Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
I was over at the local Barnes and Noble and my eyes fell on The Obits: The New York Times Annual 2012. Being the morbid and curious fellow I am, I flipped through the book (the title is a bit odd, since obviously none of the obits are actually from 2012; they actually span Aug. […]
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This comes from Bobby Plapinger, proprietor of R. Plapinger Baseball Books, one of the best places to find those hard-to-acquire titles and collectibles, in memory of Goodwin Goldfaden, one of the “pioneers” of the baseball books and collectible world. Anyone who’s ever bought & certainly anyone who’s ever sold baseball books or publications or related material […]
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The former pitcher and author of two no-hitters for the St. Louis Cardinals passed away Nov. 3. He lent his name to a book of anecdotes about his former team (he also pitched briefly for the Houston Astros) in Bob Forsch’s Tales from the Cardinal Dugout, published in 2003.
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It’s still too early to get all the details, but the former Orioles pitcher is dead of an apparent suicide. Flanagan pitched for 18 seasons, all but two spent with Baltimore. He compiled a record of 167-143 and won the Cy Young Award in 1979 with a career-best 23 wins. Following his retirement as a […]
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The Yankees free agent bust who caused no end of delight as the print media tried to figure out to relate an annoyed George Steinbrenner’s description of his overpriced pitcher as “a fat pussy toad,” was found dead in his suburban Los Angeles home yesterday. He was 42. In the New York Times obituary, the […]
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Richard Sandomir published this appreciation of Ruth Roberts, composer of “Meet The Mets” and a couple of other baseball ditties, who died on June 30.
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The Hall of Fame manager died today at the age of 82. UPDATE: Richard Goldstein’s obituary for Williams in today’s NY Times. Williams won back-to-back World Championships with the Oakland As in 1972-73. He also led the Boston Red Sox to their “Impossible Dream” pennant in 1967 in his first year as a manager at […]
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The composer of “Meet the Mets” died June 30 at the age of 84. From the JTA’s Eulogizer blog: Ruth Roberts, 84, wrote ‘Meet the Mets’ Ruth Roberts, a popular song composer whose work was sung by millions of New York Mets fans and the Beatles, among many others, died June 30 at 84. Roberts […]
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I heard about Northrup and Pagan on the Mets radio broadcast last night. It’s one thing when a player of Bob Feller’s age passes; he was “before my time.” But when the guys I grew up with start to go, the mortality factor really sets in. Northrup, who died at the age of 71, was […]
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Had the Mets game on in the background yesterday and heard the sad news that Dana had passed away suddenly. Update: Here’s the obituary from yesterday’s NY Times. I knew Dana on very casually through his written work, including Mets Fan and The Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair in the Life of a […]
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Killebrew passed away this morning. The Hall of Fame released the following statement: Harmon Killebrew Remembrances, From Family to Hall of Famers “It is with profound sadness that we share with you that our beloved Harmon passed away this morning. He died peacefully surrounded by Nita and our family. He will be missed more than anyone can imagine […]
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The New York Times saw fit to published their own obituary of Gallo, who died on May 10. The New York Post ran this editorial in honor of the rival Daily News‘ late sports cartoonist. Too bad they still had to insinuate themselves in the piece by mentioning the fact that Gallo’s son had been […]
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I have a special affinity for cartoonists and artists. My father was a pretty good art hobbyist who worked on the cheap, using the backs of discarded poster, cardboard, whatever he could scrounge up. Maybe that has something to do with it. Anyway, today we mourn the passing of Bill Gallo, long time cartoonist for […]
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The popular fixture of St. Louis baseball — playing for both the Cardinals and the Browns — passed away yesterday at the age of 93. Marion was a seven-time all star and NL MVP in 1944, even though his stats were less than stellar. Although there are no titles specifically on Marion, he is a […]
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Wally Yonamine was the first Asian-American to play baseball in Japan, died on Monday at the age 0f 85. As a Nisei — a first generation American of Japanese descent — Yonamine had many Jackie Robinson moments when he debuted for the Yomiuri Giants in 1951. His story was chronicled in Robert Fitts’ excellent biography, […]
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How depressing is it when guys you followed as a kid growing up in the sixties start to die off? It’s one thing — and no less unfortunate — for people like Duke Snider, but I remember Greg Goossen, from his years on the New York Mets. Goossen, who signed with his home town Los […]
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Besides playing Irene Lorenzo, Archie Bunker’s liberal neighbor on All in the Family, as well as other TV, film, and theater roles, Garrett starred in the 1949 Sinatra-Kelly musical Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Garrett died yesterday at the age of 91.
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The former manager died yesterday. The NY Times obituary by Bruce Weber put his age “in his early 80s.” Tanner, who led the Pittsburgh, Pirates to the world Championship in 1979, played for eight seasons with the Braves, Cubs, Indians, and Angels from 1955-62, compiling a .263 batting average, 21 homers, and 105 RBI, mostly […]
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The oldest baseball player died Tuesday at the age of 101. Malinosky played briefly for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937.
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The hard-throwing reliever with the coke-bottle glasses died yesterday at the age of 81. Duren was an alcoholic. He attributed his wildness on the mound just as much to the booze as his poor eyesight. But he cleaned up his act and in later years worked as a substance abuse counselor and motivational speaker. He […]
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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
