Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
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February 28, 2025
A reminder: 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 posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“). In addition, occasionally […]
Tagged as: baseball best-sellers, baseball in war time, biographies, instructionals, Lists, memoirs, Rankings, statistical analysis
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February 19, 2025
Next to the Mets, my favorite team is (was) the Montreal Expos. My maternal side comes from Montreal and I consider the time spent there on vacations and the five summers working at a sleep-away camp in the Laurentians among the happiest of my life. My Aunt Lily lived in Outremont, a neighborhood a long […]
Tagged as: Bookshelf Conversations, Lists, Montreal Expos, Original video content
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June 30, 2008
An “annotated” list of several general sports titles from ESPN’s D.J. Gallo includes baseball books such as: Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out” by Josh Pahigian. Hey, who says I’m going to strike out, jerk? I was a two-time Little League All-Star. Two times! Be a bit more complimentary with your title and […]
Tagged as: baseball books, Lists
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May 1, 2008
I came across these posts from The Bronx Banter portion of The Baseball Toaster and The Hardball Times that cut to the chase of what The Bookshelf is all about. Alex Belth, who writes Bronx Banter, got the ball rolling, in response to a query he received from Phillyburbs.com regarding his suggestions for “ten essential […]
Tagged as: baseball books, Lists
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April 7, 2008
A simple list of five titles, (and no commentary) with a couple of Red Sox-centric choices, as determined by Barnes and Noble.com for New England regional sales.
Tagged as: baseball books reviews, Lists
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According to Christian Science Monitor film critic Peter Rainer: With the new baseball season almost upon us, this is a perfect time to recommend a few standout movies about the sport – not that there have been many. Some of the most acclaimed, like “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural,” are so overblown they might […]
Tagged as: baseball movies, Lists
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March 21, 2008
As we head into the season, look for newspapers and magazines to start publishing collections of reviews, either as stand-alones or part of a “round-up” of brief items, like this one at TampaBayOnline which includes: Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original Change Up: An Oral History of 8 Key Events that Shaped […]
Tagged as: baseball books, Lists
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March 18, 2008
From WickedLocal.com, the Web site for the Lakeville (Mass.) Call and Enterprise, this list of favorite baseball titles. From WNBC.com, this brief profile about 100-year-old Bill Werber, believed to be the oldest ex-major leaguer. Werber published his autobiography in 2000, when he was a mere babe of 92. Memories of a Ballplayer: Bill Werber and […]
Tagged as: Autobiography, biography, Lists
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January 29, 2008
Two items on the business side of the game: mentalfloss on odd contract clauses The Business of Baseball’s list of “most effective minor league promotions“
Tagged as: Lists, Memorabilia
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January 20, 2008
I originally did this several years ago for Fastball.com, a now-defunct web site. Pitchers Roger “Samuel” Clemens, Josh “Samuel” Beckett, Craig “Larry” McMurtry,Jerry “Saint” Augustine, Casey “William” Blake Catcher Mike “F. Scott” Fitzgerald First Base Bud “Tom” Clancy Second Base Ed “Ernest” Hemingway Shortstop Bill “Bertrand” Russell Third Base Bill “James” Joyce Leftfield Buster “Henry” […]
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December 27, 2007
Film critic Richard Roeper’s best and worst baseball films of all time: Best (In order of preference) Worst (In alpha order*) The Natural The Babe Bull Durham The Babe Ruth Story Field of Dreams The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Bang the Drum Slowly The Fan Pride of the Yankees Fear Strikes Out Major […]
Tagged as: baseball movies, Lists
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December 21, 2007
From the BookFinder.com blog comes this loist of classic titles deemed the best on the game. “Compiling a list of books about baseball has only two inherent difficulties: where to begin, and where to end. In the final press release we would only be able to mention ten titles. Imagine my despair as I looked […]
Tagged as: baseball books, Lists, Top books
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is available on Amazon.com,
In a former life, I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted an award-winning bog about Jews and Sports.
I did a profile piece on the legendary cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was very generous in immortalizing me in this caricature.
In Forbes Magazine re: Baseball Business Books
On Will Carroll’s “Under the Knife” substack
Updated 12/21/24
The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox (Video)
One of a Kind (Video profile of Greg Maddux)
The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Kevin Baker (via Bookreporter.com)
Most recent books read updated 12/21/24:
Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
Grade: A. The most in-depth bio to date, focusing on Rose's gambling addiction.
Sometimes You See It Coming, by Kevin Baker
Grade: B. I first read this one when it originally came out some 30 years ago. I must say I don't remember it being so raunchy in spots. Draws on lots of real-life events and characters that real fans will recognize.
The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness, by Andy McCullough
Grade: A. I usually don't like titles with superlatives, but in this case the author might be right, although there are probably a couple of Kershaw's contemporaries (Verlander and Scherzer) who fit that description.
The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era, by Andy Martino
Grade: B+. Even this non-Yankee fan found the deep background with its Moneyball-like machinations interesting
The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Kevin Baker
Grade: A. Well-researched, well-written. What else could you ask for? Baker has a lot of street cred writing about New York as well, both in fiction and non-fiction.
The Body Scout, by Lincoln Michel
Grade: C. Perhaps the ultimate performance enhancers -- interchangeable body parts -- help major leaguers of the future. But, as with all of these things, there's a price to pay.
Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards, by Josh Wilker
Grade: A. Re-read in preparation for a Bookshelf Conversation with the author. Had a deeper meaning than when I first read it more than a decade ago.
The Bookshelf Conversation
Discussions about all things baseball with authors, journalists, filmmakers, musicians, artists, et al
Subscribe to the "Bookshelf Conversations" podcast on iTunes and please leave a rating and/or review. Gracias!
Dan Epstein on James Earl Jones (video)
Jim Gilmore and Tracy Holcomb (video)
"The Lost Tapes": Conversations prior to 2011 (audio)
My article on Sandy Koufax in the 1965 World Series appears in
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
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