Favorite Baseball Book

[Diaz15]

I really enjoy Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. It's a piece of fiction about a college baseball team. It focused around Henry Skrimshander, a talented SS who gets a bad case of the yips. The book is well written and a lot of fun.

[ksangel]

"Three Nights in August" -  captures the strategic and emotional complexities of baseball's quintessential form, the three-game series. As the St. Louis Cardinals battle their archrival Chicago Cubs, we watch from the dugout through the eyes of legendary manager Tony La Russa, considered by many to be the shrewdest mind in the game today

[Don]

Three Nights in August is a great book. Thanks for reminding me. Buzz Bissinger is just a fantastic writer. The level of hate that LaRussa has for J.D. Drew in that book is hilarious too.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Don

[Tank]

once they were angels is terrific. would recommend to all of you.

 

in looking over the baseball books i've read, my list is surprisingly small. i've read ball four but wasn't as enamored by it as most. it was interesting, no doubt.

 

i also liked johnny bench's biography. i think it's called behind the plate. read it when i was a teenager, which was a very long time ago. don't really recall any stories but it was a good read.

[Bruce Nye]

Lunch With the Angels Front Office

 

  - by Tank

[Brent Maguire]

-Bullpen Gospels

-Moneyball

-Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

-The Book

-Under The Halo

-Baseball Between The Numbers

-The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and The End of America's Childhood 

 

Tim Salmon's book is also great. Couple of others that I'm probably missing. 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

The Golden Game - a story of California baseball which talks about some of the turn of the century teams that in interested in like the Stars and Vernon/Venice Tigers.

Cobb - even though it was very unauthentic.

Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox - I appreciate Ruth as being the greatest of all time because his pitching was as monumental as his hitting.

[Keener]

Loved Ball Four. 

 

Also remember really enjoying "The Umpire Strikes Back" by former ump Ron Luciano.  Been a couple of decades though, so...

[Tank]

I forgot about ton Luciano's book. Hilarious stories. His description of seeing Nolan Ryan's fastball for the first time was great.

[Keener]

I forgot about ton Luciano's book. Hilarious stories. His description of seeing Nolan Ryan's fastball for the first time was great.

Where it sounded like a strike?

 

Really funny stuff with Earl Weaver too.

[ELEVEN]

The Golden Game - a story of California baseball which talks about some of the turn of the century teams that in interested in like the Stars and Vernon/Venice Tigers.

Cobb - even though it was very unauthentic.

Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox - I appreciate Ruth as being the greatest of all time because his pitching was as monumental as his hitting.

I bought a copy of The Golden Game a few years ago and forgot all about it without ever reading it. Found it on my bookshelf just now. Thanks for posting this.

[T.G.]

Easy answer for me...

 

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America.

 

it was inspiring to learn about this man who had a great attitude about life...  written by one of my favorites - Joe Posnanski.

[ELEVEN]

Easy answer for me...

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America.

it was inspiring to learn about this man who had a great attitude about life... written by one of my favorites - Joe Posnanski.

That is a great book

[vlad27]

i love "once they were angels " also "the bad guys won" about the 86 Mets

[ksangel]

"Men At Work" by George Will.  Written for the hard-core baseball fan, Will persuaded such notables as Tony La Russa (managing), Orel Hershiser (pitching), Cal Ripken (fielding) and Tony Gwynn (hitting) to offer details on the finer points of the game.

 

"Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand."

[vlad27]

By the way, it goes without saying that if you haven't read any of the Rob Goldsman baseball books, such as Once They Were Angels and Nolan Ryan, they are an absolute must read.

I agree

[vlad27]

"Fifty Shades Of Hay"

- the John Lackey story.

a horse is a horse of course of course ..... Book 2 in the series

[LBHalos17]

I installed Kindle on my phone a couple of months ago and have enjoyed reading many different books. I searched for baseball books and found "The Glory of Their Times". It is an interesting collection of interviews with players from the 1900s.

This led me to searching for one of my favorite Baseball books, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton. I was happy to see that the updated version was available through Kindle Unlimited. I originally purchased the book at a book fair in HS. The electronic version includes the 10, 20 and 30 year updates on Jim Bouton's life, which I had never read. The 30 year update is extremely emotional.

If you have not read "Ball Four" I would recommend checking it out.

What is your favorite Baseball book?

"Ball Four" was my poolside reading after Spring Training games last year!  A great book that got a bad rap about being too dirty at the time; it's actually rather tame compared to books these days.

btw, "Ball Four" was turned into a short-run tv series.  You can find some of it on youtube.

[LBHalos17]

Guessing you've probably read it, but Moneyball is an epic piece of literature whether you like baseball or not. Very well written. 

One of my top favs!  I've read it twice so far; highlighting it the second time so I can re-read a "Cliffs-Notes" version quickly or find info relevant to my Rec-team.

[LBHalos17]

I read a lot.  Mostly baseball, military, terrorism, and police-related books.  Here's my list of baseball books that I've really enjoyed (and can remember off the top of my head, or see up on the shelf).

 

"Playing with the Enemy"- Gary Moore.  During WW2, America created a traveling baseball team to entertain the troops.  The team ended-up teaching German U-boat sailors to play.  A great book, being turned into a movie.

 

"Odd Man Out"- Matt McCarthy.  McCarthy toiled in the Halos minors for a while as a pitcher, and includes lots of stories of our favorite Angels when they were trying to make the Show.

 

"The Emerald Diamond"- Charley Rosen.  How the Irish transformed America's greatest pastime.  It also gives a shoutout to my LB Angels "sister" team in Belfast, the Northstars!

 

"Summer of '98"- Mike Lupica.  Even though Sammy and Mark were later implicated in the steroid controversy, this summer is still one of the best memories of baseball as we watched the two challenge to break the home run record.

 

"The Baseball Codes"- Jason Turbow.  The unwritten rules of baseball

 

"Beyond Belief- Josh Hamilton.  An interesting read into the challenging life of Josh.

 

"Calico Joe"- John Grisham.  About a phenom on the field and his life off of it.

 

"Idiot"- Johnny Damon.  An inside look into the rise of the dreaded (to most of you, anyway) Sox to their titles.

 

"Faithful"- Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan.  The two writers chronicle the Sox '04 season through emails, texts, phone calls, and visits to the park.

 

"The Baseball"- Zack Hample.  Zack (the baseball collector) writes about the baseball, its history and manufacture.  Pretty interesting stuff.

 

"The Mick"- Mickey Mantle.  The Micks' co-authored autobiography.

 

"Clemente"- David Maraniss.  Biography of Roberto, one of my all time favorite players.

 

The Anaheim Angels- A Complete History"-  Ross Newhan.  A GREAT history of YOUR Angels!

 

"Baseball in Long Beach"- Bob Keisser.  Bob is the Long Beach beat reporter (and friend of mine at Dirtbags games).  Here, he chronicles the history of baseball in the LBC.

 

I've got a couple books lined-up to read by the pool after Spring Training games in a couple months!...

 

"1954"- Bill Madden.  About the historic rise of Black stars, such as Willie Mays.

 

"Are we winning?"- Will Leitch.  About a father and son, suffering with the dreaded-disease of being Cubs fans.

[Lou]

By the way, it goes without saying that if you haven't read any of the Rob Goldsman baseball books, such as Once They Were Angels and Nolan Ryan, they are an absolute must read.

 

Goldman. Rob Goldman.

[Yellow Balloon]

I can't believe I left out "A False Spring" by Pat Jordan.  Jordan was one of the first bonus babies, signed by the Milwaukee Braves.  Late 50's/early 60's.  Million dollar arm but extremely immature.  Arm wore out and reality punched him in the face, really hard.  Sad, familiar story but it's an interesting read learning how he was forced to move on and give up the things he had always taken for granted.   For an ex-jock Jordan is a terrific writer.  

 

One of the parts I remember most was him describing how at some podunk town in the lower minors he and his catcher almost got into a fist-fight on the mound.  The catcher was a no-nonsense Brooklyn kid who at 18 or 19 yrs-old already had the demeanor of a grizzled vet, and he especially had little use for a cocky, entitled kid like Jordan.  The catcher's name was Joe Torre.  

[ELEVEN]

I can't believe I left out "A False Spring" by Pat Jordan. Jordan was one of the first bonus babies, signed by the Milwaukee Braves. Late 50's/early 60's. Million dollar arm but extremely immature. Arm wore out and reality punched him in the face, really hard. Sad, familiar story but it's an interesting read learning how he was forced to move on and give up the things he had always taken for granted. For an ex-jock Jordan is a terrific writer.

One of the parts I remember most was him describing how at some podunk town in the lower minors he and his catcher almost got into a fist-fight on the mound. The catcher was a no-nonsense Brooklyn kid who at 18 or 19 yrs-old already had the demeanor of a grizzled vet, and he especially had little use for a cocky, entitled kid like Jordan. The catcher's name was Joe Torre.

Thats a great read. Jordan is a very good writer.