Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… As you may have notice in recent weeks, […]
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Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
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Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
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Because some people eat across while others “rotate.” I host a blog about Jews and sports as part of my day job as sports editor for the NJ Jewish News. One of the daily routines is to scan the box scores to see how the Jewish ballplayers fared, but obviously you can do this for […]
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Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
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From the Associated Press: Advanced Stats Find Way Onto Baseball Cards The advanced-stats movement is making headway in another area: baseball cards. Topps added WAR (wins above replacement) to its cards last year in a sign that the oft-debated metric is becoming more accepted by the mainstream. As a company that’s been making baseball cards […]
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If you can remember the old Saturday Night Live skit — a take-off on 60 Minutes‘ “Point/Counterpoint” segment between conservative James J. Kilptarick and Shana Shana Alexander representing the liberal POV — you might be old enough to get where Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan is coming from when he asks “Do baseball fans […]
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There’s something inherently unfair about lumping together post-season records. Prior to 1969, there were just two teams still active after the regular 162 slate of games. Then there were an additional four. An additional round was added in 1995, and, in 2012, an additional game for the Wild Card play-in. So the if all the […]
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As a long-time fan and user of baseball-reference.com, I marvel at how the site keeps growing and growing. Not only is there the latest generation of statistics, but BR has expanded to include minor league, Negro league, and foreign (especially Japanese) data. Not to mention the “Baseball Frivolities and Fun Stuff” section which includes: Baseball […]
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You don’t have to be a SABR member to enjoy The Emerald Guide to Baseball 2014. That is, if you’re willing to access the 600-plus page PDF version. Otherwise you’ll have to pay for the printed edition, which comes out around opening day. According to the page at the SABR site, The 2014 edition of […]
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This it the time of year when the baseball media offer their considered opinions on their favorite prospects. Sometimes they’re spot on, other times, not so much. So I thought, why not apply this to the upcoming “rookie crop” of baseball books? That is, titles that are making their debuts in 2014 — no reprints/reissues […]
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It used to be that you had to wait until spring to enjoy books about the previous season. Now, thanks in part to real-time statistical studies and improved publishing capabilities, it’s just a matter of how fast fast the writer/outlet can get their material to the printer. Case in point: the The Bill James Handbook, […]
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I was tooling around the TV dial last night, killing time between the end of the Redskins-Seahawks game and Downtown Abbey (’cause that’s how I roll), and hit on a discussion on the MLB Network about statistics. I believe the show was Clubhouse Confidential and the guests were former manager Larry Bowa and stats guru […]
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* Gone but not forgotten: The Baseball Hall of Fame has some Montreal Expos memorabilia on display. * Not sure if the ship has sailed on this, but The Book: Playing The Percentages in Baseball is on a deep discount (I believe it’s 50 percent) “for a limited time.” * Bruce Markusen posted another entertaining […]
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Used to be you had to wait until at least February for the first whiff of baseball lit to be available. Not any more. The Hardball Times Annual and The Bill James Handbook are already out an about. Herewith a few reviews: The Handbook, by SB Nation, ESPN’s Sweet Spot. HBT: Not so much a […]
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Will Leitch published this piece on the reluctance of some sports pundits (as opposed to the hoi poloi of fandom) who are reluctant to embrace the new generation of baseball statistics. Of course this is the time of year when segments of the media that doesn’t normally cover baseball starts up as if they invented […]
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* Baseball Prospectus is adding a mid-season “addenda” to its annual publication: The Call Up 2012. Here are a couple of review, the first from SouthsideShowdown, the second from ValueOverReplacementGrit. My question is: why is a book like this necessary? Those interested in such information would probably find it easier to get the most recent […]
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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
Baseball Best-Sellers, Nov. 21
November 21, 2014
Note: Just like Chuck Lorre’s “vanity cards” at the end of The Big Bang Theory, you should read these list stories to their conclusion; the end is always changing, even though the theme is basically the same, finishing up with a self-promotional message. On with the show… Here are the top ten baseball books as […]
Tagged as: Bill James, Cleveland Indians, Derek Jeter, Hardball Times, Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees, Oakland As, San Francisco Giants
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