Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Judging by the email I’ve received about The Bookshelf, I would guess that many of you are of an age before the Internet made instant gratification an inalienable right. If you wanted “the latest” information on the upcoming baseball season, you got it from from the annual magazines that came out in the early spring, […]
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Perhaps the most synonymous name with sports equipment and the national pastime is Louisville Slugger. It’s come to be used like Kleenex, Jello, or Xerox — technically incorrect, but representative of the industry. Hard to believe but Hillerich & Bradsby, the company that produces this piece of Americana, is in its fifth generation and 125 […]
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This is the time of year when home gardeners (of which I am one) look forward to receiving their seed catalogs. I also enjoy getting the latest from the publishing world. Today I received the Ivan R. Dee catalog, which includes the following baseball titles: Catcher, by Peter Morris — The author of such neo-classics […]
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The Hall of Fame veterans Committee will announce any decision on Monday, Dec. 8. Players who are under consideration include: SINCE 1943 • Dick Allen • Gil Hodges • Jim Kaat • Tony Oliva • Al Oliver • Vada Pinson • Ron Santo • Luis Tiant • Joe Torre • Maury Wills PRE-1943 • Bill […]
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The Chicago Sun-Times recently offered a list of gift books, as comprised by some of its writers. Of the seven suggestions, Two baseball titles made the grade: Babe Ruth: Remembering the Bambino in Stories, Photos and Memorabilia, by Julia Ruth Stevens and Bill Gilbert; and Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of “The […]
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Rapid Robert turned 90 on Nov. 3. Feller was one of those players from “the greatest generation” — including Ted Williams, Warren Spahn, Bob Buhl, Hank Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio and many others — who lost precious years to the service of their country. Yes, some, like Feller and Williams, were on the front lines while […]
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A lot of fans proably forget that the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is also a library. I spent a great week up there several years ago, doing research for a book about baseball during the Korean War years. the staff couldn’t have been nicer, and the access of walking around like I belonged was […]
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And a bargain at less than $12,000.
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Tom Shroder of The Washington Post contributed this sweet, nostalgic piece about discoerving a long-forgotten piece of his childhood. As I lectured my mom on this subject recently, arguing for ruthlessness in the disposition of boxes filled with old stuff, I came across a little cardboard notebook. Labeled “Official Baseball Score Book,” it opened to […]
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From collectorsquest.com, this small group of old baseball-related…stuff.
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The Los Angeles Central Library is hosting “Play Ball! Images of Dodger Blue, 1958-1988,” a photographic exhibition, through November 9. The curator for the exhibit is David Davis, a contributing writer to Los Angeles Magazine and The Times’ Book Review. “Since 1958, the Dodgers have been a vital, integral part of the social fabric of […]
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This article from the Miami Herald heralds the Baseball Reliquary, a California-based organization “that trumpets itself as a ‘traveling museum of baseball curiosities and wonderments.”
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Time to play catch-up: From a rival site about baseball book reviews, this piece on Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and The Say Hey Kid (another of those books that uses words like “greatest” and “forever” in its title). An oldie, but good: this review of The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, by Douglass Wallop, […]
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There’s a lot of material that’s fallen by the wayside as I try to keep this blog fresh with the latest in baseball book publishing information. But in the words of the revered philosopher, Regis Philbin, “I’m only one man!” So I’m using this space to try to catch up. Some of the items might […]
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The Story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game by Andy Strasberg, Bob Thompson, and Tim Wiles. Hal Leonard, 2008. This year marks the centennial of what baseball fans believe to be the true “national anthem” and this trio of authors have done the ditty proud. Baseball’s Greatest Hit is an “everything you always […]
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Baseball’s real anthem celebrates its centennial this year, a fact marked by the new book, Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, by Tim Wiles, Andy Strasberg and Bob Thomson as well as Allen Barra’s March 22 story in The Wall Street Journal.
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Sports Illustrated launched its new digital archive earlier this week. After a quick glance, and realizing it’s still in beta, I have mixed feelings. Bear in mind I’m only talking about the baseball here, but I’m assuming the same applies for everything else. As of today, there are 14,985 articles, 3,750 pictures, 69 “galleries” (photo […]
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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
* Simply the best
December 2, 2008
Spitball Magazine just announced the finalists for the 2008 CASEY Award, Almost a Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the 1980 Phillies, by William Kashatus (University of Pennsylvania Press) Neil Leifer: Ballet in the Dirt: The Golden Age of Baseball, by Neil Leifer (Taschen) (See here for samples.) Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of “Take […]
Tagged as: baseball literary awards, Spitbal
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