Do biographies or historical books enhance your card collecting enjoyment?

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

I recently finished reading "Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend" by James Hirsch. And while I wasn't surprised that I liked the book, I WAS surprised how it made me enjoy thumbing through my 1952 Bowman collection even more. It seemed like flipping through my card album, many of the cards I own had a new meaning to me. Obviously my Mays card takes a new meaning as I learned about some of the hardships he had to overcome, but learning more about Monte Irvin, Leo Durocher, Al Dark, Don Newcombe, etc., etc. It's almost like my baseball card album was an illustrated companion to the biography. Pretty cool.

Obviously, Willie's bio is a post-war book, but my guess is that when I read "The First World Series and the Fanatics of 1903" by Roger Abrams, I would have found an ever deeper enjoyment of the book (and my cards) if I could review a bunch of pre-war cards of players in that game (Wagner, Cy Young, Patsy Dougherty, Bill DeNeen, etc.). I don't really have many pre-war cards (and certainly no Wagners or Youngs)...but should I ever decide to wade deeper into that side of the hobby, I'll be sure to grab some biographies to go with it.

Next on my list is likely a bio of Mantle or Clemente.

Has anyone else experienced the enhanced enjoyment of our hobby due to good biography?