Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
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Received notification after I posted the previous piece… New American Library will publish John Rosengren’s Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes in March. But according to an e-mail from the author, “you don’t have to wait until then to get a sneak peak at the definitive biography. “You can read excerpts, see photos, browse extended […]
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I don’t know about you, but being the curmudgeon that I am, I have trouble with the folks who jump on the baseball bandwagon once the regular season is over. This ain’t the NBA or NHL, bud, where everyone gets into the playoffs so you don’t have to pay attention until there are just a […]
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A hamsa is the Jewish symbol for protection. Although I know my daughter doesn’t cotton to such gestures, I have her one before she started college. Here’s one “featuring” Hank Greenberg that appears in an on-line baseball magazine published by EephusLeague.com, wonderfully eclectic baseball entity for the artistically oddball items of the game. The navigation […]
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Editor’s note: JTA published this excerpt from Jewish Major Leaguers in Their Own Words: Oral Histories of 23 Players, edited by Peter Ephross and published by McFarland. Talkin’ baseball: Jewish Major Leaguers and why we care about them by Peter Ephross Nearly all fans of baseball history have heard of Hank Greenberg. Most have heard […]
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The Jewish Review of Books (shouldn’t that be Review of Jewish Books?) ran this review of Mark Kurlansky’s recent biography, Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want To Be One. The piece begins with a reference to Mark Helprin’s short story, “Perfection,” which “re-imagined Bernard Malamud’s “Natural” as an adolescent Holocaust survivor whose otherworldly ability […]
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Since I started blogging about baseball literature and collectibles, I’ve become increasingly enamored with and appreciative of the “art” of the game. Not the way the players perform, but by those who depict those performances through the pencil, the paintbrush, the camera, or any other method. It’s especially rewarding to find “unknown” artists (although they […]
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This originally appeared in the New Jersey Jewish News, March 31. It’s not quite one of the Four Questions, but Washington Post sportswriter Thomas Boswell devoted an entire best-selling collection of his columns to explain Why Time Begins on Opening Day. For long-chilled fans, time begins again today, baseball’s earliest start ever. Several new books […]
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The Bookshelf topic on the March 14 Internet broadcast of What’s on Second was some events in baseball history that are marking milestone anniversaries in 2011. Among them: Hank Greenberg’s 100th birthday Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to Be One (Jewish Lives), by Kurlansky Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg, by Sommer Joe DiMaggio;’s 56-game hitting […]
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Came across an item about a book club created by a Tampa Bay Rays blogging outfit. The concept At the beginning of each month, we will pick a book. If you would like to participate, you go out and get a copy of the book and read it during the month. At the end of […]
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By the way, it’s still winter so why aren’t we hearing snow-themed songs anymore? “Winter Wonderland” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” among others, are not “holiday” songs, per se, so they’d still be valid. Just sayin’. Thought I saw my first “annual” at the bookstore last week, but it was a fantasy publication, so it […]
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to forget to post about Hank Greenberg‘s 100th birthday, which would have been Jan. 1. Andy Wolf posted this tribute on Dec. 30. Mark Kurlansky, author of The Eastern Stars, is about to release anew biography — Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to be One — from Yale University Press in March. Previous […]
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(with a side of shameless self-promotion. A “simcha” is a joyous occasion.) From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Duo celebrating bar mitzva of counting Jewish athletes Edmon J. Rodman OCT. 28 — Down in Texas, the Rangers have an All-Star second baseman who has added flavor and flair to the 2010 season, helping propel his team […]
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There are a couple of books out this year that deal with athletes — Roger Maris and Hank Aaron– who were vilified by the press and the public for the audacity in approaching the home run numbers put up by Hall of Famer Babe Ruth, albeit for different reasons. Maris, who broke the single season […]
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Actually, most are not exactly new, but re-released in paper back editions. But I guess they’re all new if you haven’t read them yet (this sounds like one of those “if a tree falls in the woods…” bits). The only one that might qualify is A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That […]
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At the risk of blowing my own horn, I wanted to say that my essays on Shawn Green, Hank Greenberg, and Sandy Koufax are included in the recently-released Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture, edited by Jack. R. Fischel with Susan M. Ortmann (Greenwood Press). I’m kvelling.
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is available on Amazon.com,
In my most recent "day job," I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted another blog. Busy, busy, busy.
I did a profile piece on the award-winning cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.
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
Bits and pieces
February 10, 2012 · 2 comments
Haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I have a bit of backlog I’d like to clear, so here goes. * We’ll have to agree to disagree. One card collector can’t stand the new 2012 Topps series. Another calls it the best one yet. What do you think? * LibraryJournal.com posted this piece reviewing […]
Tagged as: Casey Award, Dirk Hayhurst, Hank Greenberg, Jim Brosnan, Joe DiMaggio, Michael Lewis, The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, Year The Yankees Lost the Pennant
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