# Recommend some classic baseball books **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [June 28, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151 "2021-06-28T03:09:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/1 "2021-06-28T03:09:05Z")
At least 6 years ago I picked up, in a used book store, the book "Willie Mays " by James Hirsch. Had forgotten about it but now have amost finished it and it’s great, it is not only Willie Mays’ history and baseball history but American history. I can remember now as a kid of 10 or 12 (early 70s) reading paperback books like “Great Linebackers of the NFL” or “Great Quarterbacks of the NFL” . “Punt, Pass and Kick” series. Anyone remember those? Can’t remember one about baseball but I’m sure I read a few. And I do remember reading Leo Durocher’s “Nice Guys Finish Last.” And I read “The Bad Guys Won” about the 1986 Mets I am familar with, although haven’t read, “The Boys of Summer” and “Ball Four”. What else should I add to my list? ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/2 "2021-06-28T03:21:20Z")
The companion book to the Ken Burns documentary: > **[Amazon.com: Baseball: An Illustrated History: 9780375711978: Ward, Geoffrey C.,...](https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Illustrated-Geoffrey-C-Ward/dp/037571197X)** > > Amazon.com: Baseball: An Illustrated History: 9780375711978: Ward, Geoffrey C., Burns, Ken, Baker, Kevin: Books ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/3 "2021-06-28T03:21:39Z")
“Crazy ‘08” by Cait Murphy is a fascinating tale about the 1908 season, a couple of memorable pennant races, and the last time the Cubs won the World Series (before 2016, anyway). It’s a great book. I really like “Lords of the Realm” by John Helyar too, although it’s less about the game on the field and more about the owners and how they kept their hold on power over the sport. Well-written and interesting. It’s hard to go wrong with Roger Angell - I’ve re-read “Five Seasons” and “Late Innings” multiple times. They’ll take you back to the players and teams and seasons of the 1970s. And if you like historical rankings of players thrown in with the miscellaneous side thoughts of a restless baseball mind you’d like Bill James’ “Historical Baseball Abstract” (it’s much more interesting than the title gives it credit for). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/4 "2021-06-28T03:31:04Z")
While autobiography and memoirs can be hit or miss, I read an old copy of Joe Garagiola’s “Baseball is a Funny Game” years ago and found it fascinating. A look back at a league and way of doing baseball that simply no longer exists. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/5 "2021-06-28T03:31:44Z")
Here are some interesting books about baseball in general: > **[Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections: Wong,...](https://www.amazon.com/Smithsonian-Baseball-Inside-Private-Collections/dp/B002ECEFC6)** > > Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections \[Wong, Stephen\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections > **[Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon: McCabe, Neal:...](https://www.amazon.com/Baseballs-Golden-Age-Photographs-Charles/dp/0810981777)** > > Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon \[McCabe, Neal\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon > **[The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon's Golden Age Baseball Photographs: McCabe, Neal,...](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Show-Charles-Baseball-Photographs/dp/1419700693)** > > The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon's Golden Age Baseball Photographs \[McCabe, Neal, McCabe, Constance, Kahn, Roger\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Big Show: Charles M. Conlon's Golden Age Baseball Photographs > **[Baseball Visions of the Roaring Twenties: A Fan's Photographs of More Than 400...](https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Visions-Roaring-Twenties-Photographs/dp/0786441232)** > > Baseball Visions of the Roaring Twenties: A Fan's Photographs of More Than 400 Players and Ballparks of the Era \[Photographs by George E. Outland, Text by John W. Outland, Text by John W. Outland\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers.... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/6 "2021-06-28T10:54:10Z")
Jim Bouton (who died a couple years ago) wrote _Ball Four_. I haven’t read the book in many decades, but remember laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/7 "2021-06-28T11:03:45Z")
_Veeck As In Wreck_ by Bill Veeck. Describes managing a ballclub with special emphasis on it as an entertainment business. (Minor offshoot: If you enjoy that, be sure to read his book about running a racetrack in _Thirty Tons a Day_. In it, he makes one remark of how much nicer the “racetrack” people are as compared to the “ballclub” people.) ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/8 "2021-06-28T11:21:58Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > While autobiography and memoirs can be hit or miss, I read an old copy of Joe Garagiola’s “Baseball is a Funny Game” years ago and found it fascinating. A look back at a league and way of doing baseball that simply no longer exists. - Something I learned from that book. That’s Garagiola looking out the window above the 483 sign. [![](https://www.alabamapioneers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/willie-mays-1954-world-series-catch.jpg) ](https://www.alabamapioneers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/willie-mays-1954-world-series-catch.jpg) He had been traded to the Giants after the World Series deadline and wasn’t allowed to suit up and sit in the dugout. He watched the whole Series from the clubhouse. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/9 "2021-06-28T11:32:35Z")
[Fear Strikes Out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_Strikes_Out) - Jimmy Piersall’s 1955 autobiography - later made into a movie. For fiction, [The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_the_Yankees_Lost_the_Pennant) - the 1954 novel on which the musical comedy [Damn Yankees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_Yankees) was based. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/10 "2021-06-28T15:17:28Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > And if you like historical rankings of players thrown in with the miscellaneous side thoughts of a restless baseball mind you’d like Bill James’ “Historical Baseball Abstract” (it’s much more interesting than the title gives it credit for). Seconding the “Historical Baseball Abstract” – James digs into what baseball was like, in each decade, as well as profiling the best players. The version I have is a little dated now (it only goes through the 1990s), but it’s still a fascinating read. Bob Uecker’s autobiographical book, “Catcher in the Wry,” is a very fun read, though I believe it’s long out of print. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/11 "2021-06-28T15:41:19Z")
The Glory of their Times by Lawrence Ritter, a collection of interviews with baseball players before WW II ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/12 "2021-06-28T17:13:48Z")
One of my favorite books of all time is [If I Never Get Back](https://www.amazon.com/If-Never-Get-Back-Novel/dp/1583941878) by Daryl Brock. There’s a hint of science fiction to it, as a modern man is transported back in time to tour with the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. And he meets Mark Twain. But otherwise it’s a historical fiction novel about 19th century baseball. SO fun! ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/13 "2021-06-28T17:28:24Z")
My favorite baseball book of all time is _If At First_, which was written by former Mets 1B, current broadcaster, and _Seinfeld_ superstar Keith Hernandez. The book is a bit unusual in that it focuses on a season in which the subject team did _not_ win the World Series - specifically, the 1985 season in which the Mets narrowly missed the playoffs. It’s a record of that season from Hernandez’s perspective in daily diary form - so there are 162 “chapters,” one for each game. It gets into the sort of day-to-day business of being a baseball player in a way that more high-level memoirs - which tend to focus on highlights - never do. I’ve probably read it a hundred times. I might go read it again this weekend. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/14 "2021-06-28T17:49:57Z")
For some representation in the Negro Leagues, there’s “I Was Right On Time” by Buck O’Neil and “The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Theough Buck O’Neil’s America” by Joe Posnanski. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/15 "2021-06-28T19:21:49Z")
If you’re looking for a great book about baseball in general, rather than one about a specific player, team, or season, Leonard Koppett’s _The New Thinking Fan’s Guide To Baseball_ cannot be overpraised. The book is a comprehensive look at the way baseball works, both as a sport on the field, and as a business off it. He goes into everything from hitting, pitching, and fielding, to groundskeeping, salary negotiations, and the press; he also gives a bit of the history of the game. Koppett was a longtime baseball journalist and sportswriter whose career stretched from the end of World War II to his death in 2003, so he has plenty of great stories. But he avoids nostalgia and sentimentality, and shines a clear light on the game. If you’re at all interested in baseball, _The New Thinking Fan’s Guide To Baseball_ is well worth a read. > [@storyteller0910](#): > > My favorite baseball book of all time is _If At First_, which was written by former Mets 1B, current broadcaster, and _Seinfeld_ superstar Keith Hernandez. The book is a bit unusual in that it focuses on a season in which the subject team did _not_ win the World Series - specifically, the 1985 season in which the Mets narrowly missed the playoffs. > > It’s a record of that season from Hernandez’s perspective in daily diary form - so there are 162 “chapters,” one for each game. It gets into the sort of day-to-day business of being a baseball player in a way that more high-level memoirs - which tend to focus on highlights - never do. I’ve probably read it a hundred times. I might go read it again this weekend. Hernandez does something similar in _Pure Baseball_; he watches two games (one live, one on TV), and analyzes them pitch by pitch, examining what’s happening, what the pitcher’s thinking, what the batter’s thinking, what the managers are thinking. He explains baseball strategies - when a hit-and-run make sense, when to put on a shift. It’s an interesting deep dive into the game as seen from the player’s eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/16 "2021-06-28T19:28:39Z")
I don’t know about “classic”, but an entertaining read is, “The Umpire Strikes Back”, by Ron Luciano. He was full of humor and wit. It was shocking to me that he committed suicide, but I guess you just never know what people are enduring in their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/17 "2021-06-28T20:00:05Z")
_The Glory Of Their Times_ is a tremendously enjoyable compendium of the upbringing and careers of old-time ballplayers, from Sam Crawford to Hank Greenberg, in their own words. It covers Hall of Famers, mid-rank players and relative unknowns. Great photos too. Any baseball book by Roger Angell is well worth reading. _Eight Men Out_, about the Black Sox scandal is excellent. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/18 "2021-06-29T06:14:47Z")
I thought I remembered a book written by Gilberto Dihigo was being released in English. I can find books in Spanish only though, so I’m probably mistaken. If you read Spanish, I’d certainly recommend it, Martin Dihigo sounds like quite the player and figure in baseball in the Caribbean and Mexico as well as the Negro League. If you’re up for possible reading online, there’s a series of articles written to go along with Baseball Reference adding Negro League players and stats to the site making them equal to the National and American Leagues. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-classic-baseball-books/945151/19 "2021-07-11T00:12:57Z")
Some excellent books mentioned so far. I’ll add a few to the list, although they’re not all about the game on the field. - Marvin Miller, _A Whole Different Ball Game: The Inside Story of the Baseball Revolution._ - Eric Nusbaum, _Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between._ - Stephen Jay Gould, _Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville: A Lifelong Passion for Baseball._ - Seth Mnookin, _Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top._ - George Will, _Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball._ - Bruce Weber, _As They See 'Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires._