Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.
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A reminder: The Amazona 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 […]
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Games are shorter by a good chunk, thanks to the speed-up rules now in place. MLB thinks that’s a good thing, but who are they trying to convince? “Real” baseball fans, IMO, don’t care about the length of the games. The longer the better (unless the weather is crappy). That’s what separates baseball from other […]
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I wonder if Curt Smith plans on issuing an updated version of his 2009 bio, Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story. Seems like it’s not only warranted, but given that Scully called it quits after the Dodgers’ final game of 2016 practically a necessity. Now Smith could include more tributes to the iconic […]
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There’s a cute little three-part video on Youtube titled “When Giants Fan Met Dodgers Fan.’” The premise is a blind date that starts off great, until the two participants realize they each hate the other’s favorite team. They spend the whole time arguing about the merits of their respective teams But here’s the pertinent clip […]
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Speaking of the Dodgers, the legend (wait for it) ary broadcaster was himself the subject of this interview on All Things Considered. Scully began working for the Dodgers in 1950, but he wasn’t calling that historic 1951 playoff game with the NY Giants where Pafko was left hanging. From “Vin Scully Remembers His Greatest Calls,” […]
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Baseball Reflections posted this review of High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania: A Fan’s History of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Glory Years (1977-1981), by Paul Haddad. Just in time for Opening Day in Japan (which just passed. Sorry for the late post): baseball terms in Japanese! Another late post: GQ ran this profile on broadcasting […]
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You just need a big bookshelf. The Los Angeles Dodgers are celebrating their 50th anniversary in their eponymous stadium so to mark the occasion they’ll be giving out bobblehead dolls throughout the season. According to Tom Hoffarth on his blog, the schedule falls out thus: Don Drysdale and Maury Wills: Saturday, April 28 vs. […]
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A day late, but with all due respect to Scully, who turned 84 yesterday. Curt Smith, the go-to writer on the history of baseball broadcasting, published Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story in 2009.
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Slate’s very excellent sports podcast featured mostly baseball this week, including: Who’s more hated: Brett Favre or Roger Clemens Payroll vs. Performance for MLB Vin Scully, who will be back in 2011, his 62nd year behind the mike. Enjoy: Hang Up and Listen
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The American Spectator published this review of Curt Smith’s new book, emblematic of an increasing sentiment. Upshot: Unfortunately, Smith gives us a wealth of good information in a pedestrian writing style, clipped and choppy and occasionally incoherent. He sometimes changes subject in the middle of a paragraph. There are quotes where it’s hard to tell […]
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The Ventura County Star posted this review on Curt Smith’s new Vin Scully biography. Upshot: Some people say “God is in the details.” Others say “the devil is in the details.” With Smith’s writing both are present. Those of us who look forward to poring over every facet of Scully’s life won’t be disappointed; Smith […]
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As reviewed in The Los Angeles Times. Upshot: …[T]hose seeking deeper insights into the redheaded announcer will be disappointed. Scully, now 81, is a humble man and has long said he does not want a biography written about him. He did not cooperate with Smith, and the result is an engaging yet uneven book. The […]
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Keith Olberman writes the “Baseball Nerd” under the MLB.blogs banner. In this entry, he takes Curt Smith to task for an error in Pull Up a Chair, his new biography of legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Olberman, who makes his living being contrary, used to be a baseball book reviewer in a former life. “[O]ne […]
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Curt Smith, who has a professed fondness for the boys in the baseball booth, has published another in-depth biography about an broadcasting icon. In Pull Up A Chair: The Vin Scully Story (Potomac), Smith — who has covered other industry stars as Mel Allen and Dizzy Dean— combines his admiration for the man was had […]
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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 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
* 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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