I’m looking for good books on baseball in general, the history of the AL, and any good books about the Red Sox. I’m currently reading Francona: the Red Sox Years by Dan Shaughnessy, Are We Winning: Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball by Will Leitch, and *As They See 'Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires* by Bruce Weber, and these are pretty good. I’ve ordered Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, because I hear it’s really good. Given my interests, what should I also read? And has anyone read George F. Will’s Men at Work? Is it any good?
You know, the companion guide to Ken Burn’s Baseball has been one of my favorite BB reads since it came out in 1994. A bit dated now, of course, but still a lovely book with lots of information. Read the reviews and you’ll find many that love this book as much as I do.
God, I love Ken Burns! I’m excited to know that there’s a book about his film.
Ball Four by Jim Bouton.
The first mass-market Bill James Baseball Abstract (1982), if you can find a copy (or if it’s available in PDF form online somewhere).
I enjoyed Men at Work when I read it, but that was about 20 years ago, so it’s possible that it hasn’t held up well.
If you enjoy the statistics side of the game, I recommend Baseball Between the Numbers. It’s a very interesting read, and illustrates why a lot of the conventional wisdom in the game may be mistaken.
Also, though it’s fiction, The Curious Case of Sidd Finch (if you can find it in print) by George Plimpton is hilarious.
Joe Posnanski’s The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America or Buck’s own I Was Right On Time are fantastic looks into the Negro Leagues. I also heard Lee Lowenfish speak last year about Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. Apparently his Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman is about as complete a biography on the man you’ll find.
The All-Time Baseball Sourcebook, which I don’t have myself but I do have its companion, the All-Time Major Leauge Handbook.
Seconded. Be sure to get a late edition, with the updates. Bouton’s life and baseball career is almost more interesting after his year with the Pilots. Or should I say, continues to be interesting. Yeah, suuuuurrrre.
There’s also value in Stump’s Cobb: The Meanest Man Who Ever Played Baseball beyond the biography of Cobb.
Many of my favorites have been listed here. I’ll add two Bill James books: *The Bill James Book of Baseball Managers *and The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. The first book is a really fascinating book breaking down how great managers differed from each other and how those differences were significant. James downplays some managerial choices, like batting order, and emphasizes others, like how the managers balanced young players and veterans and how they used their bench players. This book fundamentally changed how I look at the games.
The larger book doesn’t carry the same degree of revelation, but gives James a chance to write about numerous topics, some trivial and some not so much, in what are ostensibly sections on baseball’s eras and player biographies. Many - if not most - bios go off on tangents, analyzing some aspect of the game that figured in how that player performed. The New Abstract is more of a bathroom/bedside book than a focused effort, but it’s still good.
A few of my favorites that haven’t been mentioned:
A False Spring by Pat Jordan - a memoir of the author’s time as a young pitching prospect who never made it.
The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn - a look back at some of the players that made up the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 40s and 50s.
Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy by Jules Tygiel is the best book I’ve read on this most important part of baseball history.
And not forgetting fiction:
The Southpaw and Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris - telling the story of young pitcher Henry Wiggen and his teammates on the fictional New York Mammoths of the 1950’s. Written from Wiggen’s point of view, his voice in telling his story is unique yet spot on.
Been on my must-read-soon list for a long time. Thanks for the reminder. I know most of the Bill Veeck stories, have to get the complete tale…
I read Men at Work and found it rather dull. I do enjoy Will’s annual baseball quizzes in his column.
Of others mentioned so far, I liked Boys of Summer and Veeck as in Wreck. I read the non-updated Ball Four, and it was good, though not uproariously funny, aside from the line “I was trying to compete for the entertainment dollar”. Maybe its fame is more because it was revealing for its time.
I imagine you’ve read My Turn at Bat, but it’s a good one, regardless. Glory of Their Times, of course. There was another book, like “Glory…” in comprising brief memoirs of former players, though this one featuring more forties-fifties-sixties-seventies names, and generally not your best-of-the-best types, but damned if I can recall the title. I mention because one chapter (on Jesse Flores, I think) recounted the best Ted WIlliams story I’ve ever seen.
I happen just to have picked up for a buck at the Strand here in nyc an uncorrected proof of Donald Honig’s “Baseball America” for a buck. Inside the cover were a couple of loose B&W photos, one of Williams taking practice swings, and one of Lou Gehrig helping his mother with the dishes.
For a change of pace yet historical baseball reading, you might want to read Robert B Parker’s Double Play. It’s about a guy hired to be Jackie Robinson’s bodyguard during his first season in the pros.
Sounds interesting. I’ll definitely read some reviews about it. Thanks for the recommendation.
I appreciate all the responses in this thread. The Dope is terrific for finding good books.
By the way, has anyone read Emma Span’s *90% of the Game is Half Mental*? I hear it’s funny as hell.
Dirk Hayhurst’s biographical novels are outstanding insights into the careers of fringe players. Well written, honest, and informative.
I like reading books about the very early days of baseball. Slide Kelly, Slide is a great book, although the listed price is insane. I check it out from the library at least once a year and at this time of year, there is no demand for baseball books.