Update in first post.

ensign_beedrill said:

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It's good and very interesting. I don't recommend reading it right now, though... 2019 was a very frustrating season, lol. Might need a little more distance from this last season before you go for that.

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The Ross Stripling Forward is worth the read, the rest of the book is rather meh.

The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst

Fair point....timing is everything

Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker
The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanski
K : A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches- Tyler Kepner

Also options but I would put them lower:

The Cloudbuster Nine by Anne Keene
The Catcher was a Spy by Dawidoff

Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big - Jose Canseco

So have we decided on a reading list!?

I'm selecting a few books and I will post a poll probably tomorrow.

ensign_beedrill said:

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I'm selecting a few books and I will post a poll probably tomorrow.

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Good. I am bored.

In.

Count me in!

I'm excited! Need a good baseball read.

Full update in first post.


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Voting has begun and will close at midnight on June 17. Options are:


A. Ball Four by Jim Bouton
----The diary of a major league baseball player during one season reveals the game's venal and foolish aspects

B. The Bullpen Gospels by Dick Hayhurst
----A minor league pitcher deals with both the lighter and darker sides of a life at the edge of the pro ranks where he refuses to quit and eventually finds himself playing for the league championship

C. The Arm by Jeff Pasan
----Yahoo lead baseball columnist offers an in-depth look at the most valuable commodity in sports -- the pitching arm -- and how its vulnerability to injury is hurting players and the game, from Little League to the majors

D. Homestand by Will Bardenwerper
----A poignant memoir exploring small town baseball as a lens into what's right and wrong with modern America

E. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
----A dreamer builds a baseball diamond amid the Iowa cornfields and waits for the outstanding, but dead, baseball players of the past to show up for a very special game

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vvvvv Place your votes below vvvvv
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I vote for A

A

A

Voting for A.

I also really enjoyed both of Keith Law's books, Smart Baseball and The Inside Game, for future considerations.

Like A and B

A

I've read both A and E several times (both fun reads) Not that interested in C so either B or D would be my choice.

The only one I've read is B and it was pretty funny

C

Quote:

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E. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

----A dreamer builds a baseball diamond amid the Iowa cornfields and waits for the outstanding, but dead, baseball players of the past to show up for a very special game

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I don't like the movie, is the book any better?

What are you? A Godless Pinko Commie?

I prefer the novel to the film. The basic premise is still the same but less schmaltzy IMO.

"Mental Toughness - Baseball's Winning Edge" - Casey Tefertiller, John and Karl Kuehl

A

Howdy!!

D

A

B

B

(and A, in that order)

Know you have boys and would highly recommend a series of books for youth, written by Wilfred McCormick.
They are about a fictional character, Bronc Burnett and his teammates. Think Hardy Boys, except the books are mostly about baseball, some football and basketball.
I'm old (70) and they were copyrighted around 1951. I read them in middle 60's from the Paris (TX) Public Library. The books were a great escape from my farm duties.
Never looked on the internet for them but hoping you can find a few of them.
Good Luck.

Gig'Em

Those sound fantastic! Thank you for the recommendation. We stopped in Paris last year on the way home from Omaha because Mr trouble lived in Roxton when he was little.

How about that! My Mama was raised in the Brookston/Roxton area. My Mama's family was cotton tenant farmers . I knew the Rutherford family from Roxton.
Thanks for your reply

powerbelly said:

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Quote:

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E. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

----A dreamer builds a baseball diamond amid the Iowa cornfields and waits for the outstanding, but dead, baseball players of the past to show up for a very special game

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I don't like the movie, is the book any better?

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The book is better constructed than the movie and the movie replaced a reference to a known actual author with the fictional one played by James Earl Jones and references to that known author's best known book (The Catcher in the Rye) which mentions the man character's father Roy Kinsella.

I mentioned it because I liked it but it is very much fiction like the movie and perhaps a little odd like the movie.