OT: Baseball Books (edited to include top recommendations)
I've become more interested in baseball this year, and I was wondering (for those people on the Board who are fans of baseball), what are your 2 or 3 favorite baseball books?
Also, when your teams is out of the running for the playoffs, what maintains your interest in the game? Do you follow individual players or have teams that you cheer for in the top tier? Or do you just somewhat stop watching all together until it gets closer to the playoffs?
Edit -- here are your top recommendations
Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball In the Big Leagues by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball by George Will
The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It by Lawrence S Ritter
You Gotta Have Wa by Robert Whiting
Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball by John Feinstein
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen
Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams by Robert Peterson
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (Fiction)
Somewhat related, I saw that Chad Harbach was sued for copyright infringement over the book:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6153217/green-v-harbach/
"Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty" by Charles Leerhsen is one of the most important baseball books any fan should read because it sets the record straight on Cobb. Much of what people believe today about Cobb as this racist monster is due to a hatchet job book by a muckracking fucker named Al Stump, who destroyed Cobb's reputation mostly after Cobb's death for the sake of his own "glory" and to sell books and a movie. If you think you know who Cobb was, you should give the man his due and read this book and then decide.
Big Hair and Plastic Grass - Baseball in the 70’s (for the story on Doc Ellis if nothing else)
A good more recently published book is Crazy '08. It's about the 1908 seasonm but encompasses the decade leading up very well. Very entertaining and fun.
who wants to read about the old days from a good clean perspective, my favorite was always "The Kid From Tomkinsville" series from John Tunis.
Also, "Shoeless Joe" from WP Kinsella is terrific. Was the book that "Field of Dreams" was based upon.
But as with a couple of other people above - "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton is the best. First book that really showed what the big leagues were like - good and bad...
David Halberstam is worth a read.
Just a terrific writer, sadly gone.
The Catcher Was A Spy. Biography of Moe Berg, who played baseball and worked for the OSS (predecessor of the CIA).
Men at Work by George Will, Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger, and Is This A Great Game or What? by Tim Kurkjian are all very good reads.
I remember reading a history of the Tigers as a kid that was good. I think it was written by Joe Falls
It’s a terrific read (at least half way through). He also had a horrible childhood which I never knew about. He is really a remarkable guy.
these days than get "Moneyball" or "the Extra 2%"............both are excellent reads that go in-depth how most teams these days look at player value, etc...