Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
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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Whoda thunk it? But according to this piece –“Baseball Meets Horror” — by Bruce Markusen in the “Cooperstown Confidential” portion of The Hardball Times, yep.
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As a “reward” for having my submission on an episode of Deadwood accepted into the Extra Hot Great canon (you can go ahead and skip to about the 37-minute mark), I got to choose a topic for an “EHG mini.” Shouldn’t surprise anyone that I found a way to combine my two favorite pastimes — sports […]
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NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
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A few weeks back I did a review of Chuck Klosterman’s latest book, But What If We’re Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past. Klosterman refereed to The Book of Predictions as an example of just how wrong people can be. It’s fun to look at some of the entries in Predictions — […]
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“The unwritten rules of baseball, courtesy of Goose Gossage and the St. Paul Saints.” I’ll be looking for this on eBay very soon. But wait, if the unwritten rules are written, doesn’t that no longer make them unwritten, which means everything is written now?
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The actor Alan Young passed away at the age of 96 on Thursday. Baseball connection? Several of the Dodgers, including Sandy Koufax, John Roseboro, Willie Davis, and Moose Skowron appeared as themselves, as well as the voice of Vin Scully.
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There has to be something going on on Jeopardy. How else to explain the high number of clues regarding baseball over the past several weeks. It seems like there is at least one reference per week. Sometimes an entire category is devoted to some aspect of the national pastime as in this from last night’s […]
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In posting the weekly best-seller list, I usually include the image of a book making its Bookshelf debut. Notice how Author’s name. To me, it appears to be about 50 percent larger than the title of the book. Why is that? Inquiring minds want to know! Is it because Darling has become a national presence […]
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The new normal in baseball literature is to publish something — anything — that pushes baseball analytics as the only logical way to assemble a team. Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game may may have been the first “official” book to address the concept, but there have been several since its […]
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In addition to the regular reasons — the signaling of the start of summer, the lazy evenings, the smell of the grass, etc. — I love the beginning of the baseball season because of the previews in the newspapers. These have often come in the form of supplements of substantial length and breadth and tailored, […]
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The last page of today’s New York Times‘ art section features several wonderful baseball collectibles. The least expensive is a paperweight commemorating Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit for $19.95 plus shipping. The most expensive: a Pride of the Yankees original movie poster for $4,950. Other items include Jackie Robinson Story original movie poster ($1,950) Vintage baseball […]
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Don’t know how I missed this one. Must have been making dinner.
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Jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding was the guest for Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me‘s Not My Job segment last week. So the writer thought it would be cute… PETER SAGAL: Second base is baseball, the great American pastime. SPALDING: Oh no. SAGAL: One of the worst baseball players ever was one Smead Jolley. Mr. Jolly was […]
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Last night, an entire category devoted to “Ways to reach first base.” The contestants answered each one correctly, although the $200 clue remained on the board after the first round. $400: 4 wide ones (What is a walk?) $600: Craig Biggio had it happen 285 times; ouch! (What is hit by pitch?) $800: A defensive […]
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This time it’s “Moneyball for book publishers.” How long until “moneyball” is added to the OED? No exact match found for “moneyball” in Grammar & usage
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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 blog 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
