Baseball's Best Books

Some fiction, some non, but all favorite books about America's favorite past time.
Updated September 19, 2022
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Natural
Malamud, Bernard.
Paper Book
Malamud uses the fanatical and aggressive world of professional baseball to mirror contemporary society.
Shoeless Joe
Kinsella, W. P.
Paper Book
The inspiration for the beloved film Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella is the story about the beauty and history of baseball, and the power and endurance of a dream. "A moonlit novel about baseball, dreams, family, the land, and literature."--Sports Illustrated "If you...
You know me Al
Lardner, Ring, 1885-1933.
Paper Book
In the early decades of the twentieth century, newspaperman and humorist Ring Lardner (1885-1933) made America laugh with his hilarious depictions of odd characters in the sporting world, Tin Pan Alley, and Hollywood. His first great success was You Know Me Al, a fictional series of letters...
If I never get back
Brock, Darryl.
Paper Book
Sam Fowler is taking a modern-day Amtrak home to San Francisco when an unscheduled stop somewhere west of Cleveland gives him the opportunity to stretch his legs. Instead, Sam finds that time has stretched and mysteriously transported him back to 1869. Bewildered at first, Sam soon meets up with...
Great American novel
Roth, Philip.
Paper Book
Brothers K
Duncan, David James.
Paper Book
Moneyball the art of winning an unfair game
Lewis, Michael
Paper Book
Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball. Following the low-budget Oakland Athletics, their larger-than-life general manger, Billy Beane, and the strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts, Michael Lewis has written not only "the single most influential baseball book ever"...
Art of fielding
Harbach, Chad.
Paper Book
A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed tale about love, life, and baseball, praised by the New York Times as "wonderful...a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting." 
Boys of summer
Kahn, Roger.
Paper Book
"A moving elegy . . . [to] the best team the majors ever saw . . . the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s."  -- New York Times The classic narrative of growing up within shouting distance of Ebbets Field, covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and what's happened to everybody since.<...
We are the ship the story of Negro League baseball
Nelson, Kadir.
Paper Book
In this New York Times bestselling classic, Caldecott Medal-winning artist Kadir Nelson tells the incredible story of baseball's unsung heroes -- perfect for celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Negro Leagues! Winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award ...
Universal Baseball Association inc J Henry Waugh prop
Coover, Robert.
Paper Book
The greatest slump of all time
Carkeet, David.
Paper Book
Baseball's great experiment : Jackie Robinson and his legacy
Tygiel, Jules.
Paper Book
In 1997 the American people will celebrate with great fanfare and publicity the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's explosive entrance into major league baseball. Robinson has become a national icon, his name a virtual synonym for pathbreaker. Indeed, much has transpired between this young...
Last hero a life of Henry Aaron
Bryant, Howard, 1968-
Paper Book
In the thirty-four years since his retirement, Henry Aaron's reputation has only grown in magnitude: he broke existing records (rbis, total bases, extra-base hits) and set new ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen times, becoming the first player in history to hammer five...

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