Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Sept. 10. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville 3 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, […]
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I wonder if the writer of this piece about Doug Glanville’s new book, The Game From Where I Stand, was thinking of Leonard Koppett when she titled her article “A thinking man’s guide to a baseball life.” Koppett, wrote one of the earlier and better far-reaching analysis in The Thinking Man’s (later Thinking Fan’s) Guide […]
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My Life in the Game, by Dustin Pedroia wuth Edward J. Delaney. SSE, 2009. In past entries, I’ve written about “flavor of the month,” a memoir or autobio written by a player with limited Major League experience who tries to capitalize on a special event or a great season? Born to Play falls into this […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Sept. 2. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime by Jason Turbow and Michael Duca 2 The Natural, by Bernard Malamud 3 […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Aug. 27. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst 2 The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville […]
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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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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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go to Bobby Richardson, who turns 75 today, and Ron Darling, who hits the half-century mark. The Bobby Richardson Story The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball and the Art of Pitching
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Received the latest (Summer 2010) issue of the BSJ. To be honest, a lot of the statistical stuff therein is a bit over my head/interest level, but there are several book reviews, so it balances out. Among them: Phil Birnbaum on The Bill James Gold Mine 2010 Lee Lowenfish on Satchel: The Life and Times […]
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This announcement comes via The Baseball Reliquary: The Baseball Reliquary presents “Ball Four Turns Forty,” an exhibition celebrating one of the great books in American literature, Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its publication. The exhibition, which opened on Aug. 9, runs through Oct. 1, 2010 in the lobby […]
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The Bird would have turned 56 today. Taking advantage of his sudden popularity in 1976, when he was 19-9 and led the American League in ERA (2.34) and complete games (24), Fidrych published his autobio No Big Deal, co-written with Tom Clark, the following year. Fidrych died last year, the victim of a machine accident.
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Jim “Mudcat” Grant turns 75 today. In 2006, Grant published The Black Aces: Baseball’s Only African-America Twenty-Game Winners. (There’s another book about black aces, but that one pertains to fighter pilots during WW II.) Also marking the day, Andre Thornton, who turns 61. The popular slugger who played for the Indians, Cubs, and Expos (briefly), […]
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The exact date of birth of the American icon has been in dispute for many years. Books on Paige include: Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever, by Paige with David Lipman Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye (read my Q&A with Tye here) Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, by James […]
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The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, July 2. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1 Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2 The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Scott Turbow […]
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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
