Metsmerizedonline posted this interview with the author of Bottom of the Ninth.
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Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
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June 12, 2009
Metsmerizedonline posted this interview with the author of Bottom of the Ninth.
Tagged as: Dodgers, Giants, Mets, Michael Shapiro, Walter O'Malley
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June 11, 2009 · 1 comment
Several baseball items have popped up on NPR shows in recent days: Larry Tye, author of the new biography Satchel: The Life and Times of An American Legend, was a guest on Fresh Air. You can hear the show here as well as read an excerpt from the book. *** Brian Lehrer had this segment […]
Tagged as: Baseball music, Brian Lehrer, Brooklyn Dodgers, Keith Nernandez, Larry Tye, Leonard Lopate, Michael Shapiro, New York Giants, New York Mets, NPR, Satchel Paige, WNYC
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May 14, 2009
From mediabistro.com, this double profile of authors Michael Shapiro (Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself) and Robert E. Murphy (After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball). Shapiro previously published The Last Good […]
Tagged as: Brooklyn Dodgers, Michael Shapiro, New York Giants, New York Mets, Robert E. Murphy
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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.
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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* Bits and Pieces
June 17, 2009
Time to play a little catch-up: From Pressboxonline.com, a Baltimore-sports oriented site, a review of Bert Randolph Sugar’s new coffee table book about the Hall of Fame. “[The author] left nothing out and I can’t think of a better way to educate those whom are grasping for a better understanding of baseball’s history than to […]
Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, baseball books, Baseball Hall of Fame, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Curt Smith, Michael Shapiro, Roger Clemens, steroids, Vin Scully
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