Top 50 Baseball Books of the SABR Era
 

SABR is seeking nominations for the top 50 baseball books of the SABR era. If you are a SABR member and enjoyed our book, “The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company, 1886-1890” by Miller, Masson and Gonsowski, Richard, Joe, and I would certainly appreciate your vote. Votes should be sent to Andy McCue at mccue@sabr.org

Thank you for your consideration—Jay

I submitted my nominations which included (I am biased, I'll admit to voting for the Goodwin book):

• The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company (1886-1890) - Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski, & Richard Masson
• Catcher: How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero - Peter Morris
• Fifty-Nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had - Edward Achorn

Hope other SABR board members submit their list as well (regardless of whether it includes the Goodwin book).

That gets my vote as best baseball card book I have ever read...by far!

Here were my nominations:

Catcher-Peter Morris
Baseball in the Garden of Eden-Thorn
Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball-Casway
The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company, 1886-1890-Miller, Masson, Gonsowski

Jay- I will go vote for your book. Some great picks on all the list I am seeing.

Thanks Connor! What other books have you picked?

Here's a few of my favorites, I'm sure I'm missing a few others I have also enjoyed since 1971.
The Boys of Summer - Roger Kahn
Baseball in the Garden of Eden - John Thorn
Miracle Ball : My Hunt for the Shot Heard Around the World - Brian Biegel
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty - Charles Leerhsen
Catcher: How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero - Peter Morris
Babe: The Legend Comes to Life - Robert Creamer

Done. I included your Old Judge book, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, Fifty-nine in 84, and Blackguards and Red Stockings. My last choice is because that is the book that introduced me to the history of 19th century baseball.

Gary: Ryczek’s book on the NA is great—one of my favorites too.

If I were a SABR member, this would be one of my two nominees. The other would be:

War on the Basepaths - Tim Hornbaker

I have all the books mentioned so far in this thread, and they're all worthy. Here are a few that have not yet been mentioned, but which are also excellent candidates. I'm assuming that "the SABR era" starts in 1971, the year SABR was founded.

Baseball When The Grass Was Real -- Donald Honig
Baseball As I Have Known It -- Fred Lieb
A Game of Inches -- Peter Morris (if we're including reference works)
Crazy '08 -- Cait Murphy
The Pitch That Killed -- Mike Sowell
Shoeless Joe -- W. P. Kinsella (if we're including fiction)
The Great American Novel -- Phillip Roth (ditto)

The Glory of Their Times,
Ed Delahanty in the Emerald age of Baseball.
July 2nd 1903. (Even though I received no helpful answers)
Babe: The Legend comes to Life.