Baseball/Reds books

[crazybob60]

Hopefully this is in the right forum...but I have recently got into (say over the past year) reading baseball related books and such. I really like the ones that give insight into the game or teams or players that you normally wouldn't find on say something like a Sportscentury show on ESPN Classic, ya know?

I have only read four books and they are the typical ones.

"Juiced" Jose Canseco
"Prison without Bars" or whatever it was called Pete Rose
"Stories From the Reds Dugout" Tom Browning
"Game of Shadows" SF Journalist about Steroids and sports

I am looking for other good recommendations and which ones I should check out. Looking for good interesting reads and it doesn't matter if it is a long book or whatever. I just want more info than what I already might know. I would prefer Reds things, but as you can see, it has expanded outside of that. I am looking for a good one on say the 1919 Reds team, I think one just recently came out. Also, maybe one of the 1970's Reds teams, and behind the scenes there. And then any biographies or autobiographies would great as well!!!!

Thanks a million times in advance.

[crazybob60]

Oh, and I forgot to add, I would really like to find something, and by something I mean something that is in great depth about the baseball cocaine scandals of the late 70's and early 80's and those players and scandals. I have yet to find a single book about it, but I haven't searched all that too awful hard either.

[dabvu2498]

I recommend Lords of the Realm by John Helyar. It's a history of baseball's labor-management struggles, but it also deals with some of the scandal topics that you mentioned and how those were dealt with by the union and management. It's an intimidating book (very long), but it's a fairly easy read.

http://www.businessofbaseball.com/lordsoftherealmreview.htm

[BuckWoody]

Edd Roush's granddaughter, Susan Dellinger, wrote about the 1919 World Series from the Reds perspective in the book Red Legs and Black Sox: Edd Roush and the Untold Story of the 1919 World Series.

Click here. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578602297/qid=1151498374/sr=1-17/ref=sr_1_17/104-4423332-4421560?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

[crazybob60]

Edd Roush's granddaughter, Susan Dellinger, wrote about the 1919 World Series from the Reds perspective in the book Red Legs and Black Sox: Edd Roush and the Untold Story of the 1919 World Series.

Click here. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578602297/qid=1151498374/sr=1-17/ref=sr_1_17/104-4423332-4421560?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)

yes...that is the one that I was referring to earlier that I couldn't remember the name of, thank you very much.

Also thanks for the other one as well. Please keep em coming. I just finished the Tom Browning book late last night, and although it wasn't the best written book (sorry to be negative there, but I have to tell it like it is) it had some really interesting and great stories. I want to go out this afternoon and pick up at least 4 or so new books.

[dabvu2498]

The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, also...

anything by Roger Angell

I also liked Henry Aaron's autobiography... If I Had a Hammer, I think was the title.

[RedsBaron]

Also, maybe one of the 1970's Reds teams, and behind the scenes there.
The best book I've ever read on the Big Red Machine of the 1970s was "Big Red Dynasty" by Greg Rhodes and John Erardi. If you can find a copy, buy it.
I love Bill James, and his best books have been his Historical Baseball Abstracts.
Two of the better biographies I've read were Ted Williams's "My Turn At Bat", his autobiography originally written in 1969, and Roger Kahn's "biography" of the 1952-53 Brooklyn Dodgers, "The Boys of Summer", which told of the Dodgers players of that era's glory years and how they were in what was then the present (early 1970s), wrapped around part of Kahn's own biography.
Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" remains a classic.

[Heath]

If you need a Reds Primer - try the following

The Cincinnati Reds - by Lee Allen - it was written in the late 40's
Anything Reds related by Greg Rhodes. Books include topics on Crosley Field, the Big Red Machine, 1869 Red Stockings, and my favorite - Redleg Journal.
Pennant Race - by Jim Brosnan - Broz was a relief pitcher on the 1961 National League pennant winners. Good book.
Cincinnati & the Big Red Machine By Walker - nice sociology comparison between the Reds and it's City in the 70's.

Non-Reds Books -

Eight Men Out - By Asimov. Read the book - even though the movie is good.
Ball Four - By Jim Bouton. Undeniable as a classic.
Our Game - By Alexander - Writer is a college professor at Ohio University who teaches a class about the history of baseball. Great reading.
Baseball America - By Donald Honig - One of the best written books of baseball of all time, IMO. It has a lot of the history of the game.

[Heath]

Edd Roush's granddaughter, Susan Dellinger, wrote about the 1919 World Series from the Reds perspective in the book Red Legs and Black Sox: Edd Roush and the Untold Story of the 1919 World Series.

Click here. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578602297/qid=1151498374/sr=1-17/ref=sr_1_17/104-4423332-4421560?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)


there is another about the 1940 Reds as well - I think the author's name is Brian Mulligan - I don't know about the title.

[dabvu2498]

Here are some more ideas:

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=90152

Be sure to read the readers' responses. They're better than the author's suggestions.

One more thought: The Last Best League (about the Cape Cod college summer league) is a great book. Highly recommend.

[BuckWoody]

there is another about the 1940 Reds as well - I think the author's name is Brian Mulligan - I don't know about the title.
Here it is. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786420901/qid=1151500666/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-4423332-4421560?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) Looks like it deals quite a bit with Willard Hershberger too.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0786420901.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I have Big Red Dynasty, Redleg Journal, and the Reds in Black and White. I really want the Susan Dellinger book, especially with the 1919 exhibit this summer at the HoF.

[westofyou]

Cincinnati Reds by Lee Allen has just been reprinted

http://upress.kent.edu/books/Allen.htm

Allen is the king, without Allen much would have been lost.

[westofyou]

I really like the ones that give insight into the game or teams or players that you normally wouldn't find on say something like a Sportscentury show on ESPN Classic, ya know?


Check out these

Baseball - Harold Seymour
Diamonds in the Rough - Zoss/Bowman
Why Time begins on Opening Day - Boswell
Men at Work - Will
Glory of their Times - Ritter
Creating the National Pastime - White
Five Seasons - Roger Angell
Numbers Game - Schwartz
Past Time - Tygial
The Ultimate Baseball Book - Okrent
Ball Four - Bouton

[dfs]

I'll second the historical baseball abstract. Very good stuff.
The Bouton book is a good read. It's a postcard from a very different place.
Lord's of the Realm may be the most illuminating text mentioned.
I've never thought Angell's stuff aged particularly well. That's me. It goes stale.

Nobody has mentioned Roger Kahn, so I guess I will. Lot's of New York stuff there, but I think "Good enough to Dream" is the best thing he did. Autobiographical details of his ownership of a low minors team in the 70s.

Whitey Herzog's book wasn't terrible. Worth a couple hours.

[westofyou]

I've never thought Angell's stuff aged particularly well. That's me. It goes stale.I agree, 5 Seasons works fo me because it has a huge section about the Tigers of the early 70's and the Reds, it's a good look at the era more than a good example of fine baseball prose.

[RedsBaron]

I agree, 5 Seasons works fo me because it has a huge section about the Tigers of the early 70's and the Reds, it's a good look at the era more than a good example of fine baseball prose.
I liked Angell's account of the 1975 World Series in 5 Seasons, probably because it has a happy ending.

[pedro]

If you want a really nice summer read I would suggest "Summer of 49" by David Halberstam. It's a chronicle of the 1949 pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox. It's a truly enjoyable read and super interesting.

[redsmetz]

The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, also...

anything by Roger Angell

I also liked Henry Aaron's autobiography... If I Had a Hammer, I think was the title.

Aaron's was co-written by the Posts' Lonnie Wheeler. He also collaborated with Bob Gibson on his biography, Strange to the Game, which I have on my Amazon Sale shelf. Other books I've presently got are The Zen of Zim (autographed), a children's book on Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller's Strikeout Story (1947 from The Big League Baseball Library), a photo book Baseball Days by Bill Littlefield and a novel "Castro's Curveball" about a player in winter ball in Cuba.

I'm currently reading Mark Harris' "The Southpaw" which is the book ahead of "Bang the Drum Slowly", which I think is a great novel. Of course, there is "The Natural", but be warned, it ends differently than the movie. Of course, there is Shoeless Joe, the novel that Field of Dreams was based on. Another book written by the same author is The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, which is crazier than Shoeless Joe. Red Barber's book, 1947, The Year All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball was a good read too.

[RedsBaron]

If you want a really nice summer read I would suggest "Summer of 49" by David Halberstam. It's a chronicle of the 1949 pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox. It's a truly enjoyable read and super interesting.
I agree, and I would also recommend Halberstam's "October 1964", which summarizes the NL and AL pennant races and the 1964 World Series between the Cardinals and Yankees.
There is also a great book about the 1948 AL pennant race between the Indians, Red Sox and Yankees, but I cannot recall its title and author, and most of my baseball books are boxed up right now, pending our move to another house.

[RedsBaron]

A short, sometimes sad and often moving read is Halberstam's "The Teammates", published just a few years ago. It is about Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky, who were teammates on the great Boston Red Sox teams from 1946 through 1950 that never quite were able to win a World Series. Much of the book deals with DiMaggio and Pesky's trip to Florida for a final meeting with Williams, whom they all knew was near death.

[NoColonBoy]

Here's a link to SABR's Essential Baseball Library:

http://baseballguru.com/b_sabr.html

The list was compiled in the late 90s but is still excellent.

I also have to echo the recommendations of Lords of the Realm (a must read for any fan with interest in the business of baseball) and Last Best League.

I've always like Halberstam, too, (October 1964 has been mentioned).