Sports Biblio Digest 3.25.18: 2018 Baseball Book Preview Guide
News, Views and Reviews About Sports Books, History and Culture
Also in This Issue: New York Yankees; Babe Ruth Bios Galore; Sandy Koufax; Cuban Baseball Photos; Detroit Tigers; Ted Williams; Black Baseball in the Arts; Satchel Paige; Why Baseball Matters
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This is Digest issue No. 118, published March 25, 2018. The Digest is a companion to the Sports Biblio website. To view this newsletter in a browser, click here.
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The Sports Biblio 2018 Baseball Book Preview guide is rich in titles about history, memoir and biography, especially pertaining to the New York Yankees and Babe Ruth, and is rather spare in areas such as analytics that have been popular in recent years. There’s also a smattering of psychology and existentialism and baseball and the arts and literature.
Before rattling off the listings, here’s a selection of new baseball books at Newsday, and Ron Kaplan’s recent conversation with Sridhar Pappu, author of last year’s acclaimed “Year of the Pitcher.”
Also coming soon is Tom Hoffarth’s annual series of 30 baseball book reviews in April. Here are his 2017 selections.
The following titles are in alphabetical order and include the publication date.
Alou: My Baseball Journey, by Felipe Alou with Peter Kerasotis (University of Nebraska), April. The former major league player and manager’s first memoir delves into his baseball family’s story.
An October to Remember 1968: The Tigers-Cardinals World Series As Told by the Men Who Played It, by Brendan Donley (Sports Publishing), August 14. An oral history of a memorable Fall Classic, 50 years later.
A Season in the Sun: The Rise of Mickey Mantle, by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith (Basic Books), March 27. The Yankee slugger’s hardscrabble youth is examined by the co-authors of “Blood Brothers,” the Ali-Malcolm X friendship.
Babe Ruth and the Creation of the Celebrity Athlete, by Thomas Bartel (McFarland), June 3. One of three similarly-themed Babe Ruth books coming out this year, and which includes the story of Christy Walsh, Ruth’s ghostwriter.
The Baby Bombers: The Inside Story of the Next Yankees Dynasty, by Bryan Hoch (Diversion), March 6. Rookie Aaron Judge’s epic 2017 season was followed by the blockbuster trade that brought Marlins’ slugger Giancarlo Stanton on board for first-year manager Aaron Boone.
Baseball Italian Style: Great Stories Told by Italian-American Major Leaguers from Crosetti to Piazza, by Lawrence Baldassaro (Sports Publishing), March 6. An emeritus professor of Italian brings together all the legendary voices, including Hall of Famers DiMaggio, Berra, Rizzutto, LaRussa and Torre.
Baseball and the Occupation of Japan: America’s Pastime as a Tool to Promote Social Values, by Takeshi Tanikawa (McFarland), August 3. A Japanese film and media studies professor examines baseball diplomacy in Japan after World War II, and how American military occupiers promoted the sport as an examplar of democratic values over native martial arts disciplines.
Baseball Rowdies of the 19th Century: Brawlers, Drinkers, Pranksters and Cheats in the Early Days of the Major Leagues, by Eddie Mitchell (McFarland), June 3. The unruly, but never boring story of rules, and the flouting of them, often spilling over into the criminal realm.
Being Ted Williams: Growing Up with a Baseball Idol, by Dick Enberg with Tom Clavin (Sports Publishing), May 15. The famed broadcaster was nearing completion of this memoir upon his death in late 2017, and it is timed for the 100th anniversary of Williams’ birth in August.
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy (HarperCollins), Oct. 23. The esteemed biographer of Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle takes on the most outsized baseball legend of all, 100 years after he rose to fame leading the Boston Red Sox to the World Series, and chronicles how he transcended the game, and sports, with the Yankees in the Roaring 20s.
Breaking Babe Ruth: Baseball’s Campaign Against Its Biggest Star, by Edmund Wehrle (University of Missouri), May 31. How Ruth’s popularity was undermined by powerful forces in baseball seeking to discredit him for his fame, wealth and rebelliousness, and to present a more benign image of a deeply flawed hero.
Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition, by Jon Weisman (Triumph Books), May 1. Los Angeles legends also include Don Drysdale, Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser.
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene (Sports Publishing), May 1. The exploits of Williams, Johnny Pesky, Johnny Sain and other baseball stars who became wartime fighter pilots training with an elite Navy unit, and who in their spare time suited up for the Cloudbuster Nine.
The Comic Book Story of Baseball: The Heroes, Hustlers and History-Making Swings (and Misses) of America’s National Pastime, by Alex Irvine, Tomm Coker and C.P. Smith (Ten Speed Press), May 8. The history of the game in graphic-novel fashion, and intended for seasoned baseball historians and casual fans alike.
Cuba Loves Baseball: A Photographic Journey, by Ira Block (Skyhorse Publishing), April 1. The renown documentary photographer includes more than 100 images from his three years of work in Cuba, as it continues to undergo political and social change and cope with the death of Fidel Castro.
Davey Johnson: My Wild Ride in Baseball and Beyond, by Davey Johnson and Erik Sherman (Triumph Books), May 15. The former major leaguer and manager of the Mets’ 1986 World Series team tells his story in book form for the first time.
A Franchise on the Rise: The First Twenty Twenty Years of the New York Yankees, by Dom Amore (Skyhorse Publishing), June 3. Examining the era before the team initially known as the Highlanders moved into Yankee Stadium in 1923, which coincided with its first appearance in the World Series.
From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors, edited by Rob Edelman and Bill Nowlin (SABR Digital Library), February. The long history of ballplayers changing from their uniforms to the venue of Vaudeville, Broadway, Hollywood and television is told in 43 essays by SABR members, and the figures include Joe DiMaggio, Don Drysdale and even Jim Bouton.
Gator: My Life in Pinstripes, by Ron Guidry and Andrew Beaton (Crown Archetype), March 20. The memoir by “Louisiana Lightning” recounts his days playing with Reggie Jackson and for Billy Martin during the contentious World Series championship years in the late 1970s.
Gehrig and the Babe: The Friendship and the Feud, by Tony Castro (Triumph Books), April 1. An exploration of the Yankee sluggers’ relationship off the field, in which their contrasting personalities and lifestyles led to a long-time freeze, until Gehrig’s famous farewell address in 1939.
Hawk: I Did It My Way, by Ken Harrelson with Jeff Snook (Triumph Books), May 29. The fiery former player pens a memoir shortly before his final season as the long-time broadcasting voice of the Chicago White Sox, mingling his experiences on the field and in the booth.
Home of the Braves: The Battle for Baseball in Milwaukee, by Patrick Steele (University of Wisconsin), March 27. The short-lived tenure of the Braves in Wisconsin remains something of a mystery, as the author, a member of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association, attempts to unravel in this wide-ranging examination.
Invisible Ball of Dreams: Literary Representations of Baseball Behind the Color Line, by Emily Ruth Rutter (University Press of Mississippi), May 15. Representations of black baseball in the pre-Jackie Robinson era includes creative work by playwright August Wilson, novelist Gloria Naylor, painter Kadir Nelson and actor Denzel Washington.
Joy in Tigertown: A Determined Team, a Resilient City and Our Magical Run to the 1968 World Series, by Mickey Lolich and Tom Gage (Triumph Books), June 1. The Tigers’ star lefty and other teammates recollect their championship season, and Jim Leyland offers a foreword.
Koufax Throws a Curve: The Los Angeles Dodgers at the End of an Era, 1964-66, by Brian M. Endsley (McFarland), May 8. The up-and-down fortunes of the franchise as their star lefty battled arm injuries, then retired in shocking fashion at the age of 30.
Motor City Champs: Mickey Cochrane and the 1934-35 Detroit Tigers, by Scott Ferkovich (McFarland), Jan. 4. How the Hall of Fame catcher lifted the Tigers out of their post-Ty Cobb mediocrity to their first World Series crown with a cast that included Hank Greenberg, Goose Goslin and Charlie Gehringer.
Ninety Percent Mental: An All-Star Player Turned Mental Skills Coach Reveals the Hidden Game of Baseball, by Bob Tewksbury and Scott Miller (Da Capo Press), March 20. An insider’s account of the psychology of the game, using techniques of imagery, strategic thinking and other tools to maximize performance.
Once Upon a Team: The Epic Rise and Historic Fall of Baseball’s Wilmington Quicksteps, by Jon Springer (Sports Publishing), May 15. How a talented, winning minor-league team in North Carolina with rambunctious and colorful characters flopped in their short-lived shot with the major Union Association in 1884.
Pinstripe Nation: The New York Yankees in Popular Culture, by William Carlos Bishop (University of Tennessee), April 20. A compendium of novels, music, movies, memoirs, TV programs and other cultural artifacts dating back to the Babe Ruth era.
The Pitcher and the Dictator: Satchel Paige’s Unlikely Season in the Dominican Republic, by Averell “Ace” Smith (University of Nebraska), April 1. The hurler and other members of the Pittsburgh Crawfords unwittingly got caught up in the machinations of the regime of Rafael Trujillo on a spring training trip in 1937.
The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House, by Curt Smith (University of Nebraska), June 1. An historian of baseball on radio and television and presidential speechwriter chronicles how occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue regarded the game.
The Shift: The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking, by Russell Carleton (Triumph Books), March 8. The author, a contributor to Baseball Prospectus, does a deep dive into how advanced analytics and cognitive science are leading to cutting-edge insights into strategy and performance.
Tinker to Evers to Chance: The Chicago Cubs and the Dawn of Modern America, by David Rapp (University of Chicago), April 8. The famed infield of the 1908 World Series champions embodied a game, and an age, of localized cultures that soon would be transformed by modern institutions, including major-league baseball as a national pastime.
Tom Yawkey: Patriarch of the Boston Red Sox, by Bill Nowlin (University of Nebraska), Feb. 1. A new biography of the controversial owner details allegations of racist attitudes and business practices and his role as a leading and popular philanthropist in New England.
Try Not to Suck: The Exceptional, Extraordinary, Baseball Life of Joe Maddon, by Bill Chastain and Jesse Rogers (Triumph Books), March 15. The skipper who ended the Chicago Cubs’ 108-year World Series drought and his irreverent approach to managing are examined by ESPN and MLB writers.
Warren Spahn: A Biography of the Legendary Lefty, by Lew Freedman (Sports Publishing), May 22. A full-scale profile of the Braves Hall of Fame pitcher includes his service in World War II before he became the winningest southpaw in baseball history (363).
Why Baseball Matters, by Susan Jacoby (Yale University Press), March 20. The author of books on American secularism, Alger Hiss, American culture and aging writes that the game is in danger of losing young fans who aren’t being taught the time-honored, long-form traditions of the game in a short-attention-span society.
Yankees 1936-39, Baseball's Greatest Dynasty: Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and the Birth of a New Era, by Stanley Cohen (Skyhorse Publishing), April 10. The transition from Murderer’s Row to the DiMaggio years and Gehrig’s death from ALS are examined, as the Bronx Bombers won a then-unprecedented four World Series titles in a row with a new collection of legendary stars.