Comments on: Sparky Lyle in . . . The Nagging Question

By: bobabooie

bobabooie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:43:15 +0000

Lawrence S. Ritter’s classic “The Glory of Their Times”. My favorite line from the book: “You couldn’t hit him on a Monday”, describing Brooklyn pitcher Dazzy Vance. Monday was wash day and the linen hanging on apartment balconies (imagine “The Honeymooners”) beyond the center field wall interfered with the batters view of his (Vance’s) release of the pitch. I hate Mondays. I will always hate Mondays. I hate Mondays now a little less because I am now unemployed. My Mother years ago died on a Monday.

By: Brotz13

Brotz13 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:34:10 +0000

42. I'm very late on this, but I have to recommend a book I've read cover-to-cover at least twice, maybe thrice. On a whim, I sometimes open it up at random and read a chapter or two. It is Lords of the Realm by John Helyar, a fascinating and through history of labor relations in baseball. The message? The "Lords" basically ran their own separate sweatshops for a century, and deserve most of what they got over the last four decades. I'm in no way a business mind, but that hardly matters. The larger-than-life personas of Charles O. Finley, Ted Turner, George Steinbrenner, and all the rest are fully on display. It's almost certainly out of print (my ragged paperback copy is from 1994, I believe), but you owe it to yourself to find a used copy.

By: The Mick 536

The Mick 536 — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:49:17 +0000

41. Glad to read that people still use books. Love all of the books mentioned. Usually alternate a book of fiction, reading Richard Ford now, with a baseball book. So much to read and so little time. Halberstam. Rest in peace. W.C. Heinz. The genius who started it all, albeit writing about football and boxing.Just the best. Ring Lardner. And, as a special memorial, Christy Matheseon, the man who gave us the Black Sox scandal. For Mark Harris fans, the Nixon book seriously rocks. Harris wrote for Life. Followed the campaign for Governor of CA against Edmund Brown. Talks about unbiased reporters having to cover a candidate that he has some preconceived ideas about and how little it matters once the final piece is edited. Brilliant.

By: Josh G

Josh G — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:33:55 +0000

40. Fiction: "Last Days of Summer" by Steve Kluger, about the relationship between the fictional third basemen for the New York Giants in the early 1940s and a 13 year old jewish kid from Brooklyn. The entire story is told through letters and press clippings. Very funny, moving stuff.

By: Catfish326

Catfish326 — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:08:42 +0000

39. George Will is a Cubs fan. I now understand why the Cubs drought continues . . . God is punishing them because God hates yet another GW.

By: gcrl

gcrl — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:50:50 +0000

38. i have enjoyed reading many of the books listed by the other posters, including

ball four (smoke ‘em inside!)
the glory of their times
moneyball
men at work
the boys of summer

i also enjoyed:

the catcher in the wry (bob uecker)
willie’s time
the complete handbook of baseball (yearly from 1978 to 1982)
bunts (george will)

bunts had brett butler on the cover, and was a collection of short stories or articles about different players or situations. one i recall had the cincinnati reds’ plane hitting severe turbulence and pete rose turned to a teammate and said “we’re going down, and i have a .300 lifetime average. what have you got?”

good stuff.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:33:57 +0000

37. Boy, what a reading list I'm compiling here. Thanks to everyone for continuing to send in their top reads. 35 George Will, huh? Alright, I guess if future Nazi sympathizer Knut Hamsun was able in his earlier years to write one of the greatest novels ever written (Hunger), I guess it's possible that that weenie can write a good baseball book. Thanks for the tip, joyofsox.

By: Catfish326

Catfish326 — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:19:11 +0000

36. Two books I loved that are not mentioned:

Best book I recall reading as a kid was Joe Pepitone’s book “Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud.” Damn that was good. Stories of him shagging like 5 women a night, into the wee small hours of the morning. One story had him and Mantle tag-teaming a chick, and then the two players broke into hysterical laughter when the woman took out her false teeth to give them blow jobs. They crippled in laughter. That one stays with you for a lifetime…..

I really enjoyed “Fleet Walker’s Divided Heart” by David Zang. It’s about the first black major leaguer (no, it wasn’t Jackie Robinson) from the 1880s. I enjoyed this book not so much for its writing, but for its subject matter. This player was a fascinating man, and extremely bright. The racism he faced was unreal. He was even tried for killing a man, which resulted from another event of racial hatred. Very telling story.

By: joyofsox

joyofsox — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:00:35 +0000

35. No fan of George Will, but Men At Work is a remarkable book.

By: ToyCannon

ToyCannon — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:52:06 +0000

34. ”Ball Four” totally changed how I viewed baseball players. Haven’t read it in 35 years in fear that it wouldn’t live up to the pedestal I’ve put it on.
The “Bill James Abstracts” totally changed how I viewed baseball. I can reread those anytime and still enjoy them.

Looking forward to reading “Soul of Baseball” which I just got yesterday.