Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Keeping to the Hank Aaron theme: For more than 20 years, Hank Aaron quietly went about his work, doing all the things that Mantle and Mays did, but with less media attention. That is, until he came within striking distance of the most prestigious record in baseball: Babe Ruth’s 714 lifetime home runs. The two […]
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to Hank Aaron, who turns 74 on Feb. 5. Aaron is considered by many to be the rightful ruler of the home run throne. During the period during and after Hammerin’ Hank surpassed Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 set, several books describing the man and the feat were published including: I Had a Hammer, written […]
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Belatedly, to Red Schoendienst, a baseball “lifer” since 1945. Schoendienst, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and Milwaukee Braves, suffered a bout of tuberculosis as a player back in 1958 while with Milwaukee. Following a recuperative stay at a sanitarium, he made a courageous comeback that was chronicled by Al Hirshberg […]
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to Danny Thompson, a shortstop for the Minnesota Twins, with a final stop in Texas, in the early to mid-70s. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 1973, but somehow managed to keep his career going until 1976. He died at the age of 29 on Dec. 10 of that year, just months after playing in […]
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Davey Johnson, who led the Mets to their last World Championship, turned 65 yesterday, Jan. 30. In the aftermath of the ’86 series, Johnson, who set a record for most home runs by a second baseman with 43 in 1973 (and since he had never hit more than 18 before or 15 afterwards, where were […]
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What next, sponsorship by Chico’s Bail Bonds? It’s bad enough there are so many variables — three tops, three bottoms, warm-up shirts, etc., not to mention all the different hats… Marc Okkonen published a colorful history (left), which chronicles the changes — subtle and not so — for all the franchises during the 20th century. […]
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Jane Austen and baseball? Who knew? Thanks to Jim Charlton, publications director of the Society for American Baseball Research for the lead. According to the OED, the earliest reference to baseball is the Jane Austin novel, which was published in 1815, not 1818 says the OED. I talked to an OED editor a couple of […]
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Interesting that about the same time as the story comes out reporting that baseball salaries are at an all-time high, we note the birthday of Curt Flood, who was responsible for the situation, for better or worse. For better obviously would have been for the players to make a decent wage and extricate themselves from […]
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A sad reminder of a man cut down in the prime of life, the only major leaguer to die as a result of an injury sustained on the field. Chapman was hit in the head by submariner Carl Mays on August 16, 1920. His story was chronicled in The Pitch That Killed, written in 1989 […]
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Podres, who pitched the deciding game in the 1955 Fall Classic to give the Brooklyn Dodgers their only World Championship, passed away this weekend at the age of 75. Richard Goldstein’s obituary in the Jan. 14 New Yorks Times, notes his place in the hearts that borough’s baseball fans. Look in any retrospective of the […]
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From sox1fan.com. The book’s official site.
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Haven’t seen too many reviews on this one, which is statistics/ computer-oriented, so I thought to include it for those who are into this genre. From Blogcritics.org. In fact, most of the book seems to be available online, thanks to Google Books.
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The CASEY Award was inaugurated in 1983 by Mike Shannon and W.J. Harrison, the editors and co-founders of Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine, to honor the authors and publishers of outstanding baseball books, a heretofore unrealized notion. Seven books were named as finalists for the first CASEY: Baseball’s Greatest Experiment, The Celebrant, Hoopla, Invisible Men, […]
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The fiery manager whom Orlando Cepeda basically called anti-Hispanic for not letting Latin players speak their native language in the clubhouse and dugout, turns 86. Dark played for the Braves, Giants, Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies and Braves again in a 14-year career that spanned from 1946-60. As a manager, he led the Giants to a 1962 […]
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According to a story in the Chicago Sun Times, the Cubs have received permission from the City Council to add 70 “premium-priced ‘bullpen box seats’ along the third base line at Wrigley Field — and install new signage — to wring more revenue out of the 93-year-old ballpark.” City Hall approved the changes because “landmark […]
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According to The Motley Fool Web site, Jimmy Buffett, baseball’s richest fan, takes his from a classic baseball title One key factor for Buffett’s success is his keen instinct to go only for investments where all the stars align; the no-brainer situations Buffett refers to as “the fat pitch.” Buffett has a simple explanation for […]
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Although this piece from the NY Times Sunday Magazine is not baseball related, per se, David Halberstam, produced several well-received books on the game (with additional titles about other sports), including: October 1964 Summer of ’49 The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship It’s rare to find such a well-rounded writer, who can be so […]
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Every time the High Holidays come around, you can be sure you’ll be reading stories about Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, the two greatest Jewish baseball players of all time. Both refused to compromise their religious beliefs to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews — Edgar Guest even penned […]
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The Spaceman turns 61 today. Books by or about Lee include: Baseball Eccentrics: The Most Entertaining, Outrageous, and Unforgettable Characters in the Game, with Jim Prime (Triumph, 2007) The Wrong Stuff, with Richard Lally (Paperback edition by Three Rivers Press, 2006) Have Glove, Will Travel: The Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond, with Richard Lally (Paperback […]
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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
