Last night my wife and I went out to dinner with a group of friends. We talked about the Super Bowl, but then the conversation turned to everyone saying what their favorite sport was. I of course said baseball, and the woman next to me said she enjoyed it but found it a little boring. I told her that once you understand the nuances of the game it is very dramatic and exciting. I used game six of this past World Series as an example.

Long story short, she is a very literary person and asked me to reccomond at least three books about baseball.

I've thought of Moneyball and Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer. I know I can count on all of you to help me come up with a third, and probably a better one and two as well.

Help me out Soxtalkers. I want to convert her from basketball to baseball!

Last night my wife and I went out to dinner with a group of friends. We talked about the Super Bowl, but then the conversation turned to everyone saying what their favorite sport was. I of course said baseball, and the woman next to me said she enjoyed it but found it a little boring. I told her that once you understand the nuances of the game it is very dramatic and exciting. I used game six of this past World Series as an example.

Long story short, she is a very literary person and asked me to reccomond at least three books about baseball.

I've thought of Moneyball and Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer. I know I can count on all of you to help me come up with a third, and probably a better one and two as well.

Help me out Soxtalkers. I want to convert her from basketball to baseball!

Cal Ripken's book is excellent. If she wants to see how baseball is connected to american history there is a good book about Moe Berg, the catcher who used his international baseball travels to spy on other nations.

Ball Four with the Ball Five addendum.

The Catcher Was A Spy and You Gotta Have Wa are both great books.

Beyond the Sixth Game

 

Sox and the City is decent - but not highly memorable.

men at work by george will

The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst.

 

Its really good.

The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst.

 

Its really good.

I forgot about that one. It is good.

If you read Veeck as in Wreck, Ball Four and Moneyball you have a half a century and various perscectives in neat little package.

This is the most recent Baseball Books thread. Ran into a baseball related book by happenstance at the library last week while picking up a few holds, and really enjoyed it, devoured it in a few days.

The name of the Book is The End of Baseball, written in 2010 by Peter Schilling Jr, his first novel. It was a fictional account of Bill Veeck purchasing the 1944 Philadelphia Stars (Negro League Team) and Athletics, signing an all star team under the radar of Negro League players for the Phillies, and covered the entire season. Lots of twists involving the team, Commissioner Landis, and others throughout. If you have knowledge of the Stars and or former Negro League Players, and or are interested in historical baseball, this is a great novel to pick up.

Any other recent Baseball Books (Fiction or Non-Fiction) enjoyed in the Soxtalk Universe, or is everyone engrossed in fast food Sox rumor twitter feeds ? 

Made it a goal to read more books and less interwebs this year, more enjoyable at least on my end.

Sidelined by Julie DiCaro

Did a presentation on “Juiced” in middle school. It went over pretty well.

Not sure if they count but I actually thought Veeck’s Hustler’s Handbook and Thirty Tons a Day were more interesting.    Ball Four is still my favorite.

1 hour ago, Vulture said:

Not sure if they count but I actually thought Veeck’s Hustler’s Handbook and Thirty Tons a Day were more interesting.    Ball Four is still my favorite.

Solid baseball books, and books in general.  Really liked Bernard Malamud's The Natural we were assigned in High School (two years after the film of the same name was released). The book was far more interesting, many similarities with the 1919 White Sox and ownership.

The Boys of Summer and Moneyball were also great books, as was the recent book "Ty Cobb - A Terrible Beauty" correcting the record on Al Stump's trashy inaccurate take on Ty Cobb. 

So glad the libraries reopened.

 

I just remembered ‘The Glory of Their Times’ from 1966 is great. A collection of transcriptions of talks with what were then old time ball players. A real document of a long gone America. I might actually put that at number one

On 2/7/2012 at 6:12 PM, Pants Rowland said:

The Catcher Was A Spy and You Gotta Have Wa are both great books.

Then there’s Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker

On 3/19/2021 at 10:47 PM, South Side Hit Men said:

Solid baseball books, and books in general.  Really liked Bernard Malamud's The Natural we were assigned in High School (two years after the film of the same name was released). The book was far more interesting, many similarities with the 1919 White Sox and ownership.

The Boys of Summer and Moneyball were also great books, as was the recent book "Ty Cobb - A Terrible Beauty" correcting the record on Al Stump's trashy inaccurate take on Ty Cobb. 

So glad the libraries reopened.

 

Thirty Tons A Day was about Bill Veeck’s time as a horse racing track owner operator, but it’s Veeck so I figured worth mentioning

I am a free-lance writer working on a book on the 2005 team. I was wondering if anyone knew of any collectors of Sox photos and who own rights to those photos. I would be interested in acquiring one-time rights. You can private message me. Thanks.

The Arm by Jeff Passan is good.  My wife loved it and she is not a huge baseball fan but is a voracious reader.

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"Of all the baseball stadiums in the world, I like being in Jingu Stadium the best of all. In an infield seat behind first base, or in the right-field bleachers. I love all the sounds, the smells, the way I can sit there, just gazing up at the sky. I love the breeze caressing my skin, I love sipping an ice-cold beer, observing the people around me. Whether the team wins or loses, I love the time spent there most of all.

Of course, winning is much better than losing. No argument there. But winning or losing doesn’t affect the weight and value of the time. It’s the same time, either way. A minute is a minute, an hour is an hour. We need to cherish it. We need to deftly reconcile ourselves with time, and leave behind as many precious memories as we can— that’s what’s the most valuable."

—From "The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection," a short story from FIRST PERSON SINGULAR