Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The new year marks the commemoration a few prominent events which serve as the topic for several recently-released and forthcoming books. As the oldest Major League ballpark still in use, Fenway Park is the subject of a great deal of nostalgia and mystique (and no, Curt Shilling, these are not dancers in a New York […]
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James Baily published his list of top ten baseball books on Baseball America. His choices include, in order: The Art of Fielding: A Novel, by Chad Harbach (currently ranked #18 on Amazon) Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game, by Dan Barry Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of […]
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In an effort to cull out the weighty tomes that threaten to cave in our attic floor, my wife is giving me a Kindle for Hanukka with the hope that any new book I acquire will be in that format. I have long been opposed to e-books for aesthetic reasons. I like the tactile “interaction,” […]
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Lev Grossman contributed this piece on “Seven Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2012,” and since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I thought I might borrow that idea for these baseball titles on the schedule for next year that I’m particularly looking forward to. Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the […]
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The New York Times has included The Art of Fielding as one of its “100 Notable Books of 2011.” Now there’s a shocker. Baseball Nation posted a two-part interview with author Chad Harbach, which you can read here and here.
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Now that we’re headed into the cold dark days, it’s time to cozy up with some baseball reading. This serves a few purposes. For one thing, it keeps your mind on the game. Secondly, with all this time, you can branch out and pick up a few titles you either didn’t have time for it […]
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They were associated with other teams as well, but their primary fame came with St. Louis. Bob Gibson turns turns 76(!), while The White Rat, aka Whitey Herzog, is 80. Both are enshrined in Cooperstown. Well done, gentlemen. Stranger to the Game: The Autobiography of Bob Gibson Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame […]
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Greg Spira passed along this link to an NJ.com review of five New York-centric books, including (with a “symbolic” thumbs up-thumbs down): 1961: The Inside Story of the Maris-Mantle Home Run Chase, by Phil Pepe (-) Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly, by Mike Shalin (-) Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The […]
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The good news: More than half way to the goal of 501 books. The bad news: it takes me away from the blog. Oh well, hang around. It will be worth it in the end. In the meantime, here are a few items for your consideration: Out of Left Field, Rebecca Alpert’s history of Jewish […]
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While doing research for my project, I came across this list, published in 2002, of the 100 top sports books of all time as chosen by the editors of Sports Illustrated. Of those 100, “only” 32 were about baseball. The nerve. Anyway, here’s the SI piece, trimmed to just baseball titles, with commentary from the […]
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Bookshelf shorthand for Take Me Out to The Ball Game, as per Baseball-Reference.com’s Bullpen: To honor the lyricist of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Jack Norworth Day is celebrated at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Neither Norworth nor his partner Albert Von Tilzer, who wrote the music, had ever seen a game when they created […]
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The semi-regular roundup of things I neglected to post previously. From DriveLineBaseball, this review of The Physics of Pitching: Learn the Mechanics, Science, and Psychology of Pitching to Success. Upshot: It “falls well short of [Robert K.} Adair’s classic text [The Physics of Baseball]. Sure, it looks a lot cooler (the photography is top notch), […]
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The Hall of Famers were born this date. Brooks Robinson turns 74, while Reggie Jackson turns 65. Books on Robinson include Third Base is My Home, by Robinson, 1974 Putting it all together,by Robinson, 1971 The Brooks Robinson Story, by Zanger, 1967 Books on Jackson include Reggie Jackson: The Life and Thunderous Career of Baseball’s […]
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Tom Hoffarth adds a postmortem for his One-a-Days, including a ranking of the 30 titles. Best: Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game. Worst: Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingl. Median: 1961*: The Inside Story of the Maris-Mantle Home Run Chase. He also has an entry on “Extra innings: The […]
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My annual Spring Baseball Book Roundup was recently posted to the Bookreporter.com site. Titles include: 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the […]
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Here’s the latest week’s worth of Tom Hoffarth’s Book a Day feature from the LA Daily News. Day 16: The Most Famous Woman in Baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues Day 17: 1961*: The Inside Story of the Maris-Mantle Home Run Chase Day 18: Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game […]
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The Hall of Fame pitcher was born this date in 1921. Spahn, Sain, and Teddy Ballgame: Boston’s (almost) Perfect Baseball Summer of 1948, by Nowlin, 2008 The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century, by Jim Kaplan, 2011 The Warren Spahn Story, by Shapiro, 1958 Warren Spahn, […]
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Time once again for a major links dump to make up for bad behavior. Warning: some of these links go back to March. Just sayin’. * A member of Red Sox Nation pays tribute to a “mortal enemy” by giving the NY Times photo book on Derek Jeter the thumbs up. * The Wall Street […]
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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 blog 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
Bits and pieces
February 10, 2012 · 2 comments
Haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I have a bit of backlog I’d like to clear, so here goes. * We’ll have to agree to disagree. One card collector can’t stand the new 2012 Topps series. Another calls it the best one yet. What do you think? * LibraryJournal.com posted this piece reviewing […]
Tagged as: Casey Award, Dirk Hayhurst, Hank Greenberg, Jim Brosnan, Joe DiMaggio, Michael Lewis, The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, Year The Yankees Lost the Pennant
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