Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Given the draft of the script. I’ll watch anything about baseball. Cartoons, documentaries, lousy films (Jackie Robinson was a great ballplayer, but a poor actor). But this draft of the aborted Brad Pitt vehicle would sorely try my patience (Groucho Marx: “Don’t mind if I do. You must try mine sometime.”). Moneyball, the non-fiction neo-classic […]
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Joe Mauer on the June 29 cover of SI? He was batting .407 when the story was published, which according to Baseball-Reference.com, must have been June 21. Since then? Five hits in 25 at bats, dropping his average 21 points to .386. Zack Greinke had a similar drop off shortly after he appeared. I wonder […]
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Zev Chafets, author of Cooperstown Confidential, published this Op-Ed piece in the June 19 edition of The New York Times (“Let steroids into the Hall of Fame“). will Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, et al now become loyal Times readers? [T]oday’s superstars have lawyers and a union. They know how to use the news media. And […]
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I must admit, I agree with the SF Chronicle’s Gwen Knapp in her column where she avers that the book was not meant to be a feature film. In fact, the fate of the movie might have been more dramatic than any material “Moneyball” could have provided. What would have constituted the big moments in […]
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From SFgate.com, the literary master of disaster comments on a teammate’s assertion that he’s persona non grata among the old Oakland As.
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We so much for that. It seems that the screen version of Moneyball, which was all set to begin filming, has been canned, according to this story in Variety. The move came after Pascal read a rewrite that [Steven] Soderbergh did to Steven Zaillian’s script and found it very different from the earlier scripts she […]
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Move over, Jose. Roger Clemens wants to join the band of ballplayers turned … well, words fail me. According to news reports, Clemens is considering writing his own book to answer allegations about his use of PED. During an on-line interview on Houstonist.com, the question was asked, “Do you believe that you will get a […]
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Bobby Feller’s generation complained about the high salaries of the players that came after them. Now Wade Boggs speaks for the players from his era on the steroiders and their possible entry into the Hall of Fame. Can chicken be considered a performance enhancing food? Come to think of it what about that? Why are […]
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This isn’t so much much justified because you can put the Times on a bookshelf, rather it addresses a more important issue (soap box alert). I came across this entry from JimmyScottshighandtight.com, a website from a fabulously faux pitcher (think along the lines of a Sasha Baron Cohen, someone who pulls off a character perfectly). […]
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I love Pardon the Interruption, and not just because the show tends to tend to agree with my point of view and vice versa. On yesterday’s show, Messers Wilbon and Kornheiser weighed in on the Raul Ibanez steroids situation, which I had addressed earlier in the afternon. (Funny, but the whole situation stemmed from a […]
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I may be mis-remembering my old classes, so bear with me. Players who are over a “certain age” and are enjoying a good year probably take performance enhancing drugs. The Phillies’ Raul Ibanez is over a “certain age” and is enjoying a good year. Therefore, Raul Ibanez is probably taking PED. This is what it’s […]
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A new documentary about the late Tigers pitcher is set to make its debut, appropriately enough, in Detroit. More on the project.
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First Sports Illustrated crowned cover boy and teen phenom Bryce Harper (photo left) as “the most exciting prospect since LeBron.” Now is ESPN the Magazine‘s turn. The bi-weekly publication picked pitcher Stephen Strasburg as the feature in it’s cover story, “MLB Draft: The battle over baseball’s LeBron.” Speaking of ESPN the Magazine, the powers that […]
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Didn’t anyone tell Bryce Harper about the SI Cover Curse? I mean, I know he’s only 16, but even so… Shame on Tom Verducci and the editors for perpetrating this instance of child abuse as they highlight “Baseball’s LeBron.” Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discussed the situation on yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption, warning the young […]
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From — where else — the Los Angeles Times.
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Meant to post this as it happened. The best laid plans… So what’s up with the recent rash of line-up mistakes? First Tampa Bay skipper Joe Maddon inserts two players in the third baseman position and no one as a DH, thereby losing that offensive possibility and forcing pitcher Andy Sonnanstine to tote lumber. Fortunately, […]
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It’s a little off-base (ha ha), but I found this blog entry on the chances of Ryan Zimmerman breaking DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak amusing. Of course, it may all be over by the time you read this.
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In his latest ramblings, Clemens claimed his family history of heart disease contraindicated the use of steroids. “Our family has a history of heart conditions,” Clemens told Mike and Mike in the Morning this morning. “My brother had a heart attack in his late 40s. My stepdad died of a heart attack. I mean, it […]
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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
* New York, New York: A "Freaky" assessment
June 29, 2009
From Stephen J. Dubner on The New York Times‘ Freakonomics blog (It’s okay; the original Freakonomics still sits on my bookshelf), this assessment of the decline of Western civilization, as evidenced by the boorish behavior of fans at last night’s interleague game between the Mets and Yankees.
Tagged as: Freakonomics, Mets, Yankees
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