Baseball Books

[SKO]

I know there are several scattered throughout here but I'm going through my annual spring training phase where I read every baseball book I can get my hands on and wondered what I've missed.

I've obviously read Moneyball, really enjoyed The Cubs Way, The Arm by Jeff Passan, and Ball Four is one of my all time favorite books, period. Others I've read of varied quality are Kaplan's Cubs book The Plan, Big Data Baseball, and the Bill James Historical Abstract.

Any great ones I'm missing?

[Quality Start Machine]

Veeck As In Wreck (and related: The Hustler's Handbook).

The Kid - Ben Bradlee Jr's amazing book on Ted Williams.

Only The Ball Was White - best book to start with the Negro Leagues.

The Glory Of Their Times.

The Boys of Summer.

[Saul Goodman]

Have you read A Season for the Ages, by Voice of Cubs Fandom Al Yellon? Well, don't.

[Yeti]

Cubs by the Numbers, by Al Yellon

[Quality Start Machine]

"Oops, They Did It Again: The 2003 Cubs" by Andy Dolan

[SKO]

"Oops, They Did It Again: The 2003 Cubs" by Andy Dolan

I actually have enjoyed re-reading some of Fearless Leaders 2003 Cubs stuff in the past:

But if anybody left me with a more favorable impression of them than before I got there, it was none other than Johnnie B. Baker, Jr. himself.

You can't listen to Dusty talk without getting the very real impression that if anybody can actually win with the Cubs, it's him. And that's what scares me, because if he can't do it. We're so screwed. Unbelievably screwed. Screwed like anybody on the cast of that CBS Queens Supreme show.

And I would put the chances of Dusty actually winning a pennant in Chicago at 30-70.

These were the knocks on Dusty when he came in:
– Doesn't like to play young players.
– Has a red ass the size of Tom Coughlin's.
– Could very well end up trying to stab out his eyes with a toothpick while watching Kyle Farnsworth pitch.
– Has unhealthy obsession with useless utility guys like Ramon Martinez and Tom Goodwin.
– Got his nickname because he "loved" Dusty Springfield. (wink, wink)

But I sat through four different seminars in which Dusty took part. And skeptical as I was going in. I like him a lot, now.

[SKO]

other great hits from 2003 Desipio:

CT    on October 15, 2003 at 10:37 am 


Well, I feel pretty good about tonight too. It seems like there have been a number of key starts this year that have fallen to Kerry Wood, and he has willed the Cubs to win every one of them. Also, someone I work with was at The Lodge last night, and the Marlins were partying hard, acting as though they had won the World Series. Interestingly enough, one of worst off was Josh Beckett who was absolutely hammered. She asked him if he was going to pitch at all today, and he said "do I look like I'm in any shape to pitch tomorrow?" As long as the Cubs come to play today, they will be fine.

[Canadouche]

I love WP Kinsella books. Shoeless Joe is different enough from the movie to be worth reading, and the Iowa Baseball Confederacy is a good read, too. Later on, Kinsella wrote Magic Time, which was generally worth reading and had a few moments that gave me chills.

But probably my two favourite baseball books are Summer of '49 and October 1964 by David Halberstam. Two really amazing books about the beginning, and ending, of the great Yankees Dynasty.

[flannj]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Summer:_America,_1927

"One Summer" by Bill Bryson
While not specifically a baseball book it covers Babe Ruth extensively.
And of course it's Bill Bryson.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

other great hits from 2003 Desipio:

CT    on October 15, 2003 at 10:37 am 


Well, I feel pretty good about tonight too. It seems like there have been a number of key starts this year that have fallen to Kerry Wood, and he has willed the Cubs to win every one of them. Also, someone I work with was at The Lodge last night, and the Marlins were partying hard, acting as though they had won the World Series. Interestingly enough, one of worst off was Josh Beckett who was absolutely hammered. She asked him if he was going to pitch at all today, and he said "do I look like I'm in any shape to pitch tomorrow?" As long as the Cubs come to play today, they will be fine.

What're you doing, SKO?

[SKO]

other great hits from 2003 Desipio:

CT    on October 15, 2003 at 10:37 am 


Well, I feel pretty good about tonight too. It seems like there have been a number of key starts this year that have fallen to Kerry Wood, and he has willed the Cubs to win every one of them. Also, someone I work with was at The Lodge last night, and the Marlins were partying hard, acting as though they had won the World Series. Interestingly enough, one of worst off was Josh Beckett who was absolutely hammered. She asked him if he was going to pitch at all today, and he said "do I look like I'm in any shape to pitch tomorrow?" As long as the Cubs come to play today, they will be fine.

What're you doing, SKO?

Oh I was bored one day not that long ago and started reading Andy's 20th year anniversary stuff, which led me down a rabbit hole to see how Desipio responded to certain major Chicago sports events that were before I found this hell site, and that comment stuck with me as one of the most hilarious comments of all time in retrospect. Now that 2016 has removed the sting of 2003, I don't know if there's anything funnier than CT saying on the morning of game 7 "guys, my friend said Josh Beckett (4 IP, 1 ER in game 7 on just 2 days of rest after a CG SHO) is far too hungover to actually pitch, we're fine!"

[CBStew]

If you can find it buy, rent, borrow, or steal "The Unforgettable Season   1908-The Most Exciting and Calamitous Pennant Race of All Time"  by G. H Fleming.   It is the story of what many of us thought would be the last World Championship that the Cubs would win.   It is the day to day story of the season told entirely in newspaper articles published in Chicago, New York and Pittsburg newspapers.   Although we know how the season ended it is still edge of your chair stuff written in the florid style of turn of the century sportswriters.  The stories are accompanied by the box scores of the games.  Now I am going to reread it.

[CBStew]

If you can find it buy, rent, borrow, or steal "The Unforgettable Season   1908-The Most Exciting and Calamitous Pennant Race of All Time"  by G. H Fleming.   It is the story of what many of us thought would be the last World Championship that the Cubs would win.   It is the day to day story of the season told entirely in newspaper articles published in Chicago, New York and Pittsburg newspapers.   Although we know how the season ended it is still edge of your chair stuff written in the florid style of turn of the century sportswriters.  The stories are accompanied by the box scores of the games.  Now I am going to reread it.

I just checked.  You can find it on EBAY.

[SKO]

If you can find it buy, rent, borrow, or steal "The Unforgettable Season   1908-The Most Exciting and Calamitous Pennant Race of All Time"  by G. H Fleming.   It is the story of what many of us thought would be the last World Championship that the Cubs would win.   It is the day to day story of the season told entirely in newspaper articles published in Chicago, New York and Pittsburg newspapers.   Although we know how the season ended it is still edge of your chair stuff written in the florid style of turn of the century sportswriters.  The stories are accompanied by the box scores of the games.  Now I am going to reread it.

I just checked.  You can find it on EBAY.

Ooh I like this recommendation, must have been something reliving your college days, eh Stew?

[CBStew]

If you can find it buy, rent, borrow, or steal "The Unforgettable Season   1908-The Most Exciting and Calamitous Pennant Race of All Time"  by G. H Fleming.   It is the story of what many of us thought would be the last World Championship that the Cubs would win.   It is the day to day story of the season told entirely in newspaper articles published in Chicago, New York and Pittsburg newspapers.   Although we know how the season ended it is still edge of your chair stuff written in the florid style of turn of the century sportswriters.  The stories are accompanied by the box scores of the games.  Now I am going to reread it.

I just checked.  You can find it on EBAY.

Ooh I like this recommendation, must have been something reliving your college days, eh Stew?

You exaggerate.  I was still in high school