Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Many thanks to Greg Spira for these outlets that ran reviews of Jane Leavy’s new biography, The Last Boy: From Keith Olberman in the Sunday NY Times Book Review section. Upshot: “Leavy comes as close as perhaps anyone ever has to answering “What makes Mantle Mantle?” She transcends the familiarity of the subject, cuts through […]
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The NY Daily News begins a series of excerpts from Jane Leavy’s new book: “Mickey Mantle finally opens up about childhood sexual abuse” Richard Sandomir of The New York Times offers this piece. Expect a full-blown review in Sunday’s Book Review Section. James Bailey wrote this review for Baseball America. Upshot: “Mission accomplished, and powerfully […]
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Trying to play catch-up once again: Reviews of Michael Shapiro‘s Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself and Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards, by Josh Wilker, can be found on Meals from the Marketplace. Upshots: Bottom of the Ninth — “he […]
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Some new programs are coming to a television near you. Ken Burns tacks The Tenth Inning onto his wonderful Baseball miniseries, which originally aired in 1995. The two-part, four-hour epilogue airs on PBS Sept. 28-29 at 8 p.m. EST, but as they say, check your local listings. You’ll probably have to adjust the volume on […]
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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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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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Two of my favorite people — Rob Neyer and author/artist Kadir (We Are the Ship) Nelson met for this brief discussion (with a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail). GhostTheory.com posted this entry on Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room and Beyond, by Mickey Bradley and Dan […]
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(Got it in under the wire) Born on the Fourth of July 80 years ago. Here’s a review of Bill Madden’s new bio from WasWatching.com. Other titles featuring Steinbrenner include: George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire, by Peter Golenbock The Ballad of Billy and George: The Tempestuous Baseball Marriage of […]
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The Buffalo News posted this one. Upshot: First came “Willie Mays — The Life and Legend” by James S. Hirsch, which skillfully reminded everyone why we remember the Giants’ center fielder as the most exciting player of his time. Following that in the order is “The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron.” Howard Bryant’s […]
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Why do so many stories about baseball — especially old-tyme baseball — feature a character named Casey? In this case, it’s a 50-year-old episode of Twilight Zone titled, “The Mighty Casey.” My arch-nemesis, Books on Baseball, did the legwork on this one.
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So my softball team participated in a playoff game last night. We lost a heart-breaker, up by three runs going into the bottom of the final frame to the team that finished in first place. Don’t get me started. Anyway, I bring this up in conjunction with Stephen King’s baseball novella. A passage from this […]
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Former Met chaw-chewer and car-wash tycoon Lenny Dykstra supposedly made a big name for himself as an investment genius. Eh, maybe not. But he is prominently featured in The Zeroes, by Randall Lane, according to this review in The Wall Street Journal. You may recall that Dykstra was also going to try his hand at […]
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The Dorchester Reporter posted this Clark Booth review of Bill Madden’s latest title, Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball. Upshot: “It is, I believe, a decidedly important baseball book. Bill Madden is the man to tell it.”
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Marc Tracy, who writes for the online Tablet magazine, publishes the Times‘ big baseball roundup, which appears in the June 6 issue. This year’s titles include: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, a 50th anniversary reprinting (in book form) of John Updike’s iconic paean to Ted Williams in his last game Mint Condition, by Dave Jamieson […]
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Yankees.baseball-news-update.com posted reviews of two titles: Dayn Perry’s Reggie Jackson, and 1921, by Spatz and Steinberg. While the writer deems both to be “serious and thoughtful volumes displaying highly impressive research…. neither book quite fully succeeds.” A celebrity first pitch I’d love to see: A profile in Smithsonian Magazine outs Harper Lee, author of the […]
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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
Bits and pieces
September 17, 2010
Spurred on by the hubbub around the 40th anniversary of Ball Four, Delia Cabe, who hosts the Creative Type blog at Boston.com, had this piece about the best baseball books, not just from her POV, but from those of local celebrities and others. And as the Baseball Reliquary program heralding that anniversary beckons, look for […]
Tagged as: Ball Four, Negro league baseball, Rube Foster
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