Baseball Books

The wealth of expertise from author/editor Russell Schneider is demonstrated in this hefty volume of facts and history of the Cleveland Indians.

Schneider was a long-time Indians beat reporter/columnist for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and ended his newspaper career several years ago as a sports columnist for a small weekly chain based in northeast Ohio. He has written a number of books on the team.

This is a definitive exploration of the franchise, with the sketches on each season a major highlight. And since the 2008 team has stumbled to its 10th consecutive loss, the information is readily available on the last time the club reached such futility (for the record, it was 1979, in a season where the club stole more bases than hit home runs).

The encyclopedia will be a welcome addition to the clubhouse of any fan of the team and is certainly a first-round draft pick for those who enjoy exploring the history of "America's Favorite Pastime."

Very informative history of the Cleveland franchise from the late 1800's to the present. Comments and player stats for every season. Bios on all players, front office, ballparks, Hall of Famers, Great Moments and many other features. There really isn't much of note that you could want to know about the team that isn't included. This effort must put the Indians fans in a more knowledgeable position about their team than any other fans

The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia(2nd Edition) is even better than the first! I don't actually own the book, my mother-in-law, Lillian Zupancic, does. She is not only a die hard fan of The Cleveland Indians but a fan of both the authors as well. Russel Schneider has a co-author who also worked on the 1st edition with him, Mr. Joseph Simenic. He is a prominent baseball researcher and co-founder of the Society of American Baseball Reasearch. He is a long-time Indians fan.

The authors have done a marvelous job on the book. It is complete with beautiful color photos and a color insert of the current home of The Cleveland Indians, Jacob's Field. Facts included are all players from the origins of The Cleveland Indians to present time complete with stats. This is a book that you definitely must own if you are a fan of the Cleveland Indians.

I say this not only because Mr. Simenic is my mother-in-law's brother and my husband's uncle, but because The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia (both editions) are a valuable asset to any fans' library!

I have two daughters, an eighth grader who is really into softball, and a fourth grader who is just getting into the sport. I ran across this new drills book and highly recommend it. It's really organized, with good pictures to go along with the drills. And it's great for both of my girls. I'm definitely going to tell their coaches about it.

As a league administrator, I'm always looking for great coaching
resources for the coaches in our league. I love this book because it's
a combination coaching and drills book. Many drills books out there
just have drills (with a smattering of ad hoc remarks on mechanics).
But this book is different. Every section of the book has a thorough
discussion of the required mechanics (hitting, pitching, defensive
footwork, infield defense, outfield defense, etc.), followed by a slew
of drills. The book contains a progression of drills for every level of
player (youth league level, as well as tons of "advanced variation"
drills for travel league and high school players). The book is very
organized, and therefore is a great resource for coaches to refer back
to on a regular basis. You can tell that Michele Smith is a stickler
for details because the photos and captions are very detail oriented and
helpful. All and all a fantastic resource!

This book is a great reference for any coach of U10, U12, U14 and high school girls softball. The book is very organized and well written, and explains very clearly the fundamentals behind each drill. As expected, the pitching chapter is excellent. But the hitting and the defense chapters are also outstanding. There are lots of advanced level coaching tips throughout the book, including in each drill's "hints" section. Michele Smith is in alot of the photos personally demonstrating the mechanics and drills. The diagrams are good, and clutter free.

This story captures a small part of childhood, but a vital part that shapes us as we grow up. Yet it depicts a multifaceted element: a sport that a child plays in the beginning is always a process of joy because they are learning something new; yet as they grow up, and the sport becomes a more important and central part of their life, it takes on a different nature. The transition period of this unwanted evolution of a pastime is always hard to pinpoint, but it is always painfully apparent when one begins to look back.

All of this is apparent and smoothly comes to life in this book; a book that is not just for a father or son. If the reader can look beyond the immediate roles of the both the father and son, it can apply to anyone and really, anything. I myself was never so deeply involved in a sport, but because of competition entering into a child's life at such an early age, a sport was forever altered to me because of that competition. It has left me with a profound dislike for the sport, as well as general competition. To see all of these elements so neatly and beautifully laid out in this story puts everything into a perspective I wish I had years ago.

Regardless, this book applies to every activity that has the ability to turn competitive, and nowadays, that ranges from traditional sports to the oddest things one can think of. Indeed, it is important to note that the illustrations are also very well done, and they give proper light to such an important theme in our lives today. The only aspect of the story that leaves the reader wanting, as it is with any thoughtful and relevant story, is what happens in the future, what happens to those who take the next step in competition and what happens to those who move on and engage in other activities. It is also important to realize that either path does not always have a clear ending, for there is always time to touch upon the past and find what was lost.

A Coach's Letter to His Son is a short book. I read it in one sitting but I found that its simple yet powerful message resonated with me for the remainder of the day.

Reading this book brought back memories of playing pick-up baseball at my local park, perhaps the most enjoyable time of my youth. Allen's story captures the loss of that simple joy for the game that so many kids experience when they are exposed to overzealous coaches and parents who make baseball too much about winning and not enough about having fun.

The longing to recapture the pure joy of the game of baseball is what makes A Coach's Letter to His Son such a meaningful book.

Beautifully illustrated by John Thompson, A Coach's Letter to His Son is a must-read for parents, players and coaches alike.

This book is an elegant and beautiful account of an experience so common in modern America. Childhood sports are no longer, sadly, about the kids. They are about winning, and nothing else. No longer are kids allowed to experience the game for what it really means, rather they are forced by their parents and coaches to care only about being better than others. This sort of enviroment contributes nothing to children, it only damages their capacity for enjoyment. This book gets at the core of the meaning of baseball and shows that just because the major leagues are a job, doesn't mean that little league has to also be corrupted. Reading this book made me take a step back and see that childhood sports need to be returned to their origin, an origin that was pure; sports used to be about fun, why can they no longer be?

An essential read for coaches of kids or parents, you will thank yourself for reading this book and hopefully realize the beauty of the game once again.

An excellant book for new and experienced coaches. Full of great drills, practice plans, and advice on how to motivate your players. There is even a section on dealing with parents, a very useful section if you want to enjoy coaching for a number of years.

The drills and practice sections are broken down by age group, not many books do this. The Ripkens stress teaching the fundamentals which is missing in todays high profile sports. They cover it all: hitting, pitching (Cal used to be a pitcher), fielding, time management, game situations, etc...

A must read for coaches who want to succeed!

I bought this book to help with specific tips for coaching my daughter's softball team. Although softball pitching is not covered (after all, this is a bok on coaching baseball) the book provides a multitude of teaching points for teaching kids of all age groups. Although there is some overlap, I would strongly suggest purchasing Play Baseball the Ripken Way: The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Fundamentals also. That title breaks down the necessary skills by age groups and provides a series of drills that can be brought right to the diamond. Both of these books seek to instill the Ripken Way - a philosophy of how to approach youth sports (with obvious emphasis on baseball) with a focus on making the game fun for the kids, while teaching the fundamentals.

Very well written book on coaching baseball for all ages. I read this book to get more informed on how to coach 5-6 year old T-Ball. This book provided a very good framework for this age group. Many well timed photographs used to describe practice drills.

Table of contents

Part 1
1 Responsibilities of Coaching
2 Realities of Coaching
3 Reasonable Expectations
4 Baseball Practice Basics

Part 2
5 Hitting and Baserunning Drills
6 Throwing and Pitching Drills
7 Fielding drills

Part 3
Practice Planner
8 Practice Particulars for Ages 4 to 6
9 Practice Particulars for Ages 7 to 9
10 Practice Particulars for Ages 10 to 12
11 Practice particulars for Ages 13 to 14
12 Practice Particulars for Ages 15+

Favorite parts of the book:

Page 6
As coaches, we need to be able to cater to the needs of the kid who can't catch one ball and still make baseball fun and exciting for the kid who can. It's a difficult balance but one that's important to understand at all levels.

I'll just echo what others have said - Bak's book is wonderful. It combines a narrative history of the Tigers from the late 20s through the early 50s, recounting the glory years of the 1930s in greatest detail. The second part of the book is a series of oral histories with Tiger greats and unknowns during this period. It is very well written and organized, and for anyone interested in baseball during this period is a sure bet.

Mr. Bak outdoes himself on this spellbinding autobiography of 22 "greats" of Baseball Legends. Few writers can make the pictures and words come to life. Bak should be commended, as he does quite well at this. He not only gives the reader a sense of time and place, but prefaces players' interviews with a short history as well, and the paths the city and professional baseball took from the end of WWI through the early 50's. Beautiful and yet haunting pictures of the way baseball was. An extra bonus was the almost-forgotten Black professional teams as well. Good reading, and one you'll go back to read and reference time after time after time.

If Richard Bak was to write 10 books about the Detroit Tigers, I'm sure my top 10 favorite books on the team would be those books (with my appologies to Ernie Harwell). Unlike any other Detroit Tiger author, Bak puts you at the feet of the greats he talks about or interviews and makes you feel like you are at Tiger Stadium during the 1930s. He has just the right blend of personality and historical fact to each book he publishes. In Cobb Would've Caught It, Bak talks to several Tiger greats and not-so Tiger greats and puts you in the seat next to him while he interviews them. I almost catch myself wanting to ask questions to the players as each story continues on. When Bak writes a book about Detroit basball, I immediately buy it - and I am never upset. David Troppens

The 1997 Complete Handbook of Baseball is the last one in the great series, which began in 1971. Winter always ended for me when I would spot the new edition of this indispensible baseball guide. In the 1991 edition I spotted an error and wrote a letter to Zander Hollander about it. Several months later a typewriiten (on a real typewriter not a word processor) letter arrived thanking me for writing. Snap 'em all up if you can.

Mr. Hollander's baseball annual is one I look forward to, having bought it every year since his first edition in 1971. Somehow, I lost my 1975 copy, if anyone has one to spare! His lively, knowledgeable and often humorous comments on the players, teams and issues of the game are a delight for me as a lifelong baseball fan. This is the one book I never want to miss, come springtime, and it's the one I'd recommend to any fan of any interest level. Whether you're just learning, or wanting to learn, the game.....or a fantatic who already thinks he knows everything - this one's a "must read" and one you'll refer to again and again throughout this season and for seasons to come.

This book is a great source for player stats in the baseball season of 1996. A must have for baseball fans.

Mr. Hearn's story is terrific! He courageously talks about the ups and downs of professional baseball playing, and ties these to the ups and downs of kidney disease. His story is one of winning, and meeting the challenges, despite being asked to "catch some real foul balls" in his struggle to overcome the limitations of chronic kidney failure and dialysis. I would recommend every professional who works with people who suffer from debilitating, chronic disease to read Mr. Hearn's book!

On the surface, Ed Hearn had a brief and undistinguished career as a catcher in the major leagues. However, there is so much below the surface that needed to be told, and Hearn tells it all, the good and bad.
Hearn had a promising career as a catcher. He gives an excellent look into his life throughout school as a star athlete. He does not hold back as he tells his story, blemishes and all.
Tragically, Hearn was stricken with kidney problems, requiring a transplant. Once again, Hearn tackles this part of the story with brutal honesty. Sometimes it is painful. Sometimes it is heart-wrenching. At all times, it is inspirational.
Hearn never made a major league All-Star team, but he is truly an All-Star in life.

As an avid K.C. Royals fan, I too jumped on the 'Why did we trade David Cone for Ed Hearn' bandwagon back in 1987. After reading Ed's book and meeting him in person, I realize how shallow I was. Ed's story is a must read for all sports enthusiasts and everyone who has overcome and is need of overcoming their own 'curves' in life. God bless Ed on touching lives through this book and his many speaking engagements. His signed copy will always be at the front of my bookcase

I love this book for several reasons, but the most important of them is the painstaking, meticulous revelation of a moral core from which sport, media, participation in government and the attention of an entire population have all digressed. It's a remarkably rewarding read that inspires an explosive rebirth of confidence in private conscience, and the power of an individual To Do The Impossible.

When I came upon this book, I nearly was entirely overwhelmed. I have been a Cubs fan for over 40 years and have studied Kabbalah with Zve ben Shimon Halevi for 20 years. I LOVE this book. I once drew the Tree of Life wherein I drew all the sephera as baseballs; calling it the "Cuballa." I am further astonished at the syncronisity of my own life. My father was from Kiev and in the Soviet Army in WW2. Alas he was a White Sox fan. It embodies my entire life in such a bittersweet rememberence of my parents and needless to say my beloved Wrigley 9. I went to every opening day and hung at the "Cubby Bear Lounge." I am really astounded that someone wrote this book ( for me). I would pay to sit in a seat in the friendly confinds, with no game going on; just to absorb the only real ballpark. It is not unlike the Kabbalah. Thank you Mr. Sherwin for such an incrutible treasure.

Rabbi Sherwin's paean to perennial also-ran, the Chicago Cubs baseball team, in his THE CUBS AND THE KABBALIST might best be summed up with the following two word: "very cute."

It's true. It really *was* cute, and I had an exceptionally grand time turning the pages of this entertaining read, adding up to one of the more *fun* fictional pieces in my collection these past couple of weeks.

Admittedly, CUBS is safely nestled in the fictional world, folks. Sherwin blends his rigorously-researched reams of Cubs and other baseball statistics alongside the esoteric practice of Jewish Mysticism, or Kabala ("kabbalah"). I fell in love early and often with the way this story unfurled.

It begins with leading rabbi, Jay Loeb (J-Lo, anyone?), and his concerns over his wife Tamara. The author describes how the shalom bayit/bayis, or "peace of the home," chez Loeb has recently been disturbed by Tamara's frequent tirades railing against the annual stream of Cubs losses. We find ourselves at the point where it's beginning to affect her performance at work -- she's a lawyer, see -- and because of all this, Tamara's been stressing. Loeb's had enough, and he resolves on the spot to do something about it.

Like any loving husband might, the good rabbi seeks to ease his wife's pain, and rustles up a solution. Loeb eventually falls back on the mainstay of his rabbinical training and investigates the possibility of using his expertise in matters concerning the ancient Jewish Kabbalistic practice to provide a cure for what's been ailing Tamara's hapless beloved Cubs.

Soon, the Cubs begin cobbling together a series of seemingly-miraculous wins at home in the "Friendly Confines" of Shy-Town's [Chicago] Wrigley Field, mostly due to some clandestine "soul work" Loeb has been conjuring up in the silence of the night. Cue "The Golem of Prague" story -- for those of you who know it -- to explore the possibilities of what might happen to the rest of this story. (I won't give it away, but do expect a little twist at the end there. One which I think you're going to enjoy.)

This book is a pure pleasure read.

Sherwin doesn't overwhelm you with complex jargon, and while his subject material -- Jewish Mysticism -- is a very serious subject indeed, not to be trifled with lightly by any stretch (a la what Madonna, her husband Guy Ritchie, Bittney and others have been doing in Hollywood) -- he doesn't lord it over you inside the pages of this book. Delivered in a sometimes-humourous, sometimes-tongue-in-cheek style, Freud would be proud of Sherwin's cigar-is-just-a-cigar read -- I mean, c'mon!, it's baseball...our National Pastime (will it always remain so?). Don't expect some heavy non-fiction here, okay?

Byron L. Sherwin's quite obviously got the skills, ladies and gentlemen.

His narrative is tightly woven, and he leaves no stones unturned in CUBS. With a typical moviemaker's flourish, he ends his book with a cute little Epilogue a la what you might see in a happy Disney movie, and that made me smile. You'll learn of what "became" of the various players in this little drama, and I'll admit that it summed things up handily for this here reviewer.

On the beach?

A long flight across the ocean?

Or perhaps you're a baseball lover who's seeking an interesting little spin on the "Field of Dreams" narrative?

Then THE CUBS AND THE KABBALIST is probably for you.

-- ADM in Prague

Such a neat book, with great stories about the Cubs on the island and other interesting tidbits about Catalina Island. I could not put it down.
most probably because my great uncle, Charlie Root ( my dad's uncle) was mentioned in there several times. I wanted to find out more things about
Charlie and even found an awesome pic of him that resembled my dad oh so much!! anyway the whole book was so interesting and great for nostalgic Cubby Fans...so full of history. Makes me want to go back to Catalina and see the old ball field and other points of interest I missed the first time. Kathy Brewer Muenz

Being a baseball enthusiast most of my life I found The Cubs on Catalina to be a wonderful book. It's filled with many pictures and interesting comments by the old players during the time they trained on the island off of California. When purchasing this book for myself I also bought an additional copy for a family member. We both loved the book and would highly recommend it to any devoted Cub fan, but also to anyone who loves the game of baseball. Living in So California for many years and visiting the Old Wrigley Field many times, I was familiar with some of the players mentioned in the book

The Cubs on Catalina is filled with great pictures of the Chicago Cubs, not to mention the treasure trove of stories the old baseball players tell. I can't find any other book, or even a documentary, where there is so much engaging information about these three exciting decades of the Cubs' history. I recommend this book to all Cub fans.

This is my new favorite book. Myron Uhlberg's beautiful picture book connects the plight of suffering racial discrimination with being subjected to prejudice for having a disability. It connects the famous with the common. It will tear at your heart, and hopefully open it to know that change is possible; although often slow and painful. The inside cover is filled with primary resource news clippings from Jackie Robinson's career, making the historical piece all the more tangible to grasp. The author's note at the back of the book pulls it all together, and reveals why this was a book that had to be written. I recommend it for ages 8 to 108.

Myron Uhlberg is a prolific author, having published 7 books after his 65th birthday. He has many others in the works. He choses his words carefully and meaningfully. Most of the storyline is based on some aspect of his life, having been raised by 2 deaf parents. He builds a sense of deep, caring for the characters which will connect you to them. The illustrator has done an excellent job of capturing the essence of the storyline.

"Dad, Jackie, and Me" is a fabulous story about a father and a son, about prejudice and triumph. Myron Uhlberg subtly creates a parallel between the unfair discrimination against his father for being deaf and Jackie Robinson for being African-American. This is a touching book with lovely illustrations...not to mention so many dimensions for a classroom teacher to explore with students! Plus, I met Myron today, and he is one of THE most warm, friendly, wonderful authors I have ever met. I give him and his works my most glowing praise!