Any Recommendations for Baseball Non-Fiction?

cwazzy · July 30, 2007 4:04AM

I am looking to purchase another non-fiction baseball book and am curious as to what you guys would recommend. I am currently reading Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer and really enjoy reading about players from the 1950's and before, especially about players from the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cardinals. I will consider anything. Thanks for any ideas.

Chris

itzagoner · July 30, 2007 4:06AM

read Jim Brosnans' The Long Season

gotsparks09 · July 30, 2007 4:06AM

The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter

MeteoriteGuy · July 30, 2007 4:07AM

Not Brooklyn, but the Mickey Mantle book , "The Mick" is a great read, and you can likely pick up a copy fairly cheap, via amazon or like, as it was mass produced.

Mark

Wondo · July 30, 2007 4:08AM

I always loved Leo Durocher's bio "Nice Guys Finish Last." Good stuff.

jskirwin · July 30, 2007 4:16AM

The Spirit of St. Louis

Covers Browns as well as Cardinals from their founding onward.

FavreFan1971 · July 30, 2007 4:20AM

I personally lover Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker.

Bigstep · July 30, 2007 4:29AM

" The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book" by Boyd and Harris. Funny stuff with great pictures and comments about older cards.

Rich

ajw · July 30, 2007 4:33AM

The Glory of their Times is a must read.
Veeck as in Wreck and Lords of the Realm are my two all-time favorite baseball books, though.

DerekD · July 30, 2007 5:05AM

Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy. Covers the 1908 season in very interesting detail. The Glory of Their Times is also a good read.

DD

scooter729 · July 30, 2007 5:06AM

Fitting your specific preference, I just started "Opening Day" by Jonathan Eig. It profiles the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson's first season. Good book so far, though I'm only 30 pages into it now.

Clemaz · July 30, 2007 5:19AM

"Just play ball" by Joe Garagiola. Easy read very intersting and funny.

Goodsport40 · July 30, 2007 5:34AM

Lords of the Realm is a great one. Also, Eight Men Out is a good read even if you have seen the movie.

Robert

Goot · July 30, 2007 5:36AM

Black and Blue but I forget who it was written by. It's about the 1966 Orioles.

ArnyVee · July 30, 2007 5:57AM

Another vote for Glory of their Times....great book.

TNP777 · July 30, 2007 6:14AM

The Catcher Was A Spy - The Moe Berg Story

sagard · July 30, 2007 6:18AM

The Umpire Strikes Back by Ron Luciano is pretty damn funny.

MooseDog · July 30, 2007 6:22AM

You are already reading one of the great ones in the Boys of Summer. As already mentioned, Glory of their Times is a must read, as is the Great American Flipping, Trading, etc...if you can find it.

Some of the older books are well worth reading. Some I would highly recommend...in no particular order.

1) Baseball Is a Very Funny Game by Joe Garagiola
2) This Great Game (don't remember author)
3) Ball Four by Jim Bouton (this was the first book to blow the lid off the "what goes on in the clubhouse, stays in the clubhouse" rule)
4) Moneyball by Michael Lewis
5) Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck
6) Only The Ball Was White by Robert Peterson (still the best book on Negro League history)

If you want a breezy fiction look for the novelization of THE CURIOUS CASE OF SIDD FINCH by George Plimpton. He expands his legendary SI story into a full novel and I found it very enjoyable.

Tedw9 · July 30, 2007 6:38AM

Last summer I read a great book called "Say It Ain't So Joe" about Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox scandal. Great book with lots of very interesting facts about the World Series and Joes involvement.

Another book I would recommend is "The Short Stop" by Zane Grey. Good story and a real good feel of how things were back in the early 1900's. This book is a work of fiction but still a good read.

cwazzy · July 30, 2007 7:29AM

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will have to pick most of these up eventually.

Chris

rmoss · July 30, 2007 7:48AM

Good Enough to Dream by Roger Kahn.

He spends a summer with the Utica, NY Blue Sox. Book was written in the mid 80's about the 83 Utica team.

Read the book 10 or so years ago. I seem to remember I enjoyed the book. Had to look up the title on Google.

ajw · July 30, 2007 8:29AM

ESPN columnist Rob Neyer has a *great* reading list. It's several years old, but you can't go wrong with this one. Robert Creamer's book Babe is first on the list, and it really is a great read. I'd highly recommend it.

Here is Neyer's List.

rbdjr1 · July 30, 2007 8:33AM

"The Echoing Green" by Joshua Prager
A definitive look back at what many regard as the most dramatic moment in baseball history—Bobby Thomson's ninth-inning home run that won the '51 pennant for the comeback New York Giants over the archrival Brooklyn Dodgers. Recent revelations have also made it one of the most intriguing cases of alleged baseball espionage.

"Baseball" by George Vecsey
A minimalist history from a man who reveres the game and chronicles its roots with great judgment of subject matter and an elegant style.

"Bim Bam" by Leigh Montville
Montville, an ex-Sports Illustrated and Boston Globe scribe, has already tackled one of baseball's most interesting stars, Ted Williams. This time he meets the challenge of the game's most colorful—and also most covered—superstar with an effusively stylish bio of the one and only Babe Ruth.

TheVon · July 30, 2007 8:51AM

I have to second the mention of "Ball Four." Great story and well-written.

I would also recommend Bob Costas' book "Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball." It might be a little outdated already, but it was still interesting/compelling reading.

Red Sox fans should read: "Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top" as well as Stephen King's "Faithful."

JVette · July 30, 2007 9:23AM

Veeck as in Wreck, Bill Veeck's autobiography is a great read. It gives you some insight as to how owners viewed the game in the 1950's from one of the most colorful owners of all-time.
- Jack

baseballfan · July 31, 2007 12:21AM

i'm reading "the Mick" by mantle right now, i'm not a yankee fan but its pretty good so far. i also like "the only way i know" by ripken.
i just bought that baseballcard book "great american baseballcard flippin..." i heard that was pretty good as well. the seller of that book has a couple of auctions with 10 baseball books for $10 plus shipping and a couple of the books mentioned he are listed, if you don't mind softcovers you can get 10 for the price of one and go from there. the seller is smellystuff24

good luck

Tabe · July 31, 2007 6:38AM

<< <i>Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy. Covers the 1908 season in very interesting detail.
DD >>

I just finished Crazy '08 myself. Excellent book.

I also recently read "Luckiest Man", a biography of Lou Gehrig. Excellent as well.

I'll throw in another recommendation for "Big Bam", too. Very well-done.

Tabe

bxb · July 31, 2007 7:25AM

My Favorite Summer 1956 - Mickey Mantle and Phil Pepe

The Teammates - David Halberstam

Perfect, Once removed - Phillip Hoose

The Last Best League - Jim Collins

cwazzy · July 31, 2007 7:37AM

Well, I just picked up two books based on everyones recommendations: The Glory of Their Times and Catcher Was a Spy: the Mysterious Life of Moe Berg. The second one just sounded like a very interesting topic and I can't wait to read it. Thanks again for everyones suggestions. I will pick up a couple more as soon as more funds come in.

Chris

Any Recommendations for Baseball Non-Fiction?

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