Last good baseball book you have read

[dennis]

http://www.crazy08.com/home.html

[GrayGhost]

Rob, "the Old Ball Game" is excellent.

I finished the Ballad of Billy and George and loved every page of it.

Hopefully, I'll be starting Diamonds in the Rough, the Untold history of Baseball this week once it arrives. I cant wait to read that one.

[pgellis]

Originally Posted by dennis

http://www.crazy08.com/home.html

I was really asking if anyone on the board had their own review. I think that the book's actual website would only put good reviews on their own website regarding their book. That doesn't tell me anything.

I did go on Amazon and read some reviews. There were several bad reviews regarding the author's writing style and the way the author was telling the story. After reading some of these reviews, now I understand why I skimmed through some pages and put it back.

[JasonL]

They were ok.
The Iowa Baseball Confederacy was very entertaining and pretty well written, though I did have trouble following whose perspective I was reading a couple of times, and I had alot of trouble identifying/connecting with the main character/voice. But the concepts were top notch.

Fouled Away - the bio of Hack Wilson. this one was not terribly well written, (and horribly edited - there was one blatant error where the date was obviously supposed to be 1922 and it read as 1992)...and really just a collection of anecdotes strung together in chronological order...some of them were good, though, and it was very interesting to read about a player I did not know much about.

The Old Ball Game -saw several mentions in the posts above- was very good.

[GrayGhost]

So far, Im around a hundred pages into the Diamonds in the Rough. Excellent read, with plenty on the creation of baseball theories and all the other fascinating stuff from the old days, plus talk bout cards, memorabilia, etc.

[rnisly]

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero

I read this book last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Makes me appreciate what he did for what he had to endure.


http://www.amazon.com/Clemente-Passi...0916745&sr=8-1

Roger

[base_ball]

Just finished "The Bullpen Gospels" by Dirk Hayhurst...by far, the best description of minor league life in the 21st Century. Very funny, and very, very poignant at times. Hayhurst writes well, but not superbly, which is the only thing that keeps this book from greatness. How refreshing to read insightful musings on what it means to be a professional athlete from an actual jock. This book is a far, far cry from the vapid thoughts we're used to hearing from Yankee captains and their type. Highly recommended.

[Zach Wheat]

I read Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy. For those not familiar with the book, Cait edits/writes in Economics related fields/publications and this is somewheat reflected in her writing style. The book recounts the season of 1908 and the battles between the Cubs/Giants & Pirates - as well as battles with some fo the other AL teams. She also brings other topics together that are tangentially related to base ball.

I found her writing style a little formal and fact oriented at first. After several chapters into the book, I began to appreciate the history and the seemingly unrelated events she brought into the 1908 season. For instance, she briefly reviewed Abner Doubleday and his association with the game; secondarily how Take Me Out to the Ball Game" became the de facto song associated with today's game. It can be a little distracting to some....but all in all a good read.

I have read Lefty Grove: American Original (by Jim Kaplan) and found that entertaining. I also really enjoyed Ty & the Babe (Tom Stanton).

Ty & the Babe detailed one of the fiercest personal rivalries of all time during the Ty & The Babe's playing career. The book details how Cobb pissed the Babe off and the Babe came in to pitch even after he left his pitching career behing.....just so he could pitch to Cobb.

The book not only detailed the rivalry (i.e. read every at bat) on the field & off the field as well as in their personal lives - but culminates in a mind blowing highly publicized "best of 3" golf match at the twilight of their careers. Babe was a significantly better golfer than Ty......but there were a few surprises and I am not going to tell you how the match ends. Suffice it to say it was quite an interesting read of two highly competitive men that never wanted to be bested.

To top it off, Cobb was deeply sad when the Babe passed away...and reading about the rivalry from a personal and professional perspective was really touching.

The match was so important to these two....that the winner put the championship trophy on their mantle for the remainder of their life......