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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Baseball's Best Books

Some fiction, some non, but all favorite books about America's favorite past time.
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The natural
Malamud, Bernard.
Paper Book
The classical novel (and basis for the acclaimed film starring Robert Redford) now in a new edition Introduction by Kevin Baker The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first--and some would say still the best-...
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 : a busher's letters
Lardner, Ring
Paper Book
One of the classic baseball stories, You Know Me Al, first published in 1914, tells the story of the fictional Jack Keefe, a bush league baseball player who earns a trip to the majors to pitch for the Chicago White Sox. Set in pre-World War I, the book is comprised of letters that Keefe sends...
If I never get back : a novel
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...
The great American novel
Roth, Philip.
Paper Book
The celebrant : a novel
Greenberg, Eric Rolfe.
Paper Book
The first two decades of the twentieth century were a time of promise and innocence in America. Hardworking immigrants could achieve the American dream; heroes were truly heroic. Eric Rolfe Greenberg brilliantly and authentically chronicles the real-life saga of the first national baseball hero...
The brothers K
Duncan, David James.
Paper Book
Bang the drum slowly
Harris, Mark
Paper Book
Henry Wiggen, hero of The Southpaw, became the best-known fictional baseball player in America. Now he is back again in Bang the Drum Slowly, throwing a baseball "with his arm and his brain and his memory and his bluff for the sake of his pocket and his family." Also available...
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...
The art of fielding : a novel
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. "Wonderful ... a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting." --The New York Times "First...
The boys of summer
Kahn, Roger.
Paper Book
This is a book about some young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s in such places as Reading, Pennsylvania; Anderson, Indiana; Plainfield, New Jersey; Woonsocket, Rhode Island; and then went on to play for one of the most exciting professional teams that the major leagues...
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--with stunning, larger-than-life paintings and lively, accessible prose. Features nearly fifty iconic oil paintings, and...
Hoopla
Stein, Harry.
Paper Book
When eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series, the team became known as the "Black Sox." Hoopla blends the narrative of team member George Weaver with the view of Luther Pond, who exposed the scandal. Filled with cameo portraits of prominent sports...
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...
How baseball happened : outrageous lies exposed! the true story revealed
Gilbert, Thomas W.
Paper Book
The fascinating, true, story of baseball's amateur origins. "Explores the conditions and factors that begat the game in the 19th century and turned it into the national pastime....A delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat."--Paul...
The last hero : a life of Henry Aaron
Bryant, Howard
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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