Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
McFarland Publishers has a unique place in the world of baseball literature. Known for their eclectic academic work in the arts, sciences, humanities, etc. they also specialize in topics that might be considered extremely narrow in interest within the national pastime. In fact, it seems comfortable to say that if it were not for this […]
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Clemens reports he will also appar on 60 Minutes after the New Year. One might be more likely to believe players had not Pete Rose been so adamant in his denials about his gambling on baseball games. The Amazon Report: The Rocket: Baseball Legend Roger Clemens Rocket Man: The Roger Clemens Story
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Trying to clean up a lot of backlog here: *** From the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press, this review of Dana Brands’ Mets Fan. *** Charles C. Alexander, author of biographies on Ty Cobb, John McGraw, and Rogers Hornsby, as well as a treatise on baseball during the Depression, recently released his studious account on Tris Speaker. […]
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As almost all fans know by now, Marvin Miller did not make it into the Hall of Fame … again. Some sports columnists and pundits believe those on the selection committee are punishing Miller for his role in establishing a strong players’ union. For crying out loud, Barney Dreyfuss was voted in and he’s been […]
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In addition to the Black Sox papers that mysteriously resurfaced recently, another piece of baseball history is heading to auction. Memory Lane, Inc, a Tustin, Calif. sports collectible enterprise, will be offering Christy Mathewson‘s rookie contract, dated 1900. “Vintage baseball contracts have become more sought after in recent years by collectors, and that demand has […]
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Perhaps jumping on the drug bandwagon/confessional, Otis Nixon, a former outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and other teams, is reportedly working on a book that describes his battle with drugs. *** Actress Laraine Day passed away Nov. 10. She was dubbed the “first lady of baseball” for her marriage to Leo Durocher, then the manager […]
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Don’t you just love the Internet? It’s filled with all sorts of treasure. The latest nugget I’ve found is from Manybooks.net, a site for free e-books, available via download for several platforms, which include some rare baseball titles: The High School Pitcher, by H. Irving Hancock The Red Headed Outfield and Other Stories (1920) and […]
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Jack Kerouac’s On the Road celebrated its 50th anniversary in September, an event feted by re-releases of the watershed oeuvre and other events. According to Bloomberg.com: The New York Public Library offers an exhibition of Kerouaciana that includes about 60 feet of the scroll unrolled in a long display case, numerous notebooks, a fantasy baseball […]
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Another piece from Slate.com about the Rockies, who caused a star awhile back because of their penchant for looking heavenward for strength. While the piece, a reprint from 2000, looks primarily at football, the subject of religion applies across sports lines. It also links to the Rockies’ “emphasis on Christianity first reported by USA Today […]
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…without some writer referring to the Michael Lewis book on effective baseball business management to explain how a given team was put together in an conventionial way. Here’s the latest, on the Rockies, from Slate.com.
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Now that the Sox are back in the Fall Classic, speculation is rampant over the effect this will have on the publishing industry. The year after the 2004 World Series victory — the team’s first in more than 85 years, David Green published 101 Reasons to Love the Red Sox: And 10 Reasons to Hate […]
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With the Red Sox on the verge of elimination from the ALCS, from Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, with emphasis added: If any team knows how to recover from an ALCS deficit, it’s the Red Sox. Boston wrote the book (which yielded approximately 26 books the following spring), beating the Yankees four straight times […]
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Thanks to the powers that be for producing two sessions of top notch baseball stories read at Manhattan’s Symphony Space. The stories in this section, which aired on Sept. 28, 2007 by Public Radio International, include: James T. Farrell, “My Grandmother Goes to Comiskey Park,” read by John Shea (from My Baseball Diary, Southern Illinois […]
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Some books about the teams in the League Championship Series to browse through while you’re waiting for those interminable changes. These are by no means the only or best titles, just general, all-purpose suggestions. As an aside, It’s interesting to note that the ALCS features two of the original teams, while the NLCS has two […]
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From the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, as the Indians prepare for the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox, one writer’s opinion about the best books on the game. I always find it interesting how faux fans crawl out of the woodwork at this time of year, especially when FOX broadcasts the World Series, stocking […]
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Long before there was the San Diego Chicken and the Philly Phanatic, two Jewish ballplayers — more entertaining for their amusing antics than their prowess on the field — were crowned the “Clown Princes of Baseball.” Born in 1892, Al Schacht grew up in an Orthodox household. He pitched with middling success for the minor […]
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World’s oldest Jewish ex-major leaguer tells all Just over 60 years ago — Sept. 13, 1947 — Mickey Rutner hit his only major league home run. He did it as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics in an 8-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. Rutner, who has made his retirement home in Georgetown, Tex., […]
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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
Is it still funny, Joe?
December 12, 2007
Whatever happened to Joe Garagiola? or a time back in the late 1970s-early 80s he seemed to be all over the place: baseball color man, game show host, the Today Show. Where’s he been for the last 15-20 years? Working on a new book, it seems, a follow up to his successful Baseball is a […]
Tagged as: Baseball is a Funny Game, Joe Garagiola, Just Play Ball
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