Favorite Baseball Books? Let's Share!
 

The topic came up lately, so I want to ask - what are some of your favorite baseball books about the history of the game?

I enjoyed Chief Bender's Burden

Peter Golenbock's "Wrigleyville"

It's not perfect or all-encompassing, but it does a great job covering the earliest and middle years of Cubs history.

Crazy '08 is one of my favorites. An easy and entertaining read.

Only The Ball Was White

The Glory of Their Times

I’ll second this Sir, couldn’t put it down. It was like spending the whole season at the stadiums 👍

Pride of the Yankees and Glory of Their Times

Bill

My two favorite are:

Glory of Their Times

The Beer and Whiskey League

Fear Strikes Out.

One Shot At Forever

One that I enjoyed greatly and doesn't get mentioned often was John Helyar's "Lords Of The Realm: The Real History Of Baseball". Published in 1994, so it's been around a while. Found some of the stories about owners fascinating.

Here's a recommendation you don't hear often, or often enough: the three volumes of Charles Einstein's "Fireside Book of Baseball." Published from 1956 to 1968, this is a series of anthologies of fiction and non-fiction, all relating to baseball. There is literally something for everyone in these books, and I guarantee many hours of happy reading. They're long out of print, and the third volume can be a bit difficult to track down, but check your used book resources and you'll be rewarded.

By the way, Charles Einstein, who did a brilliant job selecting the many pieces included in these volumes, was the older brother of Bob "Super Dave Osborne" Einstein, and also the older brother of Albert Brooks. And yes, actor/filmmaker Albert Brooks' real name is Albert Einstein.:eek: I don't know what that proves, but it proves something.:confused:

Alan

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.

Jeff Pearlman is the a tremendous sports biographer.

lets go mets!!!!

my contribution is shades of glory. fantastic book with stories that still resonate with me to this day. first read it as a young kid!

Heart of a Tiger is by far the best book I've read about Ty Cobb. It's highly recommended.

Leafing through any of the books that highlight all of the old (and usually long gone) stadiums with stories, run-downs, anecdotes, photographs, insider knowledge, etc., is a phenomenal ways to spend your time!!

Off the top of my head, these titles come to mind (and there are undoubtedly many more), and the more of them you have the merrier:

Lost Ballparks
America's Classic Ballparks
Ballparks: Yesterday & Today
Ballparks Then and Now
Ballparks

Last Boy, The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Homers and Oct. 1964.

The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading & Bubblegum Book, by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris

Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War, by Richard Goldstein

The Game I'll Never Forget: 50 of baseball's best recall the history they made, by George Vass

I did as well. It's the better of the Bender books I've read.

The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. by Robert Coover
The Glory of Their Times - Lawrence Ritter
You Know Me, Al - Ring Lardner
Babe - Robert Creamer
Eight Men Out - Eliot Asinof
Boys of Summer - Roger Kahn
Ball Four - Jim Bouton
Pat Jordan's A False Spring (my favorite baseball book)

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America by Joe Posnanski (my second favorite baseball book)

Posnanski's The Baseball 100 It began as a series of essays he published during baseball's Pandemic 'downtime' and was made into a book. Terrific bios of who he considers the 100 best ever.

Jane Leavy's Koufax, A Lefty's Legacy

The Black Aces: Baseball's Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners by Mudcat Grant et al

Glory of their times and The Celebrant are great reads!

There was a third book I was trying to think of when I was picking my favorites above, and I just couldn't remember. It was this one. Highly recommended.

I just got on here to mention The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubblegum Book. A treasure.

I recently read
Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic by Jason Turnbow. It is about Charley Finley and the Oakland A’s. Not an A’s fan but stumbled on it and thoroughly enjoyed reading about the ups and downs of the team.

Big Hair and Plastic Grass by Dan Epstein. Another book about baseball in the 1970s.

Many erudite choices, guys.

Crazy '08 was written by Flemming, I think. He also wrote The Dizziest Season (1934 Cardinals).

I agree with The Glory of Their Times. Start by reading that one.
James' first Historical Baseball Abstract, I liked that one better.
Baseball When the Grass Was Real
Fireside Book of Baseball
2 Mike Sowell books: July 2, 1903 (about Ed Delahanty and how the two leagues reached an agreement to honor the other's contracts), and The Pitch that Killed... (about Ray Chapman and Carl Mays, Had that pitch not hit Chapman, I think both would have had a good shot at making the Hall)
Beer and Whiskey League
Only the Ball Was White
The Fix is In.
Halberstam's October 2964

I've not read that Bender's Burden book, I think I will.


Now, when it comes to fiction... #1 is The Celebrant. It's set in the times of the T206 players... an enchanting book. #2 The Art of Fielding. It's about baseball, and life, and so much more.

A couple of Pete Golenbock books on the Yankees of my youth:
"Number 1"
"The Bronx Zoo"

Also finished the oldie "Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn about a year ago

Finally, since this site is about collecting, "The Ball" by Daniel Paisner

This book deserves a mention. I'm currently reading it and it is phenomenal.
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Glad this thread was created, I will be referencing it often.

A newly published book "The New York Game" by Kevin Baker

Nothing new here, but another plug for:

Glory of Their Times by Larry Ritter; there is also archive recordings that he made while writing the book. Not a reading of the book, but the actual interviews with the ballplayers.

Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn

I always like to read BB books especially during the winter time .

I just reread The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading & Bubblegum Book, by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris. Always a fun read.

Glory of their Times... can't believe I never read this until this year... I just finished it and loved every word from the players of the early and glory days.

Ricky Y

book
 

That Joe Pepitone book was a lot of laughs

Good to hear. Picked this up at the used bookstore this summer, haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

The Maraniss book on Roberto Clemente was pretty good.

A Whole Different Ball Game: The Inside Story of Baseball's New Deal by Marvin Miller


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Another vote for Glory of Their Times and, as others have mentioned ruined, the accompanying audio is a great listen as well.

Some great recommendations here. Thanks to everyone for the tips to tide me over until Spring. A few more to add:

"Bunts" and "Men at Work" both by George Will
"Heart of the Order" by Thomas Boswell
"The Forever Boys" by Pete Golenbock
"Game Time" by Roger Angell

The Glory of Their Times is a must for any vintage collector, especially T206, as most of the stories involve players from that era.

I love it when this thread comes around. Someone already mentioned this one:

Ball Four

If you've made it this far down the line and haven't been convinced to stop what you are doing and read Glory of Their Times, then I'll have to plus one it again. There's even a cover version with T205's on the front!

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train by grandson of Johnson (and fellow Net54 member) Hank Thomas. I'm a Senators fan, but The Big Train was in the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame, and an obvious giant in baseball.

Fun fact - I'm fairly certain Hank also helped edit the interview recordings of Glory of Their Times - what a tie in!

Back in the 90's, my aim was to build a baseball library. I figured someone out on the web must have cobbled a list together of good baseball reads and I found a few lists. The list from SABR is much cleaner looking then it was back then but this list is a good place to start.

https://sabr.org/journal/article/the...eball-library/


The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter -it has been mentioned more than once on this thread for a reason. The cds of the actual interviews are great as well.

Dollar Sign on the Muscle - by Kevin Kerrane - a great read about baseball scouts. Another book on scouting is Prophet of the Sandlots by Mark Winegardner about scout Tony Lucadello. The ending was a shocker.

The Politics of Glory by Bill James - interesting read about making the hall.

Men at Work by George Will - the chapter on Henderson alone is worth the price.

The Fireside book of baseball (three volumes).

Nine Innings by Dan Okrent - anatomy of a baseball game.

Some excellent reads you have suggested here, will have to check a few out soon, and some others standards I have read multiple times! Here are a few I enjoyed that I don't think have been mentioned yet.

Three Men on Third and also Low and Inside by H Allen Smith & Ira Smith

Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst

Terror in the City of Champions by Tom Stanton

One of my all-time favorites is The World Series: A Complete Pictorial History by John Devaney and Burt Goldblatt.

Some of my favorites:

The Big Train
Crazy '08
59 in '84
Fall From Grace (Joe Jackson)
The Pitch That Killed
One Strike Away
War on the Basepaths (Ty Cobb)
The Rocket That Fell to Earth (Roger Clemens)
Glory of Their Times

I recommend Before the Curse - The Glory Days of New England Baseball, 1858–1918, by Troy Soos.

Summer of '49- David Halberstamm
The Teammates- David Halberstamm (Doerr, Dom, Pesky, Williams)
Nice Guys Finish Last- Leo Durocher
Bo, Pitching and Wooing-Maury Allen (Bo Belinsky)
Our Game- Charles Alexander (history of the tame)
Any of Golenbocks team anthologies- Wrigleyville, Bums, Amazing, Spirit of St Louis, RedSox Nation
Baseballs Western Front- PCL during WW2 by David Wells
The Kansas City A's and the wrong half of the Yankees, by Jeff Katz

2 I was disappointed in- Alvin Darks Biography (he came across as such an oblivious racist asshole, at least by todays standards) and The Sudden Sam Saga. The last one might be interesting by any recovering alcoholics, but it's more about that than baseball

Another vote for You Know Me Al, which I feel is nothing short of brilliant. I love any of the Brooklyn Dodger books because the subject matter is just so rich. Halberstams’s Summer of 49 is excellent even though my Sox lost. I also found Bill Lee’s The Wrong Stuff to be a fun read. More recently, The Art of Fielding (fiction) was good. The Kid From Tompkinsville and subsequent sequels are great for young readers.

In my earlier post, recommending the Fireside Book of Baseball series, I inadvertently described the series as consisting of three volumes. I somehow forgot that Charles Einstein came up with a Fourth volume in 1987, a full nineteen years after the third. I may have discounted it in my memory because it's the only volume I don't have in hardcover, just in a trade paper edition. It's just as good as the first three.

Also - I join with those who recommend The Glory of Their Times, as well as the Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book - which may in fact be the funniest book I've ever read. If it's not the funniest, it's certainly part of the discussion.

Alan

Thanks for the props, Brian, you made my day! And yes, I had the great good fortune to have co-produced and edited the audio version of "Glory" from Ritter's recordings of his interviews, together with Neal McCabe, who did the best book of baseball photography ever, "Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon."