Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
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Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… The top ten baseball books as per Amazon.com, […]
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The top ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); because I’m old school. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]
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The top ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); because I’m old school. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]
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As a long-time fan and user of baseball-reference.com, I marvel at how the site keeps growing and growing. Not only is there the latest generation of statistics, but BR has expanded to include minor league, Negro league, and foreign (especially Japanese) data. Not to mention the “Baseball Frivolities and Fun Stuff” section which includes: Baseball […]
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An Illustrated Guide to Ballpark Banter, by James Charlton and Sally Cook; illustrations by Ross MacDonald. Chronicle Books, 148 pages, $14.95. “Quaint” is the first word that came to me as I perused this amusing little volume. While the information herein is obviously not as fulsome any of the Dickson Baseball Dictionaries, it does cover […]
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The Passover holidays have played havoc with my schedule, so there’s a lot to catch up on. First off, can you remember those Bicentennial Minutes that CBS used to broadcast in the months leading up to the big celebration? Well, Dan Epstein, author of the new Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial […]
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The top-ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); I’m old fashioned that way. Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read it. But it’ll be close enough for government work. Caveat 3: […]
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Last we I received a copy of New York Yankees Home Runs: A Comprehensive Factbook, 1903-2012, published by McFarland. At first glance, it looked daunting: page after page tables and lists about one single item: the four-bagger. But on further consideration, I realized this was an impressive undertaking. After all, the Yankees are one of […]
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This it the time of year when the baseball media offer their considered opinions on their favorite prospects. Sometimes they’re spot on, other times, not so much. So I thought, why not apply this to the upcoming “rookie crop” of baseball books? That is, titles that are making their debuts in 2014 — no reprints/reissues […]
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A Worldwide Dictionary, 1869-2011, by Richard Worth. McFarland, 2013. 416 pages, $55. What’s in a name? More than you’d think, according to this entertaining reference. In some 400 pages, Worth lists every name of every professional franchise — including Negro and foreign leagues — according to city/town, from Abbeville, Alabama, to Zion, Utah, totaling more […]
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Catching up with Tom Hoffarth’s “30/30” series: Day 7: The Baseball Thesaurus, by Jesse Goldberg-Strassler Day 8: Baseball’s New Frontier: A History of Expansion, 1961-1998, by Fran Zimniuch Day 9: 100 Things Angels Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (100 Things…Fans Should Know), by Joe Haakenson Day 10: Who’s on Worst?: The Lousiest […]
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A sad day indeed. No longer will we be able to read, in “hard copy” form, entries on baseball, contributed by such scholars as Jerome Holtzman, Benjamin Rader, and Richard Peterson. Other topics under the general heading of “baseball” include entries on Mel Allen, the Ken Burns documentary, Japanese baseball, Mexican baseball, the negro Leagues, […]
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Before he began working with an actual publisher, James used to type out The Baseball Analyst on a bi-monthly basis and make copies as needed for distribution. How times have changed. Like SABR’s annual publications, The National Pastime and Baseball Research Journal, the Analysts were contributor-driven. The first issue contains articles such as “Ballpark Effects […]
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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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Dickson, author of several outstanding books on the game, not the least of which is his eponymous Baseball Dictionary, was recently honored at an event sponsored by the Baseball Reliquary. While Robert Alomar, Bert Blyleven, and Pat Gillick were in Cooperstown last weekend, the Reliquary was having an “induction day” of its own in southern […]
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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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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
