Baseball's Best Books

Some fiction, some non, but all favorite books about America's favorite past time.
Updated September 19, 2022
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The Natural
Bernard Malamud
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
W. P. Kinsella
Ebook
The novel that inspired Field of Dreams: "A lyrical, seductive, and altogether winning concoction." --The New York Times Book Review   One of Sports Illustrated's 100 Greatest Sports Books   "If you build it, he will come."...
If I Never Get Back
Darryl Brock
Paper Book
Time travel meets baseball in this "grand adventure" about a modern-day reporter who witnesses the birth of America's favorite pastime (The Washington Times) Contemporary reporter Sam Fowler is stuck in a dull job and a failing marriage when he is suddenly transported...
The Brothers K
David James Duncan
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK   Once in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the life of a family. David James Duncan, author of the novel The River Why and the collection River Teeth, is just such a writer....
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Michael Lewis
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"...
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." 
THE 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
Kadir Nelson
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 ...
The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron
Howard Bryant
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...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.