[jaytee]

All great suggestions here.

I'll second Roger Angell. I'm currently reading his Five Seasons, about, well, five seasons of baseball in the 70s. I'm also reading Mickey Mantle's My Favorite Summer 1956, about his triple crown season. Its a good read, packed with little stories about greats of that era.

My all-time favorite baseball book is Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract, which is nice blend of history, SABR stats, and interesting digressions. While you may or may not agree with the way he evaluates players statically (with his "win shares" system), it makes for an interesting read of his top 100 players at each position throughout history. I find I can open the book to any page (and there's a lot of pages!), read a little, and find a new way to look at the game and the men who've played it during different eras.