Some mostly-Nats books to pass the time, and deepen anyone's knowledge of Washington Baseball. Plus a couple others I love
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Team of Destiny, a book many of us have known about and waited impatiently for the great Gary Sarnoff to finish. The story of the World Series winning Washington Senators of 1924. Until 2019, that team was the shining glory for all Washington fans.
https://www.amazon.com/Team-Destiny-Griffith-Washington-Senators/dp/1538182343/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1CCAX0I7Y34ZP&keywords=gary+sarnoff&qid=1689269151&sprefix=gary+sarnoff%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-2 -
The Wrecking Crew of '33, Gary's book about the last Nats team to win the AL pennant. Wonder why I wish the New Nats had an infielder as tough as Buddy Myer? Read this. And learn that the Senators, as I called them no matter what Clark Griffith wanted, were a strong team from 1924 until after 1933. That's when founders and former players like Clark Griffith and Connie Mack began to find they did not have the money to compete with the wealthy owners.
https://www.amazon.com/Wrecking-Crew-33-Washington-Senators-ebook/dp/B002VLZROU/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1CCAX0I7Y34ZP&keywords=gary+sarnoff&qid=1689269609&sprefix=gary+sarnoff%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-3-
Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry Thomas, one of Johnson's grand-children. Everything about Johnson, Washington's all-time star, so great they named a high school after him. (Of course, CALSGR8 graduated from there!) A couple of impressive things that most fans do not know: (1) Walter Johnson, the gentleman ballplayer that MLB wanted to publicize, was good friends with Ty Cobb. A hint that "Field of Dreams" was completely wrong about Cobb. (2) Johnson was one of the very few right-handed hitters to drive a ball into the trees behind the 30-foot fence in right-center at Griffith Stadium, a distance of about 440 feet just to the fence. Walter could hit when he decided to practice at it.
https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Johnson-Baseballs-Big-Train-ebook/dp/B00O3Q5NTA/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PSC6SWCRR9C9&keywords=walter+johnson+baseball%27s+big+train&qid=1689269657&sprefix=walter+johnson+baseball%27s+big+train%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-1-
The Washington Senators, by the Hall of Fame reporter, Washington's Shirley Povich, who covered sports for The Post from 1924. Oh, the stories Povich had, including stories about early professional baseball in The District, stories he heard from Mike Scanlon, a Civil War vet who stayed on in DC and who organized early teams from his billiard parlor.
https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Senators-Writing-Sports-ebook/dp/B00II01G84/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1689270292&sr=8-1-
It's Not Who Won or Lost the Game-: It's How You Sold the Beer, by Washington's original TV broadcaster, Bob Wolff, who wrote the book on sports broadcasting. Stories that Bob tells from how he and Johnny Batchelder tried to advertise Heurich's Old Georgetown beer -- live -- between innings after each inning. to Herbie Plews, to Harmon Killebrew as a ringer at a father-son softball game. And how he called Don Larsen's perfect game.
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Who-Lost-Game/dp/1888698004/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KRKUEAUWTZIO&keywords=bob+wolff+it%27s+not+who+won+or+lost&qid=1689272256&sprefix=bob+wolff+it%27s+not+who+won+or+lost%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-1-
They've Stolen Our Team: the 1960 Senators, by David Gough. The one that still hurts Nats fans old enough to remember the Old Senators. The team that pushed into the first division most of the season, after finishing last again and again in the 1950s, the core of the team that won the AL pennant in 1965.
https://www.amazon.com/Theyve-stolen-our-team-recollection/dp/0966050606/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5QNS1LM55WM8&keywords=david+gough+they%27ve+stolen+our+team&qid=1689272492&sprefix=david+gough+they%27ve+stolen+our+team%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-1-
A Whole New Ballgame: The 1969 Washington Senators, by Stephen J. Walker. A celebration and the story of the 1969 Senators, first Nats team with a winning record since about 1952. Organized around the 20th anniversary meeting of the players and fans. Until 2012, that was the best season fans knew. And great stories of Frank Howard and Mike French, with French hitting Hondo in the shins with a fungo bat, and Howard growling "Cut that out or somebody is going to get hurt". How Ted Williams worked with the hitters while Wayne Terwilliger managed the team.
https://www.amazon.com/Whole-New-Ballgame-Washington-Anniversary/dp/1929763883/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3R2OKRLG6OK2W&keywords=stephen+walker+a+whole+new+ballgame&qid=1689272801&sprefix=stephen+walker+a+whole+new+ballgame%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-1-
Kiss it Goodbye, by Shelby Whitfield, the Expansion Senators' broadcaster. The inside story of how Bob Short plotted to move the Nats to some spot in Texas. I expected Washington to get another team quickly, one with a good owner. But then the 33 year road trip...
https://www.amazon.com/Kiss-goodbye-Shelby-Whitfield/dp/0200040073/ref=sr_1_1?crid=27D5ONZY6O14E&keywords=shelby+whitfield+kiss+it+goodbye&qid=1689273228&sprefix=shelby+whitfield+kiss+it+goodbye%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1-
Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series, by Jesse Dougherty. Doesn't everyone already have this? If not:
https://www.amazon.com/Buzz-Saw-Improbable-Washington-Nationals-ebook/dp/B082J4CW8V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YSEB4XEK5ZDN&keywords=buzz+saw&qid=1689273516&s=books&sprefix=buzz+saw%2Cstripbooks%2C94&sr=1-1-
Roy Sievers: "The Sweetest Right Handed Swing" in 1950s Baseball, by Paul Scimonelli, a biography of my all-time favorite ballplayer. Roy was the first Rookie of the Year, a favorite of Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns. When Roy wrecked his shoulder, Veeck hit him grounder after grounder so Sievers could learn to play 1B. When the Hoffbergers and other beer barons of Baltimore were handed the Browns, after MLB forced Veeck to sell, the Baltimore Orioles dumped Roy Sievers for a lousy centerfielder, one with a low "baseball IQ", named Gil Goan. As in "Get Goin With Gil Coan". Coan had two good seasons with the Nats, but was a flop before and after those seasons. Sievers began to hit home runs, so many that the Griffiths moved the LF fence from 405 feet to 388 and finally to the short porch: 350. Roy Sievers led the AL with 42 home runs in 1957, and was the Nats biggest star until Calvin Griffith traded him to Bill Veeck's Chicago White Sox in 1960, a trade by which the 1960 Nats got Earl Battey and Don Mincher. The arrival of Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison, and the continuing power of Jim Lemon made that trade tolerable.
https://www.amazon.com/Roy-Sievers-Sweetest-Handed-Baseball/dp/1476668698/ref=sr_1_1?crid=30HG4OPOTTN8U&keywords=Roy+sievers&qid=1689273628&s=books&sprefix=roy+sievers%2Cstripbooks%2C94&sr=1-1A few non-Nats books:
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Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen. THE book about Cobb, one that scrapes away the fiction in Al Stump's biography.
https://www.amazon.com/Ty-Cobb-Terrible-Charles-Leerhsen-ebook/dp/B00LD1S3WC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6E8V1WYMCMC1&keywords=Ty+cobb+stumph&qid=1689274498&s=books&sprefix=ty+cobb+stumph%2Cstripbooks%2C86&sr=1-1-
The Long Season, by Jim Brosnan. The story of his 1959 season, matched by Brosnan's
Pennant Race about his 1961 Cincinatti Reds. They were so good that Brosnan, a valuable relief pitcher and spot starter, got frozen out of baseball.
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Season-Classic-Account-Baseball/dp/006266705X/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=nEhvn&content-id=amzn1.sym.ed85217c-14c9-4aa0-b248-e47393e2ce12&pf_rd_p=ed85217c-14c9-4aa0-b248-e47393e2ce12&pf_rd_r=133-0837803-3915122&pd_rd_wg=aZGVv&pd_rd_r=50febcd5-6242-4e50-883a-4ed2a0378812&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dskand
https://www.amazon.com/Pennant-Race-Classic-Account-Championship-ebook/dp/B013CCTJUE?ref_=ast_author_mpbThe Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It , by Lawrence S. Ritter. Another book that any baseball fan should own.
https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Their-Times-Baseball-Perennial/dp/0061994715/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1689275050&sr=1-1
