Baseballisms - Latest Comments in Books

Re: Books

Perry — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:55:29 -0000

"A False Spring" by Pat Jordan, and his twenty-five-years-later sequel, "A Nice Tuesday" should be on anybody's list of baseball classics. Also "The Long Season" by Jim Brosnan, which provided the template for Bouton's "Ball Four," and anything by Roger Angell or Ring Lardner. And for a more complete picture of the true, gynocentric origins of baseball, author Jean Ardell's compelling examination of the mostly unsung contributions women have made to the game, "Breaking Into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime."

As for "The Natural," Bernard Malamud's novella of loss, redemption, and second chances that was made into a period piece film starring Robert Redford: see the movie for the great sets and scenes, but definitely read the book! The book offers a much more illuminating and devastating look at the dark side of human nature than the movie, which ended on an inauthentically positive note.

Re: Books

Shawn Collins — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:34:08 -0000

Ball Four is timeless - I didn't discover it until the mid-90s, but have read it several times since then.

I got a chance to meet with him and see him speak a few years ago - he's a great storyteller. Here's a clip from that talk: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

BTW - Bouton just turned 70 yesterday - happy birthday, Bulldog.

Re: Books

JB — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:31:44 -0000

There's some pretty good Braves books I've read lately including one about the Atlanta Crackers that's good for you historians.

However, one of the best baseball novels I read was "The Natural". The movie made some changes but both are excellent.