Your Favorite Baseball Books

[profholt82]

Here are the baseball books that were on my bookshelf down here, although I'm sure I've read more around here somewhere. I just recently picked up the Stephen King book Blockade Billy, but haven't read it yet, but it's supposed to be a spooky story about a baseball player in the 50s. I'm currently reading the Cobb book by Charles Leerhsen. Only about 100 pages in, but it's been a good read so far, a deeper dive into his early years than I've come across in previous bios. He seems to be trying to debunk a lot of the popular myth of Cobb that was popularized by the Al Stump book back in the day. It's too early to give it an overall assessment though.

I’ve read several books about cards specifically, and of what’s pictured here, The Card is a fun read about the famous Wagner T-206. Mint Condition is a deeper dive into the hobby which is more of an overall history. The Bubble Gum Card War is rather poorly written, and just horribly edited (they literally repeat entire passages numerous times throughout, but it is fascinating for card collectors and decently researched. It's about the battle between Bowman and Topps during the early 50s. I’ve also read some others which aren’t pictured here, and Cardboard Gods by Josh Wilker comes to mind. If you look it up, you’ll see tons of laudatory reviews, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s a memoir of a guy’s rather dull and troubled childhood during the ‘70s which he very loosely structures around collecting baseball cards in an often reaching and tangential manner.

Obviously, as a lifelong Tigers fan, I've read plenty of books about them. Of what's pictured, I would recommend Bless You Boys by Sparky Anderson to anyone, regardless of whether they like the Tigers or not. It's basically a journal that Sparky kept throughout the 1984 season, so he talks about managing the players in different situations, breaking down opponents, as well as just the occasional fun anecdote. Gives you a good insight into the mind of a manager.

Finally, I’ll touch on Jane Leavy’s work since you just read her Koufax bio. I think she’s a good writer, and she is clearly passionate about her subjects. I haven't read her Koufax book, but the Ruth book The Big Fella is a deep dive into the Bambino’s storied life, warts and all of course, and I thought it was well done. When it comes to The Last Boy, her Mantle bio, I have mixed feelings. I appreciate honesty in a biographer; after all, we’re all human, and our heroes aren’t angels. That said, when it comes to the excruciatingly detailed minutia of such maladies as genital warts and defecation, I feel that she crossed a line. Sure, be honest and tell us about the womanizing and drinking, and unfortunate side effects of injuries and such, that’s fair game, but why get so detailed on the things that are so personal that no one should know? Just because someone is a celebrity, doesn’t mean that we need to know about things that should be between them and their doctor (or their bathroom for that matter). To be honest, I wish I had never read it.