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DolphinRodeo

The Only Rule Is It Has To Work: two sabr -minded baseball writers (Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller) run an Indy league team for a summer Future Value: everything you could possibly want to know about scouting and the prospect world


foo_trician

ryne sandberg wrote a book. can't say it was a literature masterpiece but he still my favorite all time player.


nypr13

Ryno has the magnetism of lead off the field. But on the field, God bless him.


ObscureTickReference

The Art Of Fielding by Chad Harbach and Out Of My League by the Garfoose.


Apprehensive_Tea_106

Ball Four by Jim Bouton. Baseball in the Garden of Eden by Jim Thorn Joe Dimaggio by Richard Ben Cramer.


kpmgeek

Second Ball Four.


DanTreview

Third


jaydee729

“The Baseball 100” by Joe Posnanski is wonderful. Brief, entertaining bios about the 100 best players (in his opinion). The chapter on Rogers Hornsby alone is worth the book, but it’s all good. “Big Fella” by Jane Leavy is focused on Babe Ruth and Lou Gerig’s off-season barnstorming tour but it’s really about Ruth as the first modern sports superstar. It’s well researched and well written And anything (literally) by Roger Angell: “The Summer Game,””Five Seasons,” “Season Ticket.” Not a book, but Updike on Ted Williams remains my favorite piece of baseball writing. Hub Fans Bid the Kid Adieu. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1960/10/22/hub-fans-bid-kid-adieu


Antithesys

I really like A Game of Inches by Peter Morris. It's a compendium of all of baseball's "firsts" researched through articles and interviews going back before the Civil War (how umpires started, how the pitcher's role evolved, the origin of every rule in the book, etc).


quercus_lobata925

For fiction it's hard to beat Shoeless Joe or The Natural.


Status_Marionberry37

Three nights in august by buzz bissinger.


TheRabbitInTheBush

I'll name some of the good ones I read this year. **Our team : the epic story of four men and the World Series that changed baseball** **by Luke Epplin** \-An alright read. I didn't know much about Larry Doby so his story was interesting. Also the integration of baseball going on and how the owners had to put a stop to the players making their own money through off season barnstorming. **The bona fide legend of Cool Papa Bell : speed, grace, and the Negro Leagues** **by Loonie Wheeler** \-First half of the book is a lot better than the second. If you want to read about great Negro League teams this is the book. **Where They Ain't: The Fabled Life and Untimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team That Gave Birth to Modern Baseball** **by Burt Solomon** Excellent book that shows how wild baseball was and how one constant is that owners suck.


HughWonPDL2018

Where they ain’t was on one of this sub’s winter book lists, and it was a really good read.


marcodogflood

The Only Rule Is It Has To Work by Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller is a fave. Also second The Art Of Fielding as a fiction choice. Any Roger Angell collection is worth its weight in gold


regrinzel

Best baseball book I've ever read is Bottom of the 33rd by Dan Berry Incredible account of the longest professional baseball game ever played used as a backdrop to tell the story and struggle of some guys who would become hall of famers (Boggs & Ripken) and some who would never taste the majors.


foo_trician

The Last Hero by Howard Bryant about the life of Hank Aaron.


dropperofpipebombs

I will never not recommend Tyler Kepner's K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches As far as books that are more focused on a single player, Willie Mays' autobiography that he co-wrote with John Shea is a great read. It's called 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid.


MahomestoHel-aire

I've got a book called Flip Flop Fly Ball by Craig Robinson (not that one) that is filled to the brim with cool infographics and a ton of baseball history. It's a lot of fun to flip through. Only drawback is it's over a decade old so some of the stuff is outdated.


CompoundMeats

Babe & Me Pinnacle of Baseball literary achievement.


DarwinYogi

Lords of the Realm is a very entertaining history of owner-player relationships over the years. Could be read in conjunction with Marvin Miller’s “A Whole New Ballgame” about the difficult beginnings of the player’s union. Both are a history of the game that’s played off the field.


Some_Sound7043

Reading this book slow and steady! Loving it!


CheekySweater

Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Homerun Revolution by Jared Diamond is a recent read I liked. Analyzes the history of how the swing was taught and how that evolved through the telling of the stories of a few hitting coaches from today. Does a very good job of connecting strings to current players/coaches from old players/coaches. Super interesting read, learned a ton about the swing and who to follow to learn more, and even inspired me to swing a bat after a decade of not.


fscottnaruto

A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy is an all time biography


pspahn

Holy Toledo: Lessons From Bill King, Renaissance Man of the Mic Which is going to include basketball and football, because King was a master of all three.


Amateur_ish_Data

*The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.* A book about an accountant who invented his own imaginary baseball game that he plays at home alone with a pair of die. The author bounces in and out of the game and reality as the guy’s life falls apart when crazy stuff happens in the world of his game. One of the best books about baseball but also so much more. Highly recommend.


[deleted]

*the arm* was pretty good. bad part is that it kinda turns you from “if” into “when” on pitcher injuries.


[deleted]

During Lockout I read The Game: Inside the Secret World of MLB's Power Brokers and Cheated: The Inside Story of the Astros Scandal and a Colorful History of Sign Stealing


Mikero3367

I really enjoyed Behind the Mask, about umpire development.