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So, coincidentally to KG's post on Favorite Movies, I'd finished the fiction work

Brittle Innings, by Michael Bishop

Its a fun coming-of-age story with an intriguing twist, but in general the story follows the Highbridge Hellbenders, a class C farm club in the Chattahoochee Valley League.

If you hate spoilers, a lot of reviews of it give "the twist" away, spoil other moments, or outright give away the ending, so you might just take my review here: well written, with real characters who have human strengths and weaknesses, several disparate storylines, in-jokes for both the educated and the baseball fan, several poignant moments, good baseball description, and it manages to avoid the cliched ending of every hollywood sports movie.

I loved it, it left me wanting more... so if somebody has a recommendation, with a similar "no spoilers" review, I'd love hearing it!

In the past ten years, I've bought three reference books, but the online resources have made these largely obsolete. 
 
However, I will still recomend "Total Baseball", edited by John Thorn and Pete Palmer. Aside from the wealth of stats, it is the single best baseball encyclopedia in my collection.   I bought the first edition back in April 1989 for $50, and the book was 2294 pages!  
 
 

Summer of 49 by D. Haberstam (I think), Teamates (Can't recall author)- story about BoSox in the 40's, October Men- good book about those late 70's Yankees teams (Roger Kahn). Just picked "Three Nights in August" book about the Cardinals/LaRussa.

Jliven61

Juiced by Jose Canseco

Just kidding...Summer of '98 by Mike Lupica. Well written, plenty of stories of people Lupica met as a sports writer as well as a chronicle of the year that brought the country back to baseball after the strike (and it is more than McGwire-Sosa by the way). There are parts that will bring a tear to your eye as you see some guys from the past who loved the sport more than anything!

For a serious academic history, Harold Seymour's "The Golden Age", published in 1971, and which covered the years from 1903-19, was a groundbreaker.  I have this in my personal library. 

I also have Elinot Asinof's "Eight Men Out",  and G.H. Fleming's "The Unforgettable Season", which deals with the 1908 NL pennant race.  

I also gotta mention Robert Creamer's "Baseball in '41".   He argues that this last pre-WWII season was the best ever.   I beg to differ.  [;)] 

There are hundreds of great baseball books, so it's difficult to point out which are the best.   I can't do it.

I highly recommend Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy. I regret that I was too young to see him pitch. If there was a level above "Hall of Famer", Koufax would definitely be in it!

Ah, baseball books.

"Teammates" was also by David Halberstam just like Summer of '49. He also wrote October 1964 which is the Yankees-Cardinals World Series and the world at that time. As a kid and a Yankee lover at that time, the W.S. loss by Mickey and the boys was quite devastating. I personally find that any book by Halberstam regardless of the subject is quite fascinating and well-written.

I also personally loved Jane Leavy's "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy". I was one of those kids sitting in the synagogue listening to the rabbi tell us about Koufax's decisiion to skip a World Series start because it was Yom Kippur. I loved Koufax before, and I loved him even more after. He defines class. He is my all time favorite sports star, and I don't have many. In fact, I think the list of sports people I admire is about one.

"Beyond The Shadow of the Senators: The Untold Story of the Homestead Grays and the Integration of Baseball" by Brad Snyder is quite fascinating if you're interested in the reality of the Negro Leagues and one of it's greatest teams. There could have and should have been integration before Jackie Robinson and it seems there almost was. However, the forces of darkness and evil won out, as they so often do.

"Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero" by Leigh Montville is a quite fascinating look at the life of Ted Williams. It almost reads like a novel and has enough of the historical context to be much more than a baseball book. Montville has just realeased a book on Babe Ruth which has gotten some good reviews. This isn't easy to do with so much written about the Babe but if it's anything like his Williams book, it will be a worthwhile purchase.

"The Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig" by Jonathan Eng is a biography of Lou Gehrig. I would wager that most baseball fans only know about the disease and the games played streak when thinking about Lou Gehrig. What's lost in all that is just what a damn fine ball player he was. This book covers his career and his life. The author had access to some letters between him and his beloved Elenor and it's an excellent and fascinating read.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City" by Jonathan Mahler is probably the best baseball book I read in the last year. This covers the 1977 Yankees while interwined with the life of New York City in 1977. This was the summer of the "Son of Sam" and a historical Mayor's election, a major blackout with some unfortunate rioting thrown in. It captures the flavor of the city at the time as well as what appears to be an accurate look at the Bronx Bombers of the time. This was the team in Reggie Jackson's first season with them. This was the year of the famous "I'm the straw that turns the drink" quote that alienated Thurman Munson and the rest of the team, and that punk manager Billy Martin who could have used therapy instead of being a major league manager.

"The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn is one of the finest baseball books ever written. It's hard to believe the book is almost 35 years old now, but it was quite revolutionary in it's time. It was a candid look at the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers of 1955 and their lives after baseball. Kahn was a sportswriter with the Dodgers and so actually knew them then in their heyday, and visited with them long after the cheering ended. This book is a must.

"The Pitch That Killed" by Mike Sowell tells the story of Carl Mays and the man he killed with one pitch, Ray Chapman. Many of us know that Chapman was killed by a pitch and that's it. It's quite interesting to learn about Carl Mays and Ray Chapman, especially what an unlikeable S.O.B. Mays was.

"Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero" by David Maraniss is one I haven't read yet but is on it's way from amazon.com. Maraniss wrote a great biography of Vince Lombardi and I expect no less than greatness with his newest topic. Clemente was a misunderstood ballplayer in his time. He was known as great but was also considered moody, but that judgement came from men who knew nothing about Puerto Ricans and their culture. And of course, his death was the saddest sports death of all as he died on December 31st, 1972 while in a plane taken supplies to the earthquake victims of Nicaragua. He was on the plane because previous supplies that he'd organized didn't always reach their intended recipients and this time he wanted to be sure he did. He just didn't throw money at a problem and let others solve it, he was a man who took responsibility to make sure that his actions to help others were followed through.

I could go on and on. Baseball books are the greatest sports books and lend themselves to some of the finest writing. There is something about the game that brings out a little something extra in a writer. The best of the books tell the "baseball" side, but also put it in the historical context of the time. They go beyond the game itself so it becomes a story of the times. I've been reading baseball books for a number of years and I have a huge list of books that I've loved. While spring time brings the start of the baseball season, I always enjoy it because it brings out a host of new baseball books. While like in any group there is crap galore written by hacks, there are many fine works to engross you in the game at the time, and the background that it occured in.

When I was growing up I couldn't get enough of Duane Decker's series of books featuring the Blue Sox.

Some of the titles: "The Catcher from Double A," "Fast Man on A Pivot," "Mister Shortstop," "Good Field, No Hit," and "Starting Pitcher."  Sometimes these are available on Ebay or Amazon.com.

You all really need to check out BASEBALL BETWEEN THE NUMBERS -- by Baseball Prospectus ----  great read from someone who never read moneyball, etc...