Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
My annual spring baseball book roundup appears on Bookreporter.com. Titles include: Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, by R.A. Dickey and Wayne Coffey Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets, by Bud Harrelson and Phil Pepe Driving Mr. […]
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Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets, by Bud Harrelson with Phil Pepe. Thomas Dunne Books, 2012. Harrelson’s new book is a bit a throwback. One could easily imagine reading this in the pre-Ball Four era. Other than a scant mention of disappointment for the […]
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Mt review of Charley Rosen’s book appears on this week’s Bookreporter.com. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Charley Rosen offers a tip of the tam o’ shanter to the many men who helped shape the national pastime into the game we enjoy today in this fast-paced history. Rosen — whose previous baseball book (following […]
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by David B. Stinson (Huntington Park Publications, 2011). They did build it, and they did come. The “build” part are dozens of old baseball parks and stadiums, now long gone. The “they” are the hundreds of athletes who played for various teams in the late 19th and early 20th century. Such is the focus of […]
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Songs and Images from the Early Years of America’s Favorite Pastime, by Jerry Silverman. Alfred Publishing Company, 2007. Fans of both old-tyme baseball and music will enjoy this one. Part-music book, part-collectible (for the reproduction of the sheet music covers), part-historical analysis, The Baseball Songbook is a collection of more than 40 tunes (mostly heretofore […]
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Right Off the Bat: Baseball, Cricket, Literature, and Life, by Evander Lomke and Martin Rowe. Paul Dry Books, 2011. As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been fascinated by cricket longer than I can remember. During a visit to Montreal when I was 10, I recall buying a small British import at a WH Smith […]
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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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As many of you know, I serve as editor of the SABR Bibliography Committee quarterly newsletter. The most recent issues (Nov. 2011), features reviews on Under Pallor, Under Shadow: The 1920 American League Pennant Race That Rattled and Rebuilt Baseball, by Bill Felber; 1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in […]
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Found of a couple of interesting items at the local B&N. The first was USA Today‘s annual sports yearbook (sorry, couldn’t find a picture of the cover on-line). It has all the usual info: lots of stats and standings, capsule news roundups, photos, etc. It carries a cover price of $7.99. My main bugaboo was […]
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My semi-annual baseball roundup is up on Bookreporter.com. This one has a “New York vs. Boston” theme. Titles include: Fenway Park: The Centennial: 100 Years of Red Sox Baseball, by Saul Wisnia Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year by Glenn Stout The Mets: A 50th Anniversary […]
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A (Winning) Season with the MIT Baseball Team, by Brooks C. Mendell. Aventine Press, 2009 This one has been sitting on the shelf for awhile, but with the 501 project in full swing, I’m trying to catch up with a vengeance, looking for little gems among the bigger fish. And we have a winnah! Beaverball […]
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A History of the Baseball Hall of Fame Ceremony, by Dennis Corcoran. McFarland, 2011. In honor of today’s Happy Day for Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven, and Pat Gillick… There are plenty of books that analyze Hall of Fame elections and debate the merit of those who made it versus those who didn’t, but this is […]
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Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century, by Jim Kaplan. Triumph Books, 2011. Note: This review appears on Bookreporter.com. These days, a manager is thrilled if he can get a “quality start” out of a pitcher: six innings with no more than three earned runs. Gone are the days of 25 […]
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The award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times, will discuss the sports culture and his career experiences — which actually began with an eventful meeting with Mickey Mantle —- followed by a signing of his memoir, An Accidental Sportswriter, at the Yogi Berra Museum tomorrow (July 16) at 5:30. Books available for purchase at the […]
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By Christy Mathewson, 1912 A “pinch” is a tight spot, when one is expected to suck it up and give it that extra 10 percent; Mathewson had to do that a time or two in an era when starting pitchers were expected to go the distance. Hard to believe that Mathewson, one of the original […]
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Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History by Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce, with Daniel Paisner. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011 One of the highlights of the 2010 Major League season was something that didn’t happen. Armando Galarraga, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, did not get his perfect game — a no-hit, […]
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“Ish” because I originally wrote about Robert Lipsyte’s new memoir for Bookreporter.com.
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I was super-psyched when I heard about this new website — under the aegis of ESPN — that would feature some of my favorite writers opining on all sorts of sports topics and issues (man does not live by baseball alone). Goodness knows there was enough pre-release hype. Sadly, from what I’ve seen so far, […]
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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: Woman Characters in Baseball Literature
September 2, 2011
A Critical Study, by Kathleen Sullivan. McFarland, 2005. Novels and feature films tend to find comfort in stock characters. Stories about celebrities in particular focus on two or three types of women. You have your temptress who, for various reasons, wants to keep the protagonist from succeeding at his mission. For baseball materials you have […]
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