Play Ball! Great Baseball Reads

Fiction

Ferrell, David. Screwball (2003)
In this black comedy/thriller, the Red Sox might win their first World Series since 1919, if they can put up with a new, high-maintenance pitcher. How much will they tolerate from this superstar? And why are people turning up dead whenever the Red Sox come to town? Read and find out!

Kinsella, W. P. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986)
Gideon Clark is determined to prove that a baseball league that nobody else has ever heard actually did exist. Are the details his father passed on to him about the league real or imagined?

Kinsella, W. P. Shoeless Joe  (1982)
In this baseball/fantasy novel, on which the movie Field of Dreams was based, a farmer is compelled by mysterious voices to build a ballpark in his Iowa cornfield. The park lures the ghosts of disgraced ballplayers, and helps him heal his relationship with his deceased father.

Lupica, Mike. Wild Pitch (2002)
Pitcher Charlie Stoddard should have been a star, but was forced into early retirement by injury. A mysterious healer improves his condition enough that, at 40, he may lead the Red Sox to the pennant. Sports columnist Lupica gets the details right as the Sox try to shake off the Curse of the Bambino, and Charlie tries to connect with his own pitcher son.

Malamud, Bernard. The Natural (1952)
This classic baseball novel bears little relation to the Robert Redford film. Gifted athlete Roy Hobbs struggles with injuries, seedy characters, and his own bad judgment in his quest to be "the best there ever was" at the game he loves.

Roth, Philip. Great American Novel (1973)
In this baseball satire, the hard-luck Rupert Mundys may or may not be victims of a Communist plot to destroy America by first destroying baseball.

Nonfiction

Adelman, Tom. The Long Ball: The Summer of '75  -- spaceman, catfish, Charlie Hustle, and the Greatest World Series Ever Played (2003)
An account of what's been called the greatest World Series ever--the 1975 Series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. Relive Carlton's Fisk's 6th game homerun, one of the most-savored moments in the history of Boston sports.

Bouton, Jim. Ball Four (1990)
Updated from its original 1970 edition, this tell-all by former major league pitcher Bouton made him an outcast in the sporting world for years. Baseball officials hated his behind-the-scenes dish on players and managers, but fans and critics loved it. Chosen as one of the NY Public Library's "Books of the Century".

Gould, Stephen Jay. Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville (2003)
Published after his death, this collection of essays reveals the evolutionary biologist's great passion for the game. A rabid Yankees fan (but a season ticket-holder at Fenway), Gould covers everything from batting statistics to the Myth of Mickey Mantle.

Halberstam, David. Summer of '49 (1989)
Journalist and historian Halberstam makes his recap of the 1949 baseball season as exciting as any fiction. Focusing on Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams and ending with the pennant race between the Red Sox and Yankees, this is one of the best baseball books around.

Halberstam, David. The Teammates (2003)
In October of 2001, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky journeyed to Florida to visit their old Red Sox teammate Ted Williams. The friendship of these very different men lasted for over 60 years, and their visit was made more poignant by the knowledge that, due to Williams' failing health, it would be their last.

Kahn, Roger. Beyond the Boys of Summer: The Very Best of Roger Kahn (1972)
NY Herald Tribune writer Kahn traveled with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s; this is his tribute to the players of the day and one of baseball's great eras. Author James Michner called it "the finest American book on sports".

Tygiel, Jules. Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and his Legacy (1997)
An history of Jackie Robinson, his crossing of baseball's color line, and what it meant to the future of African Americans and to the sport. This well-researched and thoughtful book also tells the story of lesser-known players such as Larry Doby, Roy Campanella, and Bill Veeck.

Will, George F. Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball (1991)
A technical look at the finer points of the game. Wills looks at the perfectionism of players like Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, and Orel Hershieser, and the physical and mental skills required to be a true great on the diamond.

Compiled by E. Sathan
March 2007