OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

[metsbats]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

I'm actually listed in the Acknowledgements in the front of that Ripken book ...I also have the cancelled check from the author that he used to pay Cal Ripken Sr. for the forward. As a total aside, even though Ripken Sr. wrote the Forward to this book, Cal Jr. will not sign it due to it being an unauthorized biography (truth be told, the author 'ghost wrote' wrote the forward himself and just got Sr.'s approval on it)

Here's the reference in the books Acknowledgements:

'I have been continually updated on the media and Cal junior by his "biggest fan," Bill Haelig'


Very Nice!

[ironmanfan]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

In additon to Mets bats I have alot of Mets books

- Smithsonian Baseball - Stephen Wong
- Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio - Maury Allen
- My Favorite Summer - Mickey Mantle, Phil Pepe (autographed)
- Letters to Mickey - friends and fans of Mickey Mantle
- The Duke of Flatbush - Duke Snider
- Nice Guys Finish First - Monte Irvin
- Get that Nigger Off the Field - Art Rust Jr. (autographed)
- IronMan The Cal Ripken Jr. Story - Harvey Rosenfeld

I'm actually listed in the Acknowledgements in the front of that Ripken book ...I also have the cancelled check from the author that he used to pay Cal Ripken Sr. for the forward. As a total aside, even though Ripken Sr. wrote the Forward to this book, Cal Jr. will not sign it due to it being an unauthorized biography (truth be told, the author 'ghost wrote' wrote the forward himself and just got Sr.'s approval on it)

[cordovacollector]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

Just read:

Wait 'Til Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Wonderful book on 1950s Dodgers.

[joelsabi]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

i just read Miracle Ball. anyone read this book? It's about the search for "shot heard around the world" hr baseball.

[metsbats]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

In additon to Mets bats I have alot of Mets books

- Screwball Tug Mcgraw (autographed)
- Can anyone play this game? - Jimmy Breslin
- Bats - Davey Johnson
- If at First - Keith Hernandez
- Dream Season - Gary Carter
- Conquering Life's Curves Baseball battles and Beyond - Ed Hearn
- Things Happen for a Reason - Terry Leach
- Heat - Doc Gooden
- Darryl - Darryl Strawberry
- The Worst Team Money Could Buy The Collapse of the Ny Mets - Klapish/Harper
- Rookie - Dwight Gooden
- The Bad Guys Won - Jeff Pealman
- The New York Mets A Photographic History - George Kalinsky
- The Glory Days New York Baseball 1947-1957

- Smithsonian Baseball - Stephen Wong
- Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio - Maury Allen
- My Favorite Summer - Mickey Mantle, Phil Pepe (autographed)
- Letters to Mickey - friends and fans of Mickey Mantle
- The Duke of Flatbush - Duke Snider
- Nice Guys Finish First - Monte Irvin
- Get that Nigger Off the Field - Art Rust Jr. (autographed)
- IronMan The Cal Ripken Jr. Story - Harvey Rosenfeld

[2000mvpfan]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

A great one for Yankee fans is Dynasty:The New York Yankees 1949-1964 by Peter Golenbock-great stories told by the hundreds of players he interviewed from that era (most were still alive as the book is from '75).

And 2 more real funny baseball books are Temporary Insanity and Over the Edge-both by notorious nutjob Jay Johnstone...good stuff.

Joe

[godwulf]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

Unless a ballplayer is just a natural writer, it's really very much in their best interest to invest in a co-writer, or even a ghost writer...and often painfully obvious when they haven't done so. Too many athletes and former athletes tend to think of a book as being a more or less disjointed and random collection of sports stories and observations, with every other paragraph ending with a "punch line" and an exclamation mark.

Okay, here's a question for you guys: What ballplayer(s) would you most like to see write a book about their career, who (as far as you know) hasn't done so yet?

[trsent]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

I just finished Planet of the Umpires by Ken Kaiser (with Dave Fisher) and it was a fine read but nothing special. I felt like I was reading another Ron Luciano book since the co-author was the same for both.

I personally think two of the funniest baseball books of all time are The Umpire Strikes Back by Ron Luciano (with Dave Fisher) and Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker.

Their baseball stories are funny and well written.

[ironmanfan]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

Chris:

I agree that George Will's " Men At Work" is a very underrated book (would reccommend it to any baseball fan; not just fans of Ripken, Gwynn, etc.).

As an aside, I have a Sunday season ticket plan @ Camden Yards and see George Will at the ballpark virtually every game (at least that was the case last season). I would be more than happy to get your copy signed by him if you have any interest (just let me know).

Bill
whhp72@yahoo.com

[xpress34]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

GW and IronMan -

Thanks for the info on the Library link... I'll be checking it out.

I forgot a couple of books on my list:

Beyond Belief - The Josh Hamilton Story - VERY Moving and deeply detailed encounter of Josh's ups and downs...

Tales from the Rockies - a brief history of highlight moments from the Rockies history from day 1 to the 2007 World Series.

Juiced - Jose Canseco - This book definately changed my opinions of the man... and has been very insightful during the recent Steroids News...

I just finished the 1st two listed here... the Hamilton book was so intense I sat down and read the book cover to cover in one day.

From my original list, I am taking Watching Baseball Smarter with me on my Spring Training trip to read on my downtime and my flight there and back.

And a final recommendation from my original list - Men at Work by George Will. It gives four very distinct and different views of how the game is looked at from four very distinct and different individuals - Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken, Orel Hershiser and Tony LaRussa.

- Chris

[godwulf]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

I second the recommendation for libraything.com. It's very, very cool. They even have discussion boards on just about every reading interest you can imagine.

Book recommendations not already mentioned:

You Gotta Have Wa - an eye-opening account of Baseball as it's played in Japan. Timeless and fascinating.

The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty - chapters going into the recent, pre-2001 stories and histories of Torre, Steinbrenner, Paul O'Neill, Jeter, etc, interspersed with a nearly pitch-by-pitch account of Game 7 of the '01 World Series.

Love Me, Hate Me - very little love in this well-researched book on Bonds.

At the moment, I'm reading a book called Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound With a Minor League Misfit by Matt McCarthy, whom I met at a book-signing earlier this month. McCarthy is a Yale man who spent a year - 2002 - playing for the rookie league Provo Angels, and is now a medical resident at a New York hospital. He's gotten a huge amount of flack from former teammates, who claim that at least some of his stories are made up or exaggerated, but it's a funny and insightful book, in any case, and I suspect that it gives a pretty accurate account of what it's like to play in that league.

[princip]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

These are essential in any NFL library.

NFL books by David Boss

[ironmanfan]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

Along these lines, a web-site that I've found helpful to catalog/inventory my book collection (baseball and otherwise) is www.librarything.com

It's a free web-site for your first 200 books and I have found it extremely easy to use and useful.

Bill
whhp72@yahoo.com

[bigtruck260]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

The Baseball Book - Sports Illustrated
The Best of Tom Verducci
Throwing Heat - Nolan Ryan
The Gas House Gang
The ST. LOUIS Baseball Reader
The Card - Michael O'Keefe
A Well Paid Slave (Curt Flood Bio)
Operation Bullpen - Kevin Nelson
Driven From Within - Michael Jordan
Juiced - Jose Canseco
Dark Trade - (Insider account of pro boxing)
Various Sports Almanacs


I have a few more, but my 'library' is chock full of so much other stuff.
Right now I am reading a book called: The Year of Living Biblically...
and before that, I re-read Hells Angels by Hunter Thompson.

Come to think of it, I have every Hunter Thompson book he ever wrote. He is probably a more interesting than any baseball team or player. Might be why I named my son Hunter after him...

[xpress34]

Re: OT: What books are in your Sports Library???

..great list-but you forgot one of the all-time greats:"Ball Four" by Jim Bouton...as hilarious and eye-opening (especially on the subject of players and "greenies"-even then players were trying to get an edge!) today as it was in 1970!

Joe

Joe -

I definately need to add Ball Four to the library as well as Money Ball...

If you want a GREAT recommendation from my Libraray, pick up 'Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants and Stars'. Written by Robert 'Bob' Motley - the last surviving Negro League Umpire about his trials and tribulations... very well written...

- Chris