Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
But they probably tried to fence them. HT to Lisanne R. who sent me this curiously vague story from the Montclair Local about the arrest “of the individuals responsible for the 2014 robbery of priceless memorabilia from the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center.” The story is very sparse on details, other than the gratitude […]
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♦ The Atlantic published an article on the current state of the game as the cover story of its July/August issue. Funny, the online version is titled “Moneyball Broke Baseball” while the cover seems to offer a slightly more upbeat spin with “How Baseball Saved Itself.” ♦ This is the time of year when we […]
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More and more, it seems the players I grew up admiring as a teenager are shuffling off this mortal coil. This includes Hall of Famers, Greats, Near-Greats, and ordinary lunch bucket guys. The latest from that “generation” is Vida Blue, who passed away Saturday at the age of 73. Here’s his obituary by Alex Traub […]
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♦ Soon to be a major motion picture? “For Maggi, 1st MLB hit proves ‘you can do anything’” ♦ The ReviewGeek judges Cross Game, by Mitsuru Adachi, among the best sport mangas. ♦ Speaking of the late Vin Scully, how will you do on this quiz about baseball broadcasters from the Chicago Sun-Times? Warning: it […]
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Just for kicks, I asked Chat GPT to generate reviews of by two baseball books. Specifically I asked, “Can you write a book review?” The answer was, “Yes, I can write a book review. Please provide me with the title and author of the book you want me to review, and any specific guidelines or […]
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The first thing you have to have is a catcher. Because if you don’t have a catcher, you’re going to have a lot of passed balls and you’re going to be chasing the ball back to the screen all day. Casey Stengel on the decision to make Hobie Landrith the expansion New York Mets first […]
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Was listening to Extra Hot Great, one of my favorite podcasts ever, and heard a mention of this under “Winners of the Week”: “Lou Gehrig Series From Lorne Michaels in the Works at Apple” From the Hollywood Reporter article: “The iPhone maker/streamer is teaming with Universal Television and Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video to adapt author […]
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From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “11 new baseball books for your 2023 lineup, from the World Series and opening day to Bo Jackson.” The use of the word “new” is curious, since the Jackson book came out almost six months ago. Same for The Grandest Stage and some books are even older. This is […]
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It’s been a tough week. We lost three former players, each of whom were icons in their own right. On February 28, Jean Faut, a star pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, died at the age of 98. From The New York Times‘ obit by Richard Sandomir: Over eight seasons, the right-handed Faut […]
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Heard on NPR’s Morning Edition show, March 6: “Evan Drellich’s new book sheds light on the Houston Astros cheating scandal.” I usually don’t mix baseball with politics with baseball (unless it’s in a good way), but this is important enough to me that I don’t care if I ruffle a few feathers by […]
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I have a soft spot for players with extra longevity. Tim McCarver enjoyed a 21-year career. And while others have been around longer, he managed to do it over four decades, so extra points. Sadly, he passed away today at the age of 81. McCarver began his career as a 17-year-old (!) with the St. […]
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Wondering how the new rule changes will change the rule book itself. This article from MLB.com makes them seem more complicated than I originally thought. These include: The pitch clock, which not only applies to the pitcher apparently, but the hitter as well who has to be in the batter’s box within a certain time […]
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The pioneering journalist broke barriers when it came to women entering the locker room. Gross passed away Nov. 9 at the age of 75. In the obituary from The New York Times, Richard Sandomir wrote,” In 2018, when she received an award from the Association for Women in Sports Media, Ms. Gross recalled the indignities she […]
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There is little that I can offer that would be as eloquent as what others have said and written about the legendary broadcaster who passed away Tuesday at the age of 94. From what I know, Scully was a modest person and a real mensch. He declined to tell his own story and was almost […]
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The softball legend who once struck out Ted Williams in an exhibition appearance, died March 26 at the age of 81. Unfortunately, no video exists for that event. Today it would be all over the internet. According to the obituary in today’s New York Times, For 10 to 15 minutes, Williams, a left-handed hitter, swung […]
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Not unusual to have a think piece about the state of baseball during the lull between the end of the LCS and World Series. Nor is it unusual for the “sky is falling” stories about how the sport is losing relevance, especially among African-Americans. So here’s this year’s model, penned by David Waldstein in yesterday’s […]
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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
