# Essential baseball books **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 20, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822 "2013-12-20T15:37:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/1 "2013-12-20T15:37:35Z")
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_](http://www.amazon.com/Francona-Red-Sox-Years-Terry/dp/0547928173/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387553496&sr=1-1&keywords=francona+the+red+sox+years) by Dan Shaughnessy, [_Are We Winning: Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball_](http://www.amazon.com/Are-We-Winning-Fathers-Baseball/dp/B0043RT8P4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387553450&sr=1-1&keywords=are+we+winning) by Will Leitch, and [\*As They See 'Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires](http://www.amazon.com/As-They-See-Em-Travels-ebook/dp/B001SSRC3G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387553526&sr=1-1&keywords=umpires)\* by Bruce Weber, and these are pretty good. I’ve ordered [_Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game_](http://www.amazon.com/Moneyball-Art-Winning-Unfair-Game/dp/0393324818/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387553628&sr=1-1&keywords=moneyball) 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_](http://www.amazon.com/Men-at-Work-Craft-Baseball/dp/0061999814/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387553823&sr=1-1&keywords=men+at+work)? Is it any good? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/2 "2013-12-20T15:51:31Z")
You know, [the companion guide](http://www.amazon.com/BASEBALL~AN-ILLUSTRATED-HISTORY-GEOFFREY-BURNS/dp/B007324NWE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/3 "2013-12-20T15:59:50Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > You know, [the companion guide](http://www.amazon.com/BASEBALL~AN-ILLUSTRATED-HISTORY-GEOFFREY-BURNS/dp/B007324NWE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2) 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. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/4 "2013-12-20T16:17:16Z")
_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). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/5 "2013-12-20T16:22:24Z")
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](http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387556432&sr=1-1&keywords=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. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/6 "2013-12-20T16:25:08Z")
Joe Posnanski’s The [Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America](http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Baseball-Through-America/dp/0060854049/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1387556529&sr=1-2) or Buck’s own [I Was Right On Time](http://www.amazon.com/Was-Right-Time-Buck-Oneil-ebook/dp/B003L77XDQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387556593&sr=1-3&keywords=buck+oneil) 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](http://www.amazon.com/Branch-Rickey-Baseballs-Ferocious-Gentleman/dp/0803224532/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387556630&sr=1-1&keywords=branch+rickey) is about as complete a biography on the man you’ll find. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/7 "2013-12-20T16:31:12Z")
As a Sox fan, you may not have the same appreciation I have for [Dynasty](http://www.amazon.com/Dynasty-Yankees-1949-1964-Dover-Baseball/dp/0486477363), but it’s one of my faves. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/8 "2013-12-20T16:43:29Z")
The [All-Time Baseball Sourcebook](http://www.amazon.com/James-Presents-All-Time-Baseball-Sourcebook/dp/1884064531/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1), which I don’t have myself but I do have its companion, the [All-Time Major Leauge Handbook](http://www.amazon.com/STATS-All-Time-Major-League-Handbook/dp/1884064817/ref=pd_sim_b_1). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/9 "2013-12-20T16:45:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > _Ball Four_ by Jim Bouton. 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. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/10 "2013-12-20T18:37:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 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](http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Between-Numbers-Everything-About/dp/0465005470/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387556432&sr=1-1&keywords=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. _[The Physics of Baseball](http://www.amazon.com/The-Physics-Baseball-3rd-Edition/dp/0060084367)_ by Robert Adair. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/11 "2013-12-20T21:05:25Z")
Two of my favorites: [Veeck as in Wreck](http://www.amazon.com/Veeck--As-Wreck-Autobiography-Bill-Veeck/dp/0226852180/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387573158&sr=1-1&keywords=veeck+as+in+wreck) [Stolen Season](http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Season-Journey-Through-Baseballs/dp/039457608X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387573226&sr=1-2&keywords=Stolen+Season) ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/12 "2013-12-20T21:56:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/13 "2013-12-20T22:55:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/14 "2013-12-20T22:59:56Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > [Veeck as in Wreck](http://www.amazon.com/Veeck--As-Wreck-Autobiography-Bill-Veeck/dp/0226852180/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387573158&sr=1-1&keywords=veeck+as+in+wreck) 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… ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/15 "2013-12-21T04:34:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/16 "2013-12-21T05:09:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/17 "2013-12-21T06:13:58Z")
_The Umpire Strikes Back_ by [Ron Luciano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Luciano). He wrote several other books as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/18 "2013-12-21T15:18:28Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > 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](http://www.amazon.com/90-Game-Is-Half-Mental/dp/0345501756/ref=pd_sim_b_10)\*? I hear it’s funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/19 "2013-12-21T18:32:54Z")
Dirk Hayhurst’s biographical novels are outstanding insights into the careers of fringe players. Well written, honest, and informative. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/20 "2013-12-22T00:29:23Z")
I like reading books about the very early days of baseball. [Slide Kelly, Slide](http://www.amazon.com/Slide-Kelly-Baseballs-Superstar-American/dp/1578860032) 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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822.md?page=2)