An Ode to Baseball Literature: Diamonds in the Rough

As opening day of the 2004 baseball season approaches, BTW Senior Editor David Grogan, an admitted baseball addict, who is joined by a surprising number of ABA staff members in his love of the sport, shares some of his favorite baseball titles.

Perhaps no other sport lends itself to the form of literature than does the game of baseball. For me, anyway, (a not-recovering baseball addict), I find in baseball's long history something akin to America's own epic saga -- a uniquely American mythology that fills the imagination with the larger-than-life heroism of a Babe Ruth or a Jackie Robinson; the villainous greatness of a Ty Cobb; or the mighty fall of a Shoeless Joe Jackson or a Pete Rose. And, like all good folklore, baseball's history is filled with titanic and sometimes mythic battles, such the many fights waged between the Giants and Dodgers, or the 100 Years War still raging between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

It is no surprise then that baseball has been romanticized by countless writers, and as such, fills America's literary coffers with an endless array of protagonists and villains, both real and imagined. Like literature, baseball can be dark and sad, sometimes poignant and dramatic, sometimes boring and slow, sometimes controversial … and sometimes so "glorious," as Walt Whitman once described the sport, it can touch you in a way nothing else can.

It is why, as I pine for the season of baseball to start anew, I am fortunate to be able to pass the long hours in anticipation with my other addiction: reading, and, in March, reading about baseball.

For me, no list of baseball books would be complete without what some might consider a most unlikely baseball pick: Three Men Out: A Nero Wolfe Mystery by Rex Stout (Crime Line). This book, a compilation of three novellas, includes This Won't Kill You, about a baseball rookie who is removed from the World Series lineup via murder. (After reading this title as a teenager, I was magically transformed from a casual baseball observer to a baseball fanatic.)

Since then, I've ravenously read countless baseball books. Topping my list is the W.P. Kinsella novel The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (Mariner Books), the story of one man's quest to prove that, in 1908, the mighty Chicago Cubs traveled to Iowa for an exhibition game against an amateur league, the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, and played a game that lasted 2,000 innings. Another favorite is Kinsella's Shoeless Joe (Mariner), the book that was the basis for the movie Field of Dreams.

Other baseball titles topping my personal list include:

• Baseball: A Literary Anthology, edited by Nicholas Dawidoff (Library of America), is a collection of some of the best baseball writing out there. This comprehensive book offers a terrific mix of baseball writing from the likes of Damon Runyon, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Roger Angell, William Carlos Williams, Stephen King, John Updike, and many others.

• Of course, no baseball fan's bookshelf would be complete without The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James (Free Press), which is an indispensable encyclopedia detailing a century's worth of baseball history, listings of the top 100 players at each position, as well as James' signature stats-based ratings method. James' baseball philosophy had tremendous influence on Billy Beane, the A's general manager -- which Michael Lewis detailed in the bestselling book Money Ball (Norton), an ABA staff pick.

• Dynasty: The New York Yankees 1949 - 1964 by Peter Golenbock (McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books). This compelling book follows the Yankee dynasty year by year in all its glory: In 15 years, the Yanks won 14 American League pennants and nine World Series championships. Dynasty also proves the old adage, the more things change, the more they stay the same -- even back in the '50s, other teams cried foul at how the Yanks always seemed to get all the great stars.

• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner). Most of us read this book in high school, and for a reason. This is simply a great book that has it all: for one, it's Hemingway, and it's a novel about the sea, fishing, and an old fisherman who finds inspiration in the perfection of Joe DiMaggio.

• Baseball (The American Epic) - A Film By Ken Burns (PBS Home Video). I know, this is not a book, but this DVD/video is a must-have for any baseball fan. Told in nine "innings," or chapters, this documentary is nothing short of phenomenal. This detailed look at the history of baseball -- and America during that time -- spans 150 years, from its halcyon days in the late 1800s to modern times. It's companion book, Baseball: An Illustrated History by Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward (Knopf), is excellent as well.

Of course, to gear up for the coming season, I am currently engrossed in yet another baseball book, The Last Best League (Da Capo Press) by Jim Collins, the former editor of Yankee magazine. Collins' book is a fascinating look at the Cape Cod Baseball League, which has produced the likes of Nomar Garciaparra, and one season in the life of the Chatham A's. Just another reason to get up to Cape Cod this summer!

Finally, let's not forget those books sitting on my end table. Next on the list is George F. Will's baseball essays, compiled in Bunts (Free Press), and The Teammates by David Halberstam (Hyperion Press), a look at the friendships of four players from the Boston Red Sox teams of the 1940s -- Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky.

Look for ABA staff picks in Diamonds in the Rough, Part 2, in the next week's Bookselling This Week. If you want to share your favorite baseball book with BTW, please send your picks to Dave Grogan at [email protected].