Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
MLB Network will be hungry for content until the season opens. One wonders why they didn’t wait until at least Spring Training — if not opening day — to launch. I guess they wanted to start building their audience early. I watched a little but last night, mostly previews of what is to come. Among […]
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According to a story on today’s AdAge.com: In these challenging economic times — during which every story and press release commences with an “in these challenging economic times …” salvo — media entities are as likely to roll out a big-dollar, big-ambition offering as they are to quadruple their head count. And then there’s Major […]
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Terry Cashman’s most popular hits had to be “Talkin’ Baseball” and “Willie, Mickey, and the Duke,” a paean to New York centerfielders. But a close third was “Play-by-Play (I Saw it on the Radio).” The (Transplanted) Nation blog (Red Sox), posted this entry about how Bobby Thompson’s home run, as broadcast on radio and TV, […]
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One more reason that the current NY Times is not your granddaddy’s newspaper. The history of the World Series home run on TV (video).
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How could they not?
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Baseball on television is like the weather. Everyone complains about the late starts to accommodate the networks, the lousy announcers, the lengthy games because of commercials — but no one does anything about it. Following the most recent All-Star game, which ended at 1:40 a.m. Eastern time, Marketwatch.com published this piece on Center Field Shot: […]
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I usually don’t get overly sentimental about the game, especially the purple prose of those sportscasters around World Series and All-Star Game time, when they go off about the majestic history of the national pastime, etc. But 2008 marks the final season of Yankee Stadium (and Shea, let’s not forget about Shea). As such the […]
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The New York Times published this piece in today’s issue regarding the appeal of the Mets farm club, the brooklyn Cyclones, in the face of the big league team’s troubles of late. In the meantime, watch this unusual situation from last night’s game between the Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees. The Amazon Report on […]
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The video version of an old joke. In this show, titled “Leo Durocher Meets Mister Ed,” the horse, a staunch L.A. Dodger fan, spots a few batting weaknesses among the line-up while watching one of their televised games. The episode was aired as the opener for the fourth season (Sept. 29, 1963) and features — […]
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According to Richard Deitsch’s “Media Circus” column on SI.com, Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, Tin Cup), is working on a script of the Fainaru-Wada/Williams book for HBO. “The film will air on HBO (likely in 2009) and will be directed by Shelton if his schedule permits,” writes Deitsch.
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Seems the Yankees and their fans are somewhat upset about MLB’s “Call Your Shot” promotion, in which a fan winning an online contest will choose a spot here he believes Red Sox slugger David Ortiz can park one. “Sacrilege,” they cry, to befoul the final season at the hallowed Yankee Stadium with such heresy. The […]
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From the Lost and Gone Forever blog: (Spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen the episode in question “Something Nice Back Home”, avert thine eyes). By virtue of the Yankees/Red Sox and Indians/Mariners scores in the newspaper article, only one date is viable for the publication of the paper: August 31, 2007. Article states Yankees finish […]
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To the consciousness of New York fans, that is. Former Mets’ manager Bobby Valentine was the subject of the May 4 “Questions for…” section of the New York Times‘ Sunday Magazine. Q; One American tradition you’ve imported to Japan is patting the players on the tush, as the film demonstrates. A: That has really been […]
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In the previous entry on Jose Canseco, I included a story from the original Twilight Zone series. Since there are no new stories, the familiar theme of a man thrust back into an alternate universe was repeated for the umpteenth time. Here, in Extra Innings, from one of the program’s later incarnations, Marc Singer plays […]
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Television’s Lucas McCain in The Rifleman made his major league debut on this date in 1949. Kevin Costner has appeared as a ballplayer in three motion pictures, but I don’t recall if Connors ever did. I guess in those days no one would believe a 6’7″ guy could make for a convincing athlete.
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The New York Times has recently published baseball material in non-sports sections. A review of the American Experience documentary on Robert Clemente ran on Monday, April 21. The program is available for viewing on the American Experience Web site. In the “Escape” section of the Friday, April 25 weekend Arts, this piece about minor league […]
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Here’s a PSA from an unexpected source, the American Jewish Committee, extolling the benefits of working together for a common cause. The cartoon was one of four in a series designed “to foster tolerance and human rights,” according to the edition of Variety (April 21, 1954), which gave AJC its annual award “for the best […]
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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
