Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Because, as a reminder, you can keep baseball cards on your bookshelf. Bob Friend, a good pitcher on a number of bad teams (big league mark, 197-230), was found dead on Sunday at his home in O’Hara Township, Pa., as per his obituary by Richard Goldstein in today’s New York Times. He was 88. The […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Penny Marshall, the co-star of the popular sitcom Laverne and Shirley and director of the iconic baseball film A League of Their Own, has died at the age of 75. Marshall, who appeared on The Odd Couple as sportswriter Oscar Madison’s long-suffering secretary, Myrna Turner, also directed one episode of the short-lived TV series based on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I must admit, I had never heard of the late Tom Clark. When I was googling “Neil Simon and baseball” for an entry on the late playwright, Clark’s name popped up in the results; his obituary — written by Richard Sandomir — must have appeared on the same date as Simon. The piece was published […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Both gave inaccurate accounts of what happened during a ballgame. Neil Simon, one of the great playwrights of our time, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. His baseball connection? This scene from the film version of The Odd Couple, which was released in 1968. By the way, that play was pure fiction: the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Tab who? Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO. Hunter, a heartthrob in the 1950s and 60s, played the character of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, one of the great musicals of all time. Of course, Hunter, who died on Sunday at the age of 86, played in many other movies, but for the purposes of this […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Hall published two baseball titles which what I would classify as “quiet classics,” in that they never created as much buzz as something like, say, Moneyball or The Glory of Their Times. He passed away on Saturday at the age of 89. Here’s his obit from The New York Times. Perhaps his best known was […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The baseball lifer, who spent 76 years in the game — 67 with the St. Louis Cardinals — died yesterday at the age of 95. He had been the oldest living Hall of Famer. He was the subject of several books, including The Red Schoendienst Story (1961, by Gene Schoor); The Man Who Fought Back (1962, […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
So this is the way it’s going to be, I guess. The stars and favorites from my youth are of an age where their passing is not uncommon and therefore should not be shocking. But it is shocking and serves as an unwelcome reminder that my contemporaries are getting older, too. Rusty Staub is the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The literal “port laureate” of baseball passed away yesterday at the age of 84. Nicknamed “The Glider,” Ed Charles got a relatively late start, making his debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1962 at the age of 29. He was traded to the Mets in 1967. As a fan of the team, I rooted […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
One of my favorite shows of all times was M*A*S*H. Some of the earlier episodes don’t hold up so well, but one which sticks out is “A War for All Seasons.” Why, you may ask? Because baseball. Stiers — who passed away last Saturday at the age of 75 — played the imperious Major Charles […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
How would you like it if as a ballplayer the main reason your obituary was noteworthy was because you seriously injured someone during a game? Well, there are those who think it wouldn’t matter to you because you are, you know, dead. But I’m guessing if Jack Hamilton had not inadvertently beaned Tony Conigliaro, the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
If ever there were a ballpark designed to assist a player, that would be the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Dodgers’ first home after the abandoned Brooklyn for Wally Moon. From the NY Times‘ obituary by Richard Goldstein: Its dimensions were bizarrely suited for baseball. The wall behind right-center field was some 440 feet from home […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The veteran actor, perhaps best known for his role as Martin Crane, the father on Fraiser, died on Feb. 4 at the age of 78. Mahoney was one of those character actors you always recognize but rarely remember the name. To me, his greatest turn as as Chicago White Sox manager Kid Gleason in the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
It’s unfortunate, but I’m betting the obituaries for Oscar Gamble will lead off with something noting the huge Afro he sported in his latter player days. The 17-year veteran, who put in service with seven teams, died today at the age of 68. In addition to having MVP hair, Gamble — who played for the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The legendary umpire, who did not lack for self-assurance, passed away Saturday at the age of 87. Doug Harvey, who had been in failing health for a few years, published They Called Me God: The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived with veteran baseball journalist Peter Golenbock in 2014. I reviewed that one, along with Al […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Sadly, the older we get the more we lose the ballplayers we followed when we were kids. The latest in this group is Bob Bailey, a 17-year veteran who made his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1962 at the age of 19. He went on to play for the LA Dodgers, Montreal Expos, Cincinnati […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
If African-American ballplayers had a terrible go of it, can you imagine what female African-American ballplayers had to deal with? From the New York Times‘ obituary by Daniel E. Slotnick Mamie Johnson, one of a handful of women to play in baseball’s Negro leagues in the early 1950s — and the only one known to […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
If not for the late pitcher, we wouldn’t have any books about 61, Roger Maris, or asterisks. Stallard passed away Dec. 7 at the age of 80. Here’s the NY Times obituary from Richard Goldstein. After making his debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1960, Stallard — a 6’5 righty — also played for […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I recently posted about the passing of the venerable author/editor. At the time, I was still waiting for The New York Times to weigh in. That came on Nov. 9 in this obituary by Daniel E. Slotnik.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
