Play ball!

[issybird]

I am resolutely ignoring that dread sporting extravaganza on the imminent horizon, which is doubly, triply hard given my environs (Go, Falcons!), but instead anticipating the happy event only three short weeks away, namely, the day pitchers and catchers report.

I generally honor spring training by reading a book on baseball. I wondered about people's favorite baseball books and if anyone else has a similar ritual.

[JSWolf]

I'm recommending Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year by Glenn Stout. It is available from BPL OD.

Even people who aren't fans of baseball know Fenway Park. More than just a ballpark, it is a part of American culture, and has been for nearly one hundred years. In Fenway 1912, Glenn Stout tells the remarkable story of Fenway's first year, from the long winter when locals poured concrete and built the park to the ragtag Red Sox team that embarked on a journey to the World Series while the paint was still drying and the grass still coming in. Stout tells the stories behind the park's notorious quirks like the Green Monster, and of the designers, builders, managers, and players who made Fenway's first year unforgettable.

For all that has been written in tribute to the great Fenway Park, no one has ever really told the behind-the-scenes true story. Drawing on extensive new research, the esteemed baseball historian Glenn Stout delivers an extraordinary tale of innovation, desperation, and perspiration—capturing Fenway as never before.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm recommending Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year by Glenn Stout. It is available from BPL OD.

Thanks, Jon! Fenway Park is a jewel and kudos to the Sox for staying there. Of course, I can't stand them, but that's neither here nor there when it comes to a baseball story. Borrowed; thanks for the link.

It doesn't have to be just the one book, though, folks. Keep the suggestions coming.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by issybird

I am resolutely ignoring that dread sporting extravaganza on the imminent horizon, which is doubly, triply hard given my environs (Go, Falcons!), but instead anticipating the happy event only three short weeks away, namely, the day pitchers and catchers report.

I generally honor spring training by reading a book on baseball. I wondered about people's favorite baseball books and if anyone else has a similar ritual.

I will watch that sporting extravaganza when Dallas and Houston get there at the same time.
Sorry I don't do baseball either.

[bfisher]

For non-fiction, I like
The Glory of Their Times and Summer of '49

for fiction
Bang the Drum Slowly

and for laughs
Ball Four

[frahse]

Originally Posted by issybird

I am resolutely ignoring that dread sporting extravaganza on the imminent horizon, which is doubly, triply hard given my environs (Go, Falcons!), but instead anticipating the happy event only three short weeks away, namely, the day pitchers and catchers report.

I generally honor spring training by reading a book on baseball. I wondered about people's favorite baseball books and if anyone else has a similar ritual.

I haven't gotten to the book yet, but I reference this blurb and the book mentioned in it. The movie was great. Hopefully the book will be too.

For Love of the Game

"For Love of the Game (sometimes misconstrued as For the Love of the Game) is a 1999 American sport drama film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Dana Stevens based on Michael Shaara's novel of the same title.
The film follows the perfect game performance of an aging star baseball pitcher, Billy Chapel (played by Kevin Costner), as he deals with the pressures of pitching in Yankee Stadium in his final outing by calming himself with memories ..."

[BenG]

Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop about minor league baseball in the South during WWII. I don't want to say too much about it but it is a sequel of sorts to a certain 19th century novel.
http://www.fairwoodpress.com/catalog...51/9208427.htm

Also a short story by Gardner Dozois called Hanging Curve about a curveball that, well, hangs...for years.

[Catlady]

Some of my favorites:

• W. R. Kinsella's novels Shoeless Joe and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, as well as the short story collection The Thrill of the Grass.
• Bernard Malumud's The Natural.
• John R. Tunis's Brooklyn Dodgers series (these were among the recent Open Road freebies).
• Roger Angell's The Summer Game (and anything else by Roger Angell).
• Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer.
• The Armchair Book of Baseball (essays and short stories).

[BenG]

Roger Angell is good. I still have a couple of his hardbacks I bought in the early eighties.
They are collections of his essays about baseball from The New Yorker.

[Angst]

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Non-Fiction. Only if you are interested in the statistics behind drafting players. Michael Lewis can tell a good story. I first encountered him in Liar's Poker telling about bond trading. He also wrote The Big Short, one of the best explanations of the 2008-9 housing meltdown.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by BenG

Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop about minor league baseball in the South during WWII. I don't want to say too much about it but it is a sequel of sorts to a certain 19th century novel.
http://www.fairwoodpress.com/catalog...51/9208427.htm

Also a short story by Gardner Dozois called Hanging Curve about a curveball that, well, hangs...for years.

I should point out that these are among the few SFF baseball stories. Whether Brittle Innings is SF or fantasy depends on how you think about the original novel.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by issybird

I am resolutely ignoring that dread sporting extravaganza on the imminent horizon, which is doubly, triply hard given my environs (Go, Falcons!), but instead anticipating the happy event only three short weeks away, namely, the day pitchers and catchers report.

I generally honor spring training by reading a book on baseball. I wondered about people's favorite baseball books and if anyone else has a similar ritual.

My honoring of the Spring training and baseball is to watch baseball movies. Generally Major League, It Happens every Spring and Rubarb. If Damn Yankee's is ever available, I'll get that.

[issybird]

Thanks.

I've read a few of these and they were excellent, which speaks to the quality of the rest of the recommendations. Those I don't get to this spring will go on the list for the future.

In case anyone else is looking for suggestions, I'll mention Where Nobody Knows Your Name, John Feinstein's account of a year in the minors, which I read a few years ago.

[kansaskyle]

I'm not a big baseball fan, but I enjoyed The Brother's K by David James Duncan.

It is a long family saga that includes elements of the Vietnam conflict. Baseball is a continual thread that pulls the book together.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by kansaskyle

I'm not a big baseball fan, but I enjoyed The Brother's K by David James Duncan.

It is a long family saga that includes elements of the Vietnam conflict. Baseball is a continual thread that pulls the book together.

Colossal rating at Goodreads. Thanks!