“Bookshelf Conversations” – Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf

Ron Kaplan•www.ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf.com

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Episodes

The Bookshelf Conversations #188: Ben Yagoda

A bit of a departure here. Ben Yagoda has not written a book about baseball (yet). Nor has he written a song or made a film about the game. But he is a super fan and has written reviews of others’ books about the game. Close enough for jazz. I wanted to speak with him […]

Feb 05, 2025•31 min

The Bookshelf Conversations #187: Bill Littlefield

There was something about Bill Littlefield’s voice when he read his poetry (or as he refers to it, doggerel) on NPR’s Only a Game that was so soothing, as opposed to those loud-mouthed shouters on various sports talk programs. I miss him. But to prove that the Bookshelf is timeless, I had him on recently […]

Jan 30, 2025•25 min

The Bookshelf Conversations #186: Tyler Kepner

I knew things would go well when I saw the collection of caps behind Tyler Kepner, senior writer for The Athletic and author of The Grandest Game: A History of the World Series and K: A History of of Baseball in Ten Pitches. Like Kepner — and most young baseball fans — I had dreams […]

Jan 20, 2025•31 min

The Bookshelf Conversation #184: Keith O’Brien

I’ve long believed that the death of a famous athlete leads to renewed interest in any books about him, a theory that holds when you look at the weekly Baseball Best-Sellers. Sure enough, the recent passing of Pete Rose provided an uptick in sales of books about the controversial superstar and since Keith O’Brien wrote […]

Oct 17, 2024•25 min

The Bookshelf Conversations #182: Jim Chapman

Just about 30 years ago, I bought Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon. Even if you’re not a connoisseur of the early 20th century game, I’m willing to be you’ve sen photos taken by Conlon. Many of the close-ups are haunting. To me, the players always seemed much older than the 20- […]

Aug 08, 2024•22 min

The Bookshelf Conversation #181: Noah Gittell

I don’t have a whole lot of hobbies, so when I see a book that combines any of them on my periodic “Coming down the pike” stories, I get extra pumped. Baseball: The Movie covers two of them. Now that I no longer have Turner Classic Movies, since they went to a subscription platform, I […]

Aug 01, 2024•30 min

The Bookshelf Conversation #180: Andy McCullough

As I keep mentioning, regular readers of The Bookshelf know of my disdain for superlatives and similar declarations, such as “Greatest,” “Worst,” “Complete,” in titles. But there are a few cases in which they seem totally appropriate. In the case of Andy McCoullough’s new (and first) book, Clayton Kershaw just might be The Last of […]

Jul 03, 2024•26 min

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