Full Description
Focusing on the ten most influential baseball books of all time, this volume explores how these landmark works changed the game itself and made waves in American society at large. Satchel Paige's Pitchin' Man informed the dialog surrounding integration. Ring Lardner's You Know Me Al changed the way Americans viewed their baseball heroes and influenced the work of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Bill James's Baseball Abstract transformed the way managers--including those in fields other than baseball--analyzed numbers. Pete Rose's My Story and My Prison Without Bars exposed and deepened a cultural divide that paved the way for Donald Trump.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. America's National Game by A.G. Spalding, 1911
2. You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters by Ring Lardner, 1916
3. Pitchin' Man: Satchel Paige's Own Story by Satchel Paige, 1948
4. The Natural by Bernard Malamud, 1952
5. Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues by Jim Bouton, 1970
6. The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn, 1972
7. The Bill James Baseball Abstract by Bill James, 1982
8. Rotisserie League Baseball by Glen Waggoner, 1984
9. Pete Rose: My Story by Pete Rose and Roger Kahn, 1989, and My Prison Without Bars by Pete Rose with Rick Hill, 2004
10. Other Influential Books
Chapter Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
