Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
His name might not be as familiar as David Halberstam or Maury Allen or other prolific baseball authors, but Jules Tygiel was a master of the social importance of the game. He wrote several volumes about Jackie Robinson, but managed to keep his material fresh and pertinent. Tygiel passed away yesterday at the age of […]
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The Pastime.net reports the daily happenings at the 38th SABR convention, now wrapping up in Cleveland.
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From an Associated Press Report in the June 27 NY Daily News: The graduating class of a suburban middle school got an unexpected surprise tucked inside their diplomas – signed baseball cards from Joba Chamberlain. The cards were a thank you from the Yankees pitcher for the charity work the eight graders at Pleasantville Middle […]
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George Carlin, 1937-2008 “Safe at Home”
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Last week, in an entry about a new documentary chronicling inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League, I said there would not be a season two. Seems that was a bit premature. If I had waited just a few hours, I would have added that the league will indeed have a curtain call. But then […]
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One of those heart-warming stories following World War II, Shepard was a flier who was shot down and captured in Germany. His injuries required the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Upon his return to the States, Shepard was signed by the Washington Senators and pitched in one game, against the Red Sox […]
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A lot has been written over the last couple of days (in the New York area at least) about the firing of Mets manager Willie Randolph. It’s not so much that he was fired as much as how the deed was done. How terrible, the sports pundits cried, to do it in the middle of […]
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The future Hall of Famer hit home run #600 yesterday, joining Bonds, Aaron, Ruth, Mays, and Sosa. No doubt new books are in the offing. There are already several titles, many for kids, which is fine because Griffey seems like a good role model (comparatively speaking). You never hear his name associated with drugs, drinking, […]
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The publishing company, not the beer manufacturer. Wait, do they even make Ballantine anymore? I’m showing my age. Anyway, according to an item in the Publisher’s Weekly Web site, this will result in “10 to 12 titles annually, ranging from celebrity sports books to nonfiction and reference.” “ESPN Books has gone through a number of […]
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From the NY Daily News, this article about the demise of Paperbacks Plus, the last independent bookstore in the Bronx. …every Yankee baseball player-cum-author has held a book signing at Paperbacks Plus, including Yogi Berra, Paul O’Neill and Derek Jeter. “Every Yankee player who’s ever come through here has been super nice to everyone, especially […]
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This piece from Bloomberg.com suggests that Willie Randolph follow the example of Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson and give some of his players reading assignments in the hopes that it might open their minds to philosophies that will help the team win. As for the connection to athletes and reading, I recall an anecdote about Yogi […]
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The recent release of the Indiana Jones movie allows for the tangential connection with Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends and Eerie Events, wherein coauthor Mickey Bradley is interviewed for this piece in Newsday.
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From the weekly White Bear Lake (MN) Press, this article about the Twins’ Justin Morneau’s appearance at a local public school. Morneau said he liked reading about baseball. Shocker.
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I culled this entry from an article on Sportingnews.com about “The Biggest Liars in Sports History”: 9. JOE MORGAN Joe’s Truth: ESPN’s top baseball talking head gave us some baseball history when he beat Philadelphia with a RBI single in his 1964 Major League Baseball debut. His hit (he told us) extended the Colt 45’s […]
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The former general manager for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers passed away May 1 at the age of 93. According to Richard Goldstein’s obituary in The New York Times: In his 18 years with the Dodgers, from 1951 to 1968, Bavasi’s clubs won eight National League pennants and four World Series championships, including the […]
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Awhile back it was announced that Lenny Dylstra was working on a lifestyle magazine aimed at former professional athletes which would also purportedly help them manage their finances. Not so fast. According to this piece in the New York Post, there’s trouble a-brewing’.
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Yes, according to this bitty item in The New York Times: STRAWBERRY TO WRITE A BOOK Darryl Strawberry is writing a memoir, “Straw,” that will come out in 2009, according to the publisher Ecco. Ecco is a Harper Collins imprint. Strawberry collaborated on his story once before, with Art Rust, Jr. in Darryl, published by […]
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Few things get me misty eyed, but I couldn’t even get through the opening paragraphs of George Vecsey’s column today, about the compassion of opponents at a women’s college softball game. As you will read, Sara Tucholsky, a Western Oregon senior with a four-year batting average way south of .200 had a dream come true […]
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From the New York Post, this item about a possible new tell-all steroids title by Kirk Radomski, former Mets clubhouse attendant. And this from the NY Daily News. “When will they ever learn/oh, when will they ever learn?”
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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
