Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
So I was watching yet another Jimmy Stewart movie, The FBI Story (1959), and my “baseballadar” picked up on this in a scene: Note the headline, ostensibly from the Washington Post: “Babe Ruth Hits 15th Home Run.” Now I can’t enlarge it enough to catch the date, but it seems a bit far-fetched that the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The last member of The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship — David Halberstam’s excellent project on baseball and life published in 2011 — passed away yesterday at the age of 99. A Hall of Fame second baseman who batted .288 with 288 home runs, and 1,247 RBIs, Doerr played his entire career (1937-51) with […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A day late and a dollar short… By now most of you are familiar with my caveats, so I’ll just mention them briefly: The list includes only print editions (no kindle or audio versions) because I’m old school. Second, since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The only man to be a member of a World Series winner (Milwaukee Brewers, 1957) and NBA championship (Boston Celtics, 1958-61) died on Tuesday at the age of 86. Gene Conley, a three-time All-Star, compiled a record of 91-96 in 11 big league seasons. he played for the Braves in 1952 when they were still […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The New York Times obituary says the late actor was best known for his role as a southern sheriff in a couple of James Bond movies. Not for me. For me, Clifton was best known for his role as the penurious Charles A. Comiskey, owner of the Chicago White Sox, in Eight Men Out (which […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The acerbic comedian died today at the age of 90. A hardcore fan, he was frequently seen at those celebrity games as chronicled in Joe Siegman’s book, Bats, Balls, and Hollywood Stars: Hollywood’s Love Affair with Baseball, released in 2014. Rickles enjoyed talking about the game. Here he speaks with David Letterman in 1998. And […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Mazel tov to Michael Leahy, winner of the 2016 CASEY Award presented by Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine, as the best baseball book of the year for The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is certainly one of my all-time favorites; if I ever get a chance […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This story from The New York Times about the baseball card hobby goes from A (Jeff Aeder, aka the prospective buyer) to Z (Guy Zinn, the rare item in question). It also comes on the heels of a discovery I had in my attic while looking for books to donate to the nearby Yogi Berra […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
According to this piece from the Washington Post, there’s a “book about baseball that explains Donald Trump’s win.” And that book is… Drum roll, please… Moneyball. Really. Writer Sonny Bunch compares Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s attempt to win games as cheaply as possible with Trump’s victory in the presidential elections. If there’s anything […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Perhaps best known for her portrayal of the avaricious owner of the Cleveland Indians in Major League, Ms. Whitton died on Sunday at the age of 67. Here’s her obituary in the New York Times by Richard Sandomir, who has moved from from his previous post as the sports media columnist to the “dead beat.” […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
(Note: I published this piece on one of my other blogs, The Worried Journalist. Just call me Double-Duty Kaplan.) When I was a kid I once got in in trouble for spending twice my allowance because I bought the latest issues of Baseball Digest and The Sporting News on the way back from running errands. […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
One of the last “Boys of Summer,” Branca probably knew how his obituary would begin immediately after he gave up “the shot heard round the world” to Bobby Thomson. This was the topic of Joshua Prager’s The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World. Here’s […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Tyler Kepner published this story in today’s NY Times about the new batch of players eligible for Hall of Fame consideration. I totally agree with his assessment that most of these fellows will not meet the five-percent of votes needed to remain on next year’s ballot. The only names that jumps out as a possible/probable […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Goodness knows they deserve it given their long history of going without a championship, but how many new Cubs books are too many? Actually, even their failures have done well for them in terms of literature. There have been almost as many titles — if not more — lamenting their shortcomings as there have been […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I wonder what our president-elect things about politically-questionable team mascots, characters, and logos? Where do you think he comes down on the Cleveland Indians’ famous Chief Wahoo? The timing is a bit off; the time to bring this up was during the season. But it reminded me and those of my fellow boomers might also […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
I’d like to thank the Academy…
February 27, 2017
The Baseball Bookshelf was recently designated as one of the top 100 Baseball Blogs by Feedspot.com. Woo-hoo. Here’s the “official notification”: Hi Ron, My name is Anuj Agarwal. I’m Founder of Feedspot. I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf has been selected by our panelist as one of […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }