a rookie in the same Year as Frank Robinson, […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 28 at noon. 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 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 21 at 9 p.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 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by […]
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Another in a series of futile attempts to catch up. Because you can keep minutiae on your bookshelf, here’s a new community baseball site that looks like it’s going to be fun: Eephusleague.com.It has a cool design and icons that take the visitor to a host of categories, including uniforms, rules, articles, photos, scorekeeping, etc. […]
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Don “Popeye” Zimmer turns 80 today. If I had my time to live over again, I would want to be a baseball lifer. He published two memoirs within two years: Zim: A Baseball Life in 2002, and The Zen of Zim : Baseballs, Beanballs, and Bosses in 2004, after he’d left the Yankees and felt […]
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Sharing the special day is one current and one future Hall of Famer. Dizzy Dean was born on this date in 1910. The star hurler was the smiling face of baseball during the Depression, know for his folksy Arkansas sayings that are the staple of quotations about the game. The current Redbird is Albert Pujols, […]
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Haven’t done one of these in awhile, so here goes. MLB.com posted this story about Andrew Zimablist, who published Circling the Bases: Essays on the Challenges and Prospects of the Sports Industry last October. WithLeather blogs about Jose Canseco’s upcoming (and unpromising?) appearance on he new season of Celebrity Apprentice. Speaking of television, will baseball […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 14, 1:37 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 3 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 4 […]
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My Montreal homeboy Jonah Keri conducted this podcast interview with Fuld, who was recently traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Tampa Bay Rays. Maybe Fuld, a defensive whiz (Keri links to a couple of prime plays), can get some more playing time with the Rays than he did in Chicago. By the way, Keri […]
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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
