Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Belated, of course. There have been seven players with that last name, but only one has documentary about him. Bob Valentine, 1876 Bobby Valentine, 1968-79 Corky Valentine, 1954-55 Ellis Valentine, 1975-85 Fred Valentine, 1959-68 Joe Valentine, 2003-05 John Valentine, 1883 The former Texas Rangers, NY Mets, and Boston Red Sox manager was the subject of […]
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I love big books and I cannot lie… Okay, enough of that. When I was in London, I stopped by Harrod’s where I found this in the sparse book department. Look at the people in the background and you can get a sense of the size of this collection of photos by Annie Leibowitz. […]
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Headnote: I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware that while many titles also appear in print versions, pretty much anyone can produce an e-book these days, so I’m not going to comment at all about the quality. As far as the audio goes, I’m […]
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You know how when your favorite media figures go on vacation, the fill the space with “reruns?” Carrying on in that grand tradition as I head over to Merry Old England, here are a couple of pertinent selections to keep me in your hearts and minds: The New British Invasion (1/2/12) Bookshelf Review: Right off […]
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Heading off to merry old England on Wednesday to celebrate our 30th anniversary. While there, I was hoping to visit the British Baseball Federation. I did that five years ago when our anniversary trip took us to Paris. In the spirit of exchanging gifts, I gave them a copy of 501 Baseball Books fans Must […]
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A semi-regular (I guess that sounds better than “irregular”) attempt to catch up on the baseball book and other news wince my last similar posting. * NY Daily News sportswriter/author Bill Madden contributed this list of the best baseball books of all time. All are worthy of the accolades (A Day in the Bleachers, The […]
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Fifteen bobbleheads for $300 seems like a bargain. (especially when you can buy them individually for $25 bucks apiece) but when you see that these are figurines from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, it’s a true find. Teams represented include: Rockford Peaches Chicago Colleens Battle Creek Belles Grand Rapids Chicks Fort Wayne Daisies South […]
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Holy cats, has it really been almost two months since I posted one of these? Moving on… Headnote: I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware that while many titles also appear in print versions, pretty much anyone can produce an e-book these days, so […]
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And how we love to hate some of those shirts (and pants). Todd Radom, a graphic designer specializing in branding for professional sports franchises, has compiled an entertaining collection and deconstruction of some of the greatest, worst, and most unusual baseball attire in his recent release, Winning Ugly: A Visual History of the Most Bizarre Baseball Uniforms […]
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Full disclosure: Prior to this, I have never watched more than a few minutes of DWTS in any of its previous seasons. I know sports figures have competed and some have acquitted themselves very well, but I can only guess the idea to have a bunch of athletes as a stand-alone theme was one of […]
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The Kearny, NJ-based Observer is holding an essay contest on favorite summer baseball memories. From the online story: Enter the contest by sending your family baseball memories — you can even write the memories together as a family — to us at editorial@theobserver.com by Wednesday, June 13, at 3 p.m. (Entries received thereafter won’t be […]
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I had to go to my local library site to renew some stuff and saw this: Also someone stopped by the house to have me sign a copy of 501 Baseball Books. That hasn’t happened for awhile. Sweet.
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This story from The New York Times about the baseball card hobby goes from A (Jeff Aeder, aka the prospective buyer) to Z (Guy Zinn, the rare item in question). It also comes on the heels of a discovery I had in my attic while looking for books to donate to the nearby Yogi Berra […]
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There has been speculation about what might have been for Cuba and the world had Fidel Castro passed muster for scouts in his baseball tryouts. Tim Wendell wrote about in his novel, Castro’s Curveball. Now it seems the same could be said about our president-elect. From Philly.com: “Report: The Phillies once scouted Donald Trump as […]
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It’s been said about Moe Berg that he could speak seven (or 10 or 12) languages but couldn’t hit in any of them. Baseball signed by World War II spy sells for over $17,000 Upshot: One of only two baseballs known to be signed by Moe Berg, a former major league catcher who served as […]
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Just happened to turn on the TV to Turner Classic Movie channel. Comrade X, a 1940 romantic comedy starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamar, was on at this scene: Gable’s character, an American journalist visiting Russia, is arguing about communism with Lamar, a local streetcar conductor. She tries to tell him how bad America is, […]
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According to this piece from Deadspin, “Give Theo Epstein And Bill Murray A Buddy Cop Movie, Now.” Just, please, no Daffy Duck voices. Yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption hailed Epstein as not among the pantheon of great baseball executives, but the pantheon of great baseball executives. You can listen to the podcast version here and then […]
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So if that was indeed his last major league game, David Ross hit a home run in his final official at bat last night. That it came in the seventh game of a World Series that gave the Chicago Cubs and their long-suffering fans a championship for the first time since Teddy Roosevelt was president […]
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is available on Amazon.com,
In my most recent "day job," I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted another blog. Busy, busy, busy.
I did a profile piece on the award-winning cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.
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
My (fantasy) Q&A with Sandy Koufax
January 28, 2018
“Who would be your fantasy interview?” I think I speak for a lot of Jewish fans when I say it would be Sandy Koufax. These are some of the questions I would ask, assuming he was bound to answer honestly and not just sit there sipping his wine. What was really behind the decision not […]
Tagged as: Sandy Koufax
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