Books « The Diamond Cutter

Books

Since I have an unquenchable thirst for baseball knowledge, I try to read as much about it as possible. Not everything I read is on the internet, as once upon a time there was a thing called books and this was where people learned about all sorts of things. On this page I will list books that I recommend you read if you are a baseball fan. Also, if you have read any baseball books that you have enjoyed, please put a comment below as I’m always looking for recommendations. Or if you want to comment on one of the books I have listed here, let me know what you thought! I’m not going to put up every baseball book I have ever read, just ones I recommend. Keep checking back as I will update this page from time to time as I read (and remember) more books.

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Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
Author: Stewart O’Nan & Stephen King
Publish Date: December 2004
Buy: click here
About: Early in 2004, two writers and Red Sox fans, Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King, decided to chronicle the upcoming season, one of the most hotly anticipated in baseball history. They would sit together at Fenway. They would exchange emails. They would write about the games. And, as it happened, they would witness the greatest comeback ever in sports, and the first Red Sox championship in eighty-six years. What began as a Sox-filled summer like any other is now a fan’s notes for the ages.

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Ball Four
Author: Jim Bouton
Publish Date: July 1990 (20th Anniversary Edition)
Buy: click here
About: When Ball Four was first published in 1970, it hit the sports world like a lightning bolt. Commissioners, executives, players and sportswriters were thrown into a state of shock. Stunned. Scandalized. The controversy was front-page news. Sportswriters called Bouton a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper.” Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force the author to sign a statement saying that the book wasn’t true. One team actually burned a copy of Ball Four in protest.And Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimers’ Day at Yankee Stadium. Fans, however, loved Ball Four and serious critics called it an important document. It was also very popular among people who didn’t ordinarily follow baseball, because Ball Four is not strictly a book about baseball, but one about people who happen to be baseball players. And it’s hilariously funny.

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On Deck: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

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(note: all images are courtesy of Barnes & Noble.com)