Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
The New York Times “Play” supplement is turning into one of the better sports magazines around. Combining the newspaper’s reputation for journalism with slick production makes it entertaining and informative without making the reader feel guilty about wasting time reading about frivolous topics. The latest edition gives plenty of “ink” the the Clemens-McNamee hearings, along […]
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…[I]t was mostly Republicans backing Clemens. Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, considering that the pitcher is a close friend of George H.W. Bush, “even building a horseshoe pit at his home for the former president,” according to a 2006 USA Today article. While it’s a commonly held notion that most jocks—and almost all jock politicians—lean […]
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With all the falderol about steroids, congressional hearings, etc., it’s easy to forget the impact this all will have on future generations of fans. Of course, according to the late Tug McGraw’s frozen snowball theory “Astronomers have estimated that in something like 50 million years, our sun will burn out and then the Earth will […]
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From the Oversight Committee web site, this helpful collection of affidavits and other information. A list of committee members. 2:06 Now Clemens is reading a statement from his wife, Debbie, on the use of HGH. I guess the point was to exonerate Roger from knowledge that she used it.If it were me, and my wife […]
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I’m a journalist by profession, so I understand that headlines sell newspapers. I’m also a consumer, so I get annoyed when I feel cheated by a headline that seduces me into buying but inaccurately tells the story. While opening my web browser, I read under the recent news section “Clemens struggles under testimony.” Maybe it’s […]
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(Note: In the interest of speed, I’m not going to be concerned with typos nor other editing. Here’s a link to the live hearings, if you happen to be reading this in a timely manner.) 12:03 p.m. Just tuned in to the hearings via computer. McNamee is being interviewed. I know I came late to […]
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Brian McNamee claims he injected Roger Clemens’ wife, Debbie, with HGH for the couple’s appearance in SI‘s 2003 swimsuit edition. Now McNamee has a new list of enemies. It’s one thing to besmirch the National Pastime, but when you start messin’ with that other great American institution, well them’s fighting words. ESPN’s Jim Caple makes […]
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I guess John Rocker’s been out of the spotlight too long. Now he says he failed MLB’s drug test back in 2000 and that several members of the Texas Ranges — including Alex Rodriguez — were “advised by management and unions doctors…on how to effectively use steroids.” My first thought was does Rocker have a […]
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According to an update in The New York Times on the Clemens-Pettitte situation: Pettitte asked out of public testimony because he did not want to say something to hurt his friend and former teammate while in the glare of national television coverage, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Now I’m not […]
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Of late, I have wondered about the ethics of friendship. I’ve been watching The Wire, a cop /newspaper drama in which people do questionable things for ostensibly noble purposes. In one episode, a superior officer chastises a patrolman for an unquestionably wrong act against a citizen who honked his horn at a crime scene. Although […]
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An entry in the NY Daily News‘ “Subway Squawkers” blog connects the dots between Roger Clemens and Jose Canseco through excerpts from Juiced. As this evidence has not yet been released to the public, I don’t yet know how damning this is. What I do know is what Canseco wrote about Clemens in his book, […]
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Karl Ehrhardt was a fixture at Shea Stadium for much of the 1960s and 1970s. Fans marveled how quickly he could hoist a placard just right for the situation on the field. He passed away at the age of 83. The Times wrote this profile of him just two years ago.
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Written by Charles Euchner, author of The Last Nine Innings,Little League: Big Dreams: Inside the Hope, the Hype, and the Glory of the Greatest World Series Ever Played, and Playing the Field: Why Sports Teams Move and Cities Fight to Keep Them.Upshot: “Are players using an ADD diagnosis to evade the amphetamine ban?” Powered by […]
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Politicians will say anything for your support. Look at Hillary Clinton, claiming to be a lifelong fan of several franchises, including the Cubs and the Yankees. Topps commemorates former presidential hopeful — and devout Yankee fan — Rudy Giuliani with a “faux card,” according to this item posted Feb. 5 by Sports Illustrated. On the […]
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According to an AP report, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer was awarded $890,000 for a botched cataract surgery. That such make his recovery a little easier to take. In 1996, Palmer wrote about his sometimes stormy relationship with his manager, Earl Weaver. Publisher’s Weekly called the book “a fast-moving and witty account” of their […]
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According to a Jan. 29 column by ESPN’s Tim Keown. The upshot: The bulk of the report is a skull-crushing dissection of nearly every start the man ever made. It is placed in the context of run support and other factors I think are supposed to make you believe Clemens is just a guy trying […]
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This report will evaluate the career of Roger Clemens, one of the most successful pitchers in major league history. It will examine both the quality and quantity of his pitching over the course of his 24-year career. As of the 2007 season, Clemens was one of the twenty-nine active major league players who were at […]
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House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s investigation into the use performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball
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What happened after 60 Minutes?
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The publisher-to-be-named-later for Vindicated has been announced. And the award goes to: Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, who expects the book to be released in time for opening day. According to an item in today’s New York Times, Jennifer Bergstrom, publisher of Simon Spotlight, said Bret Saxon, Canseco’s book agent, called her […]
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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
