A list of baseball’s best, courtesy Dan Epstein, Esquire

Classic title

See what I did there? I combined Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, with the publication to which he contributed this article on “The 20 Best Baseball Books Ever,” his choice for the top 20 non-fiction titles in the genre to […]

Read the full article →

Authors appearance: Brian Murphy and Brad Mangin

Annoucements

As per Mangin’s Facebook post of Aug. 20: DROP EVERYTHING! Hey South Bay Giants Fans! Brian Murphy and I will be at San Jose Municipal Stadium (former home of Giants #1 draft pick Adam Hyzdu, shot by me in 1992) signing copies of Never. Say. Die.: The San Francisco Giants – 2012 World Series Champions […]

Read the full article →

A programming note

2013 title

Working on podcasts of interviews with authors Eric R9lfe Greenberg (The Celebrant: A Novel); Brad Mangin (Instant Baseball: The Baseball Instagrams of Brad Mangin); and Thomas Djya (Play for a Kingdom), not necessarily in that order. I am also trying to wrap up editing on a mini-documentary I created on The Merchants of Cooperstown (coming […]

Read the full article →

Lest we forget: Elmore Leonard, baseball fan

Lest We Forget

One of my favorite non-baseball writers passed away this morning. For all of his quirkiness, Leonard was a solid baseball fan. He even had the privilege of throwing out a first pitch at a Detroit Tigers game in 1999 and was the subject of a chapter in Tom Stanton’s The Final Season: Fathers, Sons, and […]

Read the full article →

Because you can put T-shirts on a bookshelf…

Baseball clothing

I’m getting to the point where I really don’t need any more T-shirts (or baseball caps), but if I did, I would probably pick from this series of Negro League-inspired attire, currently a Kickstarter project by Charlie Hustle: The Negro League Collection (not sure how that name will affect sales). There are a limited amount […]

Read the full article →

Lest we forget: Marty Adler

Baseball museum

The uber-fan and founder of the nomadic Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame died Tuesday at the age of 76. From the Richard Goldstein obit in The New York Times: When Jackie Robinson died in 1972, Mr. Adler campaigned to have his school, then known as Crown Heights Intermediate School 320, named for him. “The parents […]

Read the full article →

Bits and pieces, Aug. 16

2013 title

* I love a good deconstruction story. Here, author Dayn Perry joyously breaks down a number of baseball cards he recently purchased. * The Columbus, Indiana, Republic posted this glowing review of Doug WIlson’s The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych. * The Santa Monica Mirror published a profile of local writer Alan […]

Read the full article →

Not a bad day

2013 title

The first big day in this author’s life was getting the final, bound copy of my first book. The next came today, when the first check arrived. Don’t know what I was expecting, but I was hoping for something bit larger.   I also received this, from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Pretty cool. There’s […]

Read the full article →

Fortunately, there’s only one way to spell ‘Ron’

"Oddballs"

Two, actually. Not that it’s always easy to spell: Anyway, this comes from our friend Craig Robinson, author Flip Flop Fly Ball: An Infographic Baseball Adventure and host of the always-entertaining FlipFlopFlyball site

Read the full article →

SABR ‘preview’: new projects coming down the pike

2013 title

To paraphrase a Groucho Marx line (and with all due respect to the PETA faction), you can’t swing a dead cat (if that’s your idea of a good time) at the annual SABR conference without hitting a baseball writer. While in Philadelphia, I caught up with a few of them (writers, not cats) to see […]

Read the full article →

It’s funny because it’s true

"Oddballs"

I was the manager of the Brooklyn College baseball team in the mid-late 70s. One of the responsibilities was keeping the score book. That’s tough enough to do when you don’t know the guys on the team. In a display of schadenfreude, pitchers want fielders to get errors so their earned run averages don’t go […]

Read the full article →

Bookshelf review: Beyond Home Plate

2013 title

Jackie Robinson on Life After Baseball, edited by Michael G. Long. Syracuse University Press, 2013. Some former athletes botch attempts to remain relevant after their playing days are over. They offer opinions that, while certainly their right to have and express, do little to offer insight (or interest) as to what kind of people they […]

Read the full article →

Like I was sayin’ (‘Annual’ baseball titles)

"Annuals"

A propos  to yesterday’s entry about the Hollander “Complete Guide to…,” I ventured into the attic to take these pictures last night. [SlideDeck id=’15980′ width=’100%’ height=’300px’] This “series” — mostly edited by Don Schiffer and, later, Jack Zanger — predates the Hollander books (by the way, the story appeared on the New York Times‘ website […]

Read the full article →

Rogues gallery

My '501' book

And I mean that in the nicest way. If anyone out there who purchased 501 (or borrowed it from the library or even looks at it at the local bookstore) cares to do so, take a picture of yourself with the book, email to ron (at) RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf (dot) com and I’ll be happy to post […]

Read the full article →

Coming soon to a theater near you. Yeah, probably not.

2013 title

But wouldn’t it be soooo cool? And in 3D, no less! Via John Thorn on Facebook via Jonah Keri.  

Read the full article →

Ah yes, I remember it well

"Oddballs"

The New York Times ran this marvelous story about the annual Complete Book of Baseball (and lesser sports) edited by Zander Hollander. A nice history lesson. I still have all of these, along with their predecessor, The xxxx Major League Baseball Handbook. These paperbacks sold for, like 50 cents, maybe a buck towards the end […]

Read the full article →

All hail the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse

501 Baseball Books...

For all the great programs the Bergino Baseball Clubouse sponsors and hosts, it’s nice to see Jay Goldberg’s labor of love get some swell-deserved recognition, as in this piece from The Wall Street Journal in July. Goldberg has opened his “home” to countless authors and artists to basically chew the fat in a relaxed atmosphere […]

Read the full article →

Now hear this: Kaplan on The Talk of New York Sports

2013 title

Had the pleasure of talking with Bill Donohue on The Talk of New York Sports last night about 501 Baseball Books. You can listening to it here at about the 29:30 mark:

Read the full article →

Because you can put one on a bookshelf

collectibles

I want one of these. On the other hand, not too sure about these. And speaking of the players suspended for the Biogenisis mess, I’m just curious, since I do not indulge: how does this affect  “owners” who drafted these guys for their fantasy teams?

Read the full article →

Bits and pieces, Aug. 9

2010 title

Author appearance: David King, author of Ross Youngs: In Search of a San Antonio Baseball Legend (TX) (Sports History), will sign copies of his book tomorrow (Aug. 10) from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Barnes and Noble at The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio. The book traces the career of the Hall of Famer, who […]

Read the full article →
script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-5496371-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();