The SABR Bookshelf: Spring 2023
Here are the SABR Bookshelf listings for Spring 2023.
To get your NEW book listed on The SABR Bookshelf, send an e-book file in PDF, EPUB or MOBI format to jpomrenke@sabr.org.
To ensure a listing in The Baseball Index, SABR’s online catalog of baseball research materials at www.baseballindex.org, please make sure a review copy is sent to The Baseball Index, 4025 Beechwood Pl., Riverside, CA 92506.
Bolded names indicates that the author(s) is a SABR member. Click here for a list of publishers found in the SABR Bookshelf, along with their contact information.
In addition, check out new books published by SABR at SABR.org/ebooks.
Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, 1907-1958 (Volume 1)
Edited by Robert K. Fitts, Bill Nowlin, and James Forr
Publisher: SABR
Retail Price: $9.99 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-970159-89-9
Buy It: SABR.org
Summary: SABR Digital Library book covering US baseball tours of Japan in the early to mid 20th century, including the famous 1934 All-American tour with Babe Ruth and Moe Berg, plus Negro Leagues teams, women’s teams, and college/amateur teams.
When the Babe Went Back to Boston: Babe Ruth, Judge Fuchs and the Hapless Braves of 1935
By Bob LeMoine
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $39.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8502-1
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: The story of how Judge Fuchs tried to keep his Boston Braves franchise afloat with the famed but fading slugger.
Bill Virdon: A Life in Baseball
By David Jerome
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $39.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8821-3
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: Traces Bill Virdon’s long baseball career from fleet, underrated center fielder to Manager of the Year awards in both leagues.
Pete Hill: Black Baseball’s First Superstar
By Bob Luke
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $35.00 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8877-0
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: First full biography of a star from the era before the formation of the Negro National League.
World Series ’48: The Cleveland Indians and Boston Braves in Six Games
By John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $35.00 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8990-6
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: Profiles of the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Braves, and their seasons with a game-by-game breakdown of the 1948 World Series.
Field of Magic: Baseball’s Superstitions, Curses and Taboos
By John Cairney
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $29.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8546-5
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: They’re as old as baseball, and come in amazing varieties of magical thinking.
Fans Called Him “Turkey,” I Called Him Dad: A Daughter Remembers Baseball Hall of Famer Norman Thomas Stearnes
By Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $19.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-8891-6
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: A daughter’s fond portrait of her Hall of Fame father, Negro Leagues star Turkey Stearnes.
Baseball’s Wildest Season: Three Leagues, Thirty-Four Teams and the Chaos of 1884
By William J. Ryczek
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $19.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4766-9114-5
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: A thorough portrait of a confusing year in a sport only beginning to mature.
Black Stats Matter: Integrating Negro League Numbers into Major League Records
By Philip Lee
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $39.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1476688343
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: Cherished records held by White players since the days of segregation are shown to belong rightfully to Negro League superstars.
Baseball’s Union Association
By Justin Mckinney
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Retail Price: $49.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1476680606
Buy It: McFarlandBooks.com
Summary: A compilation of research on the quirky, ill-fated league that is focused on contemporary primary sources to under-gird an analysis of how the Union Association formed, competed, and disbanded during its sole year of existence in 1884.
Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess
By Evan Drellich
Publisher: HarperCollins
Retail Price: $27.50 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-0063049048
Buy It: HarperCollins.com
Summary: The reporter who broke the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal reveals how a baseball team could so dramatically descend into corruption, with never-before-told details of a broken management culture, the once-revered leaders who enabled it and the scandal itself.
Do You Believe in Magic? Baseball and America in the Groundbreaking Year of 1966
By David Krell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Retail Price: $34.00 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-5381-5943-9
Buy It: Rowman.com
Summary: Krell builds a year of American social history around the 1966 pennant races and World Series.
The Voices of Baseball: The Game’s Greatest Broadcasters Reflect on America’s Pastime (Updated Edition)
By Kirk McKnight
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Retail Price: $19.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1442277250
Buy It: Rowman.com
Summary: With careers spanning two to three times that of an average player, baseball’s best broadcasters have no shortage of history to offer.
Sons of Baseball: Growing Up with a Major League Dad
By Mark Braff
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Retail Price: $24.95 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1538176887
Buy It: Rowman.com
Summary: Sons of major league baseball players grow up in a unique environment, not only because they are raised in part by professional athletes, but also because they are raised by the game itself.
Baseball at the Abyss: The Scandals of 1926, Babe Ruth, and the Unlikely Savior Who Rescued a Tarnished Game
By Dan Taylor
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Retail Price: $36.00 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1538174005
Buy It: Rowman.com
Summary: The untold story behind one of baseball’s biggest scandals and the men who saved a tarnished game.
Jazz Age Giant: Charles R. Stoneham & New York City Baseball in the Roaring Twenties
By Robert F. Garratt
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Retail Price: $29.95 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4962-2371-5
Buy It: Nebraska Press
Summary: Biography of the rogue who owned the Giants through five pennants, a host of lawsuits and two families.
Road to Nowhere: The Early 1990s Collapse and Rebuild of New York City Baseball
By Chris Donnelly
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Retail Price: $34.95 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4962-2142-1
Buy It: Nebraska Press
Summary: The Mets and Yankees were both down in the early 1990s. The Yankees rebounded. The Mets tried.
One Season in Rocket City: How the 1985 Huntsville Stars Brought Minor League Baseball Fever to Alabama
By Dale Tafoya
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Retail Price: $29.95 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4962-3073-7
Buy It: Nebraska Press
Summary: A Team of A’s prospects ignites the fans of a Southern city that supposedly couldn’t support baseball.
Baseball’s Endangered Species: Inside the Craft Scouting by Those Who Lived It
By Lee Lowenfish
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Retail Price: $34.95 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4962-1481-12
Buy It: Nebraska Press
Summary: Profiles and interviews with many scouts built around the history of a changing profession.
Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers
By Erik Sherman
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Retail Price: $36.95 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1-4962-3101-7
Buy It: Nebraska Press
Summary: A biography of Valenzuela built around the Mexican-American community’s response to their ethnic hero.
Get in the Game: An Interactive Introduction to Sports Analytics
By Tim Chartier
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Retail Price: $18.00 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-0226811147
Buy It: press.uchicago.edu
Summary: Get in the Game is a playful and welcoming introduction to the interplay between sports and math. Assuming no math and using only a coin and a die, Chartier artfully illustrates why sports analytics matter through the simplest of questions: how do we measure greatness?
Spitter: Baseball’s Notorious Gaylord Perry
By David Vaught
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Retail Price: $31.00 (hdcvr)
ISBN: 978-1648430640
Buy It: tamupress.com
Summary: Sports historian David Vaught has mined archival and public records, game statistics, media accounts, and previously published works to compile the first critical biography of a player as famous for his wry humor and downhome banter as for his trademark illegal pitch.
Fields Apart
By J.N. Kelly
Publisher: Rowe Publishing
Retail Price: $14.99 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 978-1644460184
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: On the last day of eighth grade, Millie Bauer receives a package from her brother, George, who is serving overseas in the Army. Minutes later a telegram arrives notifying the family that he is missing in action.
Baseball Is In My DNA: A History of Baseball in Freehold, New Jersey 1857-1973
By Glenn Cashion
Publisher: RGC Publishing
Retail Price: $22.99 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 979-8987295106
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: Baseball was everything and everywhere in Glenn’s hometown, and in unearthing and telling these stories, he also tells the story of a love affair with America’s game-his own, his family’s, his town’s, and his country’s.
Black College Nines: The History of HBCU Baseball and Integrators of Historically White College Baseball Programs
By Jay Sokol
Publisher: Self-published
Retail Price: $20.00 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 979-8218089726
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: Historically Black College and University baseball has been part of the collegiate baseball scene dating back to 1887 when Southern University and Straight University faced off in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Major League Debuts 2023
By James Bailey
Publisher: Self-published
Retail Price: $16.25 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 979-8374805659
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: A record 303 players made their big league debuts in 2022, including Rookies of the Year Julio Rodriguez and Michael Harris II, World Series MVP Jeremy Peña, and Gold Glove winner Steven Kwan.
Name that Hall of Famer: Marathon Ump
By Troy Grimes
Publisher: Self-published
Retail Price: $12.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 979-8846568167
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-related artifacts and exhibits.
A Baseball Birthright: Chronicles & Connections
By Pasquale A. Carlucci
Publisher: Self-published
Retail Price: $19.95 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 979-8-88759-093-6
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: Essays covering games he’s attended and baseball experiences he’s enjoyed.
The Boys of Spring: The Birth of the Dodgers
By Allen Schery
Publisher: Self-published
Retail Price: $14.99 (sftcvr)
ISBN: 979-8-3708-4189-7
Buy It: Amazon.com
Summary: A detailed history of the formation and early years of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Compiled by Michael Bosque.