'Musts' for any vintage collectors library

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Posted By: barry arnold

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts regarding books,etc. in your
libraries which have been critical to your research and pleasure in the area of pre-war vintage baseball card collecting.
I will list what I have here at home with me as a start.

The Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards vols. 1,2,3 by Lipset

The American Card Catalog edited by Burdick

Classic Baseball Cards The Golden Years 1886-1956 text by Slocum(as a side note,this Heavy folio volume contains the most fabulous pictures of the cards from this 'era' that I have had the pleasure of viewing, in a book format)

The Baseball Chronicle Year by Year History of Major League Baseball, Nemec et al

T206 The Monster by Heitman

Scot Reader's ebook on T206

Baseball and Tobacco by Canfield

2008 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, vintage edition

Cobb by Al Stump

The Glory of Their Times by Ritter

The Black Prince of Baseball by Dewey and Acocella

The Big Bam by Montville

Ty Cobb by Alexander

Old Cardboard, various issues

Sports Scoop, various issues

all the best,
Barry

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Posted By: DMcD

In addition to many of the resources on Barry's list I would add the following:

Deadball Stars of the National League and Deadball Stars of the American League (SABR)
A great source of mini-biographies of many of our cardboard heroes.

They Played the Game: The Story of Baseball Greats by Harry Grayson
An engaging collection of bios written in an anecdotal style.

Baseballs Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon by Neal & Constance McCabe
The title says it all.

The Game That Was: The George Brace Baseball Photo Collection by Cahan and Jacob
Brace came along about 25 years after Conlon; the two books complement each other.

VCBC (RIP)
Before there was Old Cardboard .

Mastro, REA, Goodwin, Huggins & Scott etc catalogs
Only problem is that it's hard to remember just where you saw that particular card you wanted to look at when you have two or three cubic yards of catalogs to wade through. Maybe one of the entrepreneurs out there will construct an index; I will buy a copy.

The Unforgettable Season by G.H. Fleming
A day-by-day accounting of the 1908 National League season piecing together newspaper articles of the day. A great read.

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Posted By: ErikV

Several good resources have already been mentioned.
I'd also include the Barry Halper Auction catalogs.

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Posted By: mike

Lew Lipset's The Old Judge complements The Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards. I haven't looked at an issue in a while - I recall just information updating & extending TEBBC and Lew's editorials but no ads. The newsletter bridges the pre-SCD TTS and VCBC. The first 24 issues or so are collected in a large paper cover book titled The Old Judge and which is rarely offered for sale.

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Posted By: dennis

bill james "historical abstract"
chas. alexander "breaking the slump" baseball in the 1930s
don honig "baseball when the grass was real" glory of 30's players
robert creamer "baseball in '41"
fredrick turner "when the boys came home" post ww2
bill gilbert "they also served" baseball 1941-1945

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Posted By: Bruce Dorskind

Memorabilia from the National Pastime (Hardcover)
by Douglas Congdon-Martin (Author), John Kashmanian (Author)

From its earliest days in the mid-1800s, baseball has had a warm place in the heart of American men and women. So it was natural for them to keep mementos of the game. Programs, team pictures, pennants, uniforms, and baseballs were commonly a part of the fan's collection. Seeing the public's fascination with the sport, companies began t use the baseball theme in their advertising. Trade cards, endorsements, and novelty items included the images of America's heroes beside the prominent name of the product being sold. Some of the finest baseball treasures are illustrated here in full color, reflecting the artistry of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. There are images of the heroes of the game, legendary names like Kelly, Ward, Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Robinson, and Mays. Here is a large selection of ephemera, uniforms, autographs, advertising, souvenirs, equipment, and much more to interest today's collector. Antiques from the Negro Leagues are also included, with a number of rare team photos. For the baseball lover or the collector of sports memorabilia, this will be a delightful, indispensable book.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

i have many of the titles mentioned above, truly amazing publications.

i'll offer this: "Smithsonian Baseball", Stephen Wong.

p.s. David- "Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon", is my absolute FAVORITE book!

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Some good books up there, guys!

ADD:

The Ballplayers, Shatzkin and Charlton.
The Minor League Register, Lloyd Johnson.
The Pacific Coast League A Statistical History, Dennis Snelling.


I've not read The Big Bam, so I'll trust Barry on that one.

The SABR Deadball books are a great addition, David.

Dennis, your additions are good ones, James' Historical Abstract, the original one, is essential; and Honig's 'Grass was Real' is one fine book.

Creamer's book about 1941 is a really good book, as is Halberstam's October 1964, it is about so much more than that World Series.

The big ones are The Standard Catalog, Mr. Lipset's fine books, Mr. Burdick's Catalog, and Scot Reader's work.


If you can add a couple of fiction books, #1 The Celebrant, #2 If I Never Get Back.

Frank.

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Posted By: Alan

Barry Sloate's article from the old VCBC entitled "Rare and Historical Baseball Books".

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

I woudln't include the Stump book on this type of list as Barry A. has suggested. There are many other works of baseball fiction that are far more deserving of a place of honor in one's library. I say this not to belittle Barry's selection, but rather to belittle Al Stump! I loathe Stump on a personal level, as any good baseball historian and autograph/memorabilia collector rightly should.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I agree with Jodi. Al Stump made most of it up.

If you want good biographical information on Ty Cobb I'd suggest two books by Richard Bak "Peach: Ty Cobb in His Time and Ours" and "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life And Times".

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Posted By: David Atkatz

"Murderers' Row," by G.H. Fleming. The 1927 Yankees as seen through contemporary newspaper reports.

"The Year They Called Off the World Series," by Benton Stark. The 1904 season.

"Babe," by Robert Creamer.

"Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame," by John Thorn.

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Post-War:

- *Baseball's Finest* and *We Played the Game*, both edited/written by Danny Peary
- The Boys of Summer
- *The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubblegum Book* . Nothing serious with this book, but we all need a good laugh once in a while, so why not combine our hobby with our humor?!

Pre-War:

-Agree with the person who selected the most famous works of Ritter and Honig. As a companion item, a must-have is the audio version of TGOTT; you can't beat it! Bill James' books are also wonderful.

-Fiction: Hoopla by Harry Stein. I believe this gem to be long out of print since its original publication in 1983. A great book that either nobody ever read or nobody ever mentions.

Let's not forget MacMillan's Encyclopedia or Total Baseball. Also, *The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball* , can be helpful in different ways, although earlier editions were rife with typographical errors.


I am interested to hear Max's selections in this regard. He will likely have some great recommendations for us.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I agree with JODI B and DAN B....Stump's book on Cobb "Borders" (excuse the adv. pun) on "Fiction".

This very recent book on this great rivalry is a fascinating read. Tom Stanton has written a fair and balanced story on Cobb.
He is tough on Cobb in the early chapters and reveals a likeable Cobb in the latter chapters.

Furthermore, in the Appendix, Stanton documents the game by game performance of Cobb and Ruth for the 200+ games that
they played together in.





TED Z

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Posted By: Rhys

I agree 100% with Jodi on the Stump book. I would list that book as #1 on the list of books you should NOT have in your Baseball Library

Fred Lange's 1936 book on the History of the PCL is a valuable resource as are the Harold Seymour books. I find my self using the book "Diamonds" on the history of old ballparks all the time as well as Mark Okkonen's book about early uniforms.

Rhys

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Posted By: Wesley

The Top 200 Sportscards in the Hobby by Joe Orlando

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

I think we had a similar thread perhaps six months ago. In that one, I mentioned the Baseball Memories series of books (1900-09, 1930-39 and 1950-59). These are wonderful pictorials which depict nearly every player who was in major league baseball in each of those deacdes. Just wonderful.

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Posted By: Alan U

Not sure if this one was mentioned yet

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Posted By: barry arnold

thanks everyone; this has been incredibly helpful and makes it much easier to
present my Christmas list to my wife, which was an undercurrent motivation for this thread!!
Jodi, I don't remember the thread from 6 months or so; i'd like to compare it to what we've listed here, if you have it handy.
I continue to be impressed with the scholarship on this fine board. The Stump comments make me even further impressed with the critical/analytical insight.

I think we may have forgotten to add our own David Rudd's helpful work to our list.

any others?

best,
barry

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Rhys,

I have Mr. Lange's book. I once saw a hard bound one that was signed by the author. Mine is the paperback version, still kinda tough to find...

It is William Alexander Lange, not Fred. Bill Lange was also knowon as "Little Eva".

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Posted By: Vincent

with the books based on Charles Conlon and George Brace ballplayer photographs.


As a Tigers fan, I strongly recommend William M. Anderson's lavishly illustrated book, The Detroit Tigers: A Pictorial Celebration.


Other books with exceptional ballplayer (and related) photographs include these Mark Stang authored (co-authored) titles:

Athletics Album: A Photo History of the Philadelphia Athletics
Cardinals Collection: 100 Years of St. Louis Cardinal Images
Cubs Collection: 100 Years of Chicago Cubs Images
Indians Illustrated: 100 Years of Cleveland Indians Photos
Nationals on Parade: 70 Years of Washington Nationals Photos
Phillies Photos: 100 Years of Philadelphia Phillies Images
Reds in Black & White: 100 Years of Cincinnati Reds Images


Many of Donald Honig's authored books are well illustrated, although many of the images are a tad bit grainy.
But the books make for wonderful reading, as well as viewing.

Best of luck to you.

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Posted By: Michael Steele

Great Thread. A lot of books for me to catch up on. A favorite and a nice chronicle of the first modern World Series of 1903 between Boston and Pittsburg:

When Boston Won the World Series --Bob Ryan

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Posted By: barry arnold

I absolutely love these suggestions!!!
I'm particularly eager to acquire the photo volumes suggested.
Do any compare to the Slocum volume which I listed?
I continue to be amazed when I look at the cards in this volume, particularly my beloved T206s. They look as beautiful as the cards I am holding in my hand!
Same goes for the other cards pictured from 1886-1956.


any more?!

best,

barry

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

"Bill Lange was also knowon as "Little Eva"."

Wasn't he Carole King and Gerry Goffin's babysitter?

Jodi

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Posted By: Aaron Patton

Jodi and Dan,

There is really only one Cobb bio.

Dr. Charles Alexander's work is considered not only THE authoritative narrative of Cobb's life, but...(in SABR circles) one of the 2-3 best baseball bios ever published.

Its an indispensable volume for any Cobb historian/collector.

Respectfully,

(A former student of Dr. Alexander's)


To add to the list:

Rube Waddell, Alan Levy
Ol' Pete, Jack Kavanaugh
Ban Johnson, Dr. Eugene Murdock (Greenwood Press)
Spoke, Dr. Charles Alexander
John McGraw, Dr. Charles Alexander
Rogers Hornsby, Dr. Charles Alexander
Cy Young, Reed Browning
All Of Donald Honigs works (as was mentioned before)
Past Time, Jules Tygiel
The Pitch That Killed, Mike Sowell

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Posted By: Bob Donaldson

One group of book I've not seen mentioned is "The Fireside Book of Baseball" edited by Charles Einstein. This came out in 1956, a second came out in 1958, third in 1968 and a fourth (which I seem to recall included items from the first three) came out in 1987.

These books are anthologies with newspaper accounts of games, first person accounts including those by players, fiction and other BB writing. Some wonderful writing. I've not read them in 10+ years but can still remember an account of a boy who's hero was Swede Risburg at the time of the 1919 W/S and the newspaper account of Walter Johnson pitching the final few innings of the 1924 WS for his only WS championship.

I'd highly recommend any of these volumes if you come across them at a used book store.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Aaron, while I never had a class under Dr. Alexander, I agree with your assessment of his books. Great books for anyone wanting to learn or understand.

And Mike Sowell has 2 really good baseball books. You mention The Pitch that Killed. The other is July 2, 1903. It is about Ed Delehanty, and about the development of the American League as a league on equal footing with the National League, and how the two leagues initially didn't honor the other's contracts. This resulted in Lajoie leaving the NL, and playing in the AL, first with Connie Mack's A's, then with Cleveland. Lajoie and Elmer Flick would avoid traveling in Pennsylvania for a time because there was a state injunction against them for jumping contracts, so the two would not travel to Philadelphia for games, but travel ahead and wait for their Cleveland team-mates at the next city. A really good book, that is about so much more than Delehanty and Niagra Falls.

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Posted By: John H.

Some of my favorites have already been mentioned but two notable exceptions (unless I missed them) are:

Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train by Henry W. Thomas, Johnson's grandson

The Summer of '49 by David Halberstam

and a couple that I haven't read:

Chief Bender's Burden by Tom Swift

The Pitch That Killed by Mike Sowell

There is literally thousands of great baseball books out there and the internet is a great tool to help find them.

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Posted By: Mike

Can't believe no one has mentioned
The Ultimate Baseball Book Daniel Okrent editor

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Frank, the PCL book was written by Fred Lange, a early California League player (he was teammates & life-long best friends with George Van Haltren). He is no relation to "Little Eva" Bill Lange. Fred never played in the Major Leagues but was prety famous within baseball circles in California. The book is a good resource for images and some interesing stories, but it would have been nice to have an index in the back as it reads like an old mans ramblings (which is half the fun of reading the book, but awfully unorganized.)
-Rhett

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Posted By: Mark L

I know that they're considered unsophisticated by modern standards, but I still like to browse through the old Fred Leib books on the various teams. I notice that no one has mentioned Eight Men Out, a book that helped get me interested in old time baseball in the first place.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Jodi,

<<Wasn't he Carole King and Gerry Goffin's babysitter?>>

I swear. Half the stuff you write slides right by everybody. This is the kind of stuff you picked up from watching "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" as a kid? (Also a big hit for Grand Funk Railroad and Kylie Minogue.)

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Posted By: Paul Carek

I really loved "Crazy '08" by Cait Murphy. Great detailed account of the 1908 season, with particular emphasis on the National League race and Merkle Incident.

www.crazy08.com

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Posted By: barry arnold

Aaron P.,
congratulations on being a student of the seminal historian, Charles Alexander.
Did you have the opportunity to work with him on any of the volumes on
Cobb, McGraw,Hornsby,etc. at Ohio University?

Great suggestions, everyone.
I must say the level of vintage scholarship offered by this board has much of which to be proud.

all the best,
barry

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Posted By: Aaron Patton

Barry,

I was not fortunate enough to aid in any of Dr. Alexander's projects.

However, my senior year, I was able to take a 1-on-1 seminar course in which Dr. Alexander and I spent a few hours each week shooting the breeze, if you will. He was in the midst of penning "Spoke", so conversation often turned to his research on Speaker. SMU Press had approached Dr. Alexander with the project (I believe), and I'd imagine it could not have worked out any better; as a native Texan I think Professor had always felt a kinship with Tris.

About the time Professor was knee-deep in research (and he is a meticulous researcher), Timothy Gay's work was released. We routinely laughed about that.

While the course was designed to read/review texts, we rarely did. I would often try to hook him into telling stories (not always baseball related); I was frequently successful.

I took both halves of his baseball lectures as an underclassmen, however, the 10-weeks in his office were, unquestionably, the highlight of my collegiate career. As an older student (at the time 25ish), I was well aware of Dr. Alexander's enormous contribution to the genre (which, with my nerves, was often personally disadvantagous), so, I knew how extremely fortunate I was going in.

I last spoke with him on his last "official" day of class a couple years ago. I took the day off of work, and drove down to Athens. He gave me a few names he was mulling over for his next work. Hopefully, he is still in the process of putting something together.

Sorry if that was a bit long-winded, Barry. I could probably go on-and-on about the experience (I know...years later, my fiancee still rolls her eyes at the same stories I repeat over-and-over).

For me, I guess....I put it in this context:

How often does life provide the opportunity to study with an individual who was a transcendent force in the field you wish to undertake?

I consider myself very lucky.

Happy Halloween..

Best,

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Posted By: dan mckee

You guys and Gals are going to have a field day on me with this one. I like Alan Hager's book. Well made hardcover with some great pictures in it. Dan

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Posted By: Pennsylvania Ted

I recommend Alan Rosen's....."TRUE MINT", Krause Publications, 1994.

It is a well-written book detailing all his major "FINDS". I found it very
informative.

T-Rex TED

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Posted By: barry arnold

Aaron,

What a powerfully moving story!
many thanks for sharing.
It is such a rare privilege to be able to learn from the finest.
Congratulations on being chosen by Prof. Alexander to carry
the vintage torch in the way that you will envision and then craft.
Professors can be so subtle,yet decisive, in choosing those who are
intellectually eager and passionate about these key areas of interest.

I'll be eager to hear of your book, in due time.

all the best,
barry

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Posted By: Aaron Patton

Barry,

Thank you for the kind words.

I'm happy to share!

Best,