Baseball Books

Buy it if you are a fan of baseball. It is a masterpiece.

Willie Mays is, unquestionably, the greatest baseball player in major league baseball history. This book is also a "walk through history" of baseball and baseball players in the time Mays played.

Buy it. You will not be disappointed.

If you can find this book, get it and enjoy it. It is a wonderful book about Mays, baseball, and the America in which he lived. It works as biography and baseball and history, delivering big in all ways.

This book is a great history lesson not just of baseball but of the times Willie played. There are many memories of the "Giants" of yesterday.

"Willie's Time," by Charles Einstein, is a magical read, in my opinion. Einstein basically starts when Willie made it to the "Bigs," and he weaves history into the phenomenal career of Willie Mays, who is arguably the greatest baseball player that ever lived.

I started playing Little League baseball in 1960, and I played center. Willie Mays was my hero. Mays could-and did-do it all: (1)hit for average, (2)hit with power, (3)run the bases, (4)play defense, and (5)win games for his team with intangibles. Many players challenged Willie's arm, and Mays threw the majority of them out.

To attempt to compare drug-enhanced players of today with Willie Mays is ludicrous. They are mere children compared to Willie.

Today (27 May 2005), Major League Baseball no longer exists (to me). But "Willie's Time" was a wonderful reminder of not only a great baseball player, but also a time when Major League Baseball was fun. (RIP, Major League Baseball.)

In my opinion, you will NOT be disappointed if you buy this book.

This book gets right to the heart of Ozzie. Ballantini has done his reasearch and doesn't pull any punches about the Sox' chatty manager. A "ballsy" little book.

When I bought this book I thought it would be a quick read and I'd learn a few things I didn't already know about this uninhibited Manager of the Year and be amused in the process. This is 126 pages of profound, quirky quotes and entertaining, informative text. The Wit and Wisdom is an immigrant's American dream and the skinny of what goes on in major league baseball. Brett Ballantini delivered Ozzie's wit and some of his own wisdom. Best spent $7.95.

Customer service was excellent, and the book was also excellent and in great condition when it arrived.

Based upon the service and quality that I received, I would recommend this vendor, and his/her products, to anyone.

If you are a fan of the Zenism of Yogi Berra you will love this book!
Filled with snippets of Yogi's life, with his greatest malaprops.
I actually bought this for a friend, but read it first!

All little girls that want to play little league will be inspired by this fabulous writing on the History of Women in Baseball! It is a must read!

All little girls that want to play little league will be inspired by this fabulous writing on the History of Women in Baseball! It is a must read!

This book is the cutest, most adorable book about Eric Gregg and his experiences in life and baseball. Marty Appel has once again done a great job of bringing baseball to life in a wonderfully amusing way. Eric Gregg is no slouch in the amusing department, however. He sounds like the nicest guy in the world with a great attitude about the world. This book provided great entertainment for the plane ride to and from Quebec. I would say that all baseball fans should read this. The book gives such interesting insight about the game. Marty Appel fans should also read this. Like him, it's a very very fun book.

This is a book offering a great perspective -- not only from the viewpoint of one of a very few black umpires in Major League Baseball (MLB), but from a good person with a positive outlook on life. No, the author did not lead a charmed life, but reading the book made many of the big worries of day-to-day life seem much smaller.

The reading is fairly easy and certainly entertaining. Many of the stories are new (some of the other books about MLB umpiring can tend to repeat the same stories. Although the author sticks mostly to his professional life, we get a few glimpses into his personal life as well.

Occasionally you stumble across a writer with a natural gift, not only for putting words together in a pleasant way but for hitting a personal mark, for just plain making sense. This is a terrific collection of Sigars' ongoing streak of pertinent columns in the Mukilteo Beacon. It's a column I read religiously (and so should you) because Chuck speaks for the everyman, the everyman who knows he can be, and is, more than that.

Although these essays are often personal to the author's experience and family, they present tales of everyday occurances, challenges, joys, love, pain, parenting, and just plain life experiences that translate into truths that all of us can relate to. Among the these pearls are some more "editorial" type essays that make you think.

The book, with it's many essays, is great to have handy to read when you have a few minutes to relax.

Play by play of each World Series game; including pitch by pitch of Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956. A must if you can find this book!

There are only two sad aspects about The World Series: Complete play-by-play of every game 1903-1989. First, it does not include pitch-by-pitch accounts of every game, and second, it has not been updated since the 1989 World Series. But, for its time, it is a masterful work. Even before interest in play-by-play accounts of games made their way to the internet, Neft & Cohen go into great detail of each individual Series game. Want to know who the first batter and pitcher to appear in a series were? (Pitcher: Cy Young, Boston; batter: Ginger Beaumont, Pittsburgh)? Need to know how many pitches Don Larsen threw in his 1956 no-no in game five (97) and who was the last man retired (Dale Mitchell, struck out looking)? Wondering who was on base when Carlton Fisk homer hit the foul pole in game six of the 1975 series (no one, he led off the bottom of the 12th)? Have a bet with a friend on who scored the winning run on Bill Buckner's error in the 10th inning of game six of the 1986 series (Ray Knight)? It's all here, with recaps, box scores and composite statistics from every series. The only thing better than this book for tracking the series would be an update. Hopefully, one will be on the way within my lifetime.

Wrigley Field may be one of the oldest arenas in the world of sports, but its one of the most legendary. The building was once called an "edifice of beauty" by Charles Weeghman, its designer. The stadium was originally named Weeghman Park when it was built in 1914, then to Cubs Park in 1920, and finally to Wrigley Field in 1926. It has undergone numerous renovations over the years since being built as a single-decked structure in 1914. It was the original home of the Chicago Whales, or Chi-Feds, of the Federal League before the Cubs moved there from West Side Grounds in 1916. It is famous for its ivy-covered outfield wall and its manually-operated scoreboard, and more recently for stirring renditions of Take Me Out To The Ball Game during the middle of the seventh inning. Wrigley Field is to baseball what the Boston Garden was to basketball and the Montreal Forum was to hockey. It may be considered a modern-day version of the Colosseum in Rome. It truly is a structure of amazing design and shows no sign of going obsolete as it is constantly being improved and updated. Colorful photographs of this sports palace abound in this entertaining and informative book. It is considered a landmark alongside all the other buildings that have made Chicago one of the world's great cities. The stadium was also home to the Chicago Bears of the National Football League for many decades before moving to Soldier Field in 1970. A must-read for baseball fans or sports fans in general, and especially for Cubs fans who have endured a losing baseball team for so many years.

If you've ever been to Wrigley, few words can describe the feeling you get as a baseball fan. This book manages to capture a lot of those images and feelings, tracing the history of Wrigley Field and getting lots of insight from fans, players, coaches and more about what makes it special. Gorgeous photos throughout punctuate an excellent narrative. A must for fans of ballpark books.

Stuart Shea does a fantastic job in this "unauthorized biography" of Wrigley Field of telling the entire story of the Lake View neighborhood, not just the ballpark. From the founding of the area in the mid-19th Century, to the area we know today as Wrigleyville.

Plus, it is filled with details of the Cubs on-field experiences as well. Yes, those wanting to know about how Wrigley went from a small grand-stand at Clark and Addison in 1914 housing a Federal League ball club to one of the most revered parks in the country; double-decked, and with the ivy covered walls, will not be disappointed. However, Shea also tells the story of the teams that played there as well. For, what is a ballpark without a ball club? (Bears fans should note that a chapter is dedicated to non-baseball related activities. There is also a note in this chapter about the Chicago Sting soccer club.)

I would agree that this book could have used more photographs. I'm not asking for a coffee table book (there are plenty of those already available) that takes away from what the book is trying to accomplish... Rather that, since the book is trying to point out (and at times refers to photos used researching the Wrigley renovations through the years), that additional historical photos would enhance the already deep wealth of information available in this book. This minor detail, however, is not enough to detract from a top recommendation for this excellent book on the Friendly Confines.

Stuart Shea has written an intelegent and well researched book on the crown jewel of baseball parks.

The book illuminates not only the park but more over the vibrant and diverse personalities that gave Wrigley Field its character. From its comprehensive analysis of early Lake View, to the lights, Shea shares the details and yes even the foibles of those who call the Friendly Confines.

I encourage all that are fans of Wrigley to use this as a resource.

If the book were to be lacking, it would be in the actual paper quality and the lack of unique photos. Photos can be found in countless other books claiming to be definative on the park, but you will not find the facts and amazing narative content that Shea provides. This is a great baseball book.