# What baseball books do you buy going into a new season? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 23, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367 "2011-02-23T18:56:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/1 "2011-02-23T18:56:06Z")
I’m going to order my Baseball Prospectus 2011. Amazon shows plenty of other baseball books available. What else do you like to read prior to and during the season? I’m both a fantasy player as well as a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/2 "2011-02-23T19:10:56Z")
I buy Lindy’s annual baseball magazine, which has ratings for the teams and most of the players, but that’s about it. I have a significant library of coaching materials at home that I review from time to time and then actually being at the diamond coaching my team takes up the bulk of my free time until mid-summer, so I don’t read tons of material during that period. Every now and then I’ll also pick up a biography or something – I have a really good “Shoeless Joe” Jackson biography at home (the title escapes me at the moment) and I also really enjoyed Nolan Ryan’s autobiography. 🙂 ---
**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:** [February 23, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/3 "2011-02-23T19:35:38Z")
I usually get the Prospectus as well. There’s too much info in there to get anything else before the season begins. Though I have occasionally gotten The Sporting News’ fantasy baseball magazine. They have decent info and rankings that early, their articles are always good, and sleepers don’t change much from that time. It at least gives you a little bit of a head start before spring training completely changes everything. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/4 "2011-02-24T20:36:25Z")
I usually get either the Sporting News preview (which now encompasses Street&Smith) or Athlon. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/5 "2011-02-26T17:22:00Z")
Both Sporting News previews (Fantasy and regular - although the regular is so out of date that I really just buy it out of habit). Sometimes Athlon. Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America Prospect Handbook always - sometimes in the past I’ve bought the Baseball America Almanac, but not this year. This year for the first time I bought The Hardball Times Baseball Annual - some good writing in there, but I haven’t really dug deep into their stats yet. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/6 "2011-02-26T17:31:34Z")
None. I reread Philip Roth’s _The Great American Novel_, IMHO the best baseball book ever, every spring to get me in the mood. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/7 "2011-02-27T01:29:05Z")
Last year I read _Men at Work_ by George Will, and the year before I read _The Natural_. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/8 "2011-02-27T16:46:11Z")
I read baseball books twelve months a year. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/9 "2011-02-27T18:06:16Z")
I’ve stopped buying baseball books, but I do renew my [baseballprospectus.com](http://baseballprospectus.com) membership so I get the in-depth stats and analysis. Books just get out of date too fast for how much room they take up. ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/10 "2011-02-28T23:09:25Z")
I’m a big fan of Ron Shandler’s _Baseball Forecaster_ - I’ve been using it for about five years, now. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/11 "2011-03-01T00:55:37Z")
I don’t buy that many. Often, it’s just the annual edition of _Who’s Who in Baseball_. It’s a handy guide to keep on hand if I’m curious about a player’s lifetime stats and I don’t have to be near a computer. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-baseball-books-do-you-buy-going-into-a-new-season/572367/12 "2011-03-01T17:40:59Z")
I like to get the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated baseball preview issues before the season starts. I used to get the Sporting News Baseball Guide every year, but I don’t think they’ve published it in a while. I guess [baseball-reference.com](http://baseball-reference.com) put that out of business.