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It's offseason time and people are crying that there's no baseball, so why not read about baseball. Last year we successfully read one book! together, because nobody really liked the second a lot so we all got lazy and dropped out. Also the first book was really long so I think folks burned out so let's not do that again. UNLESS we decide to read the Connie Mack biography series which is amazing and very very long. I'm going to put together a survey monkey doodad again this year, so get your suggestions in by Saturday. Poll will go up Sunday and close Wednesday. Here's the books left over from the list last year, list can grow bigger if people have new/more suggestions: Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball Jackie and Campy: The Untold Story of Their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball's Color Line Veeck as in Wreck Up, Up and Away Baseball in the Garden of Eden You Gotta Have Wa Dollar Sign On The Muscle A Well Paid Slave A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin leokitty fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Nov 5, 2015 |
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Nov 5, 2015 04:48
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I want either "Veeck as in Wreck" or "You Gotta Have Wa".
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Nov 5, 2015 06:12
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"The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" by WP Kinsella
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Nov 5, 2015 13:25
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This is a good idea, again...leokitty posted:because nobody really liked the second a lot But yeah that was bad. Lords of the Realm was great though!
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Nov 5, 2015 15:57
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Homer suggestion, but Where's Harry? by Steve Stone and Barry Rozner is great.
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Nov 5, 2015 23:51
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Also a homer suggestion but Toma-Hawked is a pretty good telling of how dysfunctional the 92 Braves were and how much of a loving rear end in a top hat David Justice was/is. You Gotta Have Wa is also fantastic.
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Nov 6, 2015 02:35
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What can you guys recommend if I really enjoyed Blood Sport and Game of Shadows? Jose Canseco's books were kind of interesting but I preferred the objectiveness of the former two. Also I'll probably read whatever you guys are reading for the thread. Gotta have wa sounds p cool.
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Nov 6, 2015 07:29
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canadianclassic posted:What can you guys recommend if I really enjoyed Blood Sport and Game of Shadows? Jose Canseco's books were kind of interesting but I preferred the objectiveness of the former two. Moneyball is pretty much required reading. Beyond that, Ball Four sounds like it would be up your alley. Edit: If you can get your hands on it, Palmer & Weaver: Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine is probably the best sports book I've ever read outside of Lords of the Realm.
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Nov 6, 2015 12:11
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I'm so in on this. Baseball is cool and so is reading!. What book did you guys read last year?
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Nov 7, 2015 00:10
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We read Lords of the Realm which was really good. But it's not a good monthly book club deal because it's really long and not quick to read through.
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Nov 7, 2015 03:35
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Inspector_666 posted:I want either "Veeck as in Wreck" or "You Gotta Have Wa". I'll be very curious to hear your thoughts, I thought it was fascinating as hell, and really blunt about how things have been for foreigners.
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Nov 7, 2015 03:41
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leokitty posted:We read Lords of the Realm which was really good. But it's not a good monthly book club deal because it's really long and not quick to read through. I think we need somebody to act as the moderator/facilitator or something and ask some discussion questions, too. The thread kind of meandered last year at different paces and we never really "sat down" and talked about it.
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Nov 7, 2015 06:56
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Timby posted:Moneyball is pretty much required reading. Beyond that, Ball Four sounds like it would be up your alley. Cool thanks. I've read Ball Four which was a really fun read, so good call on that one. I'll look into the other two plus whatever you guys decide to read this offseason
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Nov 8, 2015 23:55
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I'm behind on this due to my being a jerk, I will get the poll up tonight.
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Nov 9, 2015 21:26
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Well I'll be a late jerk and get my suggestion of Mashi under the wire so that we can all learn about Masanori Murakami.
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Nov 10, 2015 00:03
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Bob Shabazz posted:Well I'll be a late jerk and get my suggestion of Mashi under the wire so that we can all learn about Masanori Murakami. That's a really good book, I picked it up after I saw him talk at SABR 45 this year.
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Nov 10, 2015 00:09
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Inspector_666 posted:I want either "Veeck as in Wreck" or "You Gotta Have Wa". These would be my first 2 picks, too.
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Nov 10, 2015 13:27
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Here's the link to vote: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RWPRSPR Will close at the end of this work-week. If You Gotta Have Wa is leading I kinda suggest we do the top two books, a ton of us have read it already and it's a really short read. But we'll see.
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Nov 11, 2015 17:49
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Fitts (of Mashi) also wrote this - http://www.amazon.com/Banzai-Babe-R...anzai+babe+ruth - which I hadn't heard of - any reviews?
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Nov 11, 2015 17:56
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Deathlove posted:Fitts (of Mashi) also wrote this - http://www.amazon.com/Banzai-Babe-R...anzai+babe+ruth - which I hadn't heard of - any reviews? I enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago. Good history of the '34 tour of Japan.
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Nov 11, 2015 18:02
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Inspector_666 posted:I want either "Veeck as in Wreck" or "You Gotta Have Wa". Voted for Veeck as in Wreck, but I am pulling for either of these.
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Nov 11, 2015 18:07
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Voted Veeck as in Wreck. Gonna have scramble to find You Gotta Have Wa should it prove most popular since it doesn't have a kindle version 
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Nov 12, 2015 02:18
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Veeck as in Wreck is our winner: Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Veeck--As-Wreck-Autobiography-Bill-Veeck/dp/0226852180/
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Nov 14, 2015 16:00
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Good thing I had the library dig it out of storage today.
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Nov 14, 2015 21:23
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Ordered it today, as a White Sox fan always wanted to know more about the guy who left an indelible mark on the team's history.
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Nov 15, 2015 00:23
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Ordered. And super excited after how much praise the book has gotten around here.
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Nov 15, 2015 00:26
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The Kindle edition is 9.99, so I picked it up today.
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Nov 15, 2015 22:15
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Crazy 08 is a really good book about the 1908 season (which had some crazy poo poo take place). It also covers a lot of the early history of baseball which I don't think many people know about. It's a real easy read too.
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Nov 15, 2015 22:25
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Niwrad posted:Crazy 08 is a really good book about the 1908 season (which had some crazy poo poo take place). It also covers a lot of the early history of baseball which I don't think many people know about. It's a real easy read too. I read this a long time ago, but I remember it being a fantastic book, especially since I didn't know much about how baseball was played in the early 20th century.
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Nov 16, 2015 16:09
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Twin Cinema posted:I read this a long time ago, but I remember it being a fantastic book, especially since I didn't know much about how baseball was played in the early 20th century. I thought Where They Ain't, Burt Solomon's book about the original Baltimore Orioles was pretty good. I seem to remember Don Dewey's Hal Chase bio to be pretty decent. I'm currently reading the new Ty Cobb bio and it's annoying for how desperate the author is. It's not just enough to clear the air on certain instances, he goes out of his way on every page to try to paint Cobb as something other than an ill-tempered spoiled brat. Cobb probably wasn't a total devil incarnate, but at the very least, he was a tremendous rear end in a top hat. The Cobb book does have some interesting anecdotes about early 1900s baseball players, though, such as Turkey Mike Donlin and Win Mercer. There's a bunch of Rube Waddell stories in there, too, but I think half have been proven to be bullshit. 1890s and early 1900s baseball has the best stories.
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Nov 17, 2015 02:23
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When do we start to talk about the book? It's really good
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Nov 20, 2015 00:24
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I'm reading and I'm about 100 pages in. I have to say that the structure of it gets a bit confusing sometimes cause it's just a bunch of anecdotes put together. But, it's certainly interesting because of his voice.
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Nov 26, 2015 16:20
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I'm also just over 100 pages in and yeah, it's pretty great. Love how easy it seemed to be to get financing for a team as long as you (or your dad) had friends in the right places. e: also i cannot stop laughing at this 
angrygodofjebus fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Nov 27, 2015 |
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Nov 26, 2015 21:49
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I just finished chapter 3, wherein he buys the Brewers. Sorry,  buys the Brewers.I agree that it meanders a bit, but you can get the general direction of a given passage pretty well. I think what surprises me the most is the amount of post-secondary education he apparently had. Baseball men always seem to have this savant-like image, and it's sort of amusing to me that a man widely regarded as an idiot prankster in an industry of petulant children (aka the owners) would be so practically knowledgeable.
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Nov 30, 2015 18:02
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angrygodofjebus posted:e: also i cannot stop laughing at this 
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Nov 30, 2015 23:44
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The first chapter is a riot. I also like that his stance on little people was somewhat progressive for the time. He's not above laughing at his small stature (the 1/8 jersey number), but at the end of the chapter, he starts to argue that MLB is discriminating against having midgets play baseball. The introduction by Bob Verdi in my copy is a waxes nostalgic. "Bill just couldn't cope with the new math; sports has become increasingly corporate." Isn't this the same refrain we have heard from a number of aging sportswriters? I wonder if it's just a sign of someone's age that this is something to complain about?
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Dec 3, 2015 20:13
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Twin Cinema posted:"Bill just couldn't cope with the new math; sports has become increasingly corporate."
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Dec 3, 2015 23:20
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Anime Reference posted:I'm pretty sure he would've thrived in the free agent era. He would've fleeced everybody. A lot of his talk in chapter 4 and 5 (Milwaukee and Cleveland) is him doing exactly that, except with investors rather than players. He's also very open about the idea of Who You Know. "I just called up [random guy he happens to know] and I got [money/ballplayer/car/etc] that night!" is basically the entirety of the story through about 100 pages or so. Also having a well-regarded, if not spectacularly rich, father with connections of his own.
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Dec 3, 2015 23:32
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It was a different time. I just read the story of how he was trying to help get the guy with a 14-year old bride out of facing jail time by admitting that it wasn't his gun, and how the guy kept figuratively shooting himself in the foot. His ultimate punishment? To get out of town. If it wasn't already apparently, Veeck is a good storyteller. This book conveys that well.
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Dec 8, 2015 15:39
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I have to agree with the guy complaining about how confusing the structure of the book is, I just finished the chapter on Satchel Paige and I'm completely lost in the timeline.
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Dec 8, 2015 23:08
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