Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The long-time Yankee pitcher (with a brief diversion through Houston), will announce his retirement today. Pettitte was one of the Mt. Rushmore of Yankees who came up through the minor league system and brought a new dynasty in the mid 1990s, including Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera. Pettitte had that one PED bump […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
It’s not Kevin Youkilis, but Bob Uecker, who turns 76 today. I guess it’s a catcher-thing. Perhaps sitting behind the plate, with the whole field out in front of you, you have the perspective for contemplation. That’s why guys like Uecker, Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra (albeit perhaps unwittingly) have such sense of humor. All […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The author of My Life As a Fan and Baseball and Lesser Sports died earlier today at the age of 80. Sheed also collaborated on other baseball books, providing text for the 1990 publication book Face of Baseball and the foreword for a Kal Waggenheim biography on Roberto Clemente. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, author of Me and […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
“The Great Emancipator” would have been 72 today. Flood published his story — The Way It Is — in 1971, the year he retired from the game. Since then, several books about Flood’s role in creating the free agent dream (or nightmare, depending on your point of view), have been released with lesser or greater […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Don “Popeye” Zimmer turns 80 today. If I had my time to live over again, I would want to be a baseball lifer. He published two memoirs within two years: Zim: A Baseball Life in 2002, and The Zen of Zim : Baseballs, Beanballs, and Bosses in 2004, after he’d left the Yankees and felt […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 14, 1:37 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 3 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 4 […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 7, at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
When I was a kid, I loved to find players with my name (Ron Hunt got extra points because he was a Met). It gave me some sort of coolness by association, I thought. So happy birthday to Ron Kittle, who turns 52 today. He lent his name to Ron Kittle’s Tales from the White […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Who knew the three-time All-star catcher was a writer? I had not heard of his 2007 publication If They Only Knew, but I would definitely like to get my hands on a copy. Which leads to the inevitable question, if we only knew what? According to Wikipedia, that great bastion of scholarship Daulton holds a […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The former perfect game-hurler turns 47 today. Cone teamed up with baseball commentator extraordinaire Roger Angell to produce the cerebral A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone in 2001.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 31,2010. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, by 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Baseball Prospectus 2011 4 Beyond […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Bill Lee turns 64 today. The flaky, quirky, “spacey” lefty had an interesting 14-year major league career, to put it mildly, including being called on the carpet by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for admitting to sprinkling marijuana on his pancakes. Books by and about Lee include: Amazon.com Widgets Also marking a birthday today: “Sunday Teddy” Lyons, […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com, as of Friday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A whole bunch today, beginning with Fergie Jenkins, the Hall of Fame pitcher, who turns 68. You often read about how dark-skinned Hispanics players such as Robert Clemente or Vic Power were amazed by the prejudice they encountered in the 1950s and 1960s, coming from countries where none existed. I wonder how Jenkins felt, coming […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Bill Nicholson was born this date in 1914. He was considered one of the great sluggers of his generation, leading the National League in home runs in 1943 and 1944. He retired in 1953 with 235 four-baggers. With so many athletes serving in WWII. I would love to see — just out of curiosity — […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Dec. 10, at 11 a.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 2 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
From ESPN’s Richard Durrett at the Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, FL: There has been some interest in first baseman Chris Davis from a few clubs, but it’s unclear if that will turn into anything. Fans love/hate the winter meetings. They hope their team can pull off a great deal and get that sexy […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Larry Bowa turns 65 today. The long-time Phillies shortstop (he also played with the Cubs before batting .105 in his final year with the Mets; yeah, thanks for that) was also a short-tempered manager for the Padres and Phils. He wrote two books: Bleep: Larry Bowa Manages in 1988 and Larry Bowa: I Still Hate […]
{ 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
