Jon - Prophet of the Sandlots by Mark Winegardner: Sticking with the scouting theme, we'll go with this book about legendary scout Tony Lucadello. Lucadello scouted and signed numerous major leaguers including Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Ferguson Jenkins. Winegardner, more noted as the successor of The Godfather series, traveled and spent time with Lucadello during Lucadello's last year of his life and learned a lot about scouting and development of young players. This might be my most frequently read baseball book and is one of the saddest I've read as well.
Mark - The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James: You can almost add the word New into that title. I've read, perhaps not every word, the 'original' version that came out in 1985 and I'm re-reading the New version on my Kindle.
A collection of history, little known facts, ranking of players, and keen insights. Good for an afternoon of reading or a quick perusal over lunch. The decade by decade history of the game and players allows a good overview prompting me to search out more detailed information. A cornucopia of baseball stuff.
Jason - The Bullpen Gospels by Dick Hayhurst: So, on the heels of the selection of "Ball Four," (my planned next selection) knowing I want to get another personal tale of life in baseball, I'm going with "The Bullpen Gospels" by Dirk Hayhurst. It was such a good book, I probably finished it within a few days and now I'm happy to be following @TheGarfoose and his further adventures on Twitter. Like Bouton, Hayhurst had a sense of humor of his position and conveyed it so well, you laugh along with him as you read a very personal tale of what life is like in the minor leagues.
1 comment:
Enjoying this series greatly.....the Prophet of the Sandlots book rang a bell, so I looked on my 'baseball-to be read' shelf and found it (must have been recommended somewhere else to me); I've now moved it to the top of my queue! -- Jim
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