Baseball Books

Great book for any baseball coach. An written by a great baseball manager

Weaver on Strategy is a mindful look into managing a baseball game. Weaver's opinions on getting on base and preserving outs (by not giving them away via the sacrifice bunt, for example) have been brought back into vogue by the current generation of baseball sabermetricians. I recommend this book to all thoughtful baseball coaches and managers looking for a different look at negotiating your team through a baseball game.

Years of statistical research and number-crunching have proven one thing: Earl Weaver was a pretty smart guy. Weaver, who didn't frown on using numbers himself, was a living hybrid of old-fashioned baseball wisdom and a forward-thinking organizational mind that helped turn the Baltimore Orioles into a dynasty.
For the fan, you can read about how Weaver achieved such great success in the majors with methods not out of line with modern, or "sabermetric" analysis.
For a manager or coach, Weaver offers a lot of practical advice about managing a ballclub. This won't teach you how to hit a curveball, but it will tell you what lineup to use against a curveball pitcher, how to handle players both young and old, and how to run an effective spring training regimen.
Weaver's advice is pertinent and insightful even now, 20 years after he managed his last game.

Earl Weaver reveals some of the reasons he was such a successful manager. Baseball fans can use this book to get a better understanding of the strategy behind the managerial decisions. Some of Earl Weaver's advice is admittedly questionable for the current game, so he added a 2002 epilogue to comment on his past advice. Earl Weaver was not as hot headed as was the impression from his arguments with umpires. His additude is that it was better for the manager to be thrown out of a game than to have one of his valuable players thrown out. He explains how he looked upon each decision as a type of gamble, basing the odds of success largely on past performace when a player was in a similar situation. That is why he kept and used lots of player statistics.

Although he had never written a book before aspiring author Tom Jones had a marvelous idea. Why not ask people involved in all aspects of the baseball industry these three simple questions: "What is your job?", "How did you get into this line of work?" and finally "What does this job mean to you?" It seems like a simple enough premise but would enough people actually be willing to take the time to sit down and talk about their careers in our great national pastime? Thankfully, the answer turned out to be a resounding "yes"!
In the pages of "Working At The Ballpark" you will meet 50 individuals who ply their trade at major league ballparks all across America. The stories of what these people do and how they wound up working in baseball are varied and fascinating. You will meet a few stars, several journeyman ballplayers, coaches, a manager, an umpire, play-by-play announcers, beat writers, front office personnel and even some of the vendors who patrol the stands during the game. What makes "Working At The Ballpark" so compelling is that most of these people were very willing to open up to Tom Jones and reveal why working in and around baseball is a very special way to earn a living.
As Nolan Ryan observes in the Foreward what is really neat about "Working At The Ballpark" is that you can either choose to read the book cover to cover or just pick and choose the interviews that interest you the most. I would concur with that observation. While "Working At The Ballpark" might be a great bathroom book I chose to read it cover to cover. And while I found a few of the stories to be less than scintillating the overwhelming majority were really quite captivating. What comes through loud and clear to me is that it matters not whether you one of the highly paid athletes, involved in club administration, or are toiling as an attendant in the visitors clubhouse: just about everyone who was interviewed in this book has a love affair with the game of baseball.
After reading "Working At The Ballpark: The Fascinating Lives of Baseball People-From Peanut Vendors and Broadcasters to Players and Managers" you will come away with a new appreciation of what it takes to make that yearly trip to your favorite major ballpark so enjoyable and so memorable. There are so many people involved that you just never see or hear about. You will never look at the game of baseball quite the same way again. Highly recommended!

Tom Jones is apparently this author's real name, and he has an ear for the real people who bring us the real game of big-league baseball. Done in a Studs Terkel style, "Working at the Ballpark" lets us know what it's really like behind the scenes on game day in the voices of the people who make the games possible. A must for any baseball fan.

This is an entertaining book. I like how the author preserves the speaking styles of the 50 baseball people interviewed. This makes for very enjoyable reading. I especially enjoyed reading about batting, hitting, and coaching techniques from people like Leo Mazzone, Ron Jackson, and Mike Hargrove. I also enjoyed peeking into clubhouses to see what really goes on, to read about the tensions between ballplayers and the media, and to read how plain folks like ushers, beer vendors, and mascots make their living. I recommend this book strongly.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in readking about baseball from a different perspective. If Studs Terkel had written a baseball book, this is probably what it would have read like.

50 interviews with people with ALL SORTS of careers at a ballpark--players, clubhouse workers, mascot, landscaping, announcer, ballpark vendors (food, beer, etc.).
My favorite interviews were the ballpark architect, the umpire, the shortstop who goes to art galleries when he travels around the US, and the "from Connecticut" ticket hustler.

I like that I can read one interview at a time or several in a row.

This would be a good gift for any man. I will keep it in mind for the impossible-to-shop-for 15-25 year old. It also strikes me as a good graduation gift because everyone in the book talks about how they came to have that job.

I am female 32 years with limited interest in pro sports...

In this delightful tale Cook takes us deep into the heart and soul of small-town U.S.A., its residents and its minor league baseball team, the Buffalo. "The Year of the Buffalo" is a wonderful read--and not just for baseball fans. Cooks tremendous insight into people, love of baseball and mastery of the written word will grab your attention and keep you turning the pages! You will find yourself walking the streets of Beymer, having breakfast at the diner and rooting in the stands.

This small volume grabs you from the opening (a minor leaguer's unexpected entry into Beymer) and holds you till the exciting conclusion (I'll never tell!). It is a very warm and human tale set against the backdrop of America's Game in a small town that could be anywhere. I would truthfully recommend this read (and do) even if Marshall were not my younger brother

Cook using the icons of the baseball diamond tells a story about a bunch of people who are hitting that midlife crisis point in their lives and how they deal with it.

Cook utilizes the small fictional town of Beymer, much as Garrison Keillor uses Lake Wobegone, he skillfully establishes a relationship with the reader that lets us imagine our own little town or the one we wish we came from.

Using the baseball team as a metaphor for life and the season as the struggle for respectability in this age of style over substance, he blends the drama with the actions of four likable and wonderfully believable characters.

The washed up pitcher looking for redemption, the alchoholic manager looking for respect, the local newspaper editor wondering if his sacrifice of staying in this small town was worth it and the local gal that runs the dinner trying to remember when she decided to run a dinner in a failing town for the rest of her life.

Cook works this drama out on the field and off as the characters help each other find what they are looking for, not unlike Dorthey, the Tim Man, the bashfull lion and the scarecrow searching for OZ.
Oz in this case is the quest for championship baseball season in the lowest of the minor leagues by the team that comes from "the smallest town in the U.S. that has a professional baseball team".
The land of Oz is the small towns of Wisconsin that are home to the other teams in the league.

Rich in humor, feeling, and entertainment, this book is a great summer read

I'm a female who has no interest in sports, so you wouldn't think this book would appeal to me. However, I love a good yarn about a group of memorable, loveable people pulling together to save their team and their town, and searching for love in its many forms along the way, and this book was that. But baseball fans would love it, too. I hear the author has written a sequel. I will be among the first in line to read about the ongoing lives of Tommy Lee, Dutch, the Chief, Billie Jo, and my personal favorite, Bruce Kelly, the wise and caring newspaperman.

It's a nice, glossy book, and it's so darn funny. It also contains some great tidbits about the history of the Red Sox. And the "10 reasons to hate the Yankees" section is phenomenal.

Great book, a must have for Red Sox fans. Who needs 10 reasons to hate the Yankees, though.

This book has it all: 101 reasons to love our fabulous Red Sox AND 10 reasons to hate the Yankees! The fact that his brother wrote a book about loving the Yankees makes it even more interesting. My favorite reason? #101. A Reason to Believe.

I borrowed my husbands copy of this book, not expecting to enjoy it (I'm not much into Baseball), but I was CAPTIVATED!! Baseball aside this is a human story, one the author approachs with the softness and sensativity of young William's mother....I cried and then was enthralled with the ultimate victory...against all odds... of the 1940 Reds. This should be part of Oprah's book club. I just wish the cover had the author's picture on it.....I just wonder if he has kind eyes.

This book was both an exciting read and an informative picture of pre-war Americana. From the Deacon to the Duke I just couldn't put it down. By the time the story reaches its inevitable climax....the 1940 World Series...you not only feel like you are there, but as if you are part of the team. Lets Go Reds! I can't wait for the next tome from this great new writer.

If you are a baseball fan, you know the stories of the big-named players from the 1940s. This is the story of a team of not-so-famous players who pulled off a World Series Championship. in 1940. If you enjoy baseball history, you will enjoy this book. You get know the stories behind a group of rather ordinary guys -- a great snapshot of life in the US just before World War II,

THIS IS A VERY GOOD ACCOUNT OF THE MEMBERS OF THE 500 CLUB. EACH PLAYER IS PROFILED BRILLIANTLY. THEIR CARRERS ARE WELL TOLD AND A READER GETS AN APPRECIATION FOR EACH MEMBER. THE AUTHOR DOES A GOOD JOB ON THIS BOOK. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TO ANY FAN WHO WANTS A LOT INFO ABOUT EACH MEMBER OF THE 500 CLUB.

I think that this book by Bob Allen and Bill Gilbert is an excellent book to read and see the many and the few(which ever way you want to see it)great hitters who have been lost in all the Babe Ruth and the Hank Aaron Home Run Derby. This book goes into detail about the life and careers of all of the 500 home run hitters. Do you remember the name Eddie Matthews or Mel Ott because they both hit 500 home runs. And how about Harmon Killebrew, second only to Babe Ruth in American League home runs. I don't think that Willie McCovey gets the credit that he deserves for hitting as many home runs as Ted Williams. I for one am glad that these two guys wrote this book to let you know how great of hitters these guys really were.In conclusion I feel that any real baseball fan should go out and get this book to remiss about the old times of baseball.

In baseball every pitcher dreams of winning 300 games in a career for power hitters it is the mark of 500 home runs that drives them to excel. This book, The 500 Home Run Club, takes you inside baseball?s exclusive fraternity that only has 15 members.

Watch baseball history come alive as you read about the power of Harmon Killebrew of the grace of Henry Aaron. Watch baseball?s magical wizardry in the story of Babe Ruth, or the trials faced by Jimmie Foxx. See how Ted Williams missed 5 years and still hit 521 home runs.

The game covers some many different eras, from early baseball with Mel Ott, to the 50?s with Yankee great Mickey Mantle to the 80?s with the raw power of Mike Schmidt of the Phillies. So many of the true legends of this game are here in this book.

You?ll also read what other players had to say about these 15 great hitters, all of which are in Baseball?s Hall of Fame. For the serious and true baseball fan in your life grab copy of this book, you won?t be disappointed.

Prior to reading this book I had only coached T ball. After this simple to read & instructive guide I was able to successfully coach a machine pitch team of young kids (7 & 8 year olds). The team I coached ended up with a losing record but provided a solid instructional format for practices and a great game day experience for all the kids & parents. The skills taugh in the guide to coach is great for young teams (probably T-ball through age 10) because if focuses on coaching the fundamentals & providing a healthy atmosphere for the kids & parents. I suggest this guide for any beginner coach.

Great book. Help guide our youth to play the game better. Will use as a reference many times in the future.

This book was exactly what I needed as a first time coach - with zero experience. It is an easy read with numerous photos of little leaguers performing the actions described. It not only covers the basic rules and offensive and defensive tactics, but goes into the psychology of what makes a positive coaching experience for both the coach, kids and parents. Most helpful were the numerous examples of drills for practices. Kids get bored and distracted easily and this book gives you numerous tips on keeping them focused on learning the game and still having fun.

The absolutely most amazing thing about this book is that apparently only one mind is responsible for putting it together. The second absolutely most amazing thing is that it was done over 20 years ago.

The absolutely most amazing thing about this book is that apparently only one mind is responsible for putting it together. The second absolutely most amazing thing is that it was done over 20 years ago.

The absolutely most amazing thing about this book is that apparently only one mind is responsible for putting it together. The second absolutely most amazing thing is that it was done over 20 years ago.

This is the best book on baseball I have ever read. It gives interesting facts in a fun way, and lets you hold items from baseball's past. I think Mr. Kirkjan deserves a lot of credit for writing a book that all people can enjoy - young and old. I know this is one book I will cherish forever.

This 32-page book is perfect for the beginning fan or life-long fan. The enclosed documents,letters, tickets are a MUST-SEE because they can only be viewed at Baseball's Hall of Fame & Museum. Now you have perfect copies of your own! So MUCH info in a small, but beautiful package.

This book is great fun. The author does an excellent job of describing various historical aspects of the game. But what really makes the book are the removable historical documents. I found this to be one of the most compelling books I have a read in some time. It's a short read, but you really feel like you are there. Great for collectors too!

Adam and Jeremy Krasner are brothers who share a common love for baseball. Adam, the younger brother has concerns about Jeremy. Jeremy is one year older than Adam and is partially mainstreamed in the local school the boys attend. Jeremy's social development is quite delayed and his behavior is described as having autistic overtones. He is also behind his peers academically.

Adam sometimes finds Jeremy's behavior embarrassing, such as when Jeremy pitched a fit in a restaurant after Adam did well in a baseball game. One can feel Adam's justifiable resentment and shame and also Jeremy's anguish at not being able to fit in with his peers.

One child accepts Jeremy. Tommy, a 3rd-grader in the neighborhood, looks up to Jeremy and the pair enjoy imaginative role playing (not a behavior readily found on the autism spectrum); joking and sharing a love for gardening. Jeremy is also a Beatles' fan, which I think speaks to excellent taste and cultural appreciation.

Tommy sounded like he was good for Jeremy and I was really disgusted with Jeremy's mother for threatening to punish him for playing with a younger child. Tommy was the one person who accepted Jeremy and enjoyed him, so I think it would have been beneficial to all to allow those boys to enjoy their friendship. I thought it was a good thing that Jeremy did not obey this draconian edict and continued his friendship with Tommy.

Adam is having problems with a boy on his team. Eddie, a rather rough boy takes his anger out on his peers. Unable to confront his abusive father, Eddie makes baseball a blood sport. Eddie also creates other havoc and it is up to Adam to go to bat for Jeremy when Jeremy is being charged with vandalism.

In the end, fraternal love proves strong and will leave readers cheering and rooting for the Krasner Brothers, the baseball fan and the Beatle fan.

The Krasners moved a few months ago to the town of Glen Haven, an hour drive from where they previously lived. Although it is not mentioned why this move took place, I assumed it was related to the father's employment. Adam's older brother is Jeremy, in the seventh grade and attending the junior high school. Jeremy is neurologically impaired and needs tutors in the home plus takes special classes in school. After playing baseball at the neighborhood field Adam caught the attention of a seventh grader named Eddie Gordon. Adam is flattered that someone wants to be friends with him since his brother's outbursts usually cause others to bypass him.

Mr. Gordon is the coach for the Little League team where Adam and Eddie are both pitchers. Adam's Mother encourages him to have his brother involved in the same things, so Jeremy ends up on the Little League team, even though he hates it, but his Mother wants him to be around his peers. Eddie has been picking on Jeremy since they moved into town, but Adam is not really aware of this due to being at different schools, so he ignores his brother's constant complaining of how Eddie calls him a retard on the bus and looks at him with mean eyes.

Throughout And Don't Bring Jeremy are many conversations with Adam, Jeremy and their parents at the kitchen table. It is quite funny to read how the author was able to convey just what a sixth and seventh grader feel and how they describe certain aspects of their parents in detailed observations. When Adam remarks how when his Mother makes a certain noise with her nose when she is exasperated I chuckled and tried to imagine such a noise! It is clear that his Mother has the last word all the time, but on the other hand she tends to push Jeremy off onto Adam and that seems unreasonable at times. I felt as a parent there was a lack of parental involvement on her part as she was always busy fixing and decorating the new house.

Jeremy likes to take his bike and ride around the block and this worries Adam, but as Jeremy says he is older and can do it too. But there is a third grader down the street that Jeremy stops and plays with to the discord of his Mother. She has repeatedly warned Jeremy to not go there and try to make friends with kids his own age.

Adam has described his brother as walking funny, eating gross and dressing sloppy with frequent outbursts that always caught him off guard and waiting for the next one to happen. He could feel when they were in stores and shopping that people were looking at them as the family with that boy.
And Don't Bring Jeremy is a quick and easy read for an Adult and geared to those who are between the ages of nine and twelve, especially anyone in the sixth and/or seventh grades. This would help those that have a child that is different in preparing for what is ahead once the child is at this age or grade level. The author has really captured the feelings of Adam and what he goes through on a daily basis because his brother is different.

Much of the story centers on the baseball game and how they make it to the All-Star Game as well as the friction between Eddie and Adam over pitching and the fact that Jeremy is jealous of his brother. Adam is cautious around Mr. Gordon as well because he is Eddies' Father and thinks he looks like a Sergeant.

I was very pleased to read And Don't Bring Jeremy, highly recommending this for anyone who has a child in this age range to teach about compassion and understanding of those who are challenged and different. I loved the way the boys transformed through the pages and really got a sense of being there with them in the town of Glen Haven. This would make a wonderful summer read to introduce a young reader to the trials and tribulations of living with a sibling that has a disability

I am the author of JEREMY GRABOWSKI'S CRAZY SUMMER IN STORMVILLE!, a children's book. In "And Don't Bring Jeremy," Adam Krasner has the burden of having to deal with his older brother Jeremy who is neurologically impaired. I highly recommend this book. I decided to read "And Don't Bring Jeremy," because my older brother Kevin has a brain disorder called autism. A number of the situations in the book between a "normal" kid and his handicapped brother I can relate to. The characters are well developed and are realistic. The story is not predictable and I didn't lose interest, as I wanted to find out how things turned out. Young readers, with or without handicapped siblings, would find "And Don't Bring Jeremy" a good book. Those without a handicapped brother or sister might have a better idea of what life would be like with one. Great book Marilyn!