Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Full disclosure: I have not finished Charles Leerhsen’s new biography, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty. The book has generally been getting good reviews. I posted a link to the one in the May 31 issue of the NY Times Sunday book supplement which said, among other things, “[I]f Leerhsen is a mostly effective advocate for […]
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Apropos to my remarks in the previous “Best-Seller” post about the lack of baseball book reviews in the Times… For some reason, the paper posts to its website on Friday reviews that will appear in the book supplement a week hence. That is, the reviews below (at least according to the time stamp) will appear […]
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Kind of weird: it’s almost June and still no baseball book reviews in The New York Times? I know space is precious on those pages, but still. There are any number of worthy candidates. Get on it, Times. In the meantime: From the Rockford, Ill., Rock River Times, this piece on Steven K. Wagner’s Perfect: The […]
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It’s still Thursday somewhere, right? Got sidetracked yesterday and this slipped my mind. Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of […]
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(As opposed to ESPN’s 30 for 30 series). Once again, Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News has done a great service to the baseball reading community with his annual 30-books-in-30-days series on his “Farther off the Wall” blog. I advise going deep into each piece because Hoffarth offers interesting links among his DVD-type “extras.” […]
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Since I posted the first of these on a Thursday, which is known on social media as a time of reflection, I thought to make it a regular thing under this rubric. These are kind of fun; it’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. (Actually, I never understood […]
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Sorry, couldn’t come up with an appropriate theme. Last week I linked to the first week in Tom Hoffarth’s annual 30-books-in-30-days feature. Catching up: Day 8: Bats, Balls, and Hollywood Stars: Hollywood’s Love Affair with Baseball, by Joe Siegman Day 9: A Game of Their Own: Voices of Contemporary Women in Baseball,by Jennifer Ring Day […]
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The Viva el Birdos blog, a St. Louis Cardinals-centric site, hosts a book discussion from time to time. Their first foray was Ed Achorn’s The Summer of Beer and Whiskey. The current selection is Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris. Intro here; discussion questions here. Bonus: Here’s a review from The New York Times […]
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* Josh Wilker’s forthcoming book, Benchwarmer: An Anxious Dad’s Almanac of Fatherhood and Other Failures gets a thumbs up from Kirkus. Upshot: “This almanac of fatherhood (and other failures) is honest, relatable and humorous—an indispensable read for fathers (and sons) whose joy in life comes not from winning the big game but being alive to […]
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It’s been my pleasure over the years to correspond with a bunch of like-minded lovers of baseball literature. The gentlemen you will meet here also write baseball reviews for various outlets, some print, some on-line, some both. I thought it would be fun to have a “discussion” about the hows and whys of what we […]
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I frequently wonder about the role of book critics: Must they be students of the topics of which they read and report? Fans? That’s certainly not the case in this piece by Mark Dent of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Dent writes – with my annotations in brackets — The “summer” baseball book could have its own […]
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Usually when I do these things, there are several titles for consideration. But in this case, there are enough to give Roger Kahn’s latest title its own entry, although very few to date have appeared in mainstream publications. I’m adding my thoughts on some of the reviews, but you will make your of judgments. Here’s […]
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Publishers Weekly came out with their fall preview issue. Not exactly sure how this works, but there are two lists, One is included in this overview by Jonathan Segura. The other makes note of 18 purported baseball titles. I say “purported” because the uncredited piece includes 50 Greatest Players in New York Giants Football History. […]
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It took almost half the baseball season, but The New York Times finally published a couple of baseball reviews in its Sunday book section. And the honors go to: The Devil’s Snake Curve, by Josh Ostergaard A Nice Little Place on the North Side, by George F. Will Both titles get the full-page treatment, which […]
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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
Busy, busy, busy
April 7, 2015
I miss you guys. It’s just been so darned busy around here lately that I haven’t had time to write. The final edits of my new book are due on Friday. I also have to work on a two-minute pitch for the Jewish Book Council which will hopefully generate interest for author appearances at JCCs, […]
Tagged as: ballpark food, Glenn Burke, John Paciorek, Mike Matheny, Tom Hoffarth, Tommy Lasorda, Who's Who in baseball
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