Features - Great Baseball Books
With the end of the baseball season, what better way to pass the time during the ‘hot-stove league’ (off-season) than with some great baseball writing. Here are a dozen terrific books on baseball in the early 20th century. I hesitate to say ‘Top Ten’ because there are many good ones out there. This list is a mix of books of different types and genres, and they are complementary to each. Taken together, they would make a great start to a baseball library.

Those that are out of print are often available on www.ebay.com or www.abebooks.com
A Dozen Great Baseball Books
1.

Seymour, Harold, Baseball: The Golden Age, New York, Oxford, 1989 (orig. 1971)
  This history begins in 1903 and continues until 1930. Seymour passed away before he could write his book that would have taken baseball into more recent times. He did two other fine work, Baseball: The Early Years and Baseball: The People’s Game. The latter covers non-professional baseball.
2. Ritter, Larry, The Glory of their Times, Morrow, 1984; Perennial, 1992 (orig. 1966)
  This groundbreaking work has 1960s interviews with many players from the Deadball Era (1901-19) and early Lively Ball Era (1920>). The Audio CD is not to be overlooked (Highbridge, 1998). It is moving to hear the actual voices of the men, elderly when they were recorded, who played the game.
  3. Bak, Richard, Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times, Taylor, 1994
  There are many good books on Cobb, including an excellent biography by Charles Alexander, Ty Cobb, (Oxford, 1984). What Bak does is combine many glossy photos with informative narrative. Many picture books have little text; not so in this case.
4. Creamer, Robert, Babe: Legend Comes to Life, Simon & Schuster 1992 (orig. 1974)
  There are many fine baseball biographies. This one, written by the first and longtime editor of Sports Illustrated, deals with the life and times of the mighty Ruth.
5. Curran, William, Big Sticks, Harper Collins, 1991
  The author looks at the rise of the Lively Ball Era in 1920 with a comprehensive overview and analysis of the changes the game underwent back then. He also wrote good books about pitching (Strikeout) and fielding (Mitts).
6. Farrell, James T., My Baseball Diary, So. Illinois University Press, 1998 (orig. 1957)
  A nostalgic look back at his days as a fan growing up in Chicago, the noted writer captures the magic that baseball weaves around a youngster. Memories of a lifetime.
7. Greenberg, Eric Rolfe, The Celebrant, University of Nebraska, 1993 (orig. 1983)
  Here is a blending of fact and fiction, the creative story of the life and times of the great New York Giants’ pitcher Christy Mathewson. The book does a superb job of capturing both baseball and America of a century ago.
8. Honig, Donald, Classic Baseball Photography, 1869-1947, Smithmark, 1999 (orig. 1994)
  Honig has written many fine baseball books, including pictorial histories of many teams. This exquisite oversized book focus on revealing images of the game.
9. Lieb, Fred, Baseball as I have Known It, University of Nebraska, 1996 (orig. 1977)
  Lieb’s sportswriting career covered more than 60 years, and his first-hand account came out when he was 89 years old. While his memory may not be perfect, he recollects the men and events that he himself covered.
10, Quigley, Martin, The Crooked Pitch, Algonquin Books, 1988 (orig. 1984)
  The noted fiction writer looks at the many pitches that change direction and bring heartache to hitters, from the curve ball to the spitball.
11. Sowell, Mike, The Pitch that Killed, "Ivan R. Dee," 2004 (orig. 1989)
 

The author looks at the tragic beaning (hit by a pitch) of Cleveland’s Ray Chapman in 1920, the only man who was killed on a major league ball field. Sowell captures much more than simply the event, in a style that draws the reader back to the times.

For my twelfth selection, I am going out side the world of baseball. But only to a point. This classic book on time travel is really a mode of transport the reader can take by immersing himself in any of the books listed above.
12. Finney, Jack, Time and Again, Scribner, 1995 (orig. 1970)
  A man is transported from the middle of the twentieth century back to New York City of the 1880s. Finney’s masterpiece does not talk about baseball, but it opens a door to the past. It is far stronger than his sequel, Time and Again (which was also made into a movie). For more than 20 years, he was asked to do a follow-up book, and he finally wrote the weaker sequel shortly before his death. Perhaps when a writer crafts a magnificent book and then puts down the pen forever (Harper Lee with To Kill a Mockingbird or Greenberg, see above), there’s a certain logic to that decision.