America's Favorite Pastime

Take yourself out to the ballpark with these novels and nonfiction books about baseball!

Updated April 30, 2024
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I don't care if we never get back : 30 games in 30 days on the best worst baseball road trip ever
Blatt, Ben.
Paper Book
Ben, a sports analytics wizard, loves baseball. Eric, his best friend, hates it. But when Ben writes an algorithm for the optimal baseball road trip, an impossible dream of every pitch of 30 games in 30 stadiums in 30 days, who will he call on to take shifts behind the wheel, especially when...
796.357 B613 2014
The tao of the backup catcher : playing baseball for the love of the game
Brown, Tim
Paper Book
"This isn't just a story about baseball. It's about life and the beauty of knowing and accepting who you are." --Jeff Passan, ESPN baseball columnist This fascinating book chronicles the unsung men of baseball who serve the job, the hardships they face,...
796.357 Brown, Tim 2023
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...
796.357 Aa75yb
The league of outsider baseball : an illustrated history of baseball's forgotten heroes
Cieradkowski, Gary.
Paper Book
From an award-winning graphic artist and baseball historian comes a strikingly original illustrated history of baseball's forgotten heroes, including stars of the Negro Leagues, barnstorming teams, semi-pro leagues, foreign leagues, and famous players like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson,...
796.357 C487 2015
Baseball cop : the dark side of America's national pastime
Dominguez, Eddie
Paper Book
Exposing trafficking, theft, fraud, and gambling in the major leagues, a founding member of the MLB's Department of Investigations reveals a news-breaking true story of power and corruption. In the wake of 2005's sometimes contentious, sometimes comical congressional hearings on...
796.357 Dominguez 2018
The catch : a novel
Fairbrother, Alison
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE * A young woman searches for the truth about her father--and the secrets of her family--in this "big-hearted debut that absolutely crackles with smarts" (Emma Straub). "A warm and funny debut novel . . . perceptive, wry, and witty."--The New...
Baseball field guide : an in-depth illustrated guide to the complete rules of baseball
Formosa, Dan
Paper Book
Admit it: Even if you're a die-hard fan of our national pastime, sometimes an umpire's call can be baffling. And for newer fans, Major League Baseball's nuanced rules--developed and revised over many decades--can be downright perplexing. Now updated throughout with the latest...
796.357 Formosa 2023
Calico Joe
Grisham, John.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball... "Grisham knocks it out of the park."--The Washington Post It's the summer of 1973, and Joe Castle...
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, praised by the New York Times as "wonderful...a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting." 
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"...

796.357 Lewis 2003

Wild pitch
Lupica, Mike.
Paper Book
This is what happens when a washed-up one-time pitching phenom and all-around jerk gets a second chance-and discovers that none of it is exactly what he expected it to be. Showtime Charlie Stoddard now occupies himself at card shows, one-night stands, and nearby watering holes. His ex-wife still...
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-...
The baseball book of why : the answers to questions you've always wondered about from America's national pastime
McCollister, John
Paper Book
Why do we sometimes refer to a left-handed pitcher as a "southpaw?" Why are major league pitchers normally limited to 100 pitches per game? Why was Jack Roosevelt Robinson the first African-American ever to play as part of an official lineup for a team in Major League Baseball? Why is a baseball...
796.357 McCollister 2020
Welcome to the circus of baseball : a story of the perfect summer at the perfect ballpark at the perfect time
McGee, Ryan
Paper Book
A gloriously funny, nostalgic memoir of a popular ESPN reporter who, in the summer of 1994, was a fresh-out-of-college intern for a minor league baseball team. Madness and charm ensue as Ryan McGee spends the season steeped in sweat, fertilizer, nacho cheese sauce, and pure, unadulterated...
796.357 McGee 2023
The cactus league
Nemens, Emily
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR and Lit Hub. A Los Angeles Times Bestseller. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "In The Cactus League [Emily Nemens] provides her readers with what amounts to a miniature, self-enclosed world that is...
Why we love baseball : a history in 50 moments
Posnanski, Joe
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game- a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball's history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created...
796.357 Posnanski 2023
About my mother : true stories of a horse-crazy daughter and her baseball-obsessed mother : a memoir
Rowe, Peggy
Paper Book
A Message from Mike Rowe, the Dirty Jobs Guy: Just to be clear, About My Mother is a book about my grandmother, written by my mother. That's not to say it's not about my mother--it is. In fact, About My Mother is as much about my...
306.8743 Rowe Rowe 2018
The church of baseball : the making of Bull Durham : home runs, bad calls, crazy fights, big swings, and a hit
Shelton, Ron
Paper Book
LA TIMES BESTSELLER * From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking. "This book...
791.4372 Bull Shelton 2022

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