Good Baseball Books

[bwbc917]

Got the "Outsiders of Baseball" for Christmas. Love it. Gotta recommend "Banzai Babe Ruth" by Fritts. Really enjoyable read.

[jerseygary]

Thanks to you guys who ordered my book, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing and illustrating it.

Rob Fitts' book Banzai Babe Ruth is really one of the best baseball books I've read. Although it's about the 1934 MLB tour of Japan it is also part spy book and he really gets into the personalities of the ball players and makes them come alive. A real great guy in person as well.

If you want one to really throw you through a loop, read "The Natural" - it ain't anything like the movie (I actually wish they had followed the book instead of re-writing it).

[pbspelly]

"Pure Baseball" by Keith Hernandez is a fascinating book. He dissects two games pitch by pitch. Sometimes a bit too in depth, but interesting nonetheless. You can't read it without realizing how smart a player the guy was.

[Huck]

Good topic. Over a decade ago, I started to put together a baseball library. I searched for "baseball library" and at the time found the following two links.

http://www.sandlotshrink.com/bookoldbb.htm
http://www.kypris.com/Baseball/bb-essential.html

I acquired and read quite a few of the titles. Some of the titles mentioned on the thread made the list.

As mentioned more than once The Glory of Their Times by Ritter is one of the best (if not the best) baseball books ever written. After reading the book, pick up the cd's of Ritter's actual interviews.

Other good reads:

Dollar Sign on the Muscle

The Fireside books

Men at Work

Veeck as in Wreck

Prophet of the Sandlots

Baseball as I have known it

Some are called Clowns

Baseball when the grass was real

The Politics of Glory

[Head928]

One of my favorites this year was.
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty By Charles Leerhsen

[jerseygary]

SABR puts out really good books on particular teams (one of the above posts mentions the 1935 Tigers book). These have extensive bios on every single member of the team including coaches and chapters on their ballparks, significant games and break downs of the season. They've done a bunch of them so far and I have these in my library:

The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America: The 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers

Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees

Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox

Who's On First: Replacement Players in World War II

Van Lingle Mungo: The Man, The Song, The Players

Winning on the North Side: The 1929 Chicago Cubs

The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals: The World Champion Gas House Gang

[bravesfan22]

I'd definitely recommended The Glory of Their Times.
I'm currently reading ty Cobb: a terrible beauty and am really enjoying it.