Recommended Baseball Books?

[Seth Stohs]

Below are a couple of baseball-related books that I would recommend. Please comment on these and then recommend a few others for us for the offseason. Include a link to where it can be purchased as well.

 

Of course, I will also mention the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook, which are must-reads for Twins fans. (I asked the author. He said it was pretty good!)

 

I was in the airport in San Francisco last weekend and picked up John Feinstein's Where Nobody Knows Your Name. It's about life in the minor leagues. It's stories about John Lindsay of the Dodgers who has the distinction of playing the most Minor League games before finally getting an opportunity in the Majors. It's about a guy like Scott Podsednik who was a World Series hero in 2005 and found himself back in AAA in 2010. Or a guy like Scott Elarton who was injured and left the game, lost a bunch of weight in his post-career life and then asked for another shot. There are tons of stories and it's really interesting.

 

The Sons of Marella Windsong isn't really a baseball book, per se. However, the author is from Minnesota's Iron Range and incorporated just a ton of Minnesota Twins information. In fact, he even referenced me in the book, which is always really cool. It's kind of a psychological look at identical twins. Well, here is a much better description of the book than I could give. You can buy it on Amazon here. 

 

 

[biggentleben]

It spins religion and baseball, but "Sermon on the Mound" by Michael O'Conner is quite good.

 

I also just read an old classic and will suggest it and another old classic for any baseball fan.  The one I recently read was "The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn, and the other classic is Jim Bouton's "Ball Four", which is an absolute must-read in the life of any baseball fan.

 

My last suggestion is a fictional baseball book - "Long Gone" by Paul Hemphill

[twinsnorth49]

I enjoyed all of Dirk Hayhurst's books, The Bullpen Gospels, Out Of My League and Bigger Than the Game. They're all a pretty light read but quite funny with some interesting insights.

 

8 Men Out, The story of the 1919 Black Sox

 

Don't Look Back,( best story of Satchel Paige)

 

A Day In The Bleachers

 

Wherever I Wind Up (R.A. Dickey)

 

 

Agreed on Ball Four, a must read.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

I enjoyed a lot of the recommendations above and I will add a few I've read in the last few years:

 

Satchel: The Life and Times of An American Legend by Larry Tye about Satchel Paige

 

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America by Joe Posnanski (his book about the mid 70's Cincinnati Reds, The Machine, is also pretty good)

 

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is a good novel that sometimes focuses on baseball, and other times strays pretty far from the field of play. The title refers to a fictional book written by one of the characters in the novel that I wish was a real book on its own...

 

And there's always Moneyball by Michael Lewis - still a great read and one of the better looks inside front office life.

 

all of the links are to amazon.com  - you can find paperback versions of each of the titles via amazon for a penny (not including shipping...)

[James]

I almost hate to say it, but Moneyball is quite the good book.  It's very well written, and written by a non-baseball guy.  

 

Baseball Between the Numbers is a good sabermetrics book.  It can be a little dry at times, but it is still good.

[gunnarthor]

Adding to this, I really enjoyed The Baseball Codes.  Really fun insight into the rules the players adhere too and a lot of good stories to go with them.  

[biggentleben]

Adding to this, I really enjoyed The Baseball Codes.  Really fun insight into the rules the players adhere too and a lot of good stories to go with them.  

 

It's on my list.  I heard a one-chapter excerpt, and I absolutely had to get the book!

[mbents]

I enjoyed The Southpaw and Bang The Drum Slowly by Mark Harris. I intend to read the other two books in the series as well: A Ticket for a Seamstitch and It Looked Like For Ever, I just need to get through Ball Four first.

 

From an analytics viewpoint, I would definitely recommend Baseball Between the Numbers, too. It can be pretty heavy, though. It has taken me a long time to get through that one. I'd also recommend The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri, and I'm sure his new book Up, Up, and Away is great, too.

[twinsnorth49]

Adding to this, I really enjoyed The Baseball Codes.  Really fun insight into the rules the players adhere too and a lot of good stories to go with them.  

Great book, one of the most interesting I've read in awhile as well.

[notoriousgod71]

A couple that I like and have reread multiple times are "Fantasyland" by Sam Walker, "Birth of a Dynasty" by Joel Sherman (and I am NOT a Yankees fan), and "The Bad Guys Won" by Jeff Pearlman.

 

 

They aren't necessarily new books but I think they are good in their own separate ways. I am also more of a fan of books about particular teams and seasons than players for what that's worth.

 

Another good one is "One Last Strike" about the 2011 Cardinals season. Lots of good insight by LaRussa, no matter what you think of him.

[Oldgoat_MN]

For an interesting look at the life of a baseball scout there's

Prophet of the Sandlots: Journeys With a Major League Scout by Mark Winegardner.

 

I read it many moons ago and enjoyed it very much.

[biggentleben]

Speaking of scouting - Dollar Sign on the Muscle is another great read.

[Tibs]

The Summer of Beer and Whiskey by Edward Achorn is a fun and interesting book to read. It is about the revival of baseball in the early 1880s, primarily the 1883 season, that led to how baseball is today. Not specifically the game itself, but a lot about fan experience and such.

 

Not sure how to make the link into words, but here is a link to the book on Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/summer-of-beer-and-whiskey-edward-achorn/1113412292?cm_mmc=googlepla-_-book_15to24-_-q000000633-_-9781610393775&ean=9781610393775&isbn=9781610393775&kpid=9781610393775&r=1

[MileHighTwinsFan]

Summer of '49 and October, 1964 by David Halberstam provide bookends to a transformative era in baseball. 

 

'49 follows a classic pennant race between William's Red Sox and Dimaggio's Yankees. The '49 season ushered in an era of dominance for the Yankees where the team would play in 14 of 16 of the next World Series.

 

October '64 tells the story of the true end of the color barrier in baseball with the World Series between the Yankees and Cards.  A St. Louis team made up of several talented African Americans (Brock, Gibson and Flood)  bring an end to the Yankees 16 year reign of dominance.

[h2oface]

Ball Four by Jim Bouton.  Every baseball fan should know the then Seattle Pilot's manager Joe Schultz's two favorite words.