(Note to readers: Jewish Baseball News invited author and JBN contributor Ron Kaplan to write about his new book on Hank Greenberg and how it came together.) By Ron Kaplan, contributor When I first began work on my new book, Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War, it was…
[Editor’s note: Havana Curveball is not yet available for individual purchase or rental. To screen the film at a school, library, synagogue, or local theater, contact Leah Lamb at leah@patchworksfilms.net.] By Stuart M. Katz, correspondent Havana Curveball, a new documentary by filmmakers Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, tells the tale of a bar mitzvah boy’s innocent and initially…
[Editor’s note: Jewish Baseball News correspondent Stuart M. Katz recently visited Chasing Dreams, a baseball-themed exhibition currently at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. He offered to share his thoughts.] By Stuart M. Katz, correspondent Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American, a wonderful exhibition highlighting the deep and historic connection between American Jews…
Author: Larry Ruttman (author’s website) Other contributors: Foreword by Bud Selig; Introduction by Marty Abramowitz Published: 2013 (publisher’s website) Pages: 544 (including 75 photographs) Price: $25.67 at Amazon (discounted from $34.95) Our rating: 4 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview In American Jews and America’s Game, author Larry Ruttman shares the stories…
Author: Joshua L. Berkowitz (Website; Facebook) Published: 2012 Pages: 288 Price: $12.07 at Amazon Our rating: 5 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview In Third Base For Life, author Josh Berkowitz recounts the extraordinary but true journey taken by a rag-tag team of third-graders from a sandlot behind a Jewish day…
Authors: Peter Ephross, Martin Abramowitz Published: 2012 Pages: 227 Price: $35 (Amazon.com or McFarland Publishing/800-253-2187) Our rating: 4 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview In Jewish Major Leaguers in Their Own Words, authors Peter Ephross and Martin Abramowitz present oral histories of 23 of the Jewish players who were on Major…
Author: Chad Harbach (Blog; Twitter; Facebook) Published: 2011 Pages: 528 Price: $15.30 at Amazon.com Our rating: 5 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview Widely touted as a “must read” of 2011, The Art of Fielding is about baseball players and the people who love them. Set at the fictitious Midwestern,…
Author: Aaron Pribble (Twitter; Facebook) Published: 2011 (website) Pages: 280 Price: $16.47 ($24.95) at Amazon.com Our rating: 4 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview The Israel Baseball League (“IBL”) played its inaugural season in the summer of 2007. During an eight-week, 45 game season, six teams –…
Author: Richard Michelson (website) Illustrator: Zachary Pullen Published: 2011 Pages: 32 Price: $11.86 at Amazon.com (List price: $16.95) Our rating: 5 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Zachary O. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview Most people think that Babe Ruth was the first home run king. But he wasn’t. Instead, it was Lipman Pike,…
Author: Robert Weintraub (web page) Published: 2011 Pages: 421 Price: $17.81 for hardcover (Amazon.com) Our rating: 4 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Stuart M. Katz for Jewish Baseball News Overview It’s May of 2011, and the New York Yankees lead the major leagues in home runs, having twice hit five in a single game….
Author: Jonah Keri (web page; agent) Published: 2011 Pages: 272 Price: $15.85 for hardcover (Amazon.com) Our rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5) Reviewed by Jewish Baseball News Overview In the spirit of Michael Lewis’ 2004 classic Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Jonah Keri asks the question: How can a low-budget team compete…
JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Baseball, as we all know, is a stats-obsessed sport. Some fans are more interested in a player’s career HR total or on-base percentage than in his personal journey to the Majors. That’s one of the nice things about Matzoh Balls and Baseballs, a book recently published by longtime Georgia State University…
