Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
Posts tagged as:
♦ The New York Times posted their annual baseball roundup, albeit with fewer titles than usual. But remember, it’s quality, not quantity. Jim Bouton offers his review of two Yankees books: Marty Appel’s Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss and Damn Yankees: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
♦ Tom Hoffarth’s latest in his 30 books.30 days series: High Fives, Pennant Drives and Fermandomania: A Fan’s History of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Glory Years 1977-1981, by Paul Haddad. ♦They’re not exactly timely, but by waiting more than 40 years since the publication of Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, this review on Paste has a […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This is the time of year when you can expect to see a glut of articles and reviews on authors and new titles and old favorites. So here’s the first from the Christian Science Monitor. The lineup (because there are nine titles, get it?) incldues: The Natural, by Bernard Malamud Bang the Drum Slowly (Second […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
When I first saw the headline in Saturday’s NY Times, I thought the writer, David Waldstein, was speaking metaphorically. Turns out Dickey — the surprise pitching star for the Mets in an otherwise dismal 2010 — actually is writing a book, with the help of Wayne Coffey of the NY Daily News. From the Times‘ […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.m. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 28 at noon. Title Rank General Baseball Prospectus 2011 1 Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 2 The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 7, at 1 p.m. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Baseball Prospectus 2011 2 Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
and put it on your bookshelf. Owen Wilson plays Matty, a pitcher on the Washington Nationals, and Reese Witherspoon a former Olympic softball player in How Do You Know?, which opens in theaters today. I have no intention of seeing this one, but the trailer does include a scene (about the 1:24 mark) with Wilson […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Janey Leavy. Harper, 2010. If she’s not careful, Jane Leavy will earn a reputation as the Boswell of the battered ballplayer. In 2002, she wrote the definitive biography (to this point) of the role model to Jewish boomers everywhere in Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. In […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton 2 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 8. Title Rank General The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis 2 Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams, […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The recent program at the Burbank Library seems to have sparked national attention to Bouton’s classic. Here are a few more items for your consideration: Our friend, Tom Hoffarth penned this nice wrap-up of the event. “It’s not a stretch to think today of Bouton as a J.D. Sallinger of sports literature,” he writes. “In […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Herewith the final schedule for BALL FOUR TURNS FORTY, presented by The Baseball Reliquary at the Burbank Central Library, on Saturday, Sept. 18. If you go, tell Jim that I said “Hey.” 11:00 am — 12:30 pm Introduction by Terry Cannon and Jon Leonoudakis Opening remarks by Jim Bouton Panel discussion with Q&A on Ball […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
In the recent entry on the Jim Bouton interview, I wrote about the book’s inclusion in a list of the New York Public Library’s Books of the Century. I mistakenly referred to it as a list of the top 100 books. In fact, the total is closer to 175. Bouton’s contribution to literature is included […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I can still picture it in my mind: Reading Ball Four during summer camp days back in 1970. In fact I still have that original volume in my library. So it’s shocking to me that it’s been 40 years since Jim Bouton’s watershed memoir was published. Bouton was quite generous with his time in speaking […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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
