Recommend a book please

[kevarms]

I ordered:
The Numbers Game
The Boys of Summer ~~~ I'll read this first!
Ball Four
Found these ones myself:

Seasons in Hull 73-75 Texas Rangers. The worst team in history apparently. And not in Hull. That hot unmentionable place down below.
A Tale of Two Cities 2004 Yankees-Red Sox pennant race
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract

I'll order a few more from the recommends list when I've finished these. The 'Gotta Have Wa' book looks interesting. I'll probably get 'The Umpire Strikes Back' too. Love that kind of stuff, but they only have used copies.

Coming soon... my next questions will be .....

-Which team will be getting itself a new fan? I'm kind of drawn to the Mets as they won the first World Series I ever saw. But I also like underdogs and my sister lives in south Florida. But the Devil Rays are really, really bad aren't they? And have a ridiculous name too.

-Shall I subscribe to mlb.tv? It looks like a bargain at $119.95 for the year. Too good to be true?

-Will my wife let me after finally weaning myself off a 25 year addiction to football?

[petrel]

I'm late to the game, but these are my recommendations. Note: the book descriptions are not mine; for the most part they are cut-and-pasted from book descriptions and reviews on Amazon.com.

Dynasty: The New York Yankees 1949-1964 by Peter Golenbock

First published in 1975, Dynasty is a classic look at baseball's greatest team. If you don't like generalizations in your statistics, if you don't want to hear about .260-hitting "team players" and guys who "know how to win when it counts", or read phrases like "He didn't have many hits, but they were all clutch hits", then for you, the definitive book on the Yankee dynasty has not yet been written. From a stats analysis, there may have been less to these world-beating Yankees than meets the eye. But they still won 14 pennants in 16 years.


Girls of Summer: The Real Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by Lois Browne

Probably the best history of the AAGPBL, the American women's professional baseball league that lasted for over a decade and was the subject of the movie A League of Their Own.

The Lords of Baseball by Harold Parrott

Over his long career covering the Brooklyn Dodgers Harold Parrott witnessed the moguls of baseball's Golden Era firsthand and shares many unforgettable stories about his encounters. Funny and irreverent, this richly anecdotal memoir will be enjoyed by any sports fan who's ever wondered about the goings-on in big-league baseball's inner circle and how the important decisions are made.

Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck and Ed Linn

Bill Veeck was an inspired team builder, a consummate showman, and one of the greatest baseball men ever involved in the game. His classic autobiography, written with the talented sportswriter Ed Linn, is an uproarious book packed with information about the history of baseball and tales of players and owners, including some of the most entertaining stories in all of sports literature.

Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame by Bill James

For 452 sizzling pages, the game's premier stats solon and most passionate fan stir-fries the old debate about who does and doesn't deserve to be [in the Hall of Fame].

--Pet

[Wassit3]

Catcher in the Wry (ISBN 0-515-09029-8), and Catch 222 (ISBN 0-399-13744-0) both by Bob Uecker

[swamilee]

[QUOTE=kevarms;730218]I ordered:
The Numbers Game
The Boys of Summer ~~~ I'll read this first!
Ball Four
Found these ones myself:
[QUOTE]


I've read a lot of the books listed and Season In **** and Veeck As In Wreck are top notch, as is Ball Four of course.

I could sit here all day and list books that I read that are good, so here are a few that cross my mind, but there are so many more:

"The 26th Man" by Steve Fireovid
"Lords of the Realm" Don't remember the author, but if you like the business of baseball, this book is a MUST!

I'll think of more and post them later. I read only sports biographies and there are so many good baseball ones.

[Wassit3]

Teaching Statistics Using Baseball, by Jim Albert.

[Revson]

Any book by Roger Kahn, especially Good Enough to Dream, Good Stuff!!

[robinhoodnik]

Take the Bill James numbers with a grain of salt. He isn't doing the numbers for his books anymore.

[robinhoodnik]

-Which team will be getting itself a new fan? I'm kind of drawn to the Mets as they won the first World Series I ever saw. But I also like underdogs and my sister lives in south Florida. But the Devil Rays are really, really bad aren't they? And have a ridiculous name too.

If you like the tragic underdog type and are a bit of a masochist, try the Red Sox on for size (bad pun intended). There's more history in the blood feud between the Red Sox and Yankees than you'd ever believe. Plus you being Irish (assumption), like most of the rest of Massachusetts/Boston, it's a natural fit!

[beerchaser]

Ball Four is a great look into baseball in the 60's. Very politically incorrect (which I find refreshing in this day and age), sad and wistful in some spots, extremely funny in others.

I've got Luciano's book and the Boys of Summer on my list to get. Has anybody read Steve Stone's book on Harry Caray? I picked it up recently but haven't read it yet, too much other stuff going on.

[robinhoodnik]

Baseballs Book of Firsts and The Autobiography of Baseball are a couple of good books as well.

[boomboom]

Baseball Between the numbers

[beerchaser]

Picked up a copy of Luciano's book for $2 and Boys of Summer for $4 yesterday. I LOVE used bookstores.

[robinhoodnik]

You'll laugh yourself silly over Luciano's book. He wrote another one, but I haven't read it yet. Jim Bouton's second book, "I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad", I've started to read, but misplaced. It was getting good though.

[dickay]

I only do audiobooks during my lengthy drives. Don't know much bout baseball books, but I just read Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. AWESOME!!

[kevarms]

Hey guys, I started this thread nearly a year ago. I just wanted to thank you all for the recommendations. I've been continuing my baseball education and read quite a few of them, and one or two I came across on my own.

Ball Four - superb
The Boys of Summer - hard to get into but I was enjoying it a lot by the end.
The Numbers Game - a lot more engaging than I imagined it would be.
Seasons in **** (Rangers 1973-75) - another good one
Fantasyland - I absolutely loved this. The one impression I got from this is most ball-players are pretty decent guys. OH, and fantasy baseball players are quite deranged.
Faithful (Stephen King and his buddy) - was ok, but probably one for Red Sox or King fans.

Now reading The New Bill James Historical Abstract. I've heard his name mentioned a lot. He's... opinionated to say the least. I can make head nor tail of a lot of the stats but it's still an interesting read.

What with all the books, plus the websites I've been checking out, there is no shortage of information and I've been thoroughly enjoying learning about the game. I'm even thinking about playing this summer (I was astonished to discover there is a baseball league over here).

If you like the tragic underdog type and are a bit of a masochist, try the Red Sox on for size (bad pun intended). There's more history in the blood feud between the Red Sox and Yankees than you'd ever believe. Plus you being Irish (assumption), like most of the rest of Massachusetts/Boston, it's a natural fit!

Fair assumption but I'm an Englishman first and an Irishman second (parents are Irish but I was born across the water) I actually considered the Red Sox but I eventually plumped for the Mets. Winner of the first World Series I saw and the team I've mostly been experimenting with in BM. I still get to hate the Yankees right?