Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
One of the all-time greats of the game, Honus Wagner enjoyed renewed fame because of his rare baseball card. He was born this date in 1878. The books specifically on Wagner (he’s included in many histories of the game) are divided into those about his life and those about the card and the collectibles industry. […]
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Bonilla, who paired with Barry Bonds to form an awesome duo for the Pittsburgh Pirates, didn’t enjoy such good times after joining the NY Mets. he was one of the subjects depicted in Bob Klapisch’s 1993 “exposé,” The Worst Team Money Could Buy. Baseball-Reference lists the 1992 Mets’ total salaries at $42,180,335. Last year that […]
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“M” is truly an amazing initial for Hall of Famers, isn’t it? Mays, Mantle, Musial, Marichal, , McCovey, Mathewson, no to mention managers such as McCarthy, Mack and McGraw Connie Mack (Manager; inducted 1937) My 66 Years in the Big Leagues, by Mack (1950) Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball, Macht (2007) The […]
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The Hall of the Very Good blog posted this article about little known facts regarding the men who occupied the highest office in the land and the national pastime. Paul Dickson, baseball referencarian par excellence, published Baseball: The Presidents’ Game in 1993, with an update four years later. Dan Cohen published Play Ball, Mr. President: […]
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Intro: As previously stated, the recent election of Robert Alomar and Bert Blyleven got me to thinking: how many Hall of Famers have had books written about them or penned their own stories. Here are the results. Again, this is not an all-inclusive list; almost all juvenile titles have been omitted. Reggie Jackson (Inducted 1993) […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 18, at 3:30 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 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]
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The New York Mets “star” pitcher — who turns 81 today — lost 46 of 51 decisions in the team’s first two seasons (but still complete 27 games). Throw out 1962-63 and Craig, who broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955 and finished with single seasons on the Cardinals, Reds, and Phillies, was a […]
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Like Bob Uecker, Garagiola was a so-so catcher who made more of a name for himself in retirement. He served as a co-host for The Today Show from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992. He also hosted several game shows, as well as working as an announcer for NBC Game of the […]
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The poster boy for the unathletic-looking male, the one who gave millions hope that they, too, could fit in with the slim/muscular types, turns 50 today. Kruk was one of those players who was pretty good, but… He finished his 10-year career with an even .300 batting average and hit .348 in the 1993 World […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.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 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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“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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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
