Baseball Books ~ Oral Histories
Oral Histories (stories told by the players)
The Glory Of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It ~ Lawrence S Ritter
A true classic, this book gives you a flavour on the game as it was played a century ago. The edition I fell in love with wasn’t the text edition but the audio version. It is a joy to hear the voices of those men who played the game.
The Only Game In Town: Baseball Stars of the 1930s and 1940s Talk About The Game They Loved ~ Fay Vincent
Fay Vincent was the commissioner of MLB after the death of Bart Giamatti. His first World Series as commissioner was the 1989 Series that was interrupted by the earthquake in the Bay area. This could have been a sign of the turbulent years ahead as Vincent (amongst other things) upheld Pete Rose’s banishment from the game, banned George Steinbrenner from baseball (which almost by accident lead to the resurrection of the mighty Yankees) and managed to annoy the owners so that they gave him a vote of no confidence. One of the leaders in this vote was none other than Bud Selig who replaced Vincent as commissioner and oversaw a realignment that seemed to be much more agreeable than the proposed one by Vincent.
This volume features interviews with Elden Auker, Bob Feller, Tommy Henrich, Buck O’Neill, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Warren Spahn, Larry Doby, Ralph Kiner and Monte Irvin. A fascinating read from these great ballplayers.
We Would Have Played For Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk About The Game They Loved ~ Fay Vincent
It’s What’s Inside The Lines That Counts: Baseball Stars of the 1970s and 1980s Talk About The Game They Loved ~ Fay Vincent
This volume features interviews with Willie, McCovey, Juan Marichal, Dick Williams, Earl Weaver, Tom Seaver, Don Baylor, Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jnr., Bruce Froemming and Marvin Miller. Another fine collection of interviews, my favourite where to two final ones; the umpire and the Union representative. Both are somewhat unsung heroes with interesting stories to tell.
http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Inside-Lines-That-Counts/dp/1439159211/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
In a similar style to The Glory Of Their Times, former baseball commissioner, Fay Vincent, has written three excellent books, these are worthy successors to Lawrence Ritter’s masterpiece.
We Played The Game: 65 Players Remember Baseball’s Greatest Era: 1947 – 1964 ~ Edited by Danny Peary
A chronological approach to an oral history, , the extracts here are shorter but you get a feel for that particular year.
Welcome to my baseball blog
Hello, as you may have guessed, I am a Florida Marlins fan. But I am a baseball fan first and my aim for this site is to share my love of baseball and hopefully encourage you to share yours.
I am an avid reader and if you have visited my other blog, you may have seen pages of some of my favourite baseball books. Over the course of the next few weeks, I hope to import these across here.
Thank you for visiting and I hope that you will come back.
