Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Or not. For some, 13 is actually a lucky number. But for others… Baseball is notorious for have superstitions. Remember this scene from Bull Durham (WARNING: Explicit language) Here are just a few books that deal with baseball superstitions: The Incomplete Book of Baseball Superstitions, Rituals, and Oddities, by Mike Blake Field of Magic: Baseball’s […]
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At Texas Women’s University, “Fiction class goes deep into baseball literature.” There is a literary quality to baseball. From the lyrical of W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe to the irreverence of Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, the chronicles of David Halberstam, the eccentricity of Bill Veeck’s Veeck As In Wreck and the satire of Philip Roth’s The […]
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I love backstories, whether they’re superhero original tales or something like “Revealed: The TV Manufacturer Whose Set Design Was Used on 1955 Bowman Baseball Cards” from the Sports Collectors Daily website. Bonus points for citing one of my favorites, The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book, first published by Brendan C. […]
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As I mentioned in the previous entry, Topps traditionally reserved baseball cards ending in “00” for the cream-of-the-crop elite players (not sure about other sports). With one exception, there were at most only seven available “00” slots. Yearly output ranged from 210 in 1955 to a whopping 825 in 1993. It makes sense that the […]
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My wife has been in a number of book groups over the past twenty or so years. Once a year, the husbands are invited to participate. In all that time, we’ve only discussed one book about sports (if you consider Lance Armstrong’s It’s Not About the Bike a sports book). So this story from the Washington […]
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Except replace “still” with “not” and “rock and roll” with “baseball.” 60 Minutes featured a segment on the Savannah Bananas in its April 13 episode. Jesse Cole, the man behind the (yellow) curtain, has written several books about the team and marketing, including Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, which is […]
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Pete Peterson’s national public radio program, Reading Baseball, just celebrated its 400th episode! Mazel tov. Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Skenes is included in Esquire’s “Mavericks of Sports 2025” feature. Skenes is also featured in today’s New York Times Magazine piece, “How Analytics Marginalized Baseball’s Superstar Pitchers: Why has pro baseball made it so hard for today’s […]
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What do Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabbathia, and Billy Wagner all have in common? Oh, yeah, sure, they were all just elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. But wait, there’s more. That’s right; they’ve all written memoirs. Ichiro’s book was published in 2004. There are other books about him, including The Meaning of Ichiro: […]
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I am a great believer in the serial (Oxford) comma. It;’s pretty much in the stylebook for every outlet for which I’ve written. And you can find lots of arguments for and against its use. But I’ve never seen in discussed in respect to baseball books until now. Submitted for your entertainment and/or amusement, this […]
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Because you can keep them on your bookshelf. Not that I’m a fashion maven, but I never liked the flat brim look. A pet peeve of mine. Kudos to the writers of Reacher.
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Passover is over. Inevitably, we buy too many boxes of matzo and the question then becomes, what do you do with the leftovers? Sure, you can eat this stuff all year round, but would you really want to? I suppose I could ship it off to Alex Bregman…
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This popped up on my daily Google alerts for baseball book-related stuff from Fine Books & Collections: “Early Baseball Sheet Music, Arrowsmith’s Maps, JFK Presentation Copy: Auction Preview” Image: Potter & Potter — “The earliest known baseball lithograph, for “The Live Oak Polka,” offered at Potter & Potter this week.” According to the accompanying story […]
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If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know my affection for the NPR news quiz, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. And every now and then, they’ll throw me a bone my including some baseball content. Examples include an interview with Moose Skowron which led me down a rabbit hole when it comes […]
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Because you can put your baseball cap on a shelf: From the ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION BEWILDERED BY ATHLEISURE AND BASEBALL CAPS DEAR MISS MANNERS: Returning to the United States after several years of living in Europe, I have noticed that “athleisure” wear is acceptable everywhere, and that wearing baseball hats in restaurants (done by people […]
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Come on, you can’t blame FOX for reporting on the death of The Big Hurt, mistaking him for the other Frank Thomas. What, you expect them to actually, like, fact check? It’s so ridiculous that even this British news outlet reported on it: “Fox News apologises after claiming baseball MLB Hall of Famer had died” […]
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Taking some time off in Pittsfield, MA, to celebrate 35th anniversary with the missus. Right across the street from our lodgings is a Stop and Shop. Was hoping visit Wacunah Park but these days it’s used by one of the pre-pre college leagues/teams. And t’isnt the season. But there is a great store in Pittsfield — […]
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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
