With St. Patrick’s Day just ahead, what better time to discuss Charlie Rosen’s new book,The Emerald Diamond: How the Irish Transformed America’s Greatest Pastime? Rosen previous sports work — over a dozen titles, both fiction and non-fiction — have been almost exclusively about basketball. The lone exception: his Bullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe […]
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Charley Rosen,
Emerald Diamond,
New York Yankees,
Saint Patrick's Day
Back in the day (i.e., when I was a kid), taking pictures was a pretty big deal. Cameras used real film (kids, ask your parents), either in roles for SLR cameras that a) cost money, and b) had to be developed, which cost more money. If you had an “instamatic” camera, then you had to […]
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Andy Strasberg,
baseball fans
As a former presidential speechwriter and current senior lecturer of English at the University of Rochester, it’s safe to say that Curt Smith loves the spoken (and written) word. His output as an author combines that enthrallment with baseball; he’s written several books that highlight not the players on the field, but the people who […]
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Curt Smith,
Fenway Park
Recently, the Bookshelf spoke with Glenn Stout about the centennial of Fenway Park (an upcoming episode will feature Curt Smith discussing the role of broadcasters in bring the games to the Fenway faithful). This week, in recognition of the New York Mets’ 50th anniversary, we chatted with Mathew Silverman, who specializes in titles about the […]
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Hofstra University,
Matthew Silverman,
New York Mets
Last week I posted an interview with Kostya Kennedy, author of 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports Well, the tributes continue with this week’s guest, Glenn Stout, a veteran writer whose latest book, Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year, earned him the […]
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Best American Sports Writing,
Boston Red Sox,
Fenway Park,
Glenn Stout,
SABR,
Seymour Award,
Seymour Medal
Kostya Kennedy was recently named winner of the Casey Award, handed out by Spitball Magazine for their take on the best baseball book of the year. Kennedy, a senior editor at Sports Illustrated, received the coveted prize for 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports. He will pick up the award at […]
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Casey Award,
Joe DiMaggio,
Kostya Kennedy,
Sports Illustrated
From a press release issued by the baseball hall of Fame: This year, some of baseball’s greatest storytellers are coming to Cooperstown to share their work as part of the Museum’s annual Authors’ Series offerings. The Hall of Fame’s Summer Authors’ Series gets under way May 28 and continues throughout June, July and August. The […]
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Danny Peary,
George Vecsey,
Joe DiMaggio,
Lipman Pike,
Richard Michelson,
Roy Campanella,
Stan Musial
Regular visitors know I rarely consider juvenile literature, but once in awhile an “important” book comes along that deserves attention. Previously it was Kadir Nelson’s We Are The Ship, an introduction to young readers about the Negro Leagues. This time it’s Richard Michelson’s Lipman Pike: America’s First Home Run King, a picture book about the […]
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Kadir Nelson,
Lip Pike,
Lipman Pike,
Richard Michelson
Somewhat belated, but nevertheless — The Yankees’ lefty, known perhaps more for swapping families than his record on the field, turned 69 recently. I was planning on posting this on his actual birthday, but wanted to find out what he was up to with his latest project. I interviewed Peterson during my stint at Yankee […]
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Fritz Peterson
The new RKBB podcast features an interview with author Joseph Wallace, author of Diamond Ruby: A Novel. This is Wallace’s first foray into fiction., but not baseball. His previous work includes World Series: An Opinionated Chronicle, World Series: An Opinionated Chronicle, and The Baseball Anthology: 125 Years of Stories, Poems, Articles, Photographs, Drawings, Interviews, Cartoons, […]
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baseball fiction,
Diamond Ruby,
Joseph Wallace
I’d been hoping to post this a lot sooner, but due to a number of technical glitches, including a new computer and some lost software, yada yada yada… Anyway, submitted for your entertainment is an interview, in two parts, with Jane Leavy, author of the bestselling biography, The Last Boy, Mickey Mantle and the End […]
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Jane Leavy
Jane Leavy played to a full house in October at the Yogi Berra Museum and learning Center in Little Falls. Photos courtesy Andrew Mordzynski. Part 2 http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RKBBLeavy21.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Jane Leavy,
Mickey Mantle
Since the nature of the blog is to print the most recent entry first, I’m presenting the three-part interview with Jim Bouton in reverse order. http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/JimBoutonPart2.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Ball Four,
Jim Bouton
Since the nature of the blog is to present the most recent item first, I’m presenting the three-part interview in reverse order. http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/JimBoutonPart3.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Ball Four,
Jim Bouton
As mentioned in previous entries, Ball Four celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The Baseball Reliquary will host a special program to mark the auspicious occasion at the Burbank Public Library on Sept. 18. Jim Bouton was kind enough to spend some time talking about his watershed contribution to American pop culture and his other […]
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Ball Four,
Jim Bouton
I can still picture it in my mind: Reading Ball Four during summer camp days back in 1970. In fact I still have that original volume in my library. So it’s shocking to me that it’s been 40 years since Jim Bouton’s watershed memoir was published. Bouton was quite generous with his time in speaking […]
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Ball Four,
Jim Bouton
To Rollie Fingers, who turns 64 today. Rollie’s Follies: A Hall of Fame Revue of Lists and Lore, Stories and Stats from Baseball’s Most Famous Moustache The Rollie Fingers Baseball Bible: Lists and Lore, Stories and Stats (The Rollie Baseball Follies) In addition, new author and ESPN BBTN analyst Doug Glanville has another reason to […]
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Doug Glanville,
Rollie Fingers
http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/LeitchPodcastPart2073010.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
http://www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/LeitchPart1aPodcast0730101.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Tagged as:
Podcast,
Will Leitch
The first few times I encountered Will Leitch’s work, I was less than impressed. I’m old-school enough to not want to know that my favorite players (not that I have any at this point) are hanging out at bars, doing drugs, treating women badly, etc., which is what Deadspin — which he founded — seemed […]
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audio interview,
Will Lietch
is available on Amazon.com,
