Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]
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Congratulations to the Washington Nationals, winners of the National League pennant and World Series participants for the first time in franchise history. Remember about 15 years ago when baseball was considering contracting a few teams. The Nats’ antecedents, the Montreal Expos, were in line for that fate. In fact, I traveled to my ancestral manse […]
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On this somber day, baseball remembers with a number of articles and videos. Here is a sampling. All the items are from this year unless otherwise noted. The night baseball returned after 9/11: ‘These people needed this’ (New York Post) MLB announces plans to honor victims and families of 9/11 attacks on 18th anniversary (MLB.com) […]
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Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work. In addition, sometimes the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category to which it […]
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The news that Tom Seaver is suffering with dementia reminded me of the handful of books about someone who bears the nickname “The Franchise.” There’s Steve Travers’ 2011 publication The Last Icon: Tom Seaver and His Times; Tom Seaver: An Intimate Portrait, by John Devaney (1974); and Seaver, by Gene Schoor (1986), but that’s pretty […]
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The NY Times‘ Richard Goldstein wrote the full obituary for Don Newcombe for today’s print edition. Depending on how you define who was a member of the “Boys of Summer,” a term used by Roger Kahn in his excellent 1972 book, there are still a handful left from that 1956 team for which Newcombe won […]
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We lost another one of the Boys of Summer with the passing today of Don Newcombe, 92. Here’s a brief AP obit which was posted on The New York Times‘ website a few minutes ago. And one from ESPN. I’m sure the media will offer their own tributes later today or tomorrow.
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Congrats to Rob Neyer, who was recently named winner of the 2018 Casey Award as handed out by Spitfall Magazine for his long-awaited (by me at least) new book Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game. Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know how much respect I have […]
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Four new inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame come next summer. Some have already been the subject of books, including The Closer, by Mariano Rivera and Wayne Coffey, published when the Yankees superstar — and the only man to be unanimously voted in by the BBWAA — retired in 2013. Edgar Martinez — designated […]
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Penny Marshall, the co-star of the popular sitcom Laverne and Shirley and director of the iconic baseball film A League of Their Own, has died at the age of 75. Marshall, who appeared on The Odd Couple as sportswriter Oscar Madison’s long-suffering secretary, Myrna Turner, also directed one episode of the short-lived TV series based on […]
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In the interests of transparency, I have to say that I started this on Friday but didn’t get to post it. So the print and kindle lists are from 11/16 and the audio is from 11/17. Headnote: I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware […]
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Both gave inaccurate accounts of what happened during a ballgame. Neil Simon, one of the great playwrights of our time, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. His baseball connection? This scene from the film version of The Odd Couple, which was released in 1968. By the way, that play was pure fiction: the […]
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Holy cats, has it really been almost two months since I posted one of these? Moving on… Headnote: I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware that while many titles also appear in print versions, pretty much anyone can produce an e-book these days, so […]
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Hi. Remember me? It’s been awhile. Couldn’t blame you if you didn’t. Long story short, I spent the last month after my regular job working with a gentleman on his memoirs. Nobody you know, so don’t bother trying to figure out who. Nothing baseball, or even sports, oriented. It was truly an educational experience, since […]
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The Kearny, NJ-based Observer is holding an essay contest on favorite summer baseball memories. From the online story: Enter the contest by sending your family baseball memories — you can even write the memories together as a family — to us at editorial@theobserver.com by Wednesday, June 13, at 3 p.m. (Entries received thereafter won’t be […]
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Sorry, and maybe this is an age thing, but this business of Facebook being the only source to watch the Mets game today sucks. Here’s the story from The New York Times. Even if I wanted to read the comments on the right-hand side, they scroll by so quickly. Too much trouble. On the “bright […]
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That’s the story from the Hollywood Reporter which reports that Amazon is working on the project. The retail giant/streaming service is developing a TV series based on Penny Marshall’s Tom Hanks and Geena Davis feature, A League of Their Own. Mozart in the Jungle‘s Will Graham and Broad City‘s Abbi Jacobson will co-write and executive produce […]
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Too bad I didn’t know about this before. Could have started a GoFundMe campaign. Beverly Hills home of Detroit Tigers great Hank Greenberg pulls in $7.75 million
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Hardly a comparison, but there’s word that a new biopic on the life of Roberto Clemente is in the works, having found a director. The rights to film, purchased by Legendary — which has released such hits as Interstellar, Kong: Skull Island, and Unbroken, as well as the forthcoming Skyscraper and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom […]
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You may have heard that the Cleveland Indians will “retire” their Chief Wahoo logo, effective in 2019. Why are they waiting that long? One guess. Quelle surprise. Don’t you think the Indians want to give their fans the opportunity to gather up the”collectibles” as possible? So what am I to do with these then?
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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
