In a year made for reading rather than cheering, the nation’s publishers hit a home run in producing excellent baseball literature.
Headings range from “The New Baseball Bible: Notes, Nuggets, Lists, and Legends of Our National Pastime” to biographies of Yogi Berra, Jim Bouton, Roy Halladay, and Effa Manley, the only female member of the baseball room. of fame
You are reading: Best baseball books 2020
Rating them, as always, is tough, but adhering to three rules helps: non-fiction only, new titles only, and no personal favorites (sorry, “new baseball bible”). That said, here’s how they rate:
1. The Shot Called: Babe Ruth, the Chicago Cubs, and the Unforgettable 1932 Major League Baseball Season (University of Nebraska, 408 pp, $36.95), by Thomas Wolf. In an era of 16 teams, daytime baseball, and social upheaval, Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, and Jimmie Foxx were heroes to millions of people glued to the radio and newspapers. historian tom wolf even says that ruth shot twice, including the legendary hit in the 1932 world series.
2. an illustrated introduction to japanese baseball cards (robsjapanesecards.com, 77 pp, $19.99), by robert k. Fits The Most Beautiful Baseball Book Of 2020, This Illustrated History Is Filled With Color Images Of Baseball Cards Most Americans Haven’t Seen, Plus Photos From USA. uu. stars that traveled there. This compact coffee table book fills an important gap in baseball literature.
3. Fenway 1946: Red Stockings, Peace, and a Year of Hope (Lyons Press, 256 pp., $28), by Michael Connelly. Another book that focuses on one year, this hardcover is a significant addition to baseball history because it covers the first year of the postwar era and the return of the game and the country to normalcy.
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4. yogi: a life behind the mask (small, brown, 576 pp., $30), by jon pessah. This heavyweight hardcover delves into the three-time MVP’s personal life, from the Normandy Invasion to meeting and marrying Carmen and establishing the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, N.J. Author Jon Pessah says, “Yogi’s story was far more complex than he could have imagined.”
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5. The Incredible Women of American Women’s Major League Baseball (Chronicle Books, 160 pp., $19.95), by Anika Orrock. the best of several wartime league books is a coffee table keepsake because the author is also an accomplished illustrator.
6. Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles Eagles (Rowman & Littlefield, 312 pp., $35), by James Overmyer. The only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame gallery never made it to the major leagues, but she certainly influenced them, as author James Overmyer reveals in his hard-to-find volume.
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7. gotham baseball: new york’s all-time team (the history press, 192 pp., $21.99), by mark c. healey, foreword by marty appel. With four major league teams hailing from New York, Mark Healy filled all the slots, and John Pennisi illustrated the players in “Gotham” uniforms designed by Todd Radom. this is the best illustrated baseball book of 2020.
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8. the bill james handbook 2020 (acta sports, 634 pp., $30), edited by bill james and rob dougherty. Current player and team records, performance projections, plus essays on topics such as future 300-game winners fill this important annual report, a vital companion for writers and fans alike.
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9. 24: Life Stories and Legends of Say Hey Kid (St. Martin’s Press, 340 pp., $38.50), by Willie Mays and John Shea. willie could handle warren spahn but he was afraid of dogs. A survivor of segregation and Negro league baseball, he struggled to make it to the big boys but loved the game so much that he played stickball on the streets of Harlem. shares his stories with giants beat writer john shea.
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10. Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original (University of Nebraska, 407 pp., $34.95), by Mitchell Nathanson. Baseball player, broadcaster, and author, Franco Bouton bounced from Yankees star to Braves knuckleballer with an eight-year hiatus in between. Nathanson leaves no stone unturned.
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11. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife (University of Nebraska, 280 pp, $27.95), by Brad Balukjian. The author purchased and opened a pack of Topps cards from 1986, found all 14 players included, and produced a hardcover filled with his personal and professional stories, some of them surprisingly candid.
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12. Jackie Robinson’s Court-Martial (Stackpole Books, 283 pp., $29.95), by Michael Lee Lanning. The latest in a line of books by Jackie Robinson is the most unusual, as it is based on his court-martial in 1944, three years before he broke baseball’s color line. there’s plenty of baseball, too, including chapters on the rickey branch, spring training, and persistent segregation.
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13. Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland Athletics (Lyons Press, 264 pp., $24.95), by Dale Tafoya, foreword by Ken Korach. Although baseball makes strange bedfellows, none seemed as unlikely as Charley Finley and Billy Martin, two men whose abrasive personalities kept them out of Cooperstown. but billyball worked fast and worked fine.
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14. Mr. Met: How a Jersey Sports-Crazy Kid Became Family to Generations of Major League Baseball Players (Triumph Books, 258 pp., $38), by Jay Horwitz, forward by Jacob Degrom. Mets PR veteran, my old colleague from Passaic Herald-News, tells tons of inside stories in the funniest baseball book of the year. well done jay!
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15. Spanking the Yankees: 366 Days of Bronx Bummers (Summer Playbooks, 276 pp., $18.99), by Gabriel Schechter. A clever paperback that Yankee haters will love, this easy-to-read tome features three indexes: Names, Dates, and Incidents. There are plenty of those, including fights, mistreatment, and the hiring and firing of George Steinbrenner’s managers, trainers, and publicists. If something bad happened to the team (like winning a world championship in 15 playoff series), Schechter found it.
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16. From the Bases to the Bleachers: A Collection of Personal Baseball Stories from the Bleachers and Beyond (Palmetto Publishing, 337, pp., $19.99), by Eric C. Gray. The most unusual book of the season, this paperback is packed with stories found nowhere else: memories of people, places, and events from writers, fans, and friends of the author.
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17. Kings of Swing: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Home Run Revolution (William Morrow, 322 pp., $35.99), by Jared Diamond. charlie lau, walt hriniak, and a myriad of other hitting coaches even more unknown to fans offer various hitting theories that combined to create the current feast-or-famine approach that allowed half the clubs to set home run records last year. past. author jared diamond even calls one of them “the mad scientist.”
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18. The Hall Ball: One Fan’s Journey to Unite Cooperstown Immortals With a Single Baseball (McFarland, 263 pp., $35.49), by Ralph Carhart, Foreword by John Thorn. One way to get to know all living Hall of Famers is to have them pose for individual photos with the same baseball. Ralph Carhart did it, complete with laugh-out-loud captions for photos taken at card shows.
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19. Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay (Triumph Books, 346 pp., $28), by Todd Zolecki. The Phillies Beat Staff Writer for MLB.com presents a polished personal profile of the late Hall of Fame pitcher, featuring more than 100 interviews from teammates, rivals and other baseball insiders.
20. Working on a Perfect Game: Conversations with the Umpires (Summer Playbooks, 294 pp., $18.99), by Bill Nowlin. As a co-author of a book with Referee Al Clark, I know that referees have a lot to say. nowlin found him over a four-year span, interviewing 72 mlb umpires plus supervisors and subs called in from the minors.
21. Housebreaking: The Angels, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between (Public Affairs, 352 pp., $28), by Eric Nusbaum. Building Dodgers Stadium, great for the team and the game, was difficult for locals who were forced to vacate their homes, as this behind-the-scenes volume demonstrates.
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22. Hall of Name: Baseball’s Greatest Nicknames, From ‘The Only Nolan’ to ‘Van Lingle Mungo’ and More (The Book!, 326 pp., $18), by d.b. first man. The Sultan of Swat, Splendid Splinter, and Say Hey Kid come to life again in this witty and colorful paperback, which also reveals the real names of Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson, Chipper Jones, and many more.
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23. Gotta Have a Heart: Walter Johnson’s Washington Baseball to the 2019 World National Champions (Lyons Press, 209 pp, $24.95), by Frederick J. frommer, foreword by chuck todd. Before the Nationals won their first world title, Washington was called first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League. Taking its title from Damn Yankees, this book explains the heroes and heartbreakers of three different D.C.-based teams.
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24. Buzzsaw: The Unlikely Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series (Simon & Schuster, 308 pp., $28), by Jesse Dougherty. On the rare occasions that a wild-card team becomes world champion, there are winners and victims, as the Nationals demonstrated by capturing a surprise title in 2019. The author is the Nationals writer for the Washington Post.
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25. Red Sox in 5s and 10s: The Agony and Ecstasy of Boston (The History Press, 208 pp., $21.99), by Bill Nowlin, foreword by Rico Petrocelli. This delightful paperback contains everything he wanted to know about the Red Sox but was afraid to ask: from weird and weird stuff to wild scores, crazy games, foreign-born players, and the greatest Boston teams of all time. .
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26. Mutt’s Dream: The Making of the Mick (Ascend Books, 320 pp., $22.95), by Howard Burman. Of all the Mantle books ever published, this hardcover is the first to look at the Yankees superstar from her father’s perspective. p.s.: mickey was her given name (after mickey cochrane).
27. Dodgers vs. Yankees: The Long-Term Rivalry Between Two of Baseball’s Greatest Teams (sports publication, 288 pp., $24.99), by Michael Schiavone. When it was Bronx vs. Brooklyn, the great rivals were competing to win a World Series for New York. But even after they went west, the Dodgers maintained their competition with the Yankees, meeting in multiple World Series.
28. from the stick to the creek: my six decades with the san francisco giants (triumph, 240 pp., $16.44), by mike murphy and chris haft, preview of willie mays. Mike Murphy, manager of the Giants’ clubhouse for six decades, has wonderful stories, including nicknames and numbers.
29. A Fan’s Guide to Baseball Analytics (Sports publication, 240 pp., $16.99), by Anthony Castrovince. count this columnist as someone who learned a lot from this book, which makes the analyzes much more understandable.
30. Always Remembered: New Revelations and Old Tales of Fabulous Exhibitions (Scoop Press, 264 pp., $19.95), by Danny Gallagher. A longtime Beat Expos writer, in his excellent sixth book on the team, he weaves 94 interviews around his memories of the Montreal team.
honorable mention:
The Coffee Cup Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History (Rowman & Littlefield, 216 pp., $29.95), by Jacob Kornhauser.
Future Value: The Battle For The Soul Of Baseball And How Teams Will Find The Next Superstar (triumph, 363 pp., $28), by eric longenhagen and kiley mcdaniel.
The Inner Game: Bad Calls, Weird Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves (william morrow, 264 pp., $28.99), by keith law.
A Hard Way Out: Fighting Life’s Difficulties (triumph books, 324 pp., $26.95), by rod carew with jamie aron.
Now on the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises (Acta Sports, 600 pp, $18.95), by Tom Stone.
game used: my life in stitches with the minnesota twins (triumph, 287 pp., $28), by dick bremer with jim bruton, foreword by bert blyleven.
new york mets all-time all-stars: the best players in each position for the amazin’s (lyons press, 254 pp., $18.95), by brian wright.
Building the Brewers: Bud Selig and Major League Baseball’s Return to Milwaukee(mcfarland, 222 pp, $29.95), by chris zantow.
Cleveland Rocked: The Personalities, Hitters and Magic of the 1995 Indians (Triumph, 261 pp., $28), by Zack Meisel, foreword by Sandy Alomar Jr. and Jim Thorne.
baseball in st. louis: from the minor leagues to the major leagues (reedy press, 240 pp., $36.99), by ed wheatley.
Future Value: The Battle for the Soul of Baseball and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar (triumph, 363 pp., $28), by eric longenhagen and kiley mcdaniel, foreword by keith law . p>
All It Takes Is All You Have: Craig Counsell (Lone Wolfe Publishing, 271 pp, $23.49), by Rich Wolfe.
The Baltimore Black Sox: A History of the Negro Leagues 1913-1936 (McFarland, 212 pp., $35), by Bernard McKenna.
sol white’s official guide to baseball (summer gamebooks, 156 pages, $13.99), introduction and notes by gary ashwill.
San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock, and a Third-Rank Baseball Team (Rutgers University Press, 312 pp, $23.49), by Lincoln Mitchell. /p>
the man who made ruth a baby: matías brother of st. mary’s school (mcfarland, 226 pp., $35), by brian martin.
the fielding bible: groundbreaking analysis of major league baseball defense, by team and player (acta sports, 344 pp, $29.95), by john dewan, mark simon and brian reiff.
isabel “lefty” alvarez: the unlikely life of a cuban-american baseball star (university of nebraska, 208 pp., $29.95), by kat d. williams.
new york loves them, cooperstown despises them: hall of fame mets and yankees greats(mcfarland, 202 pp., $35), by tom van riper.
who has the game? Surprising But True Baseball Stories (workmanpublishing, 172 pp., $12.95), by derrick barnes, illustrated by john john bajet.
The Negro Leagues Were Major Leagues: Historians Revalue Black Baseball (McFarland, 323 pp, $49.95), edited by Todd Peterson.
Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry (Little Brown, 272 pp., $28), by Joan Ryan.
Cum Posey of the Homestead Greys: A Biography of the Negro Leagues Owner and Hall of Famer (McFarland, 285 pp., $35), by James E. overmyer.
(tie) cy young: the life and career of baseball (mcfarland, 205 pp., $29.95), by lew freedman, and cy young: a baseball hero American (Ohio University Press, 133 pp., $14.95), by Scott H. more time.
Dan Schlossberg, a longtime SCD contributor from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, is a former AP sportswriter who is now a national baseball writer for Forbes.com. he has written or co-authored 38 baseball books. dan’s website is www.danschlossberg.net and his email address is ballauthor@gmail.com.
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