16 Of The Greatest Books About Baseball (PHOTOS)

The Huffington Post     First Posted: 07/13/10 08:18 AM ET   Updated: 05/25/11 06:00 PM ET

What better reading could there be in the thick of the summer than books on our national pastime? As we look forward to tonight's Major League All-Star game, we thought it was a great time to look back at some of the best baseball writing out there. Below, a list of some great baseball bios and great baseball writing. Let us know your favorites!

"Cobb" by Al Stump
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While baseball great Ty Cobb already had a bad reputation for his combative nature, this biography reveals gruesome details including his mother's murder of his father and Cobb's wife beating, alcoholism and racial bigotry.
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What better reading could there be in the thick of the summer than books on our national pastime? As we look forward to tonight's Major League All-Star game, we thought it was a great time to look bac...
What better reading could there be in the thick of the summer than books on our national pastime? As we look forward to tonight's Major League All-Star game, we thought it was a great time to look bac...
 
 
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03:21 PM on 08/03/2010
For 30 years I thought Ball Four was the best baseball book I'd ever read, until I read The Glory of Their Times. Just beyond magnificent.
09:47 PM on 08/02/2010
I've only read the Ty Cobb book. Where's Clemente, the great biography by David Marraniss?
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10:35 AM on 07/23/2010
Ah. You had Creamer's Babe Ruth book as well as Bouton's Ball Four. Good job.
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cdecisneros
my micro bio is empty because I went to the micro
02:12 PM on 07/16/2010
Clemente's biography was good. Should on this list.Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss
02:07 AM on 07/15/2010
The Last Best League by Jim Collins and darry strawberrys autobiography
12:58 PM on 07/14/2010
You left out one of the very best: George Will's Men at Work/
08:06 AM on 07/14/2010
I enthusiastically endorse Alan Schwarz' "Numbers Game," which concerns how stats helped drive the popularity of baseball and how the use of them evolved over time. This is a much more fun read than it sounds and it will broaden your perspective of the sport.
http://www.amazon.com/Numbers-Game-Baseballs-Fascination-Statistics/dp/0312322232
02:45 AM on 07/14/2010
It's about time somebody at HuffPo noticed that it's baseball season.

And yes, omitting "The Boys of Summer" is a huge error.
12:57 AM on 07/14/2010
Ring Larner's "You Know Me, Al" is the best baseball fiction ever written. No arguments to the contrary accepted.
12:24 AM on 07/14/2010
Strange But True Baseball Stories by Furman Bisher is another classic. Mostly for youngsters grades 3 thru 6.
PKMKII
My micro-bio is empty
11:08 PM on 07/13/2010
I'd recommend "Praying for Gil Hodges" by Thomas Oliphant
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Culturemaven
This is my edited micro-bio.
10:53 PM on 07/13/2010
"I Was Right on Time" by Buck O'Neil. I had the distinct honor of meeting that gentleman and treasure the photos of us together. What a charmer, absolutely glowing with good spirit.
Also recommend "Honus Wagner- A Biography" by Dennis & Jeanne Burke DeValeria.
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TheodoricOfYork
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -
07:54 PM on 07/13/2010
Some pretty big names missing here: "The Glory of Their Times", "Eight Men Out", "Summer of '49", "The Natural", "Ball Four", "The Boys of Summer", "Shoeless Joe", and David Maraniss's Roberto Clemente biography. Halberstam's book on the friendship of Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Dom Dimaggio (can't remember the name right now, but excellent book) belongs here too.
08:10 AM on 07/14/2010
Also, "Only the Ball Was White" about the Negro Leagues.

In addition to that, and on the same subject, there is, "Beyond the Shadow of the Senators" by Brad Snyder, a look at the relationship between the Negro Leagues and its relationship to MLB. It is also a history of one of the mighty Negro League teams, the Homestead Grays, which played at the Senators home park.
07:23 PM on 07/13/2010
"Boys of Summer" tops the list. Big miss on that one.
07:18 PM on 07/13/2010
Oh yeah, "The Boys of Summer" (about the Brooklyn Dodgers)...