Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Since AMC’s new original series Rubicon has received such accolades, I feel a bit stupid for not liking it as much as I “should,” according to critics, but at least it has some baseball in it. Very briefly, it’s a spy show without — for me, at least — the “thriller” part. Will is the […]
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The father of sabermetrics, Bill James, will play himself on an episode of The Simpsons this fall, according to the OnTheRedCarpet website. I’m guessing he’ll be on for all of three minutes, but Big League Stew, a Yahoo sports blog, has some suggestions on how to beef up the “role.” • As a favor to Mr. […]
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Because everyone always talks about his big brother. Unfortunately, Tommie passed away in 1984.
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Mmm, now them’s eats. Cookbooks with a baseball theme isn’t a new concept. Often they’re used as either promotions or fund-raisers, collected by the players’ significant others. Admittedly, some of the items included are basic, common-sense type items; with the exception of Rusty Staub and perhaps a few others, we’re not talking Julia Child here. […]
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Two of my favorite people — Rob Neyer and author/artist Kadir (We Are the Ship) Nelson met for this brief discussion (with a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail). GhostTheory.com posted this entry on Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room and Beyond, by Mickey Bradley and Dan […]
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On the most recent Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Peter Sagal played “Not My Job” with Iranian stand-up comic, Maz Jobrani. Here’s the slightly-edited transcript. SAGAL: Well welcome to the show, Maz. We have asked you here to play a game we’re calling? CARL KASELL, host: Here, let me open that bottle for you. Ugh, […]
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(Because the new records books will carry this development.) Read a fascinating item just now: Seems that in the pre-Internet/computer days of record keeping, someone made a mistake in 1961 and credited Roger Maris with one extra run batted in than he deserved, according to this piece by Greg Couch on MLB.Fanhouse.com; other media outlets […]
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So here’s a list of unusual injuries sustained by players this season, courtesy of SI.com’s Hot Clicks blog: — Feb. 12: Brad Bergesen, Orioles: Strained his shoulder filming a TV commercial for the team. — May 29: Kendry Morales, Angels: Broke his leg celebrating a walk-off home run at home plate. — June 30: Luke […]
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The Mental Floss website offers these quizzes: Did he throw a no-hitter? The Simpsons softball quiz The baseball card brand quiz
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Always happy for the chance to mix baseball and philosophy, as per The NY Times Sunday Magazine’s “Ethicist” column. I coach a youth all-star baseball team. After tryouts, our league director chose the 13 best players for our team, leaving about six kids unselected. Among those is a boy whose father recently died of cancer. […]
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Earlier today I challenged Mark Juddery to back up the claim in his new book that baseball is the most overrated sport. Tonight, he offers his answer, via email, presented without editorial comment: Here are a few words written just for the Baseball Bookshelf site. (Well OK, it’s basically a reworked version of the book […]
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As I’ve stated in the past, I’m not a big fan of books that employ words like “best” and “greatest.” Add to that “Most,” as in Overrated: The 50 Most Overhyped Things in History, by Mark Juddery, who adjudges baseball as “the most overrated sport.” Of course, he also considers Star Trek the most overrated […]
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Brian Cronin of The Los Angeles Times blogs about Sports Legends Revealed in which he takes on a Rob Neyer-ish tone about our cherished (?) beliefs. He is also thoughtful enough to single out the baseball items.
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When Henry Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record in 1974, Ernie Harwell and Bill Slayback collaborated on “Move over Babe, Here Comes Henry,” a musical tribute. Wonder if some tunesmith will do the same now that Jamie Moyer has “bested” Robin Roberts on the all-time home runs allowed list? Like the pundits say, […]
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There are several popular drinking games around; one of my favorite focuses on the television show Lost. Since there are so many similar themes in baseball books, I though I’d try my hand a creating one of my own. So with your kind indulgence: If someone refers to Jaques Barzun and/or the quote: “Whoever wants […]
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if not a tiny scoreboard. Mental Floss, a bright and funny publication in which a couple of my articles have appeared (and one day again, I hope. Hint, hint, Mental Floss; I have no shame) published this brief history on the evolution of the scoreboard. The piece also links to some other cool baseball items, […]
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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
Trivia pursuit
August 23, 2010
Bleacher Report ran this slide show on The Top 10 MLB Players Immortalized in Obscure Trivia.Very cool. Goodness knows I regularly encounter two or three trivia titles/”brain teasers” on the remainder table of my local Barnes and Noble, either on the game in general or a team or some other topic within a topic. The […]
Tagged as: trivia books
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