The Best Baseball Books 2024

1. The 34-Ton Bat, (Hardcover)

An unorthodox history of baseball told through the enthralling stories of the game's objects, equipment, and characters. No sport embraces its wild history quite like baseball, especially in memorabilia and objects. Sure, there are baseball cards and team pennants. But there are also huge balls, giant bats, peanuts, cracker jacks, eyeblack, and more, each with a backstory you have to read to believe. In The 34-Ton Bat, Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin tells the real, unvarnished story of baseball through the lens of all the things that make it the game that it is. Rushin weaves these rich stories -- from ballpark pipe organs played by malevolent organists to backed up toilets at Ebbets Field -- together in their order of importance (from most to least) for an entertaining and compulsive read, glowing with a deep passion for America's Pastime. The perfect holiday gift for casual fans and serious collectors alike, The 34-Ton Bat is a true heavy hitter.

The 34-Ton Bat, (Hardcover) Author: Little Brown and Company ISBN: 9780316200936 Format: Hardcover Publication Date: 2013-10-15 Page Count: 352

2. The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse Hardcover

9780804190015. Pre-owned: Good condition. Hard cover. Language: English. Pages: 384. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. -With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions---

The New York Times Bestseller With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions. It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions. How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball. Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way," he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics. To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench. A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge. The Cubs Way takes readers behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base-percentage, and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential. Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering, but also served to strengthen their loyalty. The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and readers will cherish for years to come.

3. A Season in the Sun (Paperback - Used) 0803277938 9780803277939

In 1976 Roger Kahn spent an entire baseball season, from spring training through the World Series, with players of every stripe and competence. The result is this book, in which Kahn reports on a small college team's successes and hopes, a young New England ball club, a failing major league franchise, and a group of heroes on the national stage. Roger Kahn is the author of a number of baseball books, including Good Enough to Dream, also available in a Bison Books edition. Kahn has written a new afterword for this edition of A Season in the Sun.

Title: A Season in the Sun Book Format: Paperback ISBN10: 0803277938 EAN: 9780803277939 Author: Kahn, Roger CONDITION - GOOD - Pre-Owned - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include 'From the library of' labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included.

4. Pre-Owned Official Little League Baseball Rules in Pictures (Paperback) 0399515313 9780399515316

9780399515316. Pre-owned: Good condition. Trade paperback. Compl Rev & Updtd ed. Language: English. Pages: 80. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 80 p. For the over two million youngsters who play Little League every year, their parents, coaches, managers, and umpires, here is the totally updated and revised "official" guide to the rules by which Little League Baseball is played.

Title: Official Little League Baseball Rules in Pictures ISBN10: 0399515313 EAN: 9780399515316 Author: Hale, Creighton J. CONDITION - GOOD - Pre-Owned - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include 'From the library of' labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included.

5. As Koufax Said..., (Paperback)

Who said the 400 best things about how to play baseball? From the wisdom of Mickey Mantle ("A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own; a gang is where a coward goes to hide") to the wit of Nolan Ryan ("It helps if the hitter thinks you're a little crazy") to the banter of the Babe ("I swing big and I miss big"), this one-of-a-kind collection features the most quotable advice on how to play the game from the greatest names in baseball. Not your ordinary encyclopedia of baseball quotations, As Koufax Said . . . goes beyond the worn-out "Yogi-isms" and "Stengelese," beyond tales of players' drinking prowess and off-the-field blunders, right to the heart of the matter: How to play a winning game. The authors, baseball coaches themselves, have searched long and hard to fill this unique book with quotes chosen for their ability to teach something essential about the game or help improve skills on the field. Organized into chapters that cover practice, batting, pitching, fielding, baserunning, managing and coaching, character, and the game in general, this rich compendium is packed with hundreds of intelligent, useful, accurate, and entertaining quotes, quips, and words of wisdom from legends both past and present--players and coaches at the highest level of the game. You can't go anywhere else to find the collective insight of Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax, Ted Williams, Cal Ripken Jr., John McGraw, and Earl Weaver under the same cover. This is the ultimate gift for players, coaches, and fans of every generation. Inside you'll find timeless baseball wisdom from all the greats, including: Johnny Bench Wade Boggs George Brett Lou Brock Rod Carew Ty Cobb Joe DiMaggio Joe Garagiola Orel Hershiser Reggie Jackson Derek Jeter Willie Mays Mark McGwire Stan Musial Cal Ripken Jr. Pete Rose Babe Ruth Tom Seaver Sammy Sosa Mo Vaughan George Will Ted Williams Carl Yastrzemski . . . and, of course, Sandy Koufax.

As Koufax Said..., (Paperback) Author: McGraw-Hill ISBN: 9780071410144 Format: Paperback Publication Date: 2003-03-26 Page Count: 144

6. We Played the Game: Memories of Baseball's Greatest Era (Hardcover) by Danny Peary, Lawrence S Ritter

Hard cover. Language: English. Pages: 672. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 672 p. Contains: Illustrations. Here is a thrilling, nostalgia-filled and candid look inside the game of baseball-from the dugout to the field manager's office-by the men who made it all happen. Covering the years from 1947 to 1964, more than sixty players-from Hall of Famers to utility players and bench-warmers-offer firsthand memories, opinions and gripes, and tell the real stories behind baseball's most colorful decades. Fans can relive all of the great moments on and off the field through the eyes of those closest to the action, including: - Roger Maris's record sixty-first homer - Ted Williams's final at bat (a home run) - Eddie Waitkus being shot by a female fan (the premise for The Natural) - Joe DiMaggio's desire to meet Marilyn Monroe-and many, many more. From arguments with managers to encounters with groupies, from racial conflicts to salary negotiations, all of the key stories are here, including many not recorded elsewhere. What a joy-one of the best pure baseball books I've ever read, raved Larry King when this marvelous volume was first published in 1994.

Here is a thrilling, nostalgia-filled and candid look inside the game of baseball-from the dugout to the field manager's office-by the men who made it all happen. Covering the years from 1947 to 1964, more than sixty players-from Hall of Famers to utility players and bench-warmers-offer firsthand memories, opinions and gripes, and tell the real stories behind baseball's most colorful decades. Fans can relive all of the great moments on and off the field through the eyes of those closest to the action, including: - Roger Maris's record sixty-first homer - Ted Williams's final at bat (a home run) - Eddie Waitkus being shot by a female fan (the premise for The Natural) - Joe DiMaggio's desire to meet Marilyn Monroe-and many, many more. From arguments with managers to encounters with groupies, from racial conflicts to salary negotiations, all of the key stories are here, including many not recorded elsewhere. "What a joy-one of the best pure baseball books I've ever read," raved Larry King when this marvelous volume was first published in 1994.

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