Good books I've read recently, how about you?

I am a huge fan of reading all types of books
including: Baseball books, Combat Systems, Bridge,
Retirement, Childrens, Stand-Up, History etc.


For the newbies and true fan:
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's
Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply
Serious Geeks

The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and
Sign Stealing Have Influenced the Course of Our
National Pastime

The Code: Baseball's Unwritten Rules and Its
Ignore-at-Your-Own-Risk Code of Conduct

Coaching Baseball For Dummies

Benchclearing: Baseball's Greatest Fights and
Riots

For the Die hards

The Hardball Times Baseball Annual [HARDBALL TIMES
BASEBALL A-2009

The Official Rules of Major League Baseball 2009

For Those SABR types
Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues,
Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year
in Baseball History

The SABR Baseball List & Record Book: Baseball's
Most Fascinating Records and Unusual Statistics

The Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 37

Amusing Reads

Is This a Great Game, or What?

America's Game

Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and
Times of a Sportscaster Dad


Bear's Baseball Books Favorites & Christmas Gifts
Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero

The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship

October 1964

Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball

Science of Hitting

A Hitting Clinic: The Walt Hriniak Way

The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak
Performance

The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for
Performance Enhancement

Ted Williams and the 1969 Washington Senators:
The Last Winning Season

Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible

Art of Pitching

The Boys of Summer

The Era, 1947-1957: When the Yankees, the Giants,
and the Dodgers Ruled the World

The Bill James Handbook 2010

Many others

A few I liked:

Clemente - The Passion and Grace of Baseball's last Hero - Maraniss

Ty Cobb - Stump - (Biography updated)

Heart of the Game - Life, Death and Mercy in Minor league Baseball -Price -(Story of Mike Coolbaugh)

The Corporal was a Pitcher - Berkow - (Story of WW2 Vet/Pitcher Lew Brissie)

The Crowd sounds happy - A story of love and madness in an American Family - Dawidoff - (Refuge from a tough childhood in baseball)

Odd Man Out - A year on the monund with a minor league misfit - McCarthy (Yale Pitcher in the minors)

The Complete Game - Reflections on Baseball,Pitching and Life on the Mound - Ron Darling (Great for Mets fans but more for Pitchers)

Also as noted by others: The Last best League and Senior Year are great for fans and parents of kids trying to "make it".

quote:

Originally posted by Wayne:
With the play-off picture starting to heat up, I'm currently re-reading my copy of "Three Nights in August", written by Buzz Bissinger. Fascinating story written through the eyes of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa during a 2003 series between the Cubs/Cards for first place. This was back in the Cub's Sosa heydays, and as Pujols was emerging as a star for the Cardinals. Great read.

It was not a bad read, but it started off rough for me because he slammed my favorite book about baseball...Money Ball by Michael Lewis. I think he was relying on LaRussa for his opinion and then sharing it as if it was his own. I almost set it down at this point, but I kept going.

Personally, I think Bissinger was less critical about LaRussa than he should have been. The book was LaRussa's insight and opinions through and through. Much more so than Money Ball. Billy Beane did not commission or have editorial control over Money Ball as did LaRussa with 3 Nights.

Just another opinion...

"We are Soldiers Still" by Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway....exceptional


I am in the middle of the W.E.B. Griffin series of books "Brotherhood of War"

have read
The Leiutenants
The Captains
The Majors
The Colonels
The Generals
The Berets

need to buy the "The new Breed"

I have:
The Aviators
Special Ops

that will rap up the series...since I travel a great deal for my job, I do a lot of reading in airports and hotel rooms....

Piaa-If you are looking for a new series, I recommend author Vince Flynn. Read them in order, I think you will be amazed how much real life in in his fiction work.

Not a baseball based book, but one I have purchased and plan on giving to my eldest, a college freshman, when he returns home for Thanksgiving break....

It's by a really special author - Tony Dungy

It's titled - UNCOMMON

http://www.coachdungy.com/book_uncommon.asp

I recently had to read The Kite Runner for my Honors English class. I have to say it's a great book, probably one of the best I have ever read.

As They See 'Em
by Bruce Weber

"A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires"

A couple others to consider:
1) Fantasyland (Sam Walker). A Wall-Street Journal reporter goes overboard into the world of fantasy baseball. He joins an invitation-only league of baseball geeks and other assorted sabermetricians. He actually scouts his players in spring training and hires his own statistician. It's actually quite funny and shows how absurd grown men can be when it comes to fantasy baseball.

2) Foul Ball (Jim Bouton). Describes the political quagmire of small-town politics and Jim Bouton and an associate try to purchase and save a small-town ballpark and bring a baseball team to the community.

Also, highly recommend Last Great League, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by lebanonbb:
I recently had to read The Kite Runner for my Honors English class. I have to say it's a great book, probably one of the best I have ever read.

I enjoyed that one too!

I haven't read any of those but they sound interesting. I'm still working my way (slowly) through moneyball. I just recently read a good childrens baseball book that promotes paying it forward through the game of baseball. It's called a glove of their own. Nothing an adult would read, or even an older player. Definitely for the younger ages (ex: t-ball, etc) like a parent reading it to them before bed. It's short and rhymes.

Shold I finish moneyball?

quote:

Shold I finish moneyball

ygpbb321: I'll bet we're having the same issues finishing that book. IMHO, it doesn't get any better but you're better off finishing it than not. If that makes any sense.

I recently bought a book for my son "Science of Hitting" by Ted Williams, John Underwood, AWESOME BOOK. Every young player should read and re-read this book.

The other MUST READ for young hitters is a book written by the late Charlie Lau, "Lau's Laws of Hitting- The Art of Hitting .440"