What's your favourite baseball book?

[skelly423]

I got a number of great books for Christmas this year, but unfortunately I've already finished them. I'm looking to find another great baseball book to read. Give me your best recommendations

[Eric72]

Crazy '08
Cait Murphy

Focused on the 1908 season.

[skelly423]

Loved that one. Right up my alley as a pre-war collector.

Originally Posted by Eric72

Crazy '08
Cait Murphy

Focused on the 1908 season.

[Wanaselja]

I just finished The Card by O”Keefe and Thompson. It was excellent. Also, Satchel by Larry Tye.

[Bigdaddy]

The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The Glory of Their Times would likely win most polls on this topic.
The Celebrant, though fiction, is very well done.
Shoeless Joe (the book behind Field of Dreams) is outstanding IMO

[StraightRaceCards]

Glory of their times was hands down the best baseball book I’ve read
Really enjoyed the celebrant as well for a unique flavor on what baseball would have been like in the 1900’s

Looking forward to getting some additional suggestions here as well!

[wolterse]

glory of their times by Lawrence Ritter

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by skelly423

I got a number of great books for Christmas this year, but unfortunately I've already finished them. I'm looking to find another great baseball book to read. Give me your best recommendations

What books did you get? If you read them so quickly, they must have been good.

My top 5:
1) The Glory of their Times
2) Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession
3) The Card
4) K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
5) The Baseball 100 (by Joe Posnanski)

Honorable Mention: Hank Greenberg The Story of my Life

[Jason Carota]

Hard to pick just one:

[Huck]

The Glory of Their Times
Men at Work
Dollar Sign on the Muscle
9 innings: The anatomy of a baseball game
Any of the three fireside books

[Fred]

So many great books about baseball.

Yes, Glory of Their Times is one of the better books for serious reading.

After that I think "Ball Four" was one of the more fun reads for me.

Really difficult to say there's a favorite.

[bnorth]

Another card book is: Sportscard Counterfeit Detector by Bob Lemke.
It is OK but not great if you use it for one of the single cards listed in it. It is absolutely amazing if you read the entire book. It shows you how to spot many different counterfeiting techniques. Another card book I highly recommend.

[SteveWhite]

Big Hair and Plastic Grass-A Funny Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70's
By Dan Epstein

The Machine-A Hot Team, A Legendary Season, and Heart-Stopping World Series. The Story of the 1975 Reds.
Joe Posnanski

[lampertb]

Originally Posted by SteveWhite

Big Hair and Plastic Grass-A Funny Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70's
By Dan Epstein

Yes, love that one, alongside "Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s" by Phil Pepe.

I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned "56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports," which is an outstanding read!

[jimtigers65]

Originally Posted by SteveWhite

Big Hair and Plastic Grass-A Funny Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70's
By Dan Epstein

The Machine-A Hot Team, A Legendary Season, and Heart-Stopping World Series. The Story of the 1975 Reds.
Joe Posnanski

I enjoyed Big Hair and Plastic Grass by Dan Epstein that I ordered his other baseball book, Stars and Stipres.

[tlhss]

Moneyball

Fastpitch - The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game

Ty Cobb - A Terrible Beauty

One Shot at Forever - A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season

Doc

Ball Four

Lefty - An American Odyssey

[Exhibitman]

Baseball book: The Boys of Summer.
Baseball card book: Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business by Pete Williams. Takes a deep dive into the seamy, dirty filth of modern cards, at the height of the junk wax era. Ironically, the thieving, scamming and money-grubbing he reports at Upper Deck pales in comparison to what goes on today.

[deadballfreaK]

Like many have said "The Glory of Their Times" is the bast baseball book of all time. I just want to say if you have not listened to the audio version you are missing out! After listening to the actual voices of the old timers I fell in love with some of them. Chief Meyers, Hans Lobert, Sam Crawford etc. Jimmy Austen! What a sweet funny guy. Always chuckling. Well, I have to quit and go listen to it again.

[Rad_Hazard]

My top 3 in no particular order:

The Soul of Baseball
59 in 84
The Summer of Beer and Whiskey

[commishbob]

A False Spring, by Pat Jordan is my favorite. Certainly is not an uplifting story but terrific writing.

The Soul of Baseball, by Joe Posnaski is the best book I read last year.

These are books I read (or re-read) in the last couple of years and enjoyed.

Why Time Begins on Opening Day, by Thomas Boswell
Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, by Donald Hall
You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting
The Long Season, by Jim Brosnan
Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, by Jane Leavy
Crazy '08, by Cait Murphy
The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnaski

and a highly recommended fiction entry:

Man on Spikes, by Eliot Asinof

[michael3322]

For cards:
The Zappalas' collections are the best (Cracker Jacks, 1952 Topps, T206, etc)



For photos:
The Charles Conlon books are the best.



For reading, then Rushin' 34-ton bat is best.

[71buc]

Bullpen Gospels
https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=B...qid=5CsWfP9hQQ

A False Spring
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bi...9780803276260/

Miracle Ball
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/miracl...dition=5932578

Away Games
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1935444.Away_Games

And of course…Ball Four by Jim Bouton

[Exhibitman]

"Pound that Budweiser"

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by deadballfreaK

Like many have said "The Glory of Their Times" is the bast baseball book of all time. I just want to say if you have not listened to the audio version you are missing out! After listening to the actual voices of the old timers I fell in love with some of them. Chief Meyers, Hans Lobert, Sam Crawford etc. Jimmy Austen! What a sweet funny guy. Always chuckling. Well, I have to quit and go listen to it again.

Absolutely has to be the best book to listen to.

[EddieP]

Bang the Drum Slowly

[carlsonjok]

Since it wasn't already mentioned: The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant.

[egri]

The Summer of '49 and The Teammates.

[davidb]

https://www.esquire.com/entertainmen...ll-books-ever/

[58pinson]

Haven't seen this one mentioned yet. I found it fascinating and filled with a lot of behind the scenes anecdotes that I was totally unfamiliar with.

Lords Of the Realm: The Real History Of Baseball, by Lawrence Helyar.

[Leon]

I don't read much....my favorite baseball book.

[tonyo]

I liked

"If I never get back" by Daryl Brock

(fiction)

[riggs336]

I like any book by Bill James, but I've read "The Politics of Glory" (reissued as "Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?") at least eight times.