Baseball Books

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Posted By: Andy Baran

I know that we have spoken about baseball books in the past. My favorite type of book is what I classify as "19th or early 20th Century Baseball Fiction based on Historical Facts". I understand that this is not a large category. Some examples of these types of books are:

If I Never Get Back - Brock
Two in the Field - Brock
Havana Heat - Brock
The Celebrant - Greenberg
Old Hoss - Raycraft
A Prince at First - Dinger

I have been searching for other books like these, but have come up empty as of late. Is anyone aware of any books of this type that I may have missed? I'd hate to have to wait until Brock writes his next book. Thanks for any assitance and recommendations.

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

Andy-

I read Thomas Dyja's Play For A Kingdom when it came out. Per the Amazon review, "a Union company from Brooklyn encounters an Alabama company while on picket duty after the Battle of the Wilderness (May, 1864) and proceeds to challenge them to a series of baseball games before all hell breaks loose in Spottsylvania." The baseball scenes aren't as compelling as the battles, but I'd definitely recommend the book.

Bill

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Posted By: DD

http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bx=off&sts=t&ds=30&bi=0&yrl=1880&kn=baseball&sortby=2&yrh=1920

Here's a link for abebooks.com for all baseball books from 1880-1920. Some people put in an incorrect published date, so some results will be incorrect. One that I spotted on the first page is The Redheaded Outfield and Other Baseball Stories by Zane Grey, published in 1920.

Hope this helps,

David

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Posted By: Jay Miller

Andy--A new book about Ed Delahanty just came out and it is excellent. The title is something like Ed Delahanty and the Emerald Age of Baseball.

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Posted By: Andy Baran

Is there a fictional story in this book? I thought it was a straight forward biography.

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Tin Can Lewis by John Dreker,its a short fictional story about the 1 game career of a real player back in 1890 who nothing is known about.Very well written i think, the way the author tells the story of the game back then thru the eyes of a grandfather reminiscing a story of his youth with his grandson.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I've been reading this one and very much enjoying it. It was the first "tell all" book by a player, in 1960. Like Ball Four without the more salacious details.

Also rather interesting is The Warren Spahn Story, a 1959 book that is out of print. It reads like fiction because the author wrote it in fiction-style prose rather than in newspaper reporter style. Apparently, Spahn was so ticked off that he sued to stop its publication, and failed. It also has a really nice dust jacket if you can find one intact.

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Posted By: Julie

The narration is half by "George Weaver" (Buck), and half by a journalist who calls himself "The Yellow Kid." The Weaver parts are excellent, and all is very well reserached. It is NOT an old book, however...just an old subject...

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Posted By: Julie

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Posted By: Richard Masson

Try Troy Soos search on Amazon. He has written several baseball fiction stories. The Celebrant remains my favorite.

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Posted By: runscott

I believe Max Weder collects vintage baseball fiction.

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Posted By: Scott M

Although neither of these is fiction if you'd still like to read about 19th century or early 20th century baseball then I'd recommend two books that I read over the course of the summer.

1) Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball by Jerrold Casway as Jay mentioned.

2) The Black Prince of Baseball, Hal Chase and the mythology of the game by Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella

Enjoy!

Scott

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

I bought the Delahanty book last week and I'm planning on digging into that soon.

One other book I noticed recently, is a work of fiction by David Nemec, author of The Beer and Whisky League and The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball.

With all that background in 19th century fact, he'll probably do a great job of 19th century fiction.

Early Dreams http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1929763042/qid=1100316080/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-1871379-5068128?v=glance&s=books

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Posted By: Andy Baran

Early Dreams appears to be EXACTLY the kind of book that I am looking for. I just ordered it, along with "You Know Me Al", which is mentioned in the product description. I hope both books are as great as they sound.

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Posted By: Tbob

I tried selling a new copy of Havana Heat (terrific) and Kinsella's Iowa Baseball Confederacy (all about Chance's Cubs) in hardback and dj and nice and neither got a nibble on ebay. A few other baseball books did so-so including the Celebrant, but the sales were pretty disappointing. For now I am keeping my first edition rare When the Yankees Lost the Pennant in great dustjacket (later made in to the play and movie Damn Yankees) and an early edition of 8 Men Out in hb and dj. When I've listed baseball books in the books section on ebay they fall flat. When I list them in the prewar card section they do better but ebay sends me threatening emails about what they are going to do to me and my account for listing them in the wrong place. I guess it's ok to list pages ripped out of books as cards in the prewar cards section but if you try and sell the whole book and AAA hasn't graded it, look out!

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Posted By: Richard Masson

Wayne Green sells nothing but baseball books, fiction and non-fiction. He produces a catalog 4-5 times a year with hundreds of titles. Do you need an address?

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

The eBay seller 66boston always has an unusual selection of baseball books:

http://stores.ebay.com/66Boston-Baseball-Books_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm

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Posted By: Julie

I've ordered "Old Hoss" (sent seller 2 scans of Hoss, too), and "Early Dreams," (which REALLY appears to be written by a knowledgable 19th century scholar, and good fiction, too!) in the last few days...

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Posted By: Mike Peich

I highly recommend the Delahanty biography (Univ. of Notre Dame Press). It's an informative bio of the Great Del, as well as a good cultural/historical study of baseball in the 1880s/1890s. The author, Jerold Casway, makes a compelling case for the influence of Irish immigrants at this period in baseball's history (40 percent of the players were Irish). He also solves the mystery of Delahanty's death--too much drinking, excessive gambling, huge debts--a player who was not in touch with the reality of his life. Sounds contemporary, doesn't it?

I reviewed the book for the Philadelphia Inquirer back in September, and if anyone would like a copy of the review, I'm happy to send it if you contact me via e-mail. Kevin--you'll enjoy it.

Cheers, Mike


[edited to fix email address]

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Posted By: Max Weder

Andy McCue's baseball bibliography Baseball by the Books is an essential buy in this area. The book covers up to 1992 or so. Andy has been one of the main forces behind http://www.baseballindex.org which is a project to list all baseball publications. A search can be done for baseball fiction.

Bobby Plapinger of Ashland Oregon has been selling baseball books full time since 1989 or so, and publishes a catalogue of many titles.

One of the interesting baseball fiction books is The Speed Boy, published in 1938

The author fictionalizes a number of T-era stars, and writes about the game circa 1910 at a time when the stolen base was disappearing as an offensive weapon.

I'd list a number of others (there are numerous small press titles from the 1980's onwards that cover vintage baseball), but I'm travelling in Australia, and I am too preoccupied with burning questions such as straight arm bowling and the 15% degree allowance, whether to walk off, and of course trying to figure out what a googly is, and does Jamey Moyer throw it.

All out,

Max

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Posted By: Brian H (misunderestimated)

"Blue Ruin" by Brendan Boyd...it's an excellent novel that deals with the 1919 World Series. Interestingly enough, Boyd also wrote the classic "The Great American Baseball Card FLipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book".

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Posted By: dennis

http://www.frontlist.com/detail/0809325624>

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Posted By: Julie

highly censored because the photo on the front eliminates his "flipping the bird" half-a-finger,--I had nothing to worry about!

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Posted By: Jeff S

Best Bet in Beantown, by G.S. Rowe. Rowe is also a top-notch scholar and said at a panel at last summer's SABR conference that he ended up writing this (and another) novel about Tim Murnane while writing a biography of Murnane. (Murnane, for those who don't know, was an early player and manager and, based in Boston, became one of the nation's best-known journalists.)

I don't think the other Murnane book has been released yet.

You may also want to check the McFarland catalog -- I don't usually take note of fiction published by McFarland (call me a snob, but I don't), but I seem to recall them putting out a few historical baseball novels.

Also (I think this one is self-published) The Gift of the Bambino by Jerry Amernic. I haven't read it yet, but am reviewing it for the next issue of the SABR deadball committee newsletter.

And I wouldn't feel right saying much about it, but I talked Daryl Brock into telling me about his next novel, and it sounds great. Josh Gibson, time travel, and an Angel (not of the california, los angeles, or anaheim variety) ...beyond that I'm keeping mum.

While I'm whetting your appetite for future releases, I must also plug my as-yet untitled novel about John Ward and the formation of the Player's League. Look for it at your local bookstore in the mid 2010s, at the rate I'm going right now.

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Posted By: Julie

McFarland? I've only read "Old Hoss" published by them, and though it doesn't hold a candle to Thomas Mann's "Dr. Faustus," it's pretty good...

Think I'll get started on "Early Dreams: before i go to bed.

I have to come clean about something: I don't like most of the baseball books in this column, including the general favorites. I am normally a novel lover, but when it comes to baseball--I prefer the non-fiction. I just don't think most baseball novels compare to the best of non-baseball fiction, and--why settle for second best, just because it's about baseball?

It's the same with movies. On my list of "my 50 favoirite movies in no particular order" there's one baseball movie: Bang the Drum Slowly. de Niro in the '70s is pretty hard to beat.

I know there are others on this Forum who feel the same way, BUT THEY HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO KEEP THEIR TRAPS SHUT!

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Posted By: Jeff S

since you asked, Julie,

I won't dispute that McF publishes many good things, and further, that McF publishes scholarly books on many very specialized subjects that wouldn't get published otherwise. I'd imagine that's also the case in McF's other divisions.

But, largely because McF publishes so much, and because the target market is so small (largely libraries), each book gets very little editorial time and attention. In the McF books where the author has been extremely careful, there are quite a few errors and typos. In the McF books where the author has been sloppy, it can verge on embarrassment.

With non-fiction, one can be a little forgiving -- we don't always expect brilliant, finely-honed prose from non-fiction writers (though it is welcome). And for me, anyway, one of the more valuable parts of a scholarly non-fiction book is the bibliography, and even bad books have those most of the time.

On the other hand, I don't have the same patience for a poorly written (and/or edited) historical novel. I suspect you would agree, Julie, that many--if not most--novels are just not very good. While I may miss out on a good book now and then, or have to wait until somebody recommends it to me, I don't bother taking chances with novels from a press that isn't very selective and doesn't do a whole lot to improve upon the submissions it receives.

Just to repeat, though, I do value McFarland's contribution to the world's baseball library. I just don't take note of the fiction they publish.

Jeff
(afraid that the speed at which he accumulates friends is slowing...)

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Posted By: runscott

Does anyone else get their mailings? It's great reading.

http://www.scholarsbookshelf.com/listing.asp?userid=&pageid=7&catid=0&subjectid=128&method=sub

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

The only mistakes in "Old Hoss" are factual ('84 Old Judge cards being signed) and pictoral (the Hoss on the cover is the photo with the middle finger of his left hand extended, and they have made it appear to be turned under, like the other fingers). It's quite subtle--they draw a line at his knuckle, and then blended the rest of his finger in with his pants (making it part of a larger shadow on his pants, which doesn't exist in the original photo).

Guess the Old Judge cards could be considered an editing error, though I'm not sure anyone editing a bseball book should be expected to know the dates of release of a 19th century baseball card..

Anyway, I wrote the author about both these things (and also told him I liked his book).

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Posted By: Jeff S

Andy and others,
I ran across yet another you might be interested in: Tyrus (three guesses on the subject of this one) ... you may read more about it here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0765300141/qid=1101238405/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5517114-8260645?v=glance&s=books

Julie,
Glad to hear Old Hoss was substantially error-free. I'll be interested to read it one of these days.

Anything in there about Ted Sullivan, the manager/enterpreneur/journalist who managed Charlie's first pro team?