I want to mention a more modern bit of fiction that I greatly enjoyed.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.
https://kenyonreview.org/kr-online-i...ldson_harbach/
The book follows the career of a college SS who is looking to set the NCAA record for consecutive errorless games. His favorite book is the Art of Fielding by his hero Aparicio Rodriquez. There is lots of baseball and enough odd people to make you laugh and root for the players.