Original Baseball Content - Best Baseball Book You've Read

She likes baseball, but mostly casually. I figured it was time for her to meet Buck O’Neil. Also, I took that book with me on my trip to LA and read it on the plane. Bad idea, since I broke down in tears a number of times during the flight.

Summerland by Michael Chabon
The Brothers K by David James Duncan
Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
About the B’Nai Bagels by E.L. Konigsburg (in general, she’s one of my favorite authors)
The Man With Two Arms by Billy Lombardo

There are also some wonderful baseball picture books out there, especially those illustrated by C.F. Payne and Kadir Nelson. And there’s also Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia. When they say “run home,” she runs to her house! Hilarious!

and liked it.

I also love WATCHING BASEBALL SMARTER, THE ART OF KEEPING SCORE, and WHY IS THE FOUL POLE FAIR?

Nothing touches Veeck as in Wreck for me though. Best baseball book ever, IMO. I read it annually, and it holds up each time the same way that BALL FOUR does.

The Soul of Baseball
Juiced turned out to be better than we thought
Only the Ball Was White
and Slyde’s book which has too long of a title to be typed here book

it might not be super interesting to read now that we are two decades removed from the season it portrays though.

Game of Shadows was OK, as was Juiced.

Other than that, I typically just read the stat books. Baseball Between the Numbers was alright. The Baseball Economist sucked, wouldn’t recommend it.

is a nice read if you’re into minor league ball. “I Told You I Wasn’t Perfect,” By Denny McClain is interesting, too. “My Life in Baseball,” by Joe Morgan is worth a read if you’re a Reds fan. “Comeback,” by Dave Dravecky is good.

I also really enjoy Fantasyland as a primer for the season each year. Stephen Jay Gould’s Tragedy and Triumph in Mudville has some really good essays, although a lot of it is Yankee-Red Sox centric. My girlfriend commented the other day on how many of the books in my shelf were about baseball…

I was going to mention this during the Soul of Baseball read-along, but it petered out and I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s good vibes. But Pos’ description of Buck really reminded me of the magical negro. I hesitated to mention it because the MN is a fictional conceit and Buck was a real person, but I thought maybe JoePos was subconsciously influenced to write him that way. Or maybe he was a real life MN. Specifically the scene (a favorite of mine) when he encounters the “New York sad” girl in the elevator and changes her outlook before they reach the lobby floor.

life is good!

I want to buy Stephen King’s new baseball book, Blockade Billy. It’s actually a novella, not a novel, so it’s kind of expensive for the length, even if you buy the cheapest version. I don’t mind, though; IMO, King’s natural format is the novella. He tends to lose control of the story if it goes too long, and he’s too rambling for short stories. His best works are novella-length.

I’m trying to decide whether to buy the $23 version that comes with a Blockade Billy baseball card (done in Topps’ 1957 style) and illustrations by Alex McVey, or the $8 version which doesn’t have the card or the illustrations, but does have an extra King story.

It’s the illustrations I’d really like to see. Illos are my favorite kind of art. Not sure it’s worth an extra $15 though.

A reminder that I’ll be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers tonight at 7pm in Rookwood discussing and signing Wire-to-Wire Reds. It’s been called the best book released about the Reds this year! You don’t want to miss the opportunity to feed my ego!