Hey guys, recommend me some baseball books

[houston-nat]

I'm also looking forward to an almost-out book by Dirk Hayhurst, a reliever for the Blue Jays who's also a genuinely literary guy. Hayhurst autographs baseballs with drawings of a mythical creature he invented called the garfoose, half giraffe, half moose.

[Kevrock]

I'm also looking forward to an almost-out book by Dirk Hayhurst, a reliever for the Blue Jays who's also a genuinely literary guy. Hayhurst autographs baseballs with drawings of a mythical creature he invented called the garfoose, half giraffe, half moose.

 

[JMUalumni]

I'll throw in a recommendation of my own.  It is a three volume series written by Harold Seymour, who was a Brooklyn Dodger's batboy in the 1920's.  He tells the early story of baseball as a cultural history and it is very well researched (it gets my two thumbs up in this area as a former history major).  He looks at baseball at every level of the game from the kids playing in the sandlots, immigrants and blacks playing as a way of assimilation, the challenges surrounding the semipro and professional leagues, as well as the experiences of high school and college players.  I would highly recommend this book for those interested in the early history of the game.  The three books in the series are:

Baseball:  The Early Years
Baseball:  The Golden Age
Baseball:  The People's Game

I'm not sure if it is in print anymore, so your best bet may be to find a used copy.

There is a preview version on google books of The People's Game for those interested:

http://books.google.com/books?id=oJuwTnbkmUMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Baseball:++THe+People's+Game&source=bl&ots=HDWH1O7WqT&sig=1FmFbkcsTlALx9MyhlnQWSCGkBg&hl=en&ei=LCSyS-ScK8H38AbjmpnRAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

[BrandonK]

Bumping an old one (mods, didn't see another!). Any recent favorites from WNFF?

[CALSGR8]

The Grind by Barry Svrluga
The Wrecking Crew by Gary Sarnoff
I Was Right on Time by Buck O'Neill
Any book by Tim Kurkjian

[mitlen]

I'm a little biased but "Clemente" by David Maraniss.

[skippy1999]

I loved this book, the guy lasted a year in the Angels minor league system but man was it interesting to read what that's like for a fringe player:

https://www.amazon.com/Odd-Man-Out-League-Misfit/dp/0143116819#immersive-view_1480388948781

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

"Summer of '49" if you like some Old Testament besbol

[1995hoo]

"Bums" by Peter Golenbock. It's an oral history of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

https://smile.amazon.com/Bums-Oral-History-Brooklyn-Dodgers/dp/B001JZ2LRK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1480390405&sr=8-3&keywords=Peter+Golenbock+bums

[Squab]

Mentioned pre publishing but Dirk Hayhurst's books are great.

[wj73]

If you're up for some light fantasy-type reading, there's an old book from 2007 called If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock.

It's about a modern-day sports writer who finds himself transported back to 1869, and falls in with the Cincinnati Reds, who were the first team with all-pro paid players.  It's an interesting look at baseball's rough-and-tumble early days, and has some fun moments when the journalist's modern baseball knowledge runs into the realities of 1869 - such as when uses the word "fans" to describe the spectators when writing an article and no one has any clue what he's talking about, or when he accidentally "invents" the bunt. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JYVYV2Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

It's a good read on a cold winter's day.

[Bloo]

Ten Rings by Yogi Berra

[HalfSmokes]

Anything by hayhurst