Dead Ball Era Books

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Posted By: Ray

I highly recommend these two books:

1. More than Merkle by David Anderson. Forward by Keith Olbermann. Great book about the 1908 season. Looks at the two leagues month by month. Discusses nicknames, umpires of the time, relationships between players and managers, etc. For a T206 collector, this book brought my collection to life! Highly recommend it!

2. Hal Chase: The Black Prince of Baseball by Dewey and Acocella. Spends a lot of time not only on baseball, but the happenings of the country during the time he played. Learned a lot about baseball in California and New York.

Currently reading Eight Men Out... very happy with it so far. Any other books recommended by the group?

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Posted By: Richard Simon

There is a biography of Buck Weaver, The Ginger Kid by Irving Stein, highly recommended.

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I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

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Posted By: Rob L

My absolute favorite is "Walter Johnson: Baseballs Big Train".

Other good books are:

"Cobb: A Biography" (Al Stump book)
"Say it Ain't So, Joe, the True Story of Joe Jackson"
"Babe: The Legend Comes to Life"

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Posted By: Richard Simon

Baseball's Big Train was written by Henry Thomas, Walter Johnson's grandson. He is a collector of memorabilia and is one of the good guys.

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I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

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Posted By: Rob L

Henry Thomas did a great job and luckily had access to his grandmother's scrapbooks to piece together Walter's history. This book is one of the main reasons that Walter Johnson is my favorite all-time player.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

"Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball" by Harvey Frommer, "The Player: Christy Mathewson, Baseball, and the American Century" by Philip M. Seib, "Honus Wagner: A Biography" by Dennis DeValeria, Jeanne Burke DeValeria. Those are all books I've read in the last couple of years that were enjoyable. If you want a good nineteenth century era book you should try "Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike "King" Kelly, Baseball's First Superstar" by Martin Appel.

Dan

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Posted By: J.McMurry

Eight Men Out and Cobb are two excellent books. Another one I liked was Past Time by Jules Tygiel.

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Posted By: Dave Williams

It's been years since I read it, but it really turned me on even more to Baseball History...

The glory of their times - Lawrence Ritter

I think I'll dig it out of the archives and read it again.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

"The Glory Of Their Times" should be read by all baseball fans. It is without doubt the greatest baseball book of all.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

Glory of Their Times

Beer and Whiskey League

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Posted By: Ray

I read "The Player: Christy Mathewson" by Seib... wasn't too thrilled.

I have Nemec's Beer and Whiskey League, thats next on my list.

Two books I've found on Amazon that look good are Commy and Rothstein biographies. Also saw a book on the writings of Lardner that I regret not buying at Barnes and Noble last week.

Is Shoeless Joe: Ragtime Baseball worth reading after Eight Men Out?

Isn't The Glory of Their Times post-1919?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

"Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball" contains all of Jackson's grand jury testimony. I'm not sure if "Eight Men Out" does. It is definately worth the read. "The Glory of Their Times" does contain some post 1920 players, but the whole of the book is deadball era players.

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Posted By: Dave Williams

I'm not sure if this is the full list of subjects in "Glory of their Times" but from an Amazon listing here are who they list.

Fred Snodgrass, Sam Crawford, Hans Lobert, Rube Bressler, Chief Meyers, Davy Jones, Rube Marquard, Joe Wood, Lefty O'Doul, Jimmy Austin, Goose Goslin, Bill Wambsganss

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Posted By: Greg Ecklund

I would highly recommend "July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall of Famer Big Ed Delahanty" and "The Pitch That Killed" both by Mike Sowell. The latter is borderline for being a deadball era book since it is about the 1920 season, and 1920 was Ruth's first year for the Yankees.

I agree about "The Player" (the Mathewson book) being bad...I thought Ray Robinson's "Matty" was better - still not great, but better than "The Player".

Has anyone read "A Clever Base-ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward"? I'd like anyone's thoughts on it since my local bookstore still has a copy and I'm debating whether to pick it up or not.

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Posted By: Scott M

If you want a real treat, do yourself a favor and get the audio version where you can hear audio excerpts from the actual interviews with the ballplayers.

Some of the ballplayers interviewed were from the 20s but there are many like Sam Crawford, Davy Jones, Hans Lobert, Cheif Meyers from the dead ball era.

I have and read the book but getting the audio on CDs was very enjoyable and really brought the time to life hearing it directly from the players mouths.

I know this has been brought up on the board before but I thought I'd mention this for new visitors who might not be aware the book can be had on audio.

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Posted By: Behrod Hosseinzadeh

you might want to try "Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of A Strikeout Artist," by Alan H. Levy. I got the book last month, but only got around to reading the first few chapters so I can't give an accurate review....Anybody else read the book. I'm surprised that there are so few books on this guy.

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Posted By: John

Greg,

I would recommend this book. It provides great era descriptions as well as Ward's involvement with the Player's Association in 1890. It is a little light on baseball descriptions compared to some other books listed on this thread, but was an easy and enjoyable read.

I have read the Johnson biography twice. The stories about Johnson's fellow players like Gabby Street, Eddie Ainsmith, Nick Altrock, and Clyde Milan could carry the book alone. The Wagner biography finishes a close second.

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Posted By: Kevin O

Ring Lardner's "You Know Me Al" is my favorite Deadball book. Although it's technically fiction, it captures an early teens baseball season through the eyes of a clueless busher and his letters home. It's hilarious, and gives a dugout view of players like Cobb and Schalk and Bodie, and managers like Callahan and McGraw. It's available in the public domain: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/rl/unomeal.htm

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Posted By: Mark Holt

"Ed Delahanty and the Emerald Age of Baseball" by Jerrold Casway is very good. Also "The Black Prince of Baseball" by Dewey and Acocella. Those two will help bring those T206s to life.

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Posted By: Max Weder

I agree that the book on Hal Chase is wonderful. I only wished I'd read it before I visited the Grand Canyon, but perhaps that is why I appreciated Jerome and Williams (where Hal spent much of his post major league time) more than the great chasm.

You Know Me Al is also a great book. Here's a rare early dust jacket (unfortunately, a second printing)

Max

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Posted By: Julie

Tigiel's "Baseball's Great Experiment," about Robinson and Rickey. O.K, I'll give "You Know me, Al," another try...maybe I was just in a bad mood. I loved Lardner's short stuff, and was so disappointed...

Skipping the subject as usual, "Old Hoss" is nice, especially the gritty parts. I'm getting a Radbourne artball from Monty Sheldon...

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Posted By: dennis

baseball memories 1900-1909 by marc okkonen lots of pics and general info on the teams and the times. also there is a "glory of their times" video tape that can still be found on ebay frequently.i really enjoy the video as there is not much baseball on film from this era.

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Posted By: Chris

I printed this book out yesterday and read it. I'm with Julie -- didn't love it but it is an interesting read. Probably better if you don't read it all in one sitting. I felt like it began to drag on about 3/4 through.

If anyone would like the copy I printed out let me know and it's yours. Shipping's on me.

Chris

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

"Deadball Stars of The National League" by Tom Simon is a fantastic book that includes biographies of all of the NL stars of that era and even some of the executives of the era. This book can be had on Amazon for $15. Everyone who collects cards from the deadball era should own this book. I can't wait for the American League book which should be out in late 2005 or early 2006. All SABR members will receive that book for free.

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Posted By: Ray

I have Deadball Stars of the NL... Great book! I saw posts months ago about the AL version coming out, if anyone has a release date let me know!

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Ray, there is no release date yet as it is still in the works. It is a project of SABR's Deadball Committee.