Baseball books

[tntoriole]

6 hours ago, Beef Supreme said:

Indeed, Babe Ruth was not only a revolutionary player, he was internationally FAMOUS to an extent that no other baseball player ever has attained.

I highly, highly recommend the recent new biography of the Babe....The Big Fella..Babe Ruth and the World he Created by Jane Leavy.    If you think you know the Babe and his full impact, think again!  

[Palmoripken]

2 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

I highly, highly recommend the recent new biography of the Babe....The Big Fella..Babe Ruth and the World he Created by Jane Leavy.    If you think you know the Babe and his full impact, think again!  

I read her Mantle biography. Very good read. There's a few Ruth biographies out there. I usually try to read at least two biographies on the subject matter when I read bios. 

[tntoriole]

2 minutes ago, Palmoripken said:

I read her Mantle biography. Very good read. There's a few Ruth biographies out there. I usually try to read at least two biographies on the subject matter when I read bios. 

I read the Robert Creamer bio Babe : The Legend Comes to Life published 25 years ago and it was the best before this one, imho. 

[Palmoripken]

Just now, tntoriole said:

I read the Robert Creamer bio Babe : The Legend Comes to Life published 25 years ago and it was the best before this one, imho. 

Yeah I imagine Creamer was able to talk to plenty of people who still had vivid memories of Babe. I really try to get one of those when reading a biography but later biographies like this Leavy one you mention are helpful as well especially if they're someone like a President or other leader who may have had info on them closed in archive. Right now, I'm on a WWI reading binge but I'm going to do a few baseball biographies this summer. I have a Babe, Aaron, and may want to add one or two others. I've already read ones on Williams, Mays, Clemente, Ripken, and I've read some general baseball books like Glory of Their Times too.

[tntoriole]

Just now, Palmoripken said:

Yeah I imagine Creamer was able to talk to plenty of people who still had vivid memories of Babe. I really try to get one of those when reading a biography but later biographies like this Leavy one you mention are helpful as well especially if they're someone like a President or other leader who may have had info on them closed in archive. Right now, I'm on a WWI reading binge but I'm going to do a few baseball biographies this summer. I have a Babe, Aaron, and may want to add one or two others. I've already read ones on Williams, Mays, Clemente, Ripken, and I've read some general baseball books like Glory of Their Times too.

The Ted Williams bio, The Kid, by Ben Bradlee, Jr. was amazing.   Richard Ben Cramer’s bio of Joe Dimaggio: The Hero’s Life was excellent too, 

 

[Palmoripken]

2 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

The Ted Williams bio, The Kid, by Ben Bradlee, Jr. was amazing.   Richard Ben Cramer’s bio of Joe Dimaggio: The Hero’s Life was excellent too, 

 

I read the Leigh Monville, Teddy one. I do need to check out the Creamer, Joe DiMaggio one too. I really think someone from the Baltimore baseball community should do one on Brooks or Frank. I don't really know a ton about them as guys beyond baseball and I would love to find out more.

[Beef Supreme]

1 minute ago, tntoriole said:

I highly, highly recommend the recent new biography of the Babe....The Big Fella..Babe Ruth and the World he Created by Jane Leavy.    If you think you know the Babe and his full impact, think again!  

I will read the book you have endorsed with pleasure. Thank you for the recommendation.

I have a suggestion for you. Written by St. Joe grad Paul F. Harris, Sr., the self-published, BABE RUTH THE DARK SIDE (Second Edition 1998) is a scandal sodden pamphlet fluffed out with photocopies of interesting images such as a photograph of Brother Matthias Boutelier, who, along with Brother Alban, ran the baseball program at St. Mary's Industrial School and assured Ruth (when he asked whether he would make a good tailor), "You'll make good, my boy, of that I am sure," to The Babe's Baptismal, Confirmation and First Holy Communion records, to a photo of George Herman whittling a tree to make his own bat! If memory serves, it also details the destruction of the house that Babe's ex-wife had live in before Babe (purportedly) burned it down. It's likely a rare find and many would dismiss immediately the typography and layout of middle-20th century docu-books. But it has received  Certificate of Donation by The National Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. It's not a must-read in any way but it is cool as shit is some other ways.

 

[Beef Supreme]

25 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

I highly, highly recommend the recent new biography of the Babe....The Big Fella..Babe Ruth and the World he Created by Jane Leavy.    If you think you know the Babe and his full impact, think again!  

I nearly wrote that Ruth was the greatest athletic celebrity in the history if the world, but I balked.

[NashLumber]

1 hour ago, Palmoripken said:

I read her Mantle biography. Very good read. There's a few Ruth biographies out there. I usually try to read at least two biographies on the subject matter when I read bios. 

I read her Sandy Koufax bio. I almost picked up her Babe bio (was considering requesting it on my Christmas list if I didn't pick it up), but opted for an account of the '66 Series "Black and Blue: The Golden Arm and the Robinson Boys". I keep reading good things. I'll get it. I have her Mantle bio on Kindle but haven't gotten to it yet. 

[Palmoripken]

1 hour ago, NashLumber said:

I read her Sandy Koufax bio. I almost picked up her Babe bio (was considering requesting it on my Christmas list if I didn't pick it up), but opted for an account of the '66 Series "Black and Blue: The Golden Arm and the Robinson Boys". I keep reading good things. I'll get it. I have her Mantle bio on Kindle but haven't gotten to it yet. 

I still need to read Black and Blue. I do like reading about World Series too. The Mantle one is good. She’s not afraid to point out her subjects’ shortcomings which Mick sadly did with alcohol. I definitely understood why so many loved the guy after the book. James Hirsch’s Willie Mays one is also great as was David Marannis’s Clemente. I find the players my Dad grew up watching the most interesting to read about. I would love a good Wagner one tho because according to family legend, my dads grandfather was a friend and I have some pretty decent evidence suggesting he was an amateur player himself.

[NashLumber]

14 hours ago, Palmoripken said:

I still need to read Black and Blue. I do like reading about World Series too. The Mantle one is good. She’s not afraid to point out her subjects’ shortcomings which Mick sadly did with alcohol. I definitely understood why so many loved the guy after the book. James Hirsch’s Willie Mays one is also great as was David Marannis’s Clemente. I find the players my Dad grew up watching the most interesting to read about. I would love a good Wagner one tho because according to family legend, my dads grandfather was a friend and I have some pretty decent evidence suggesting he was an amateur player himself.

The Clemente book was good, though it's been a good while since I read it, so it's not fresh on my mind. A friend gave me the Hirsh Willie Mays bio and it's next to my bed as is the Bradlee Ted Williams bio. I think that'll be my 3rd or 4th Ted related book or bio (one of them may be termed a tribute book more than a bio). I have a few other books to plow through to get to them. I have two bios and a history book I'm reading now and it seems I'll never finish them. I read mostly at bed time and well, sleep overtakes me ...

[Il BuonO]

2 minutes ago, NashLumber said:

The Clemente book was good, though it's been a good while since I read it, so it's not fresh on my mind. A friend gave me the Hirsh Willie Mays bio and it's next to my bed as is the Bradlee Ted Williams bio. I think that'll be my 3rd or 4th Ted related book or bio (one of them may be termed a tribute book more than a bio). I have a few other books to plow though to get to them. I have two bios and a history book I'm reading now and it seems I'll never finish them. I read mostly at bed time and well, sleep overtakes me ...

Bradlee’s The Kid is a phenomenal read.

[Palmoripken]

4 minutes ago, NashLumber said:

The Clemente book was good, though it's been a good while since I read it, so it's not fresh on my mind. A friend gave me the Hirsh Willie Mays bio and it's next to my bed as is the Bradlee Ted Williams bio. I think that'll be my 3rd or 4th Ted related book or bio (one of them may be termed a tribute book more than a bio). I have a few other books to plow though to get to them. I have two bios and a history book I'm reading now and it seems I'll never finish them. I read mostly at bed time and well, sleep overtakes me ...

My father met Dad when the Senators had a 30th year reunion for their 1969 team at the Marriott my Dad was working at the time. He said Tad was about you expect. A little bit salty but still Ted Williams. John Henry was with him and there was a very explicit no autographs policy. I find Ted fascinating not just as a player but a man. 

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, tntoriole said:

I highly, highly recommend the recent new biography of the Babe....The Big Fella..Babe Ruth and the World he Created by Jane Leavy.    If you think you know the Babe and his full impact, think again!  

I'm sure it's a good book, but how do we know that Ms. Leavy captured the full impact of Babe Ruth any better than any of the other dozens or hundreds of books about him?  Some of them were by people who were old enough to see and know and experience the Babe.  She was born three years after he died.  I'm a huge fan of the 1890s Orioles, read a lot, but I won't begin to pretend I know half as much about them as the people who were there.

[tntoriole]

13 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'm sure it's a good book, but how do we know that Ms. Leavy captured the full impact of Babe Ruth any better than any of the other dozens or hundreds of books about him?  Some of them were by people who were old enough to see and know and experience the Babe.  She was born three years after he died.  I'm a huge fan of the 1890s Orioles, read a lot, but I won't begin to pretend I know half as much about them as the people who were there.

She has an exhaustive section about her research and the over 250 sources, previously unfound family records and information, and her use of digital online genealogical information.  She really focused on his childhood which has had much less description in other accounts. 

Also where can you read a bio of the Babe that gives a prologue which includes Chris Davis trying to use Ruth’s bat and Cal Ripken interviewed?