Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Ron LeFlore turns 62 today. The speedy Tiger presented an interesting story of getting that “one in a million” chance while in prison to try out for the Detroit team, which he turned into a book with Jim Hawkins with One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story. The two collaborated on Breakout: From Prison […]
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Several former Major Leaguers share a birthday today, including: Wade Boggs Boggs!The Techniques of Modern Hitting Billy Williams Billy Williams: My Sweet-Swinging Lifetime With the Cubs Babe Dahlgren Rumor in Town: A Grandson’s Promise to Right a Wrong
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The former catcher who played 15 years — mostly for the Toronto Blue Jays — turns 58 today. He published Catch: A Major League Life, co-written with Greg Cable, in 1989.
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Those who share my birthday include: The late Mike Coolbaugh, whose death from a line drive in a minor league game was achingly chronicled by S.L. Price in Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America. Lou Brissie, whose amazing comeback from devastating injuries suffered during World War II was the […]
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This top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, June 4. Title Rank General Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 1 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, […]
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George Will put in an appearance on The Brian Lehrer Show in April (how did I miss that), to discuss the re-release of Men at Work, first published 20 years ago. Say what you will about Will’s politics, he loves his baseball and can discuss it without engaging in overly vainglorious verbosity. You can hear […]
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I ran this Q&A with Gary Bedingfield, author and host Baseball in Wartime, last November in honor of Veteran’s Day. Thought I’d do post again to commemorate Memorial Day. In addition, I received a sweet little video recently which also has some WW II content. Around the League, 1939-1946 was filmed and later narrated by […]
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to Clyde King, who turns 86 today. And to William Elsworth “Dummy” Hoy, the first deaf Major Leaguer, who was born this day in 1862. Hoy was responsible (depending on whose story your believe) for helping to create umpires’ signals. His descendants have created a website in his honor and are coming out with a […]
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to Tommy John, born this date in 1943. Books by/about John include: T. J.: My 26 Years in Baseball The Tommy John Story The Sally and Tommy John Story Also born this date, Hall of Fame outfielder Al Simmons (Al Simmons: The Best)
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This top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, May 21. Title Rank General Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 1 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Jason Turbow with Michael Duca 2 The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, […]
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to Reggie Jackson, born this date in 1946. Reggie (no last name necessary) has been the subject of several books, including Reggie Jackson: The Life and Thunderous Career of Mr. October, the just-released bio by Dayn Perry, which I’ll be reviewing for Bookreporter.com in the very near future. The Jackson collection includes: Also celebrating a […]
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Born this date in 1928. All’s I know is that I found the TV version of The Bronx Is Burning to difficult to watch, if only because of John Turturro’s ears.
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This top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, May 14. Title Rank General The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Jason Turbow and Michael Duca 1 The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst 2 Moneyball: The Art […]
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The Hall of Fame catcher (and my Montclair “neighbor”) was born this date in 1925. Ain’t it amazing how many books by/about him — on basically the same stuff — there are, including, but not limited to:
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Milt Pappas (1939). From the Baseball-Reference “Bullpen”: Milt Pappas came one batter short of throwing a perfect game for the Chicago Cubs on September 2, 1972. He had 2 balls and 2 strikes on hitter #27, Larry Stahl, and his last two pitches were ruled balls. He settled for the no-hitter, but he never forgave […]
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to Dick Williams, born this date in 1929. Williams published a memoir/autobio No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Life in Hardball (with Bill Plashcke) in 1990. He was also one of the baseball personalities interviewed in Fay Vincent’s latest collection, It’s What’s Inside the Lines That Counts : Baseball Stars of the 1970s and 1980s […]
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This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, May 7. Title Rank General The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Jason Turbow and Michael Duca 1 The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst 2 Moneyball: The […]
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I challenge anyone’s imagination to think of a time before 24-hour cable sports coverage. Before the Internet. Before sports-talk radio. Before TV coverage (before color coverage). Fred Stein can. The author of Under Coogan’s Bluff: A Fan’s Recollection of the New York Giants Under Terry and Ott grew up in an age when newspaper ruled […]
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Rogers Hornsby 1896 Enos “Country” Slaughter 1916
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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
