Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The man who claims to have pitched a no-hitter under the influence of LSD turns 63 today. Ellis played for 12 seasons (1968-79) with the Pirates, Yankees, A’s, Rangers and Mets, compiling a 138-199 record. He collaborated with author Donald Hall on his autobiography in 1976. The Amazon Report: Dock Ellis in the Country of […]
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in 1995, Michael Jordan decides he might have made a mistake when he quit basketball at the height of his game to try his hand at baseball. He took advantage of the labor unrest to announce his plan to give up the diamond for the hardwood. The Amazon Report: Rookie: When Michael Jordan Came to […]
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Born this day in 1958, the star-crossed pitcher died in 2006 as the result a car accident, and not, surprisingly, drug use. Howe was a sometimes brilliant reliever who played mostly for the Dodgers and Yankees. Suspended several times from substance, abuse, Howe got more second chances than just about any athlete in history. The […]
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Not the first — that honor went to Jim Brosnan — but perhaps the best of the genre he tackled, Bouton turns 69 today. “The Bulldog” enjoyed a couple of good years for the New York Yankees, winning 20 games in1963 and 18 more in 1964, the last good year the team had for more […]
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In 1941, ‘Losing Pitcher’ Hugh Mulcahy of the Phillies becomes the first major league player to be drafted into the Armed Forces. The newest member of the 101st Artillery at Cape Cod’s Camp Edwards on had lost 22 games last season and 20 in 1938 to lead the National League in defeats both years. (Thanks […]
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Born this day in 1940, “Pops” died too young, at age 61 in 2001. Stargell was one of the stars of the Pirates “We Are Family” team in the early 1970s, a fearsome batter who had a trademark windmill-style of taking his practice swings. The Amazon Report: Willie Stargell: An Autobiography Out of left field: […]
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Former Pirate second baseman Bill Mazeroski is elected by the Veterans’ Committee into the Hall of Fame along. His walk-off home run in the 1960 World Series is still ranked as one of the most dramatic moments in the game. (Thanks to NationalPastime.com.) The Amazon Report: Twin Killing: The Bill Mazeroski Story
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in 1912, Charles Ebbets breaks ground for his team’s new ballpark in the Pigtown section of Brooklyn. The Dodgers new home will be named for its owner after a reporter at the ceremony suggests the idea to Charley. (Thanks to Nationalpastime.com.) The Amazon Report: Hit Sign, Win Suit: An Irishman’s Tribute to Ebbets Field Greatest […]
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The fireballing right-hander was born in 1891. He spent his best years with the Brooklyn Dodgers, winning more than twenty games three times. Vance had his best season in 1924, with a record of 28-6, completing 30 of 34 starts, pitching more than 308 innings and posting 262 strikeouts and a 2.16 ERA. The Amazon […]
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Born in 1897, O’Doul began his big-league career as a pitcher in 1919, but flamed out by 1923. He returned to the majors in 1928, reinventing himself as an outfielder. Over the next seven seasons, he batted .353, including a an NL-best .398 in 1929, the year he also had career highs of 32 homers […]
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Peter Uberroth replaces Bowie Kuhn as baseball’s commissioner, the sixth since the office was instituted following the Black Sox Scandal. What follows is a review I wrote for the SABR Bibliography Committee newsletter in 1999 following the release of Jerome Holtzman’s The Commissioners. * * * Holtzman, one of baseball’s premier sportswriters of our time, […]
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Born this day in 1860, Ward formed The Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, the first players union, in 1885 and sought to fight the reserve clause that bound a player to his team in perpetuity. If some of today’s modern athletes don’t know about the contributions of Jackie Robinson (and when I say “some […]
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Ott was born this date in 1909, Berg in 1902. Ott, who spent his entire career with the New York Giants, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951 on the strength of 511 home runs (the National league record for many years), 1,860 runs batted in and a .304 batting average. He died […]
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Born Feb. 29, 1904. A prominent member of the Cardinal’s “Gas House Gang” of the 1930s, Martin had a .298 average over his 13 year career, all spent with St. Louis. He’s one of 12 major league players who were leap year babies. The Amazon Report: The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch […]
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According to NationalPastime.com: Effa Manley, former Negro League team owner, become the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The co-owner of the Newark Eagles is one 17 former players and executives elected by a special committee using new statistics from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues. The Amazon Report: Queen of the […]
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Grover Alexander Cleveland was born this day in 1887. Old Pete, who was indicted into the Hall of Fame in 1938, has his signature moment when he came in to fan Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded and the Cardinals nursing a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning of Game 7 of the 1926 World […]
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One of the true gentlemen of the game turns 89 today. When it comes to recognition, Irvin always seemed to play second second fiddle behind Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, and Willie Mays, among others. He played only eight season, arriving with the New York Giants in 1949 at the age of 30. But he never […]
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This piece originally ran in NINE. I thought, with all the buzz about the Cubs wining the 2008 pennant, and perhaps more, it was time to post it. Bear in mind that some new books on the team have been published since, including Glenn Stout’s The Cubs. The Million-to-One Team: Why the Chicago Cubs Haven’t […]
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With the Academy Awards on the horizon, I thought it would be appropriate to mention some of the excellent books that discuss the twin American treasures of baseball and the movies. Baseball and the movies are like peanut butter and chocolate: they were meant to go together. Baseball is the eternal struggle of man seeking […]
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The Yankees first African-American player would have been 70 today. One of Casey Stengel’s great — if not politically correct — lines was, “As Peter Golenbock noted in Dynasty, “When I finally get a [black player], I get the only one who can’t run.” After his death, Howard’s wife, Arlene, published Elston and Me: The […]
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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
