Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf — If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here — Page 336

Bits and pieces

Industry/Literary Analysis

<p>Brendan Roberts, the <em>Sporting News</em> fantasy baseball columnist, penned a <a href=”http://fantasy.sportingnews.com/baseball/experts/brendan-roberts/20070306.html”>profile of John Benson</a>, one of the gurus of roto who is so sought-after for his advice that he commands a fee of $150 an <strong>hour</strong>.</p> <p></p>

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Bookshelf review: Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese Baseball

by Kerry Yo Nakagawa. Rudi Publishing, 2002. Since Horace Wilson, an American schoolteacher in the “land of the rising sun,” introduced baseball to his students in 1872, Japanese have been mad for the game. The author, a writer, actor, filmmaker, and director of the Nisei Baseball Research Project, chronicles this fervor. Like their European counterparts, […]

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Bits and Pieces

Reviews from other sources

<p>Every now and then I thought I would be a nice guy and suggestion some links on baseball books that might be useful and/or enjoyable. Rather than save them all up for one long post, I thought I’d place ’em as I find ’em.</p> <ul><li>A list of more than 40 books reviewed in <a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/baseball-books.html”><em>The […]

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Bookshelf review: Money Pitcher: Chief Bender and the Tragedy of Indian Assimilation

by William C. Kashatus. Penn State Press, 2006. Albert Charles “Chief” Bender was one of the best pitchers of the early 20th century, a stalwart for Connie Mack Philadelphia Athletics from 1903-17. During that time (with a one-game comeback in 1925 with the Chicago White Sox) he won more than 210 games and compiled an […]

Tagged as: Chieg Bender, Native Americans

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A welcome resource

<p>Since all matter of material ends up on my bookshelf, it’s not out of the perview to report that <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=275,height=387,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/65tsn.jpg”><img title=”65tsn” height=”211″ alt=”65tsn” src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/65tsn.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a><a href=”http://paperofrecord.com/”>Paperofrecord.com</a> has recently discontinued charging for its content, which includes newspapers from around the world. […]

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Miracle Collapse: The 1969 Chicago Cubs

by Doug Feldman. Unversity of Nebraska Press, 2006. Fans of a certain age will recall some of the great collective let-downs in the game ‘s history: After cruising for most of the 1951 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers let the New York Giants catch them. The Philadelphia Phillies were running away with the pennant in 1964 […]

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7 Update

Industry/Literary Analysis

<p>According to <a href=”http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_en_ot/books_mickey_mantle”>a report in the Associated Press</a>, Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press, will release <em>7: The Mickey Mantle Novel</em> on April 3, with a planned first printing of 250,000, the largest in the company’s history.</p> <div id=”ynmain”><div id=”storybody”><p></p></div></div>

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Whither Golenbock's Mickey Mantle novel?

Industry/Literary Analysis

<p>Peter Golenbock’s controversial <em>7: The Mickey Mantle Novel</em> has already had a <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=240,height=240,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/7_1.jpg”><img title=”7_1″ height=”250″ alt=”7_1″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/7_1.jpg” width=”250″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px” /></a> <a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=240,height=240,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/7.jpg”></a>checkered life. The book, which depicts Manlte as a flawed man, was originally supposed to be […]

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Battling Registers

<p>In this corner, wearing a red cover, <em>Who’s Who in Baseball. </em>In the other corner, changing many times over the years, <em>The Baseball Register</em> published by <em>The Sporting News.</em></p> <p><em><strong><span style=”font-size: 1.2em;”>Who’s Who in Baseball</span></strong></em></p> <p><em><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=800,height=979,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/kentwwib_2.JPG”></a><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=800,height=979,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/kentwwib_3.JPG”><img title=”Kentwwib_3″ height=”306″ alt=”Kentwwib_3″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/kentwwib_3.JPG” width=”250″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: […]

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Magazines are books, too…sort of

Industry/Literary Analysis

<p class=”MsoNormal” style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”><span face=”Times New Roman” style=”font-size: 0.8em;”><strong>The following post comes courtesy of Greg Spira from a recent SABR list-serve distribution.</strong></span></p> <p class=”MsoNormal” style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”><p><span face=”Times New Roman”> <a href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ssbeltran_3.jpg” onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=325,height=443,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false”><img alt=”Ssbeltran_3″ title=”Ssbeltran_3″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/ssbeltran_3.jpg” width=”85″ height=”115″ border=”0″ style=”float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;” /></a> </span></p></p> […]

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The New Ballgame

The New Ballgame: Understanding Baseball Statistics for the Casual Fan, by Glenn Guzzo (ACTA Sports). A brief review of a brief book. Guzzo does a nice job explaining the key stats to newcomers to the game who want to enhance their experience by adding that numerical component, rather than “just watching.” He also offers an […]

Tagged as: Baseball News, Bill James, statistics

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ESPN as book publisher?

Industry/Literary Analysis

<p><a href=”http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117132033196106402-JXXh8HzCZLUbEFeJJbnZSN3_lN0_20070219.html?mod=blogs”>An article</a> in today’s <em>Wall Street Journal</em> (Feb. 13) takes a look at ESPN’s attempt to "smarten up" its core audience (i.e., men 18-34) by getting them to read more than a few sports pages or their own magazine.</p> <p>ESPN is the publisher of a new book by former basketball player John Amaechi, <a […]

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2B or Not 2B: Poets of the Diamond

<p><em>A program on the Feb. 10 broadcast of NPR’s </em>Only a Game <em>had an interesting topic, </em><a href=”http://www.onlyagame.org/shows/2007/02/20070210_14.asp”>Shakepeare as Sport</a>. <em>It reminded me of a review I did on the Bard of Avon, as well as another poet of the diamond." <p><em><strong>Shakespeare on Baseball</strong></em>, compiled by David Goodnough, Barricade Books. </p> <p><em><strong>O Holy Cow: The […]

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It was fifty years ago today…

Review by Ron Kaplan

<p><strong><span style=”font-size: 0.8em;”>(<em>This article appeared on Purebaseball.com Oct. 3, 2001)</em></span></strong></p> <p><em><a onclick=”window.open(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=145,height=216,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false” href=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/1951.jpg”><img title=”1951″ height=”223″ alt=”1951″ src=”http://baseballbookshelf.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/images/1951.jpg” width=”150″ border=”0″ style=”FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px” /></a> 1951: When Giants Played the Game</em>, by Kerry Keene. Sports Publishing Inc., $16.95.</p> <p>…to paraphrase from the Beatles. </p> <p>One of the classic confrontations […]

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A conversation with Joshua Prager

Author profile/interview by Ron Kaplan

Joshua Prager is author of The Echoing Green, the authoritative book on what might be the best-kept secret in sports cheating: Bobby Thomson’s homer in the 1951 playoffs against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Prager, who broke the story in a 2001 article in the Wall Street Journal, spent five years researching, interviewing, and writing the book, […]

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'Forward' Thinking: Three former colleagues produce baseball titles

Author profile/interview by Ron Kaplan

What are the odds? In an amazing example of great minds thinking alike, three former writers for the Forward —Jonathan Mahler, Seth Mnookin, and Joshua Prager — have published critically acclaimed books on baseball, each focusing on a different historical event. The TV miniseries Jonathan Mahler, author of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning […]

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SABR Bibliography Committee Newsletters

Books

I have the pleasure of serving as editor for the Society for American Baseball Research Bibliography Committee newsletter. Herewith are links to recent issues, for your edifcation and amusement: Issue 1, 2006. Featuring a profile of Thomas Oliphant, author of Praying for Gil Hodges; Reviews of Cooperstown to Dyersville: A Geography of Baseball Nostalgia; Pure […]

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The end of an era at The Sporting News

The Sporting News and its parent company, American City Business Journals, have decided to suspend publication of the Baseball Guide and the Complete Baseball Record and Fact Book. There will be no 2007 edition of the Guide, and the 2007 edition of the Record and Fact Book will not appear in print. These decisions were […]

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Bookshelf review: Time Marches On

Baseball records

The Baseball Timeline, by Burt Solomon (Dorling Kindersley Publishing). The Chronicle of Baseball: A Century of Major League Action, by John Mehno (Carlton Books). A Stitch in Time: A Baseball Chronology, 1845-2000. by Gene Elston (Halcyon Press). Day-by-Day in Baseball History, by Carl R. Moesche (McFarland). Baseball Extra: A Newspaper History of the Glorious Game […]

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Minor League Baseball: Community Building through Hometown Sports

Review by Ron Kaplan

Minor League Baseball: Community Building through Hometown Sports By Rebecca S. Kraus. New York: Haworth Press, 2002. Followers of minor-league baseball don’t have it easy. In the best of circumstances, their favorite players won’t be with the local team for long, since this is just a stopover, a tune-up before heading to “the Show.” […]

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