Favorite Baseball Book

[Syd Thrift]

I mean, to each their own but that’s kind of the point of Hobbs: he’s an Arthurian hero, not necessarily a great person so much as a person destined for greatness. I think in the latter part of the book, where he’s screwed up badly and wants to make up for it, that’s where you start to emphasize with him even as you understand he simply cannot save himself anymore.

I guess no book is for everyone, though personally I dislike the movie far, far more than any feeling I have towards the book tbh.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

I'm surprised that there isn't more love for Ring Lardner. GREAT writer.

The time I managed to accidentally include my grandmother's copy of You Know Me, Al in a batch of books I took to the library's night drop before moving west in 1989 is one of my great shames. (Especially given that the next time I was in Philadelphia was in 1993, which was far too late for me to fix that error. Grrr.)

I mean, I assume I could buy the book again. But that particular edition (from 1924, IIRC) would be harder to find.

Mark Harris, anyone? I grant you that the Henry Wiggen of The Southpaw (as performed by Paul Newman on TV in the 1950s) is far less sophisticated than the Tom Seaver-manque Michael Moriarty plays Wiggen as in Bang the Drum Slowly (1972), but Harris's story still has power.

[hurricanekevin]

Something a little different but I love this history book on baseball and American imperialism... Great narrative and well researched



"The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad" By Robert Elias (2010)

[pauwoo]

Originally Posted by hurricanekevin

Something a little different but I love this history book on baseball and American imperialism... Great narrative and well researched



"The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad" By Robert Elias (2010)

Added to my list... thanks!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Beentherize

It'll probably be The Baseball 100, the last work I re-read, and somehow I remember it.

It took me a moment to realize that you were speaking of a book but when I found it, I was impressed. A solid 4.8 out of 5 stars on both Amazon and Goodreads (1,568 and 1,632 ratings respectively).



Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,​The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players.

https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-100-.../dp/1982180587

And so, in the words of pauwoo, "Added to my list... thanks!"

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

It took me a moment to realize that you were speaking of a book but when I found it, I was impressed. A solid 4.8 out of 5 stars on both Amazon and Goodreads (1,568 and 1,632 ratings respectively).

...

Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,​The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players.

...

And so, in the words of pauwoo, "Added to my list... thanks!"

FWIW, this book was recommended by a delayed spammer whom I've since banned (they edited spam into a post of theirs in another thread). A delayed spammer is an account that posts seemingly legitimately and then only some time later edits their post with some ad link, often about essay writing or drugs. Some threads are magnets for these spammers. And unfortunately this thread is one of them as several have been banned from it already as I'm sure more will be in the future.

Anyway, it may still be a worthwhile book, it's certainly by a well known author, but I'm just posting to let everyone know to maybe be a bit skeptical of any advice from an account with only a few posts or less.

[Déjà Bru]

Thanks for the heads-up. That book which he used as his excuse for a foothold is legitimate, though.

By the way, has anybody read this? It looks interesting and it's on my short-term reading list:



I will come back with a review after I have read it.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by kq76

FWIW, this book was recommended by a delayed spammer whom I've since banned (they edited spam into a post of theirs in another thread). A delayed spammer is an account that posts seemingly legitimately and then only some time later edits their post with some ad link, often about essay writing or drugs. Some threads are magnets for these spammers. And unfortunately this thread is one of them as several have been banned from it already as I'm sure more will be in the future.

Anyway, it may still be a worthwhile book, it's certainly by a well known author, but I'm just posting to let everyone know to maybe be a bit skeptical of any advice from an account with only a few posts or less.

TBH I still have a bad taste in my mouth regarding Posnanski for all of his work covering for Joe Paterno and the Notre Dame coaching squad during that horrible pedophilia scandal they had a few years ago. I get that JoePa was a lifelong hero to him but man, you're a reporter and when you hear about stuff like this, it's your duty to report it, not contribute to the coverup and then write apologia about the head of the program because, like, in spite of looking the other way when his DC was diddling kids in the shower you thought he gave good speeches and stuff.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

By the way, has anybody read this? It looks interesting and it's on my short-term reading list:

Unfortunately, and although at least some of you would probably think it's great, I couldn't get into this book. It is literally a blow-by-blow (swing-by-swing?) story of the longest professional baseball game in history: Triple-A Rochester Red Wings at the Pawtucket Red Sox, April 18–19, 1981, 32 innings before finally being suspended just after 4am. The resumption in June took only one inning for the Red Sox to finally win it in the 33rd inning, 3-2.

If you are into minor league baseball, give the book a try. I wanted to like it but the details, including sketches of dozens of ballplayers and other people involved, just shut me down. Frankly, the interesting things about that game and some of the players in it like Wade Boggs and Cal Rikpen Jr., you can get from reading Wikipedia.

[Cod]

I went to the used bookstore yesterday and picked up a plethora of baseball books:

• Summer of '49 by Halberstam
• Pennant Races: Baseball at its Best by Anderson
• The Power and The Darkness: Life of Josh Gibson in the Shadows of the Game by Ribowsky
• The Duke of Flatbush by Snider and Gilbert
• Only the Ball Was White by Peterson
• Fifty-Nine in '84 by Achorn
• The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the NY Giants Created Modern Baseball by Deford

No idea when I'll get to these because I haven't put them in my "To Be Read" list, but couldn't pass up the opportunity. I also got a few mathematics books, but most people don't care to hear about those .

If anyone has any questions about any of them, I'll gladly share more info.

[kq76]

That sounds like a great used bookstore. I only very rarely find good baseball books in used bookstores. Do you want to share what it is called and where it is?

[Cod]

Originally Posted by kq76

That sounds like a great used bookstore. I only very rarely find good baseball books in used bookstores. Do you want to share what it is called and where it is?

The store is called Half Price Books (https://www.hpb.com/all-stores-list) and I believe they sell some of their used books online as well. The company was founded in Texas so I have plenty of options to checkout when I'm on the hunt. Plus, their flagship store in Dallas is enormous.

[Syd Thrift]

Half Price Books also has a number of stores in the Pacific Northwest and one, weirdly enough, in Indianapolis. My first job outside of Seattle, that store was right down the road from where I lived. Dallas based store or not, it felt like a little slice of home…

[Jordan]

Going to check everyone else's suggestions out, but being a lifelong Cubs fan, I found it interesting that I had a real hard-on for Yankees-adjacent books growing up

I really liked Lou Piniella's autobiography as well as Boomer Wells'. There was another Yankees book that the title escapes me. It was written by someone who worked in their PR staff or front office but I can't remember the title/author for the life of me. I just remember the cover/jacket has a Pinstripe motif going on. Covered several decades of the team

[Scipio Africanus]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Half Price Books also has a number of stores in the Pacific Northwest and one, weirdly enough, in Indianapolis. My first job outside of Seattle, that store was right down the road from where I lived. Dallas based store or not, it felt like a little slice of home…

HPB has 4 stores in Indianapolis and suburbs. They came in 30-40 years ago and, sadly, drove out most of the other used book stores of any size. Fortunately there are some good used bookstores remaining in other nearby cities like Bloomington and Ft. Wayne.

I do like HPB though. For buying anyway, not selling. You're better off giving your books to the library or charity than you are selling stuff to HPB for the pittance they will give you.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Cod

The store is called Half Price Books (https://www.hpb.com/all-stores-list) and I believe they sell some of their used books online as well. The company was founded in Texas so I have plenty of options to checkout when I'm on the hunt. Plus, their flagship store in Dallas is enormous.

Every time I see an HPB, I stop and shop.

I have a couple of favorite authors, with out of print books, that I routinely find here. It helps that they have a huge boardgame section as well..and I have found several old Avalon Hill wargames there.

[Cod]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Every time I see an HPB, I stop and shop.

I have a couple of favorite authors, with out of print books, that I routinely find here. It helps that they have a huge boardgame section as well..and I have found several old Avalon Hill wargames there.

I'm the same way. I really enjoy going in there to find all sports books and recently, I use HPB as a way to find fiction books/authors I may not otherwise have read. The staff are always pretty friendly and willing to offer recommendations if you have a genre in mind.

[Syd Thrift]

Half Price Books is low key one of the things I really miss about living in Seattle and even - gasp - Indianapolis.

[zappa1]

I have a book of Yogisms. Yes from Yogi Berra. And a book on all of baseballs ball parks past and present. That's it.

[Patsy Tebeau]

Definitely The Glory of Their Times. I got that one on my 16th birthday and basically reread it daily since.