Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf — If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here — Page 52

The Bookshelf Conversation: Seth Kramer

"Bookshelf Conversations"

Welcome back to a new “season” of Bookshelf Conversations. Now that the summer is over, I hope to be doing these on a regular basis. Leading off, we begin with Seth Kramer, “hyphenate” for the documentary, Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel, about the almost-Cinderella story that was the Israeli National Team in the 2017 […]

Tagged as: Heading Home, Israel National Team, Seth Kramer, World Basbeall Classic

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Baseball Best-Sellers, September 6, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

Tagged as: Boston Red Sox, David Cone, Houston Astros, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Ted Williams, World Series

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A “Scandalous” anniversary

Given the number of volumes that have been written following the Moneyball formula over the past few years, I’m almost shocked by the paucity of new material regarding the dark cloud that has hovered over our national pastime for 100 years. I’m referring to the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. To be sure, there have been […]

Tagged as: Black Sox scandal

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A slightly less “Miracle” anniversary…

This year represents the golden anniversary of the most successful Washington Senators in history, bearing in mind that this was the 1961 expansion model and not the previous incarnation that relocated to Minnesota where they became the Twins that same year. Two years, later the “new” Senators themselves moved to Texas to change their uniform […]

Tagged as: Washington Senators

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Baseball Best-Sellers, August 30, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

Tagged as: Baseball Cards, baseball stadiums, Boston Red Sox, David Cone, Houston Astros, Jerry Remy, Jim Bouton, Moneyball, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Pitching, Ted Williams

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Bookshelf review: Homegrown

My review of the latest Moneyball-type book was published on BookReporter.com last Friday.

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Whose bright idea was THIS?

What kills me about this “Players Weekend” business is the fact that MLB probably paid beaucoup bucks to some enterprising lads or lasses to come up with these? And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Nope. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the fun part, generated mostly by the players being […]

Tagged as: baseball nicknames, Who's on First

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Baseball Best-Sellers, August 23, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

Tagged as: Baseball Cards, baseball stadiums, Boston Red Sox, David Cone, Houston Astros, Jerry Remy, Jim Bouton, Moneyball, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Pete Rose, Pitching, Ted Williams

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Trailing trailer

Baseball movies

Don’t know what I was thinking when I left The Stratton Story out of my entry on movie trailers. One of the better bio-pics. Plus it has one of my favorite actors, Jimmy Stewart, in the lead. Several items of note: The Stratton Story was directed by Sam Wood, the same man who gave us […]

Tagged as: baseball movies, Monty Stratton

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Lest we forget: Al Jackson

One of the best pitchers on an otherwise woeful NY Mets staff when they entered the league, Al Jackson passed away yesterday at the age of 83. Here’s the obit by Richard Goldstein in The New York Times. Probably overlooked is that the “little lefty” did two tours of duty for the Mets. The second time as a […]

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Baseball Best-Sellers, August 9, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

Tagged as: Baseball Cards, baseball stadiums, Boston Red Sox, David Cone, Houston Astros, Jerry Remy, Jim Bouton, Moneyball, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Pete Rose, Pitching, Ted Williams

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After the “Ball” is over…

Baseball best-seller

Just received a copy of Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion From the Ground Up, by Boston Globe journalist Alex Spier and it got me to thinking: How many of these microcosms of team-building have come down the pike since Michael Lewis first published Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game all […]

Tagged as: baseball statistics, Moneyball

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Happy Trail(ers) to You

Baseball movies

Was tooling around the dial the other day (well, I guess TVs don’t actually have dials anymore) and came across one of my favorite “poppy seed” movies, A League of Their Own. (Amazingly, I can’t find the definition of a PSM online, but to my mind, it’s one of those films that you’ll watch whenever […]

Tagged as: baseball movies

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Lest we forget: Harvey Frommer

It’s with sadness that I report the passing of Harvey Frommer, the very definition of “a gentleman and a scholar,” who passed away August 1 at the age of 83. In a way, Harvey was responsible for the Bookshelf. It was almost 30 years ago when my first by-lined piece appeared in print: a book […]

Tagged as: Harvey frommer

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Baseball Best-Sellers, August 2, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

Tagged as: Boston Red Sox, Casey Stengel, David Cone, Houston Astros, Jerry Remy, Jim Bouton, Keith Hernandez, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Pete Rose, Pitching, Ted Williams

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Save the Date: August 10 — National Baseball Card Day

We have a calendar at Trader Joe’s on which is listed — in addition to staff birthdays (yay!) — various “national days,” such as “National Chocolate Milk Day” or “National Cheesecake Day.” (Are there corresponding greeting cards for all the occasions?) I’m betting that some of these are created by the industries which they encompass. […]

Tagged as: Baseball Cards

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Summer lovin’

I don’t engage in a whole of lot of “beach reading.” For one thing, I hate the beach. Love the ocean, the sounds, the smells. But lying on the sand and baking? Not for me. Occasionally, I’ll get an email a baseball novelist asking me to take a look at his or her book. My […]

Tagged as: baseball fiction

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An overdue tribute to Jim Bouton

Author profile/interview by Ron Kaplan

As many of you know, I was on a little hiatus during which time Jim Bouton passed away. There have been dozens of obituaries and accolades and I will not refer to them, save the few below; they’re easy enough to Google. But here’s my two cents. It was almost ten years ago when Bouton […]

Tagged as: Ball Four, Jim Bouton

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It’s about time

If they ever put this out in a miniature form, tell me where I can get one; it’s going straight on the bookshelf. As per the Los Angeles Times, “Legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax will get a statue at Dodger Stadium.” Wouldn’t be surprised if this shows up in the next edition of Josh Pahigian’s 101 […]

Tagged as: Jos Pahagian, Sandy Koufax

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Baseball Best-Sellers, July 26, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes. In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one […]

Tagged as: Boston Red Sox, David Cone, Houston Astros, Jim Bouton, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Oakland As, Pete Rose, Pitching, Ted Williams

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