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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Congratulations to Tim. N. of Fair Oaks,Calif., winner of the tenth anniversary edition of The Last Best League, by Jim Collins. Next up: Joe and Marilyn: Legends in Love by C. David Heymann. Here’s my review from Bookreporter.com. A couple of things I neglected to mention in the piece: Notice the cover. The photo conveys […]
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Congratulations to Gregg K. of Shohola, PA, winner of Philadelphia’s Top 50 Baseball Players, by Rich Westcott. Next up for grabs: the tenth anniversary edition of The Last Best League, by Jim Collins. The updated version contains a “where are they now” epilogue. Here’s a “re-review” I posted earlier this month. A reminder of the […]
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Hmm, seems more pretentious now that I see it. I’ve been contributing to Bookreporter.com for nigh on to 15 year now. Not surprisingly, about half of the reviews have been about baseball. Since I love to play around with computer programs and technologies, I created a PDF of as many of those baseball pieces I […]
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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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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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(And I hope that doesn’t mean anything dirty or inappropriate in Gaelic.) In honor of St.Patrick’s Day, I offer two Irish-themed pieces I’ve done: A review on Bookreporter.com of Charley Rosen’s The Emerald Diamond: How the Irish Transformed America’s Greatest Pastime. “The Sporting Life,”An overview of the Irish in America’s national pastime, published in the February/March […]
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I used to do this awhile ago: Every Friday (or as every Friday as I can), I’ll post the top-ten baseball books as per Amazon.com. The only caveat: print editions only (at least for now). Actually, another caveat: as the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by […]
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My take on John Feinstein’s latest, via Bookreporter.com. Pullquote: “…one of the most insightful looks into the realities of baseball life for most of the athletes…”
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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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According to the old expression, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything. But if that were the case, you pretty much don’t have the Internet. You certainly don’t have critics. But having acquired C.Y. Ruth’s Mets: The Complete History of the New York Mets, I feel I have to warn the […]
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It may seem unfair, but I do tend to judge e-books by their cover, especially when they are offered only in that format. It’s an indication of the time and effort the author/publisher puts into the project. Similarly, I’m basing my opinions strictly on the quality of the sample offered. Some are longer (and better) […]
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by Robert B. Parker, 1975, Houghton Mifflin. I loved the TV series Spenser for Hire, based on Parker’s crime novels. Then I started reading the books and I became addicted. But not in the way you’re addicted to delicious potato chips or similar things that start out as enjoyable until one day you discover you’re […]
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by Brook Zelcer and Jelena Aleksich. Self-published, $17. (thelittlebookofyankeesevil.com) A little book gets a little review. Zelcer, a New Jersey school teacher, compiles a list of almost 50 crimes and misdemeanors perpetrated by the hated (by some) franchise, either as an organization (when it “steals the design for the famous interlocking NY logo from a […]
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A collection of items about Ben Bradlee Jr.’s new bio of Ted Williams. With all due modesty, kicking this off with my own review of the book, which appears on Bookreporter.com. Here’s another one from USA Today. Slate’s review, by David Bry And while I’m at it, no harm in reposting the two NY Times […]
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A Gallery of Rogues, by Jonathan Weeks. Scarecrow Press, 2013. Until there is no more baseball, there will always be books like Baseball’s Most Notorious Personalities. It’s our predilection for schadenfreude and curiosity that leads us to red stories about the likes of Ty Cobb (who graces the cover), Carl Mays, Pete Rose, the 1919 […]
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Okay, technically this isn’t a Baseball Bookshelf since I wrote it for Bookreporter.com. I’m double-dipping here. You can click to the Bookreporter piece (I’m sure they’d love the traffic), or read it below: I do not know Reggie Jackson, so I cannot know what’s in his heart or mind. In rationalizing the publication of his […]
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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
Bookshelf Review: The Devil’s Snake Curve
July 23, 2014
A Fan’s Notes from Left Field, by Josh Ostergaard. Coffee House Press, 2014. (Not to be confused with Confessions from Left Field: A Baseball Pilgrimage, published by Raymond Mungo in 1983.) To be honest, I did not have high expectations for this one after reading the review in the NY Times‘ Sunday book supplement a […]
Tagged as: Devil's Snake Curve, Josh Ostergaard
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