Baseball Books

[backwardsk]

Just finished The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry & the Boys of Crenshaw by Michael Sokolove.
This was a fantastic book about what may have been the greatest high school baseball team ever.

Was Chris Brown (Padres organization) on that team?

[cmcgarvey]

Was Chris Brown (Padres organization) on that team?

Yeah, he was.

[cmcgarvey]

Got and finished Dirk Hayhurst's The Bullpen Gospels today.
It's really an engrossing book and it's extremely funny.

[PrivateO]

Just finished the prologue to The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri, the book about the Rays' rise to success. I never knew how poor of an owner they used to have.

Can't wait to finish this. Reminds me a lot of Moneyball.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur just did a podcast where they held a 5 round Baseball Book Fantasy Draft. Here were their picks:












Schur
1 Moneyball
2 The Summer of '49
3 The Universal Baseball Association
4 The Natural
5 Ring Around the Bases

Poz
1 The New Historical Baseball Abstract
2 The Boys of Summer
3 The Great American Novel
4 A False Spring
5 Ball Four

After the draft, they declared Posnanski the winner.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur just did a podcast where they held a 5 round Baseball Book Fantasy Draft.

Dude! Spoilers!

Here were their picks:

Schur
1 Moneyball
2 The Summer of '49
3 The Universal Baseball Association
4 The Natural
5 Ring Around the Bases

Poz
1 The New Historical Baseball Abstract
2 The Boys of Summer
3 The Great American Novel
4 A False Spring
5 Ball Four

After the draft, they declared Posnanski the winner.

Of the ones I've read:

Universal Baseball Association: Need to read again, but I thought it was very good the first time.

The Natural: Same, but I liked that the endings in the book and movie are different.

The Great American Novel: I've tried twice, but can't get through it.

Ball Four and Moneyball: Two of the best books I've ever read. Not baseball books, but books.

[mweb]

The Abstract is amazing and something all baseball fans should read if they're at least somewhat interested in the history of the game.

[BaltimoreTerp]

The Abstract is amazing and something all baseball fans should read if they're at least somewhat interested in the history of the game.

Forgot about the Abstract. Definitely up there with Moneyball and Ball Four.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I'm reading Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn. Basically follows the early history of the game from the various theorized beginnings through the beginning of the twentieth century. Much of it involves an extremely in-depth explanation, through various parts of the book, of the foundations and spread of the Abner Doubleday story (spoiler: it involves patriotism, capitalism and a particular religious sect (seriously)).

Highly recommended.

[Frobby]

Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur just did a podcast where they held a 5 round Baseball Book Fantasy Draft. Here were their picks:

Schur
1 Moneyball
2 The Summer of '49
3 The Universal Baseball Association
4 The Natural
5 Ring Around the Bases

Poz
1 The New Historical Baseball Abstract
2 The Boys of Summer
3 The Great American Novel
4 A False Spring
5 Ball Four

After the draft, they declared Posnanski the winner.

I've read 7 of the 10, except The Universal Baseball Association, Ring Around the Bases, and A False Spring. All 7 I read were excellent. Some others I'd highly recommend:

October 1964 (David Halberstam)
How Life Imitates the World Series (Tom Boswell)
The Hiddden Game of Baseball (John Thorn, Pete Palmer) - outdated, but a tremendous introduction to sabermetrics circa 1984.
The Science of Hitting (Ted Williams)

[cindyluvsbrady]

I have so many they are falling on my head
I love them
I have read tons but not all.......yet

[RedDevil00]

Wow, looks like I have a lot of reading left to do.

Well almost all the baseball books I've read have long since been listed in this thread...a former teacher of mine bought me Bottom of the 33rd, so that's next on my reading list. I also have Glory in the Fall: The Greatest Moments in World Series History, which I only read part of, and The Baseball Codes, which is one of those books about the "unwritten rules" of baseball.

[bobmc]

Started a good one recently but a subject I didn't think I'd enjoy*. It's "The House That Ruth Built", by Robert Weintraub.

* Why you axe? I was born in Brooklyn at the time when the Yanks were moving along winning championships, dominating the airwaves and creating waves of fans nationwide. I was a Giant fan like my father and his friends. We had our moments ('51 and '54, thank you very much) but we were always second fiddle to the "Dang Yankees". I grew up hating them and still do with a passion. However, this book begins when the mighty Giants and John McGraw, who were dominating the NY and "world" baseballl scene playing little ball, butted heads with Ruth, Col. Ruppert and the Yanks.

The book contains interesting trivia/facts on the building of the Stadium researched tenaciously by Weintraub. However, it also goes behind the scenes with conversations apparently recorded by film or word of mouth with Ruth, Wee Willie Keeler, McGraw, etc. One such convo had Ruth going into the Giants locker room after Game 2 of the '22 World Series and having a problem with the bench jockeying. Ruth was called the "N" word since he was (untruly) reputed to be of Afro-Am heritage. Anyway, Ruth was getting into it with the Giants in the lockerroom and said that he didn't mind being called a CS or MF but the N word was off limits. Pretty funny anecdote and only one of many.

The book also explains how McGraw played for the NL Baltimore Orioles and how the term Baltimore Chop started with McGraw's penchant for hitting high choppers off the hard field and the doctoring of the field to accommodate them. It draws a comparison between Ruth and McGraw with their Baltimore roots.

I recommend it! I mean you Frobby!