Baseball Books

My oldest son loves to lay in his bed and read stories with Daddy just before lights out. I found this book for them when they'd just started their nighttime ritual and knew my husband would love it. He's always loved to play sports and is very excited about sharing that love with his sons. This version of Casey at the bat is so beautifully illustrated - it really takes you back in time. Turns out that I enjoy listening and looking at the pictures just as much as my two year old. It's the kind of book you know will be saved and handed down. My husband loves it so much that when we were recently invited to a birthday party he suggested it as our gift. You can't go wrong with this version, it's great.

When you can take a classic and apply it 100 years after it was written, then you know you've truly written a piece of art. This is by far one of the best illustrated books for this poem that I've ever seen. It's partially a cartoon, but partially real life so it really makes for a great story and not just a poem. I've read this over and over again and my little one wonders why on earth Casey let the first two balls get by without even trying. What an educational little poem for little ones and even adults. The illustrations alone are worth the cost of this book, especially when they show smoke coming from Casey's ears! Since it is a classic, I think this should be in every little one's library and what a great way to introduce some education without them even knowing it. I didn't study this poem until the 6th grade, but with publications such as this, little guys and gals can get ahold of it much earlier. If you have a little leaguer in your life, this book would be a fabulous gift. Even mighty Casey, talent and all can strike out! Highly recommend!

I loved this book and thought it was very interesting. I have been a Cincinnati fan since the 70s!

One of the greatest sports biographies of the later half of the 20th century. This book is a personal diary of the entire 1974 (Big Red machine) season... The book gives a fascinating inside look into the game of baseball by one of its most controversial, famous and accomplished players.

I read this book several years ago and found it quite enjoyable. I like to read about baseball pennant races and this one was an unforgettable one. Very thorough and readable!

During the summer of 1962 I was 11 years old, and baseball was the most important thing in my life. That summer I listened to every Dodger game and lived and died with every pitch. I knew all the players in both major leagues, but the Dodgers were my life. I can still remember the Koufax no-hitter against the Mets, the sweep of the Giants in L.A., and getting swept by them in S.F., and the September swoon by the Dodgers was epic (leading by 4.5 games with 7 to play!).
The 9th inning of the 3rd playoff game was a trauma that took weeks to recover from (no, I'm not a hopeless case like Red Sox fans!), but something that I still vividly recall today. David Plaut's book brings 1962 back in narrative, chronological form, and while I knew most of the things noted from the Dodgers' perspectives, I gained new insight into what the Giants clubhouse went through, and what their great players thought of the Dodgers, and the pennant race.
This was a classic pennant dogfight with two evenly matched teams going down to the final pitch of the year. Sandy Koufax's ailment can't be used as an excuse - the Giants played better when it counted, as no one remembers who finished second, except for broken-hearted Dodger fans, and David Plaut, who has put together a wonderful reminiscence of that magical summer of 1962.
I highly recommend this book to baseball fans of any age.

Warren Brown was a master of the English language! His brilliant style of writing is something that is sorely missed from today's so-called sportswriters.

If you can find any of his books (Cubs, Sox, Win, Lose or Draw or Knute Rockne's biography) pick them up to find out how a true legend covered sports!

If your a Cub fan, or a fan of baseball history, you will like this book. It covers the team from their beginnings in the 1800's through the 1945 World Series. Mr. Brown's writing style keeps things moving and indeed interesting. Each chapter focuses on a year or, in some cases, a particular player or event. Cub fans will love reading about the years when the team was no stranger to winning and winning championships!

The book begins with an excellent demographic background of Cincinnati and the surrounding area and gives the reader a true feeling of the baseball climate in SW Ohio, in 1869 and now. I found the interviews with Sparky Anderson, Buddy Bell, Johnny Bench, Brooks Robinson, Bernie Stowe, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and a host of others insightful and enlightening. This is no typical historical biography of the Big Red Machine. This is an indepth look at what made the Machine tick and how it accomplished the amazing feats it did. This book is a must for the true Reds fan and baseball lover.

The author of Cincinnati and the Big Red Machine is one of the world's greatest writers and my father. He is Robert H. Walker; not Robert Martin Walker as per the above interview. I'm sure that Robert Martin Walker is a talented author as well, but I think an interview with my Dad would be much more interesting on this subject. He has a great sense of humor too. It's a great book and I'm glad to see it listed.

I highly recommend reading "The City of Baraboo". It is the story of a circus that takes the star road. Never before has an author researched and captured the soul of the circus like this before. It makes me cry because the circus has died. All the big circuses have long since surrendered their souls to the devil of the almighty buck. Sacrificing the high art and the heart of the circus for no better reason then to make money. Longyear has captured the soul of the circus and brought it back to life.

Longyear has given us a funny and dramatic look into what a circus on the star road would have to face. All the troubles and all the fun a company of fools would have to deal with. For S/F fans, cicus fans and for the child inside of everyone don't miss this book. Write to the publisher and demand a reprinting. It's worth any effort one has to go through to read this book.

Barry B. Longyear with his Circus World Trilogy has done more to preserve the history of the circus than any writer since Chappie Fox - and if you know anything about circus lore at all, you'll realize what high praise that is.

The basic premise: O'Hara's Greater Shows, Terra's last circus under canvas or otherwise, is in the cart (circus slang for 'in deep trouble'). They are a subsidiary of the Arnheim & Boon Conglomerated Enterprises (hereafter A&BCE), a soulless omnicorp that does not understand what they have; all they can see is a dismal return on their investment. The Governor (slang for the owner of the circus), John J. O'Hara, learns A&BCE plans to disband the show. He goes to A&BCE's Board of Directors with a novel proposal: He will take O'Hara's Greater Shows off their hands and off Earth, and assume its debts. Despite the howling objections of Arnheim, the Chairman of the Board, the Board goes for the deal. O'Hara then takes his circus to Ahngar, a world that appreciates showmanship, and in short order makes enough money to pay A&BCE completely off.

The Governor returns to Earth with the money and an idea: That A&BCE build him a circus starship so he can take O'Hara's onto the star road. A&BCE accepts the contract, and the future looks rosy.

However, Arnheim and his Board of Directors have a scheme of their own. While the circus starship City of Baraboo is being built (she was named by O'Hara for the birthplace and former winter quarters of the five Ringling Brothers and their famous circus) A&BCE secretly contracts with the Nuumian Empire, an ambitious alien government in the Ninth Quadrant, to sell the City of Baraboo to them. As she is built on the lines of a Terran regimental assault carrier complete with detachable landing shuttles, she would be a valuable addition to the Nuumian fleet. How O'Hara, his kinkers, joeys, spangle prats, canvasmen, windjammers and roustabouts manage to hijack their starship - and get to keep her - makes up the first story of the novel, which is a series of connected stories.

The rest of the novel is told in the main through the eyes of a First of May (circus first-time employee), "Warts" Tho, a Pendiian, who signs on with the show its second year in space to keep the route book, the daily log of the circus's travels and stands. Through Warts, Longyear leads the reader through many aspects of circus life, providing us with an insider's view of the circus. We meet the Advance Team responsible for advertising, flying a baby starship with four landing shuttles named for the old Ringling Brothers advance cars of centuries before; and watch them duke it out with other shows that have taken to space and planets far away. We get a look at the artistes (they used to be called freaks) and life on the Midway as opposed to the Big Top. We get to see, on two different planets, what happens when circus justice intersects planetery justice. We find out about circus nicknames - the story of how Stretch Dirak got his is priceless. We get to see the Governor help out his friend/patron, the King of Ahngar, by ridding Ahngar of a plague of gamblers, and without contaminating his show with them as so many dishonest shows of the 19th Century were tainted. We learn why every traveling show carries a fellow known as "The Patch," and how important The Patch is to helping th show to run smoothly. (It's worth mentioning that Robbie Robertson got the job of The Patch almost exactly right in the movie, Carny.) And finally,we see the circus having to cope with a catastrophe unlike anything that other chronicler of circus life, Cecil B. DeMille, could ever have imagined.

As Spider Robinson said, Longyear projected the circus into the future and thus gave it immortality. He makes us see just what the circus meant to the pre-television, nay, pre-motion pictures, world. And he gives those of us that love the Big Top and the daring performers hope that this art form will survive and even thrive in the future.

Of the three books featuring the Old One, as O'Hara's Greater Shows is known in that time's entertainment industry, this one is probably the best. Elephant Song because of its very nature is melancholy and the only one of the trio written as a novel; and while I am fond of the third book, Circus World, in my opinion only two of its stories meet the standard set by City of Baraboo.

By all means read all three of the Circus World novels. However, I think that as I do, you will as it were come again with the young 'uns and the old folks, back to City of Baraboo.

This is an outstanding baseball book for all ages. Our son and his boys absolutely loved looking at the older players and stories to go along with the pictures. It is knowledgable and enjoyable.

I have been following baseball since the 1954 World Series - Willie Mays' catch - Dusty Rhodes' hits - and this book brings it all back - all the sounds - the smells - it is fabulous. "A picture is worth 1000 words?" These are worth a million

I gave this to my hubby for fathers day. He is an avid Clemente fan. He's not much of a reader, but this was one he could not put down!

Esta excelente biografia de Roberto Clemente nos adentra a la vida de un idolo que, a pesar del tiempo, sigue siendo un ejemplo para todos. En ocasiones se tiende a olvidar sus vivencias, pero David Maraniss nos ilustra con lujo de detalles muchos detalles desconocidos de esta leyenda. Este libro incluye fotos, datos estadisticos y es un excelente recurso para aquellos que deseen conocer mas de este heroe que trascendio el beisbol, y las fronteras sin dejar su humildad, y amor hacia el projimo. Hacen falta más personas como Roberto Clemente. Excelente libro.

This is a great book for any Cleveland Indians fan! I just Wish Lindy Powers would do more books on other sports teams as well! Would love to see some hockey teams do a book like this. Really awesome shots of the players and their families.

This is a great addition to any baseball fans library. Just wish there were more teams that would put out a book like this.

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.