Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
by Robert B. Parker. Putnam, 2004. Robert B. Parker’s heroes epitomize the strong silent types. Like the cowboys of old, they are taciturn, unfailingly loyal and determined to pursue the causes of right in the face of superior numbers or disadvantageous circumstances. Joseph Burke is the latest in this mold. Parker, known primarily for his […]
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Weather permitting, the Mets will honor their 1969 World Championship team. George Vescey wrote an excellent column in yesterday’s New York Times. Which sent me to my library to see what I’ve got specifically on that momentous event. Mant books about the team include a look back at that first championship, but the following titles […]
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The legendary Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell published this piece praising the improved quality of baseball literature in his Free Press column of Aug. 16. Among the titles mentioned (just to name a few) are Jonathan Eig’s Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First […]
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Henderson became the latest first-ballot Hall of Famer this year. What a day May 1, 1991 was: Henderson becomes the all-time stlen base cham, and Nolan Ryan tosses his seventh and final no-hiter. Henderson took some criticism because of his “I-am-the-greatest” boast, while Ryan quietly accepted the accolades for his accomplishment. You just know a […]
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This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, August 14. Title Rank General Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 2 Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye 3 The Yankee Years, Torre and […]
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(With apologies to Irving Berlin…) Earlier this week, The New York Times ran this piece about the life (or lack thereof) of New York Mets groundskeeper Dan Cunningham. It reminding me of several interesting books about the people behind the scenes who are essential to the smooth production of a game on many levels, from […]
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This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, August 7. Title Rank General Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 2 Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye 3 The Yankee Years, Torre and […]
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For me, as a freelance writer, anyway. My first major published piece was a review of Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball, by Harvey Frommer for Elysian Fields Quarterly in 1993, which you’ll find after the break. I wax nostalgic because I learned at the recent SABR Convention that EFQ might be forced to ceases publication […]
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A version of this review originally appeared on Purebaseball.com in 2001. Summer is firmly entrenched. So is your favorite team … in last place. The time for spring training optimism is over. Face it, it’s the cellar for sure. Now what? Time to tum off the radio, shut the TV and head for the great […]
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Japanese Baseball and Other Stories, by W.P. Kinsella (Thistledown Press, 2000) Baseball Fantastic, edited by W. P. Kinsella (Quarry Press, 2001) It’s been some time since W.P. Kinsella has come out with new baseball fiction. The author of such memorable novels as Shoeless Joe, Box Socials and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and shorter works, The […]
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This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, July 17. Title Rank General Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye 1 Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 3 The Yankee Years, Torre and […]
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We might hate the man, for what he did to himself and what he did to besmirch the (relative) cleanliness of the game, but give Jose Canseco his due. He was right about about a lot of things, including players who used. Jonathan Eig, author of a biography of Lou Gehrig — the anti-Canseco — […]
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This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, July 3. Title Rank General Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye 1 The Yankee Years, Torre and Verducci 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 3 As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the […]
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From SFgate.com, the literary master of disaster comments on a teammate’s assertion that he’s persona non grata among the old Oakland As.
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This item popped up in my Google alerts. Fifty years ago (June 10, to be precise), Colavito — who played primarily for the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians from the mid-1950s to late 1960s — became the sixth batter in the modern era to hit four homers in one game. (By the way, this may […]
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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
* TWIBB — Aug. 21
August 22, 2009
This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, August 21. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 1 Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel 2 The Yankee Years, Torre and Verducci 3 Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, […]
Tagged as: baseball books
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