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Thread: Books on baseball

  1. #1
    2009: Fail Ltlabner's Avatar
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    Books on baseball

    What is your favorite book about baseball? Why?

    Or, what book are you currently reading about baseball?


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  3. #2
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    I collect them, have about 150 or so.

    Currently my 10 faves are

    Bill James Historical Abstract
    Diamonds in the Rough
    Creating the National Pastime
    Past Time
    The Cincinnati Reds - (Lee Allen)
    Hot Stove League
    Lords of the Realm
    Ball Four
    Men at Work
    We Played the Game

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    Re: Books on baseball

    Men at Work - George Will



    I actually felt myself getting smarter just by reading it. Will did a fantastic job in describing the meticulous details of baseball - in pitching, hitting, fielding and managing. A must-read for any baseball fan, imo.


    Although, it was a tad nauseating - all the love for LaRussa. As Marty says "he's got more bestsellers than World Series rings."

  5. #4
    Passion for the game Team Clark's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    Men at Work: Phenomenal book. 1st person point of view from some amazing players.

    Scout's Honor: Tremendous insight into player evaluation. The Best Baseball Book I have EVER read.

    Ball Four: What a scream!

    BillyBall: Billy Martin's Autoboigraphy. Some behind the scenes looks and great stories.

    If at First: Keith Hernandez autobiography. Read it when I was 12. I wanted to be a big leaguer the next day after reading the entire book.

    3 Nights in August: LaRussa's insight into managing a series. Pretty sharp.
    It's absolutely pathetic that people can't have an opinion from actually watching games and supplementing that with stats. If you voice an opinion that doesn't fit into a black/white box you will get completely misrepresented and basically called a tobacco chewing traditionalist...
    Cedric 3/24/08

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    Re: Books on baseball

    The classic baseball conterculture Jim Bouton's Ball Four.

  7. #6
    Smells Like Teen Spirit jmcclain19's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    It may be cliche - but mine is Moneyball.

    I'd been a casual baseball fan up until then, always scoffing at advanced baseball stats, always watching but not quite as "informed" about the game I loved. I actually read about the book on here, Brian recommended that I should most definitely read it, and decided to bite the bullet and it opened my eyes.
    Now I'm a feverent Baseball Prospectus/Hardball Times reader(books and websites), so I've done a 180.

    For someone who wants an excellent different type of baseball book, I would recommend the "Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers." Excellent essays in there about different pitches, how they are thrown and the history invovled in the pitch. If you're the type who likes reading about the argument of whether the forkball and the split finger fastball are the same pitch that book is right up your alley.

    I also really enjoyed "The Knucklebook" by Dave Clark. A 360 degree look at the knuckleball, who's thrown it, how to throw it, how to catch it, how to coach it, everything you could possibly want to know.

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    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    For someone who wants an excellent different type of baseball book, I would recommend the "Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers."
    Great book, invaluable piece on a part of the game that nevers gets into too much detail, but that one does.

  9. #8
    Oy Vey! Red in Chicago's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    i tried to like moneyball, but felt there was too much filler in there and not enough meat and potatoes.

  10. #9
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    Re: Books on baseball

    The Natural, in fiction, is the all-time great. Two Kiniella books-- The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and Shoeless Joe are exemplary as well.

  11. #10
    Member chicoruiz's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    I'll add Veeck As In Wreck and A False Spring by Pat Jordan.

    The funniest book about baseball ever is The Great American Baseball Card Book, by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred Harris, but you probably have to go to E-Bay to get it. Has anyone else here read it?
    "In baseball, you don't know nothin'"...Yogi Berra

  12. #11
    2009: Fail Ltlabner's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    I'm currently reading the book, "Baseball, LEdgends and Lore" bu David Cataneo. It's a collection of short stores and anecdotes about baseball. So far it's a nice read.

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    Re: Books on baseball

    I just got done with David Halberstam's "The Summer of '49" about a week or so ago and really enjoyed it.

  14. #13
    Member Phhhl's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Schue
    I just got done with David Halberstam's "The Summer of '49" about a week or so ago and really enjoyed it.
    That was excellent, and so was October 1964 by Halberstam. I tried to follow up these two with Roger Kahn's "The Boys of Summer", but Halberstam's writing was superior and he probably wrote the two best baseball books I have ever read.

    I couldn't get through "Men at Work" after about 100 pages. I tried to read Will's "Bunts" during bathroom breaks, but Baseball Weekly took it's place.

    I read "Eight Men Out" before the movie came out, and enjoyed it.

    Has anyone read "Pennant Race" by Jim Brosnan? It's a game by game chronicle of the Reds' 1961 season. I bought it one day and just haven't cracked it open yet.

  15. #14
    Member marcshoe's Avatar
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    Re: Books on baseball

    "The Glory of Their Times" by Lawrence Ritter
    It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.

  16. #15
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    Re: Books on baseball

    Has anyone read "Pennant Race" by Jim Brosnan? It's a game by game chronicle of the Reds' 1961 season. I bought it one day and just haven't cracked it open yet.
    Just finished it.

    Redszone would eat Fred Hutchinson alive.


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