Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
From the category archives:
These programs are supposed to take you “deep inside” the organization’s but I watched the Giants version last year. Meh. Kudos to the team for giving such access. The Guillen suspension for his Castro remarks are already there. HBO couldn’t have known ahead of time how that drama would play out. (Although the cynic in […]
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Because you can keep a TV on a bookshelf: Although I actually prefer the shorter version: Love the eye-roll when the Cubs’ fan refers to the “elegantly-coiffed ex-governor.”
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I have a handful of podcasts I listen to religiously, mostly on my way to work. It’s very ritualistic. I start each Monday with Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. From then on it’s Pardon the Interruption and Extra Hot Great Minis, a scaled down, one-topic version of Extra Hot Great, one of my favorite pop […]
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Can it really be 25 years ago since Al Campanis appeared on what might just be the most (in)famous episode of Nightline (when it was a real news program)? Campanis, then the general manager of the LA Dodgers, was on to discuss the lefacy of Jackie Robinson and ended up losing his job for his […]
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Only the die-hards keep a scorecard during spring training games. There are so many substitutions, it’s hard to keep track. And it’s not only a standard ML roster of 25. You’ve also got the minor leaguers and invitees in camp. Which is why this is so honest and entertaining: Maybe it’s time for an update […]
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A little bit ago, I posted this piece from The Atlantic (along with my own morose ramblings) about a whole new kind of baseball glove. Viola, from a recent ABC News story:
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He’s not getting any younger. This post on Cardboard Icons may not the the most illuminating (all due respect to the blogger), although it does explain how some card companies to not have the blessings of Major League Baseball and therefore cannot show any official logos (i.e., they didn’t pay any licensing fees) . But […]
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Grant Brisbee over at Baseball Nation posted this original entry. This is so cool. Could we get contestants on today’s game shows to dress up like that? Of all people to be on the panel — Chuck Connors, who had one at bat for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949. Many players appeared on What’s My […]
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Where does the time go? This past Sunday, we celebrated the 500th episode of The Simpsons.(personally, I thought it was only meh). But Chris Jaffe over at Hardball Times noted that yesterday was 20 years since the softball-centric Homer at the Bat — with its own set of All-Stars — premiered. Among the athletes playing […]
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I must admit, I have only seen a couple of episodes of this HBO series, which begins its third season next month. I never feel comfortable watching clueless people making fools of themselves (I also have never been a fan of The Office; Kenny Powers and Micheal Scott are pretty close together in that regard). […]
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I feel it incumbent upon myself to tell you that VH1 is airing another season of the reality show Baseball Wives. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wash.
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My wife and I encountered two baseball references while watching a couple of our favorite shows on Sunday — Homeland and Boardwark Empire. Homeland is the story of Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine held captive for eight years in Afghanistan who may or may not have been turned into a sleeper agent by Al Qaeda. […]
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A day late, but with all due respect to Scully, who turned 84 yesterday. Curt Smith, the go-to writer on the history of baseball broadcasting, published Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story in 2009.
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Kevin Youkilis has been on the disabled list for awhile now, but he’s not sitting around idle: And now available: The Making Of _____.
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but the difference in weight and shape can mess up your ceremonial first pitch, as we see here for former Major Leaguer and current author Doug Glanville.
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As I mentioned recently, HBO will air a documentary on Curt Flood on July 13. That same night, Showtime will launch its new series, The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants. You can watch a “full episode preview” here (although a disclaimer on the site says it has been edited from its “original […]
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As of this writing, Derek Jeter stands just four hits away from the magical 3,000. ESPN is working on Derek Jeter 3K, a “documentary” “Set to Air Just Weeks After 3,000th Hit,” according to a press release. Can the souvenir t-shirts, caps, etc. be far behind? The name seems like a natural for a video […]
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Years ago, Vince Coleman made a jackass out of himself by forgetting the debt he and other African-American players owed to Jackie Robinson. I wonder if the same generalization could be made about today’s athletes when it comes to the man responsible for the millions of dollars they receive. HBO’s excellent Real Sports program sounds […]
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The painter of historical baseball people and events was the subject of this featurette on the YES Network. And here’s an additional video from about a year ago.
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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
