Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The Providence Journal posted this review of yet another account of the Dodgers’ (and Giants’) move to California. Upshot: To the dwindling circle of Brooklyn Dodger fans, Walter O’Malley will forever remain a despised #@%&*. If they can bring themselves to read it, Murphy’s book will reinforce their notion.
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By Allen Barra, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Upshot: “Cooperstown Confidential” is bold, intelligent, gutsy. [Author Zev] Chafets is strongest on what is soon to be the next controversy of the Hall — steroids. and … if you don’t like Roger Clemens — and there are so many who don’t that one questions why the authors […]
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This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, June 19. Title Rank General The Yankee Years, Torre and Verducci 1 As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires, Weber 2 Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning […]
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The New York Times’ Janet Maslin published this review of Larry Tye’s new biography of the great Paige. Upshot: “All the African-American luminaries had climbed to the top of their fields, but none did it with Satchel’s over-the-top style and charm,” Mr. Tye claims. “And none of the others had been seen up close by […]
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Allen Barra, author of the new biography on Yogi Berra, gives his considered opinion on two other titles that deal with the Hall of Fame: Zev Chafets’ assessment of the problem of the Hall of Fame, and the quartet of NY Daily News writers on a pitcher who would have been a lock to earn […]
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Sorry, give me a minute here. The Mets just lost their game with the Yankees when Luis Castillo dropped a two-out POP UP that allowed two runs to score. TWO HANDS, dammit!! Anyway, my review of several books that encompass the Yankees and Mets during interleague weekend appear on the latest posting of Bookreporter.com. Titles […]
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The most recent episode of Only a Game includes an interview with Peter Golenbock, author of George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire. You can hear the segment here.
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Bloomberg.com includes two baseball titles in this piece on sports books: S.L. Price’s Heart of the Game about Mike Coolbaugh’s on-field death, and Miracle Ball by Brian Biegel, which looks at the search for “the shot heard ’round the world.”
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The May/June issue of ForeWord Magazine, a publication that specializes in small and university presses, carries my feature on nine 2009 baseball titles, including: Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training High-Flying Birds: The 1942 St. Louis Cardinal Babe Ruth: Remembering the Bambino in Stories, Photos & Memorabilia Yankee Colors: The Glory Years […]
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With the new book about Roger Clemens hitting the stores today, the Rocket has come out of the closet (so to speak), to stick to his guns about his non-use of PED. According to this piece from STATS, Roger Clemens broke his silence Tuesday, again denying that former personal trainer Brian McNamee injected him with […]
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Loathe as I am to get dirty with the A-Rod book, I feel I would be derelict in my “duty” to ignore it. So we’ll try to make this as painless as possible. I’m still waiting for my copy, so I’m just passing along what I’ve read. The news falls into three basic camps: those […]
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A joint review of two new books by former Mets graces the pages of the Sunday Times Book Review Section. Under the general headline “The Boys of Bummer,” Bruce Handy, a writer and deputy editor of Vantiy Fair, critiques Ron Darling’s The Perfect Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching, and Life on the Mound, and Darryl […]
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Remember when I noted that the robert’s book on A-Rod was coming out on May 12? Oc fourse you don’t, which is why I’m putting a link here. Well scratch that. According to the Times, it comes out May 4. “A-Rod, The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” (HarperCollins), by Selena Roberts, asserts that Rodriguez used […]
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The Seattle Literature Examiner posted this piece on the best baseball books that doesn’t so much list or review in itself, save for a mention of Baseball and Philosophy, as it does point to two existing lists, which I replicate here: Baseball Books: A Reading List, via The New York Times (1997-2003 titles) “Baseball fiction […]
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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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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
* Reviews (and then some): Cooperstown Confidential
June 23, 2009
From the MLB portion of Fanhouse.com, this piece on Zev Chafets‘ new and controversial book on the Hall of Fame. And another from The Hardball Times. Upshot: Chafets doesn’t portray himself as a baseball expert, a la Bill James. He clearly is a fan of the game—and a passionate one—make no mistake about it, but […]
Tagged as: Baseball Hall of Fame, PED, steroids, Zev Chafets
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