I've read a lot of the books mentioned and don't really have anything new to add. Any time I buy a "big" card for my collection, I try to read a biography about the player (Ruth, Mays, Mantle, Jackie, etc.). I find that it brings greater enjoyment of the new card.

So along those lines, I think "The Big Fella" (Jane Levy's book about Babe Ruth) might have been my favorite. I read it once and now I'm halfway through it for a second read through. I think Jane's writing style might be polarizing...some like her books, some really seem to dislike them, but I like the way she tells a story (as another post or two above mention, she has written about Mantle and Koufax as well).

Goodnight Sibby Sisti, wherever you are.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6b1ff2fb52.jpg

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Yeah, put me in the "dislike" category. It's been several years so I don't recall specifics but I remember hating her Koufax book.

Mickey Mantle's, "The Education of a Baseball Player" is a great book...

I never read The Dizziest Season or The Celebrant, but this is an awesome list. The best baseball reading list I ever saw :)

The only book(s) I would add is/are The Fireside Book of Baseball any volume they are all great. It is all short stories fiction and non-fiction from the time period. Some of my favorites are Casey Stengal's Testimony before The US Senate, Vin Scully's call of the Sandy Koufax perfect game, Fiction by Ring Lardner including Horseshoes and Alibi Ike, a Heywood Broun newspaper article from 1923 about Babe Ruth in the World Series, and biographies about Satchel Paige and Peter Reiser.

I just read “ Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball” and enjoyed it.

The Card by Michael O’Keefe
Card Sharks by Pete Williams

The card is about the origins of the PSA 8 T206 Wagner and it’s journey.
Card Sharks is about the origins of Upper Deck.


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I have some of the same books on my shelf. I really enjoyed "Dollar Sign on the Muscle". Follow that with "Prophet of the Sandlots". I did not see the ending coming.

Other good reads:

The Politics of Glory - about getting into the HOF by Bill James
Men at Work - by George Will
Nine Innings - by Okrent
The Fireside books of Baseball (three editions) are decent.

While reading the favorite reads of other members, I don't recall seeing anything by Roger Angell. What gives?

It’s excellent. Sheds a lot of light on Doby’s experience which I’d never read about before.

I read it, and liked it a lot. I didn't know very much about the 1948 Indians before I read it, and it was a fun read.

Hmm, this looks cool! Do you happen to offer it in Kindle/Ebook format?

Alright,

As I read along, I see I forgot to mention Mr. Nemec's books, The Beer And Whiskey League and his encyclopedia on 19th century ball. Kevin is right about those.

I REALLY enjoyed October 1964, but I'm such a biased Cardinals fan that I didn't mention it initially.

Alibi Ike. David up there mentions Ring Lardner. The guys who wrote about baseball for the first 30 years of the 20th century were MASTER WORD SMITHS. A way to get a glimpse of this would be to read Ring Lardner. I suggest You Know Me Al as a starting point. It's funny! It's amazing, and it's educational. Alibi Ike is a joy in movie form. It's dated, but I really enjoy it. Joe E Brown stars. William Frawley plays the manager. Frawley was Fred Mertz in the old I Love Lucy shows, he was a huge baseball fan, he had a clause in his contract with I Love Lucy that allowed him to not have to show up at the studio to work on the show if the Yankees were in the World Series. And in the 1950's the Yankees were in it quite often. That's why Fred Mertz is occasionally absent from the script. But I digress, for those of you wanting to read fiction, read The Celebrant first, then find a Ring Lardner book. Hopefully it's You Know Me Al.

And I agree with Huck, above, about The Politics of Glory. I think the original version of that is best. Think about wondering how hot dogs and sausage is made, and what's in it. Then imagine that approach to how a HOF ball player got in. It's a bit ugly sometimes. As a Cardinals fan I'm a bit hurt over how is seems Frankie Frisch (great, smart ballplayer) put his finger on the scales, maybe, as some old ballplayers were considered or reconsidered.

No, sorry. Just paperback but it is in full color. God bless

Thanks I appreciate you checking out my work. Cheers, -Ryan

Keep up the good work

My Word!!!

I never realized we had so many members who can read.

Read can yes do we.

Brian

Yeah, mun yah; read, er ... what?

Ben

The members of the Baseball Books Facebook group recently completed their vote for the best baseball books of all-time and have published their results.

Spoiler: The #1 vote-getter was "The Glory of Their Times".

Members were asked to pick 20 titles and then the results compiled.

Here is the full spreadsheet of votes. If you're looking for books to read, this would be a great place to start.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...mQFUQ-yk#gid=0

Not sure this one has been mentioned or not. But I like the diversity of topics it covers. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...227d52d55d.jpg

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Great list...I think one could work on reading the books on it for the rest of their lives. There are several hundred that I have never heard about. And I am glad that all types (fiction, biographical, history, etc.) are part of the list and identified as such.

Thanks! Time to start looking into some and creating my own future reading list.

Brian

Brian

Did y'all ever see the Twilight Zone with Burgess Meredith where he dreamed of reading all the books he ever wanted to read, in a post-apocalyptic world, and then he broke his glasses, and they rolled the credits? I can only respond to excerpts, in that way, I've adjusted to modern times.

I've never seen it, but as an introverted obsessive reader I've been told about it.

Remember it vividly. Twilight Zone was must-see TV when I was a kid, very exciting when the family gathered for a new episode. Rod Serling was a genius, and he had the best sci-fi writers in the world. My dad knew Burgess Meredith in college, by the way.

Non-Fiction/History

Money Ball - Lewis
Historial Abstract - James
Big Hair & Plastic Grass Epstein

Fiction:

Universal Baseball Association --Coover
The Great American Novel - Roth

https://tomzappalamedia.com//wp-cont...FullJacket.png

The Zappalas' books are incredible and beautifully designed. Highly recommend.

https://tomzappalamedia.com

The Boys of Summer

Crazy '08 was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in prewar baseball. It's been mentioned earlier in this thread, but I wanted to bring attention to it again.



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Books
 

Ordered a couple myself ... thanks to all that made recommendations