# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/21 "2013-12-22T01:02:54Z")
Art of fielding. College baseball story. A good guy book. ---
**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 22, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/22 "2013-12-22T01:08:30Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I like reading books about the very early days of baseball. _Baseball Before We Knew It_ recommended, in that case. > [@](#): > > [Slide Kelly, Slide](http://www.amazon.com/Slide-Kelly-Baseballs-Superstar-American/dp/1578860032) is a great book, although the listed price is insane. Many copies available in the $10-15 range. Do you have to have an original edition? ---
**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, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/23 "2013-12-22T04:00:14Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > _Baseball Before We Knew It_ recommended, in that case. > Many copies available in the $10-15 range. Do you have to have an original edition? No, but picking up a baseball book, in the snow and cold, for free in the Chicago Public library system, is priceless. ---
**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 22, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/24 "2013-12-22T04:19:39Z")
[The Crooked Pitch: An Account of the Curveball in American Baseball History](http://www.amazon.com/The-Crooked-Pitch-Curveball-American/dp/0912697083) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/25 "2013-12-22T04:31:44Z")
[Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers](http://www.amazon.com/Bums-History-Brooklyn-Dodgers-Baseball/dp/0486477355) was absolutely fascinating, and I knew little about the Brooklyn history of the Dodgers prior to reading it. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/26 "2013-12-22T06:38:57Z")
There are a couple of books where Earl Weaver (Baltimore Orioles manager) was attributed as the author. If you want to understand the mind and strategy of a manager they are a must. You can learn a lot about the nuances of the game just by reading them. If you absorb what he is saying you will look at the game of baseball entirely differently. Not everyone agrees with his managing style and decisions but it will give you a basis to work with. ---
**Author:** ![Dostoyevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Dostoyevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostoyevsky)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/27 "2013-12-22T15:33:57Z")
At the risk of sounding redundant, I want to once more thank everyone for the recommendations. I’m a college student on Christmas break, and I wish I had more time between now and next semester to read many of the books listed here. If I don’t get around to reading most of the books in this thread over break, I’ll probably add several of them to my ever growing to-read list. And here’s another question: is there a good book about the history of the World Series? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/28 "2013-12-22T17:42:27Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > _The Umpire Strikes Back_ by [Ron Luciano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Luciano). He wrote several other books as well. Agreed. _Strike Two, The Fall of the Roman Umpire_, etc. They are an hilarious look at the game from the umpire’s point of view. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/29 "2013-12-23T07:50:48Z")
yahoo.com > [@AppallingGael](#): > > 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. Eh, the good news is I’ve figured out the book title I was going for was “Where Have You Gone, Vince DiMaggio?”, but the bad news is that it seems very likely that the story is a fake, per [this site](http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c03a87ec) (the last-but-one paragraph, “a more popular and widely circulated anecdote…”, where “the story seems far too good to be true”, and I suppose it does, at that). ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/30 "2013-12-23T20:57:26Z")
I recall enjoying Leonard Koppett’s _The Thinking Fan’s Guide To Baseball_. The section looking at the designated hitter might be my favorite part, if only because it is a fairly dispassionate analysis of a subject that often is discussed with a needless amount of partisan bickering. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/31 "2013-12-23T21:08:42Z")
Some of the best writing about baseball came from Roger Angell, in the essays he did twice-yearly for The New Yorker. Those were compiled into several collections; which are wonderful (although dated) reading. The best of these is _Five Seasons_, and its piece on the 1975 World Series should be especially entertaining for a Sox fan (although it doesn’t have a happy ending). ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/32 "2013-12-24T07:53:28Z")
The recent book by Reggie Jackson and Bob Gibson was excellent… they really spoke from a hitter and pitchers point of view. Both intense competitors… Sixty feet and six inches… the bio on Koufax most recent one… really enjoyed that as well ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/33 "2013-12-24T18:21:46Z")
After a quick perusal of this thread, I don’t see any mention of **The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship** , written by David Halberstam (2004). It’s one of the last books written by the late, great writer, chronicling the lifelong friendship of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom Dimaggio and Johnny Pesky. It’s essential reading for any Red Sox fan and an understanding of the franchise before 2004. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/34 "2013-12-24T19:07:54Z")
I’ll echo all the Bill James’ books, Baseball Between the Numbers, and Art of Fielding as very, very good choices. I also really enjoyed [Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History](http://smile.amazon.com/Crazy-08-Boneheads-Magnates-Greatest/dp/B002ECEGBQ/) about the 1908 Pennant Races in both the National League & American League. Though it is more an NL book (the Cubs, Giants, and Pirates had an incredible race that year) ---
**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 24, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/35 "2013-12-24T22:22:41Z")
That was the year of Merkle’s Boner, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822/36 "2013-12-28T06:22:24Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > That was the year of Merkle’s Boner, wasn’t it? Either that, or Fred Snodgrass’s muffed fly ball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/essential-baseball-books/676822.md?page=1)