Baseball book recommendations?

[Telly Savalas]

Since there aren't any Stanley Cup distractions for the first couple of months of the season this year, I'm thinking about following the national pasttime a bit closer this year. So to get more in the mood I'm looking to read a couple of books on the sport. In particular, I'm searching for titles that discuss the nuances of the game. I know it's heresy to admit it here, but I read George Will's Men at Work a few years back and enjoyed that, although I've heard from other sources that the book is pretty much bullshit. So I ask thee, DU b-ball gurus, what's worth checking out? Is the Will title worth a second gander? Any other books in a similar vein to that?

Cheers and Happy Spring.
:toast:

[Neecy]

1. well...

This really isn't the same genre you're looking for, but if you're looking for some inside scoop on baseball and how players are valued in the 'market', I'd highly recommend Moneyball (okay, so I'm an A's fan, and therefore biased).

It's a great read and highly entertaining.

[nickgutierrez]

14. Moneyball is great.

One of my favorites. I'm a nuts-and-bolts guy, myself, and Moneyball was a great insight into both the way a major league front office works and into this new way of thinking that shapes clubs like the A's, Red Sox, Dodgers, and to some degree the Blue Jays.

Saving the Pitcher, by Will Carroll, is a good one. In it, he goes through the proper pitching mechanics, using Mark Prior as his guide, and goes into the ideas behind training, usage, and ways of analyzing performance.

I'm also a big fan of the Baseball Prospectus annual guides, as they provide a different view of the game than the one presented on ESPN all the time.

[Steel City Slim]

2. Here's Some

"Ball Four" by Jim Bouton is my favorite.

"The Glory of Their Times" by Lawrence S. Ritter is excellent.

"Cobb" by Al Stump.

David Halberstam wrote two exceptional baseball books, "Summer of '49" and "October 1964."

"Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy" by Jane Leavy

And for something a little different, "The Catcher Was A Spy" by Nicholas Dawidoff. It's a biography of Moe Berg, who really was a spy.

[KitchenWitch]

3. I second "Ball Four"

It is kind of a diary of a RHP during the 1969 season. It was quite controversial in its day.

Moneyball is pretty good, once you get past the Billy Beane worship throughout the book.

[dflprincess]

6. "Cool of the Evening" by Jim Thielman

It might be more of a Twins fan book as it's about the 1965 Twins. I'm only up to page 50, but I'm hooked.

[KitchenWitch]

7. My next baseball book is "Eight Men Out"

about the Black Sox scandal from 1919. I have it in hand and am going to start reading it tomorrow.

[Steel City Slim]

8. '65 Twins

The '65 Twins had a hell of a team. Tony Olivo, Zoilo Versalles, Bobby Allison. I still can see Earl Battey running into that pipe during the World Series in my minds eye.

[kaitykaity]

4. Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball

by Leonard Koppett.

I kind of liked Men at Work. There's a picture of
LaRussa and Canseco in Men at Work talking about "the
man (LaRussa) and the man-child" that is spot right on.

[Steel City Slim]

13. Koppett

I'll have to check that book out. I remember when Koppett wrote in The Sporting News, his columns were always interesting.

[Spirochete]

5. There were two or three

written by the late former umpire Ron Luciano that were pretty amusing. Strike Two, and The Umpire Strikes Back were the titles of two of them, I think. Another one I haven't read, but heard touted a lot, was Balls, by Graig Nettles.

[Beer Snob-50]

9. roger angells book "boys of summer"

i think that was the name of it. a real classic. when i catch up with the rest of the books I have, i will have to revisit that one.

[Steel City Slim]

10. Boys Of Summer

Was written by Roger Kahn.

[Beer Snob-50]

11. mea culpa

[Parrcrow]

18. Roger Angell does write beautifully though

any of his books are worth a read.

also;

Damn Yankees I've forgotten the authors.
The Year I owned the Yankees by Sparky Lyle is hilarious.

David Halberstam has written two very good books about baseball as well.

[SeanQuinn]

12. 'Faithful' - Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan

It's a diary of last season coming from a Sox perspective. Very good heartwarming read, don't recommend it to any Yankee fans though, but still a good read.

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Any of the Fireside Books of Baseball

Four editions, published in 1956, '58, '68 and '87. All edited by the late, great Charles Einstein (San Francisco sportswriter and Willie Mays biographer). Each is a collection of F/NF, profiles, game reporting, cartoons, etc., with many photos. The third edition has the entire text of Casey Stengel's statement to the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly in 1958 — the ultimate in Stengelese.

I recently scored the first and third editions on eBay, giving me the complete series. :bounce:

Also: Bob Costas' "Fair Ball" and a marvelous fiction work, "If I Never Get Back" by Darryl Brock. (Guy passes out at an Amtrak station in the '80s, wakes up in 1868 and boards a train with the Cincinnati Red Stockings. But it's about a lot more than just the early days of baseball.)

[VOX]

24. The Fireside series is **outstanding**!!!!!!

I think in the first edition there's a lengthy profile of Satchel Paige, reprinted from Collier's, and it's a doozie.

Good reading -- :thumbsup:

[Yupster]

16. Nice Guys Finish Last

by Leo Durocher.

Man that must have been controversial when it came out. He took off the gloves.

[Dave Sund]

17. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

Great book. An overview of baseball history, lists of the Top 100 players at each position, and great stories about everyone.

[jandrok]

19. I'll second that.

Greatest baseball book EVER! Endless fun.

[Benno]

20. 3 Nights In August

By Buzz Bissinger. I thought this book was really good as it definitely gives a behind the scenes look at how baseball games are played out. The book is centered around the Cardinals mainly as Buzz is given all access to the Cardinals locker room. Its main setting is a 3 game series between the Cubs and Cardinals in August of 2003. I definitely recommend it to baseball fans, but I'm a Cardinals fan so that may make me a bit biased. :D

[enigmatic]

21. A little off-beat, but a great book...

One of my favorite baseball-related works of fiction:

http://www.brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/110/Universal%20Ba.htm

[cruadin]

22. If you want a book that looks "inside" the game on the field...

nothing I've seen compares to "Watching Baseball: Discovering the Game Within the Game" by Jerry Remy.

I admit, I'm biased---Jerry Remy is the color man for Red Sox baseball (NESN) and he's a former Red Sox player (2nd base, '78-'84), although he originally came up with the Angels.

IMHO he is the smartest analyst of baseball that I've ever heard discuss the game as it's being played. He can tell you what to look for to see if a hit-and-run, or a suicide squeeze play is on. He knows when the man at first is really going to steal second or just trying annoy the pitcher. He can tell you whether or not a batter has the green light on a 3 and 0 count.

He shows you a level of the game that most announcers seem oblivious to. He is not one of those washed-up gasbags with a suitcase full of pointless anecdotes:boring:from their playing days---(Tim McCarver, Joe Morgan...paging either Tim McCarver or Joe Morgan) that the national networks seem so enamored of.

It's broken up into different sections, each of which focus on different positions, and different aspects of the game. It's worth the $10 or so to pick up a used copy at Amazon.com.

[bertha katzenengel]

23. How about fiction that gives insight into the game's beginnings?

Read If I Never Get Back by Daryl Brock. You'll have to suspend reality and use your imagination in the beginning because it involves time travel. But it is worth it.

Spend a season traveling with the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings -- the first professional baseball club. All the real players are in there -- Brainard, Leonard, Waterman, Sweasy, Allison, and the Wrights -- fictionalized, of course.

It's very entertaining and very interesting. Brock did his homework.

[KitchenWitch]

25. I just received what looks to be an interesting book

"Swinging for the Fences"

It is published by the Minnesota Historical Society, and is about Black baseball in Minnesota (black players, etc.)