Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
Posts tagged as:
My semi-annual baseball roundup is up on Bookreporter.com. This one has a “New York vs. Boston” theme. Titles include: Fenway Park: The Centennial: 100 Years of Red Sox Baseball, by Saul Wisnia Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year by Glenn Stout The Mets: A 50th Anniversary […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Greg Spira passed along this link to an NJ.com review of five New York-centric books, including (with a “symbolic” thumbs up-thumbs down): 1961: The Inside Story of the Maris-Mantle Home Run Chase, by Phil Pepe (-) Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly, by Mike Shalin (-) Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
As I continue to do research for my own project, I get a kick when I find some old material that confirms I’m on the right track with some of my selections. Hey, it’s nice to find validation rom time to time, right? So today’s blast from the past is this brief appearance by the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The Yankees free agent bust who caused no end of delight as the print media tried to figure out to relate an annoyed George Steinbrenner’s description of his overpriced pitcher as “a fat pussy toad,” was found dead in his suburban Los Angeles home yesterday. He was 42. In the New York Times obituary, the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
As of this writing, Derek Jeter stands just four hits away from the magical 3,000. ESPN is working on Derek Jeter 3K, a “documentary” “Set to Air Just Weeks After 3,000th Hit,” according to a press release. Can the souvenir t-shirts, caps, etc. be far behind? The name seems like a natural for a video […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Seems every Edward/Ed gets that nickname. Lopat, born in 1918, pitched 12 seasons, mostly for the juggernaut Yankees of the late 1940s-mid 1950s. He won 21 games in 1951 and led the American League in winning percentage and ERA in 1953. He was one of the subjects of Sol Gittleman’s 2007 book, Reynolds, Raschi and […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Billy Martin, the feisty ballplayer and feistier manager, was born this date in 1928. Martin was hired and fired so often by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, it became something of a pop culture phenomenon. I’m pretty sure the original of this Miller Lite commercial has Steinbrenner saying, “You’re fired.” Sounds (and looks) like a dub […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
And speaking of Jeter… From the Montreal Gazette of April 27: Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are teammates, but that’s not to assume they’re friends. The Captain, an unauthorized biography by sportswriter Ian O’Connor, chronicles the soap operatype relationship between the two New York Yankees superstars. In the new book, which is supposed to hit […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Unfortunately, one incident can define your life. Just ask Bill Buckner. Gil McDougald, who died Nov. 28 at the age of 82, was a solid player for the juggernaut Yankees teams of the 1950s, averaging 14 home runs, 76 RBIs, and .276/.356/.410 for 10 seasons. He was Rookie of the Year in 1951, a five-time […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The former Dodger and Reds pitcher and Giants, Braves, and Yankees manager (62 games in 1982), died today at the age of 86. He published his memoirs — A King’s Legacy: The Clyde King Story — in 1999. This, strangely, is one of my favorite cards of King, taken back in the day when Topps […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Find any link you can, because goodness knows, if it’s not “about them,” they ain’t interested. Fox TV Blackout Tests Old Giants Fans’ Ingenuity Anything Can Happen in a San Francisco Series A First in Either San Francisco or Texas On the other hand, there’s a neat feature on World Series gloves through the years. […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
The other “Chairman of the Board” turns 82 today, a day after the birthday of his Yankee friend and teammate, Mickey Mantle. In his last two seasons with the Yankees, Ford — inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974 — had a record of 4-9. Subtract that from his career totals and he would […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Since AMC’s new original series Rubicon has received such accolades, I feel a bit stupid for not liking it as much as I “should,” according to critics, but at least it has some baseball in it. Very briefly, it’s a spy show without — for me, at least — the “thriller” part. Will is the […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Peter Sagal, staunch Red Sox fan and host of NPR’s Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me, paid “tribute” to the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner on his July 17 program. Herewith, a transcript of the segment from the “Who’s Carl this time” portion of the program: Sagal: Your last quote is from a man who was […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Ran this on my other blog on Jews and Sports: Bob Sheppard, the voice of the New York Yankees for some 60 years, passed away yesterday at the age of 99. Sheppard, who was known in certain circles as “the voice of God” for his diction, timber, and dulcet tone was not Jewish, but thanks […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
James Traub has two piece in this weekend’s Times: A critique of The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macorís, by Mark Kurlansky in the book review section (which the critic deems a “charming and finely observed, if somewhat formless, baseball travelogue”), and a profile of Yankees’ reliever Mariano […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
From this week’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me: Carl Kasell: “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” Peter Sagal: That was Carl imitating a sound everybody, or at least World Cup soccer fans, know all too well. What is it? (Correct answer by the call-in contestant) Sagal: …Just last week on this show we had to explain to you all what […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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.
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
Thanks for the memories: Banned in the Bronx
September 25, 2010
The Yankee Hater Memoirs, 1953-2005, by Gene Hutmaker and (with some reluctance) Michael A. Hutmaker, VirtualBookWorm, 2006. Not every author has the luxury — or even necessity — of working with a large publishing company. More and more these days, writers are going solo, finding alternate ways of getting their work to the public. Gene […]
Tagged as: New York Yankees
{ Comments on this entry are closed }