501baseballbooks
501 Baseball Books
For more media news and views on the national pastime, visit RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf.com
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National Pastime Radio: Wait, Wait... A Baseball Limerick
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know my affection for the NPR news quiz, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. And every now and then, they’ll throw me a bone my including some baseball content. Examples include an interview with Moose Skowron which led me down a rabbit hole when it comes to investigating the amazing memories athletes seem to have (hint: they made it up…or maybe they…
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Baseball Best-Sellers, February 2, 2024
Happy Groundhog Day! I never understood it: if the groundhog sees its shadow, doesn’t that mean that the weather is nice and that there should not be six more weeks of winter?
Meteorologists and sports pundits are the only professions where you can be wring half the time and still keep your job.
Moving on…
A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100…
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Award season, continued
It should come as no surprise that this year’s CASEY Award, presented by Spitball Magazine, goes to Joe Posnanski for his latest masterpiece, Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments. It almost seems unfair that such great work should come from the same writer in such quick succession.
From the press release from Spitball:
Joe Posnanski has won the 2023 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of…
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The Bookshelf Conversation #174: Jim Gilmore and Tracy Halcomb
The things one finds wandering down the rabbit hole.
I was doing some research and just happened to come across the new film, Fielding Dreams: A Celebration of Baseball Scouts. It’s a fascinating look at an under-reported part of the game.
The first thing I thought of was the scene in Moneyball in which Billy Beane confront a group of veteran scouts about introducing the new world of analytics…
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Baseball Best-Sellers, January 26, 2024
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 the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category…
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Say it ain't so, SI
What is this world coming to?
It was bad enough when Sports Illustrated laid off many of the staff that made the magazine “illustrated” to begin with.
I was bad enough when it went from a weekly to a bi-weekly to a monthly to just online.
But now?
“Sports Illustrated lays off most of its staff, threatening iconic brand’s future”
I guess the younger generation is so connected to their phones and…
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Baseball Best-Sellers, January 19, 2024
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 the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category…
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Baseball Best-Sellers, January 12, 2024
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 the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category…
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Lest we forget: Bud Harrelson
Sad news today. Bud Harrelson has passed away at the age of 79. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019.
Harrelson, of course, was a key player for the Mets since joining the team in 1965. A member of the Miracle Mets in 1969, he was perhaps better known for his fight with Pete Rose in the 1973 NCLS.
A three-time All Star and Gold Glove winner in 1971, Harrelson was the epitome of the…
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Bits and Pieces, January 9, 2024
♦ The Baseball Hall of Fame will hold a screening of Fielding Dreams: A Celebration of Baseball Scouts on Thursday, Jan. 18. “[T]his new documentary goes beyond moneyball [sic] and features dozens of interviews with some of the scouting legends of the game, including 5 scouts who helped build the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers. Narrated by former MLB pitcher Jerry Blevins.”
There will…
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You snooze, you lose
Time was baseball cards were worth something besides sentimental value. I nought my wife’s engagement wring with the money I received selling a set on 1967 Topps.
That ship has sailed.
As I mentioned recently, I recently rediscovered a foot locker full of various card sets, as well as a couple of smaller boxes in the basement. Thought it was time to see what I could get for them so I bought the…
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Whiz Kids? No, Quiz Kids
So that’s the first question: Which team was known as the “Whiz Kids?”
The New York Times had its annual “Baseball Trivia Extravaganza” to wrap up 2023. Unfortunately, since they no longer really have a sports department, having handed that over to The Athletic, you might not be able to access this 50-question test.
I used to be much better at these things, but they have become increasingly…
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Mind your manners
Because you can put your baseball cap on a shelf:
From the ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
BEWILDERED BY ATHLEISURE AND BASEBALL CAPS
DEAR MISS MANNERS: Returning to the United States after several years of living in Europe, I have noticed that “athleisure” wear is acceptable everywhere, and that wearing baseball hats in restaurants (done by people of all ages, races and genders) is now OK too.
What…
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"Reports of my death..."
Come on, you can’t blame FOX for reporting on the death of The Big Hurt, mistaking him for the other Frank Thomas.
What, you expect them to actually, like, fact check?
It’s so ridiculous that even this British news outlet reported on it:
“Fox News apologises after claiming baseball MLB Hall of Famer had died”
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Rabbit Hole? Try Attic Hole
Since it was fairly moderate yesterday I decided to tool around the attic in yet another attempt to purge. That’s where I have the bulk of my library as well as other baseball-related items, including a foot locker of baseball cards.
Problem with trying to clean up is that you get caught up in a lot of these items. The main reason for venturing into the upwards abyss was to find a tin box of…
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The Bookshelf Conversation #173: Ryan Lavarnway
Apologies, chaverim. If I had my act together, this would have been done before Channuka. Oh, well. You know what they say about the road to hell.
Similarly, if I was still working in the Jewish media, this would have been a pretty major story.
Ryan Lavarnway, a prototypical backup catcher, enjoyed a ten-year career in the Majors in which never appeared in more than 46 games in a season. But he…
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Lest We Forget: Michael Nussbaum
No, Michael Nussbaum never played professional baseball. Nor was he an executive or a coach on any level.
So what’s the connection?
Recognize this?
It’s a scene from Field of Dreams (1989) in which Ray Kinsella and his wife, Annie, attend a school meeting regarding book censorship (unfortunately still a topical issue today. Not to get political here, but the story takes place in Iowa, which is…
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