Good Baseball Books

[brewcrewfan08]

So I was looking in a book store yesterday and was trying to look for a good baseball book, so does anyone have any suggestions on good baseball books? And another question, what books has Bob Uecker written?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

(added tag --1992)

[Brian the Automator]

Weaver on Strategy

[splitterpfj]

Ueck's book is "Catcher in the Wry."

 

The article currently on the homepage gives an overview of "The Pitch that Killed", I like that one quite a bit.

[JimH5]

There are some terrific books out right now, on a variety of baseball themes.

 

I paged through the Jayson Stark book, and it looks very fun. Kurkjian's new one also looks pretty good, though it's written differently. There is one out from the Baseball Prospectus group on Playoff stretches that looks good.

 

Then for history, I'm reading Shades of Glory now on a study of Negro Leaguers. The autobiographies of Buck O'Neil and Buck Leonard are also terrific.

I have previously mentioned that I loved the Hack Wilson biography.

The Walter Johnson biography written by Henry Thomas is very good. Thomas is a relative of W. Johnson's, so he has a unique perspective, and researched it with info that others might not have had access to.

Red Legs and Black Sox is a very good book, though it's written half as a biography of Edd Roush and the other part about the Black Sox scandal--this was also written by someone in the Roush family (I forgot how she's related).

The Clemente biography and The Big Bam (on Ruth) have been very well received, though I haven't gotten to them yet. Another historical one that I want to get is Crazy '08, about the 1908 season.

 

Lots to read. . .just no time. . .

[Pedro]

So far this season I've read Crazy '08, The Gashouse Gang by John Heidenry, The Echoing Green by Joshua Prager, Big Bam by Leigh Montville, Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms by Elden Auker, The Buck O'Neil book, The Mind of Bill James, Baseball Eccentrics by Bill Lee, and Fay Vincent's book from last year. Except for Vincent's book, which was poorly transcribed for a oral history, I enjoyed most of them, with Crazy '08 at the top of the list.

Like JimH5 said, plenty to read...but time is tough. I think I have about 15 baseball books on my shelf that I haven't read yet.

[princeginterhallhelms04]

Money Ball was an interesting read. There is also a good book about scouts and dontrelle willis although i don't know the name of the book.

[pitchleague]

Lords of the Realm:: The Real History of Baseball by John Helyar was a very good book. Intriguing look into baseball in the late 80s and early 90s. An especially interesting take into the world of the owners (i.e. collusion). I was mesmerized and given a whole different outlook on the game.

[Bert55]

Ball Four and Catcher in the Wry.

 

Loved it when Uek wrote: The guy was so ugly that his face looked like it was once on fire and they put out the fire with track shoes.

[jaybird2001wi]

Ball Four by Jim Bouton. I always try to get a baseball fan coworker of mine to read the book but he just won't. It is an excellent, but one of my kleptomaniac residents (I am a caregiver) stole the book thinking it was hers from my mailbox when I had the day off. Needless to say, I never saw the book again. But I do have the 20th anniversary "Where are they now" edition with updates of all the players. It's probably a more informative read for the 1989 production of the book because of the added update section.

Fair Ball by Bob Costas was a good book, but since it revolved around the 1994 strike, it may seem a big out of sorts today. But Costas did quote Uke in the book during one of the games they covered together, Costas quoted Uke as yelling, "this game (stinks)."

[Principessa21]

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Also second Ball Four. I liked Satchel Paige's autobiography. and Birth of a Dynasty by Joel Sherman (or Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty by Olney) if you're interested in the Yankees of the past 15 years. I also heard great things about the latest Gehrig biography.

[brewcrewfan08]

What about autobiographys? i really enjoy reading them.

[bbrauch2000]

Real Grass, Real Heroes was an awesome book. Dom Dimaggio wrote about the 1941 season where he played with Ted Williams and his brother had the streak. Its a really fun read too

[Mike Felder]

Baseball Between the Numbers by the Baseball Prospectus guys is a good read. I skimmed a few of the chapters, but all in all, it was very interesting.

 

If you're into some older stuff, Catcher in the Wry by Uecker and The Umpire Strikes Back and Strike Two by former umpire Ron Luciano are good.

 

And if you want to read a gushing love letter to Tony LaRussa and Albert Pujols, pick up 3 Nights in August.

[jschris]

I love the autobiographies of Eldon Auker (as Pedro noted), Ned Garver, Billy Werber, and Virgil Trucks. Lou Boudreau's was a good, but short read and Birdie Tebbets was interesting as well. Maybe it's just me, but I'd steer clear of the Red Schoendienst book. It just didn't hold my interest too much and I'm not sure why.

 

Those are the autobiographies I thought of off the top of my head. I'm sure I'm missing a few.

[Beerambassador]

And if you want to read a gushing love letter to Tony LaRussa and Albert Pujols, pick up 3 Nights in August.

I thought this was one of the best baseball books I've ever read. I could hardly put it down and I don't consider myself a big fan of either guy.

 

[JoeH33]

Baseball Between the Numbers, by the Baseball Prospectus staff, was a good read. Its just a collection of interesting essays on how many of our preconceived notions about stats are off.

[Mike Felder]

I enjoyed the discussion of baseball strategy and the in-depth look at the series in 3 Nights in August, I just couldn't stomach the constant fawning over LaRussa and Pujols after awhile. What especially got me was when Pujols had the bum elbow early in the season and LaRussa played him in the outfield anyway, only with some convoluted strategy of him throwing to about 6 different relay men. The author gushed about the genius of such a move and never once pointed out how LaRussa was risking the career of his star player just so he could win an early season series with the Marlins.

[hawing]

I enjoyed the discussion of baseball strategy and the in-depth look at the series in 3 Nights in August, I just couldn't stomach the constant fawning over LaRussa and Pujols after awhile.

 

Oh, so this isn't a book about the Brewers' last series? Sorry. I guess that would be "2 Nights and 1 Day in August."

 

I thought the Schoendienst autobiography was all right. My library has one on Eddie Mathews which I really enjoyed, enough to buy my own copy. The Clemente biography by Maraniss is very good.

[Mike Felder]

Ha. There's actually a very similar book, Nine Innings, that takes an in-depth look at one game between the Brewers and Orioles back in the early 80s. 3 Nights in August is sort of an updated, expanded version of that book.

[splitterpfj]

Some more great biographies/autobiographies...

 

"I Had a Hammer" - Henry Aaron

"Luckiest Man" (Lou Gehrig) - Jonathan Eig

"Cobb" (Ty Cobb) - Al Stump (This is the one the movie was based on)

"Ted Williams - The Biography of an American Hero" - Leigh Montville

"Joe DiMaggio - The Hero's Life" - Richard Ben Cramer

 

One other good biography, that is related, but is not a baseball book - "Rothstein" (The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series") - David Pietrusza

 

If I recommended one baseball book, it would have to be "Ball Four"...whichever version you can get. Thank you, Jim Bouton

[RockCoCougars]

"The Glory of Their Times" is a must read if you are into old-school (turn of the last century) baseball. I second the "Lords of the Realgm" suggestion.

 

Some fun quick reads on bad teams are "The Curse of Rocky Colavito" about the bad Indian teams of the 1960s-1990s and

"Seasons In Hell With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog And "The Worst Baseball Team In History"-The 1973-1975 Texas Rangers ".

[flosses like fossas]

as no one has mentioned any novels thus far, here are a couple of personal favorites... 1) underworld by don delillo - delillo is a pulitzer-quality novelist and underworld is considered to be his opus. the plot of the book centers around one man's quest to find the ball bobby thompson hit to win the '51 series (the shot heard round the world). it was runner-up in a new york times poll of best american fiction of the last 25 years (a 2006 survey). 2) the universal baseball association by robert coover is a great read for anyone who is or ever has been a stats maniac. the protagonist of the book gets unbelievably deep into the drama of what is, at root, dice baseball, living vicariously through the players.

 

 

digression: why have so many people here recommended books that have been previously mentioned (within the thread) without reference to the prior reference or expansion of prior thoughts about the books? this sort of redundancy seems to happen a lot throughout this board and i just don't get it. if it's already been said, what good does it do to repeat the recommendation verbatim?

[jli27.u]

One of my favorite topics. My favorites:

 

 

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

The Final Season: Fathers, Sons, and One Last Season in a Classic American Ballpark (Honoring a Detroit Legend)- Tom Stanton

Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America - Tom Stanton

Me and Hank: A Boy and His Hero, Twenty-Five Years Later - Sandy Tolan

Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir - Doris Kearns Goodwin

Thomas Boswell collections are an old favorite, too.

 

 

also, not technically a baseball book, but a fiction selection with lots of baseball: The Brothers, K, by David James Duncan. AWESOME.

[ewizabeff]

Does anyone have anything else to add to this thread? I'll be done reading for class on May 3 (hooray!) and I want to pick up some baseball books. I'm not really interested in statistical analysis...I liked Moneyball and I enjoy reading about the business side of baseball. I'm also a little light on my baseball history knowledge so I"ll probably have to pick up some of the historical books already mentioned.

 

Last summer I picked up Ninety Feet From Fame - a bunch of short stories about players that just missed being famous because of injuries, circumstances, other great players, etc. It took me forever to read, but it was very interesting.

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

I highly recommend "I Had a Hammer" and "Summer of 49"...