OT?: Book recommendations?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella.
Silent Season of a Hero (essay not book) by Gay Talese.
The opening chapter of Underworld by Don DeLillo, which may be separately available as Pafko at the Wall.

[Writehooks]

"Baseball: The Early Years" by Harold Seymour (Oxford University Press, 1959).

Traces the growth of the sport from the time of the first recorded game at Valley Forge during the Revolution to the formation of the two present major leagues in 1903. Besides meticulously chronicling the game's early development, Dr. Seymour details the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions ... and show business. 365 pages of terrific storytelling.

[btcarfagno]

"Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball" by Jerrold Casway

Great stuff not just on baseball of the time but the life of a star ballplayer of the time as well. Really great stuff.

Tom C

[wolterse]

This is my favorite topic to discuss. There are so many great books out there. Here are a couple that I recommend:

Chief Bender's Burden - Tom Swift
The black prince of baseball - Donald Dewey

[Old Hoss]

I second the recommendation of "Fifty-Nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had." An interesting, easy-to-read book that includes some nice photographs, baseball cards, and scorecard covers.

I also recommend anything by Peter Morris, who is the author of five great books. You can see what he has written by following this link: http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Morris/e..._athr_dp_pel_1

Hope this helps,
Charles

[Kawika]

Both Peter Morris' The Catcher and Spalding's World Tour are in my on-deck circle. Have heard that they are great reads.

A couple of indispensable books are the SABR Deadball Players of the AL and NL volumes. They offer mini-bios (typically two or three pages) of the players who grace our vintage cards. Definitely desert island caliber. Similar territory and similarly wonderful would be They Played the Game: The Story of Baseball Greats by Harry Grayson (1945), copies to be had on Alibris.

Fleming's The Unforgettable Season is on my top shelf of baseball books. I disagree with Frank that it is better than Crazy '08. It is just different. Both are equally excellent and you will not be able to put either one down once you've started reading. You'll only regret that every baseball season didn't get the same treatment.

Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon by Neal McCabe. Better than porn. 'Nuf ced.

[carrigansghost]

The Great Red Sox Spring Training Tour Of 1911: Bill Nowlin

Red Sox before the Babe: Donald Hubbard.

These are the next two on my trip to the bookstore.

Rawn

[bbcard1]

I think you would like Box Socials by Kinsella....underrated.

[Trl3789]

I'm apologize for bringing a book thread back up, but i was curious if anyone had suggestions for books specifically about Tris Speaker. I've read Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life and was just hoping to find more reading material on him.

Thanks
-Tucker

[baseballart]

Tucker

Unless there's some obscure bio circulating somewhere, that bio is the only one I've seen on Mr. Speaker

[Trl3789]

Thanks Max. I was afraid that might be the case. Well thanks anyway.

[Kawika]

Haven't read this book.

Spoke: A Biography of Tris Speaker (Southern Methodist University Press) – Hardcover (2007)
by Charles C Alexander, C Paul Rogers (Editor)

Hardcover, Southern Methodist University Press
2007
English
360 pages

ISBN: 0870745174
ISBN-13: 9780870745171

Charles C. Alexander's fact-filled biography of Tris Speaker chronicles the twenty-two-year career of arguably the greatest centerfielder ever to play the position. It follows the colorful ballplayer through his years with the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics, and on into his later years as manager of a professional ball club and promoter of the national pastime. Alexander examines both the highs and lows of Speaker's illustrious career, including his bitter contract dispute with the Red Sox in 1915, the death of his close friend Ray Chapman from a pitched ball in 1920, and the game-fixing scandal Speaker found himself embroiled in, along with Ty Cobb, late in his playing career. Despite the fact that Speaker was in the inaugural induction class when the National Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1939, compiled a lifetime .345 batting average, and accumulated more doubles than anyone in baseball history, he is today not a household name like Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth, both of whom were Speaker's peers. Renowned baseball historian Alexander makes the case that Speaker, a fiery competitor and an immensely popular figure in his day, deserves to be known to a wider audience. Alexander details not only every significant major league game in which Speaker played, but also describes the careers of his teammates and opponents, the baseball of their day, and the way it changed within the context of the larger world around them. Tris Speaker's reputation receives new luster in Charles C. Alexander's even-handed biography of one of baseball's greats.