What baseball books mean to me:
sharing my all-star favorite reads

On my All Star Book Giveaway page, you can enter to win one of three autographed copies of my novel, Out of Left Field.

Summer is a time for reading and for baseball, so why not ask writer friends and fans for their favorite baseball books? I was interested in books they might have read when young, as well as current titles. Here are some suggestions. I look forward to expanding the discussion:

Lou GehrigMy husband, John Straus, still owns the biography of Lou Gehrig that he read when he was a young Brooklyn Dodgers fan: Lou Gehrig: Boy of the Sand Lots, by Guernsey Van Riper, Jr. (Childhood of Famous Americans Series, 1949). With lots of invented dialogue and action, it reads like a fast-paced novel, but brings the game to life. 

Since we moved to the Boston area, John and I have shared and enjoyed a number of baseball-themed books together. Favorites have been Moneyball, by Michael Lewis; Wait Till Next Year, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s memoir of enjoying the game with her father; and Chad Harbach’s wonderful novel, The Art of Fielding. John also recommends Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy, about one of the game’s greatest pitchers, and David Halberstam’s The Teammates, which profiles four great Red Sox players.

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Long before I became an ardent Sox fan, I followed Roger Angell’s baseball writings in The New Yorker. The New York Post has called him “The clear-eyed poet laureate of baseball.” The Roger Angell Baseball Collection gathers three books of his essays into one. 

As I wrote my baseball novel, Out of Left Field, I reread and quoted from A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti. Our friend David Riley, a poet, playwright, and passionate Red Sox fan, called to remind me of John Updike’s brilliant piece in The New Yorker, which chronicled Ted Williams’s last game (Williams finished with a home run).

In addition to these adult titles, I also appreciate baseball books for young readers. For a lively historical overview, I recommend Baseball For Everyone: 150 Years of America’s Game, by my friend Janet Wyman Coleman.

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My former student, Cathy Goldberg Fishman, tells the moving story of the first encounter between Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg in When Jackie and Hank Met (illustrated by Mark Elliot). Virginia Euwer Wolff’s novel, Bat Six, follows a girl’s softball team in Oregon, post-WWII. 

Fellow New Englander Matt Tavares has written and illustrated a number of books about the Red Sox, including his recent Growing Up Pedro: How the Martinez Brothers Made It from the Dominican Republic All the Way to the Major Leagues. Ken Mochizuki’s Baseball Saved Us, illustrated by Dom Lee, is a moving story about Japanese Americans who turned to baseball as a way to survive their internment during World War II.

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My good friend Nolan Zavoral, a poet and journalist who briefly covered the Brewers, told me that his all-time favorite baseball book is Bang the Drum Slowly, by Mark Harris. Nolan wrote: “What stays with me is that last line, a killer: ‘From here on in, I rag nobody.’ …It’s a sad, ironic, funny book, with a first-person narrator who pitches in the bigs. My runner-ups are a tie between [Bernard Malamud’s] The Natural, and Ball Four; the first for all the writerly reasons, the second because Jim Bouton (with a fine assist from Leonard Schecter) made us see baseball players without the halos.”

My cousin George Grayson, who taught himself to read by poring over the sports pages at the breakfast table, also praises Ball Four, which he said “was a controversial book, detailing Jim Bouton’s struggles as a knuckleball pitcher. Of course, as an 11- year-old, I enjoyed it immensely and was convinced it was the best book ever published. Unfortunately for me, it was released in very late August, at a time when I was supposed to be ‘finishing up’ my summer reading list…”

George, a long-time Senators—now Nationals—fan, had a personal connection to Kiss It Goodbye by Shelby Whitfield, about the Senators’ final season and their fatal last night. George told me a story that makes today’s games seem tame: “I went to the final game of that last season with my father,” George wrote. “Our sole remaining good player, the gentle giant Frank Howard, hit a laser shot of a home run that night and the crowd wouldn’t stop cheering. Finally, in the 9th inning, many in the crowd stormed the field, physically uprooting and then literally stealing second base, and the game was declared a forfeit.”

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Readers: what are your favorite baseball titles? On my All Star Book Giveaway page, you can enter to win one of three autographed copies of my novel, Out of Left Field. Share your favorite title before midnight, Tuesday, July 14th, and we’ll enter you in the drawing. We’ll draw names from a baseball hat and notify winners within the week after July 14th. Winners’ names will be posted on that same giveaway page.

Remember: The entry deadline is midnight Tuesday, July 14th (CDT). Sorry, only readers from the U.S. mainland are eligible for this giveaway.

Happy summer, and happy reading!

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Kevin ‘Cowboy Up!’ Millar kept 2004 Red Sox colorful

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“El Bencho” throws out the first pitch at Fenway for game 7 of the ALCS. By Jared Vincent on Flickr [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Long before Kevin Millar was sharing his “Got Heeem!” catch phrase on national television, he rallied his 2004 Red Sox teammates with the challenge of “Cowboy Up!” In fact, fans remember quite a few things Millar has said through the seasons.


Was Bill Mueller Boston’s Clark Kent in 2004?

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Bill Mueller in 2005. Googie man at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Forget Clark Kent. Bill Mueller was the mild-mannered surprise for the 2004 Red Sox.

Winner of a league batting title that year, he pounded the rival Cardinals for six hits in the World Series. 

Small wonder the St. Louis-area native was hired by the Cardinals as a 2015 coach.


The Boston Red Sox love their ‘Dirty Water’

From a 1966 magazine ad touting their new single, Dirty Water. Imagine what Red Sox caps would do to those hairdos! By Tower Records (Billboard page 39, 16 April 1966) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

From a 1966 magazine ad touting their new single, “Dirty Water.” Imagine what Red Sox caps would do to those hairdos! By Tower Records (Billboard page 39, 16 April 1966) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Brandon loved singing “Dirty Water,” the Red Sox victory song.

The lead singer for the Standells was a Red Sox fan!

See how he loved the team’s embrace of his hit:

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The 2004 Red Sox versus 1967’s ‘Impossible Dream’

The strong right arm of Jim Lonborg sent the Sox to the 1967 World Series. By Boston Red Sox / MLB (ebay.com, front of photo, back of photo) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The strong right arm of Jim Lonborg sent the Sox to the 1967 World Series. By Boston Red Sox / MLB (ebay.com, front of photo, back of photo) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In Out of Left Field, Brandon saw many connections between his father’s past and his present.

Brandon’s 2004 Red Sox faced the Cardinals in the World Series that year, just like in 1967.

Relive the final step that “Impossible Dream” team took to the ’67 Fall Classic here:

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A decade later, the Red Sox ‘Idiots’ were still celebrating

This "team picture" of the 2004 World Series champs was taken during a 2005 congratulatory ceremony at the White House. By Paul Morse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

This “team picture” of the 2004 World Series champs was taken during a 2005 congratulatory ceremony at the White House. By Paul Morse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

One rare high point of the 2014 season was Fenway’s 10-year reunion of the 2004 champs.

See how the “Idiots” relived that glory.

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Trot Nixon’s family, author Matt Tavares, made Red Sox autographs matter

Trot's wife deserved her own baseball card after 2004, too, raising money for reading programs!

Trot’s wife deserved her own baseball card after 2004, too, raising money for reading programs!

During the 2004 season, Trot Nixon’s wife helped make autographs matter for young readers.

Enjoy this true tale from children’s author Matt Tavares.

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How to be truly INSIDE Fenway Park

The view from atop Fenway's Green Monster is great. The view from WITHIN? The on-field scoreboard operators get that rare perspective every game. By InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The view from atop Fenway’s Green Monster is great. The view from WITHIN? The on-field scoreboard operators get that rare perspective every game. By InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Brandon loved sitting by the Pesky Pole in Fenway, but he knew what was definitely the best seat in the house:


What happened to the original Fenway Park scoreboard?

In 2011, a fan got a peek inside Fenway Park's famed manual scoreboard. By C.S. Imming (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

In 2011, a fan got a peek inside Fenway Park’s famed manual scoreboard. Notice the dents from all the line drives! By C.S. Imming (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fenway Park is prized as a vintage baseball relic.

However, the hand-operated scoreboard is a replica installed in mid-2001.

The whereabouts of the original fixture created a mystery.

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Who is the father of Boston Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster?

During the 2008 season, Wally tried to persuade Fenway fans to recycle. By malo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

During the 2008 season, Wally tried to persuade Fenway fans to recycle. By malo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the veterans on the 2004 championship team was Wally the Green Monster.

The mascot debuted in April, 1997.  Wally is our grandson’s favorite Red Sox.

Meet the executive who gets the credit (or blame) for the birth of a monster: