I’m bored out of my gourd. I’m doing my afternoon routine of trying to get the girls to nap. I’m staring at my bookshelves of baseball books. Trying to figure out which is my favorite. Which ones are my top ten. So, I ended up ranking them. The list doesn’t include baseball fiction. It also doesn’t include a series of 25 books that I got from Major League Baseball that are about 129 pages each on different topics (such as “Baseball’s Best Pitchers” and “Baseball’s Best Ballparks”)
92. Clearing the Bases – Mike Schmidt
91. My Prison Without Bars – Pete Rose
90. Hanover Raiders -John Coulson
89. The American Game -Ira Rosen
88. Lost in the Sun – Roy Gleason
87. Yer Out and You’re Ugly Too – Durwood Merrill
86. Fair Ball – Bob Costas
85. 2008 Phillies Confidential – Gary Mathews
84. I Ain’t An Athlete Lady – John Kruk
83. Ya Gotta Believe – Tug McGraw
82. You Can’t Lose ‘Em All – Frank Fitzpatrick
81. Confessions of a Baseball Purist – Jon Miller
80. When Baseball Went to War – Todd Anton and Bill Nowlin
79. Wrigleyworld -Kevin Kaduk
78. Macho Row – William Kashatus
77. I Love This Game – Kirby Puckett
76. Baseball as America – National Geographic
75. Cooperstown: Baseball’s Hall of Fame – The Sporting News
74. Worth The Wait – Jayson Stark
73. Baseball’s Book of Firsts – Lloyd Johnson
72. Ya Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball – Frederick Frommer
71. The 33-Year-Old Rookie – Chris Coste
70. The Yankee Years – Joe Torre
69. Living on the Black – John Feinstein
68. The Heart of the Order – Tom Boswell
67. The Rotation – Jim Salisbury and Todd Zoleki
66. Hitter – E.D. Linn
65. Making the Play – Dave Winfield
64. Sports Illustrated Baseball – Various
63. A Pitcher’s Story – Roger Angell
62. If they Don’t Win It’s a Shame – Dave Rosenbaum
61. Faithful – Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King
60. Heroes of the Negro Leagues – Mark Chiarello and Jack Morelli
59. The Catcher Was a Spy – Nicholas Dawidoff
58. 3 Nights in August – Buzz Bissinger
57. Home Run – edited by George Plimpton
56. The Bronx is Burning – Jonathan Mahler
55. Aces: The Last Season on the Mound with the Oakland A’s Big Three – Mychael Urban
54. Baseball in the Garden of Eden – John Thorne
53. Summer of 68 – Tim Wendel
52. Game 6 – Mark Frost
51. High Heat – Tim Wendel
50. If at First – Keith Hernandez
49. Satchel – Larry Tye
48. Snatch, Dizzy and Rapid Robert – Timothy Gay
47. Jackie Robinson – Arnold Rampersand
46. Fenway 1912 – Glenn Stout
45. The Teammates -David Halberstam
44. At Fenway – Dan Shaughnessy
43. The Soul of Baseball – Joe Posnanski
42. Tomahawked – Bill Zack
41. Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid – John Rosengren
39. The House That Ruth Built – Robert Weintraub
38. 60 feet, 6 Inches – Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson
37. May the Best Team Win – Andrew Zimbalist
36. Heads Up Baseball -Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson
35. Branch Rickey – Jimmy Breslin
34. Why Time Begins on Opening Day – Tom Boswell
33. Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend – James Hirsch
32. The Bad Guys Won – Jeff Pearlman
31. Out of My League – George Plimpton
30. Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame -Bill James
29. Summer of ’49 – David Halberstam
28. The Old Ballgame – Frank Deford
27. Paul Dickson’s Baseball Dictionary – Paul Dickson
26. The Big Bam – Leigh Montville
25. The Card – Michael O’Keefe and Teri Thompson
24. Baseball: A Literary Anthology – Various
23. The Machine – Joe Posnanski
22. Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an antihero – Jeff Pearlman
21. I Had a Hammer – Hank Aaron
20. 9 Innings – Daniel Okrent
19. Luckiest Man – Jonathan Eig
18. A Life of Henry Aaron – Howard Bryant
17. The Science of Hitting – Ted Williams
16. Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty – Buster Olney
15. First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson – Michael Long
14. Sandy Koufax – Jane Leavy
13. Up, Up and Away – Jonah Keri
12. Men at Work – George Will
11. Moneyball – Michael Lewis
10. The Arm – Jeff Passan
9. Boys of Summer – Roger Kahn
8. Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract – Bill James
7. The Glory of Their Times – Lawrence Ritter
6. Crazy 08 – Cait Murphy
5. Juicing the Game – Howard Bryant
4. Clemente: The Passion And Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero – David Maraniss
3. I Was Right On Time – Buck O’Neil
2. Eight Men Out – Eliot Asinof
1. Ball Four – Jim Bouton
