Baseball Books?

[aukevin]

Re: Baseball Books?

I was chatting with this old guy from Wisconsin (70+) this past weekend while waiting on a table for lunch and he was telling me about a book he was reading on the 1957 Milwaukee Braves. Sounded interesting, I'm assuming it was this book:

Bushville Wins!: The Wild Saga of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the Screwballs, Sluggers, and Beer Swiggers Who Canned the New York Yankees and Changed Baseball

http://www.amazon.com/Bushville-Wins.../dp/1250006074


Anyone read it and recommend it?

So I ended up getting this book and reading it, fantastic read. It was more than I expected. I'm a big Braves fan, but I sadly don't know much of the history of the franchise from the Milwaukee days. I knew the big names like Spahn and Matthews, but this book really opened it all up more for me.

The book is divided in three sections (each section about 125-150 pages), the first being from 1953 to 1956 dealing with the Braves move from Boston to Milwaukee and how the fan base took to the team and how the move opened the doors for other teams to move westward like the Giants and Dodgers. This section of the book covered things like Hank Aaron's MLB debut and really gave you a nice insight to the lives of the Braves players during that time, as well as stories of interactions with greats like Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. The next section of the book is the 1957 season. The journey to winning the pennant. This was my favorite part of the book. The final section was devoted entirely to the 1957 World Series against Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Don Larsen, and Mickey Mantles' Yankees. The book takes you into each game and the side stories of each.

Anyway, great book especially for Braves fans, easy read. Definitely give it a shot.

[Turbojugend]

Re: Baseball Books?

Just finished Seasons In Hell by Mike Shropshire, a recount of the 1973-75 Texas Rangers, one of the worst teams in baseball history. There are some seriously laugh-out-moments (Shropshire's account of Whitey Herzog's accusation of Bernie Brewer stealing signs after a 17-2 loss in Milwaukee being a particular highlight), I cannot recommend this book enough.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: Baseball Books?

Some of the ones I've read/are reading.

[Money99]

Re: Baseball Books?

Finished a few recently which I really enjoyed:

Up, Up, and Away: The Kid, the Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, le Grand Orange, Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos
- Jonah Keri

If you're interested in the beginning and end of the Expos, this book is for you.
Some great anecdote's about the players, coaches and owners of the team as well.

The Universal Baseball Association
- Robert Coover

Very odd book. It's about J. Henry Waugh, a lonely, single accountant in his 50's who designs his own strat-o-matic baseball game and records every game and happenstance of each season.
He provides names and even off-field personalites and experiences for his players.
A rookie pitcher, the son of a former UBA legend, pitches a perfect game. Then he dies in his next start due to a fluky roll of the dice.
Henry's life spirals into depression after this unlucky turn of events.
The book wasn't bad. The author basically uses a fake baseball universe to discuss if there is a higher power and whether or not we should even care. That part kind of bored me, but the fake baseball universe and Henry's inability to determine which reality was real was very entertaining. He even starts referring to friends and co-workers as the fictional players he's created.

Blood Sport: A-Rod and the Quest to End Baseball's Steroid Era
- Tim Elfrink

If you're interested in the whole Biogensis saga, this book is for you. It details the MLB's sometimes unlawful pursuit of PED cheaters and their absolute obsession with nailing A-Rod.
A-Rod does not come out looking good in this book. The author even suggests A-Rod paid to have Supporters standing outside the MLB office during his suspension hearing.
One sign read "Richard Levine" is the devil.
When a reporter asked the woman, who was holding the sign, who Richard Levine was, she said "I don't know".
It was clearly an A-Rod plant as he was convinced Levine was behind MLB's desire to have him suspended.

The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball's Power Brokers
- Jon Pessah

LOVED this book. It breaks down Selig's tenure as owner and commissioner.
Everything from relocation to steroids.
Selig doens't come across that well in this book. And I have to be honest - prior to reading this book I thought Donald Fehr was the devil. But this book changed my mind.
I still think he didn't push for PED testing sooner (and he actually agrees with this), but other than that, he comes across pretty well.

The Dirk Hayhurst books are all great too as was Tito's and Torre's biography's.

I may start reading The Natural next. I found it fascinating that the Roy Hobbs character in the movie is a lot different than the novel's version.
And the ending is very different too.

[jb12780]

Re: Baseball Books?

Becoming Mr. October. Story about Reggie Jackson.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/030747...e+jackson+book

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[Gronk4M13]

Re: Baseball Books?

Pinstripe Empire: amazing book that details the history of the Yankees from the Highlander years to Mo's retirement

The Captain by Ian O'Connor

Rivera's autobiography

Buster Olney's Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty: another amazing book

[Clarke99]

Re: Baseball Books?

Some of the ones I've read/are reading.

Hows the pedro Book? Is it more about the Red Sox or Red Sox years? Percentage of the book?

[TripleCrown9]

Re: Baseball Books?

Hows the pedro Book? Is it more about the Red Sox or Red Sox years? Percentage of the book?

It's about his whole career. Couple of chapters about growing up in the Dominican Republic, couple about getting drafted by the Dodgers and living at their academy near his home town, couple about the Minors, etc. I'm still in the part about the Sox but I think I'm nearing the end of that era.

Percentage wise, I'd say maybe 20-25% Boston. It's really a fascinating read, as he covers childhood, LA, Montreal, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

I highly recommend it, because even if you hate the Sox, this is about his life.

[Clarke99]

Re: Baseball Books?

It's about his whole career. Couple of chapters about growing up in the Dominican Republic, couple about getting drafted by the Dodgers and living at their academy near his home town, couple about the Minors, etc. I'm still in the part about the Sox but I think I'm nearing the end of that era.

Percentage wise, I'd say maybe 20-25% Boston. It's really a fascinating read, as he covers childhood, LA, Montreal, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

I highly recommend it, because even if you hate the Sox, this is about his life.

Nice all I needed to hear. I was just a little worried it would be about the sox only, but it sounds like I was hoping. I'll grab this soon.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: Baseball Books?

Here are some I've read/am reading with a little bit of review...



It's was good idea and a lucrative one to try to do Moneyball over again, but with the Rays around the time they won the pennant. That's what Jonah Keri basically tried to do here. He's not the writer that Michael Lewis is and didn't really manage to make the characters quite come to life as Lewis did in Moneyball. The closest he came was with the interesting Vince Naimoli. I think Keri's book is worth the read (especially if you're a Dodgers fan to get to know Andrew Friedman a bit better...or a Rays fan obviously) and some of the background on guys like Stu Sternberg, Friedman, and Matt Silverman is interesting. That said, Keri tends to repeat himself a lot, which is very frustrating. He also tends to give praise and flak for basically the same events. If it fits the narrative he's creating in a particular chapter to lay into someone, he'll do that. If he's trying to praise or make nuanced conclusions, sometimes he does that using the same data he used to go negative. One gets the sense that Keri is mostly Billy Beane-izing the Rays' front office and hammering the previous regime, but sometimes Keri comes off as if he's talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time. Overall it is a very good history of how the Rays came to be and how mightily they struggled to become relevant.



This book is divided into a bunch of very short (2-5 pages) vignettes covering different figures/teams/owners of baseball lore. The pacing is very good and the stories are just the right length (and w/pictures) to make this good...ahem...bathroom reading or you could power through the entire book in a single sitting or 2. Lots of "did you know" trivia and deep cuts that most hardcore baseball fans won't even know about. Great stuff on Connie Mack, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and lots of other tasty tidbits. Sometimes it leaves you wanting more variety of coverage in that Wright has the tendency to spend 3-4 vignettes back-to-back on related material, but this is a must read.



I'm still reading this one, but it might turn out to be my favorite baseball book ever. Bouton comes off as witty, intelligent, absurd, and iconoclastic. The stories and pacing are both very good and he organizes the material as a sort of chronology with some comments on his past (his history with the Yankees) and his place with the expansion Seattle Pilots. In terms of being revealing and damning, you can see why 1970s MLB would hate this exposure but it's a wonderful expose on certain teams, players, and personalities. You get some nice stuff about the Mickey Mantle's and star players as well as "lesser players" like Phil Linz. Bouton also has a plain, but descriptive way of describing people that really makes them endearing.

[Clarke99]

Re: Baseball Books?

I am currently reading a book called Bood Sport: A-Rod, Biogenenisis and the quest to end Baseballs steroid era.

It is pretty entertaining and tells a good behind the scenes look at Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch, also some side stories on Ryan Braun, Miguel Sano, Wilson Ramos and Melky Cabrera.
A good read during this time of the year.

Id give it a solid 4/5

[Money99]

Re: Baseball Books?

I am currently reading a book called Bood Sport: A-Rod, Biogenenisis and the quest to end Baseballs steroid era.

It is pretty entertaining and tells a good behind the scenes look at Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch, also some side stories on Ryan Braun, Miguel Sano, Wilson Ramos and Melky Cabrera.
A good read during this time of the year.

Id give it a solid 4/5

I loved this book as well. Very interesting stuff.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: Baseball Books?

Going through Bloodsport now after Game of Shadows while still trying to love the game lol



But this book is great, and some of it is even funny. A line that had me cracking up for some reason, when talking about A-Rod continuing to struggle in the playoffs despite his chemical enhancments:



"Anthony Bosch could only do so much to help. He was a fake nutritional doctor, after all, not a fake psychiatrist."



Just boils down the insanity of the whole situation to a few sentences, loved that.

[brifoxdawg]

Re: Baseball Books?

I am a little late to this discussion, but I read The Numbers Game by Alan Schwarz recently. Really fascinating if you're interested in statistics. Goes through the history of stats in baseball covering everything from Strat-O-Matic to at least one or two chapters on Bill James. Highly recommend.

[Money99]

Re: Baseball Books?

Conceco's first book, "Juiced" was great.

You're not going to pass your SAT's or gain a MENSA membership from reading it, but it's a fun read with some great stories.