The SABR Bookshelf: Summer 2015
Here are the SABR Bookshelf listings for Summer 2015.
To get your NEW book listed on The SABR Bookshelf, make sure a review copy is sent to: The SABR Bookshelf, Cronkite School at ASU, 555 N. Central Ave. #416, Phoenix, AZ 85004. An e-book file will also suffice; please send the e-book in PDF, EPUB or Kindle/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 — 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.
All new SABR Bookshelf listings can be purchased at the SABR Bookstore, powered by Amazon.com. In addition, check out new books published by SABR at SABR.org/ebooks.
The Little General: Gene Mauch, A Baseball Life
By Mel Proctor
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue River Press | $22.95 (hdcvr) | 978-1-9356-2853-8 | Amazon |
- Summary: The first full-length biography of the intense baseball manager, who presided over 1,902 major-league victories with the Phillies, Expos, Twins, and Angels.
Calling the Game: Baseball Broadcasting from 1920 to the Present
By Stuart Shea
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| SABR | $9.99 (ebook) | 978-1-9335-9941-0 | SABR |
- Summary: An exhaustive, meticulously researched history of baseball broadcasting, including a chapter on each of MLB’s 30 franchises and their announcers, past and present.
Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox
Edited by Jacob Pomrenke
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| SABR | $9.99 (ebook) | 978-1-9335-9994-6 | SABR |
- Summary: A SABR BioProject book on the most infamous team in baseball, with updated research that provides definitive answers to some old Black Sox Scandal mysteries and raise other questions in their place.
Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond
Edited by Bill Nowlin and Bob Brady
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| SABR | $9.99 (ebook) | 978-1-9335-9992-2 | SABR |
- Summary: A collaborative effort by 43 SABR members that includes chapters on the most memorable moments at Boston’s Braves Field, including historic college football and NFL games, championship boxing matches, and major-league soccer.
The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse
By Molly Knight
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon & Schuster | $26.00 (hdcvr) | 978-1-4767-7629-3 | Amazon |
- Summary: A behind-the-scenes account of the wild 2013 and 2014 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, including the $2 billion sale of the team, the rise of rookie phenom Yasiel Puig, and a blockbuster trade with the Red Sox.
Reading’s Big League Exhibition Games
By Brian C. Engelhardt
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcadia Publishing | $21.99 (sftcvr) | 978-1-4671-3380-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: A pictorial history of the 72 exhibition and barnstorming games played by MLB teams in Reading, Pennsylvania, since 1874.
Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
By Travis Sawchik
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flatiron Books | $26.99 (hdcvr) | 978-1-2500-6350-2 | Amazon |
- Summary: A picture of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ historic 2013 playoff run, their front office’s reliance on new data and decision-making methods, and how the players and coaches bought into it.
Split Season: 1981: Fernandomania, the Bronx Zoo, and the Strike that Saved Baseball
By Jeff Katz
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Dunne Books | $27.99 (hdcvr) | 978-1-2500-4521-8 | Amazon |
- Summary: The mayor of Cooperstown gives a comprehensive account of a watershed season in baseball, which was torn apart by a bitter labor dispute.
Havana Hardball: Spring Training, Jackie Robinson, and The Cuban League
By César Brioso
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Press of Florida | $24.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8130-6116-0 | Amazon |
- Summary: As Jackie Robinson prepared for his first spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers in Havana, the most memorable pennant race in Cuban League history was wrapping up.
Lucky Me: My Sixty-Five Years in Baseball
By Eddie Robinson with C. Paul Rogers
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $19.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-8032-7411-2 | Amazon |
- Summary: This is a re-issue of Robinson’s 2011 hardbound with a new afterword by Rogers. It covers both Robinson’s playing career and his years as a scout and executive, culminating in terms as the general manager of the Braves and Rangers.
The Grand Old Man of Baseball: Connie Mack in His Final Years, 1932-1956
By Norman Macht
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $39.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8032-3765-0 | Amazon |
- Summary: In the third and final volume of his Connie Mack trilogy, Macht chronicles the last two decades of the Hall of Fame manager’s career.
The Middle Atlantic League, 1925-1952: A Baseball History
By William E. Akin
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $35.00 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-9766-9 | Amazon |
- Summary: Centered in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, the Middle Atlantic League’s 28-year history divides itself into three separate eras, with the counter-trend of having its greatest prosperity during the Depression.
Had ‘Em All the Way: The 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates
By Thad Mumau
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $29.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-9711-9 | Amazon |
- Summary: Mumau covers the 1960 Pirates from spring training through Bill Mazeroski’s homer, with an emphasis on profiles of the players and key off-field personnel.
The Haymakers, Unions and Trojans of Troy, New York: Big-Time Baseball in the Collar City, 1860-1883
By Jeffrey Michael Laing
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $35.00 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-9493-4 | Amazon |
- Summary: As a suburb of a secondary city (Albany, NY), Troy would not seem to be a fruitful spawning ground for major league baseball. Yet, it was one of the baseball centers of the 1800s, with teams in both the National Association and National League.
Nine Innings for the King: The Day Wartime London Stopped for Baseball, July 4, 1918
By Jim Leeke
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $29.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-7870-5 | Amazon |
- Summary: On a historic “baseball match” between American soldiers and sailors during the final days of World War I, which included kids fresh off the sandlots to major-leagues (including one Hall of Famer.)
The 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates: Treachery and Triumph
By Ronald T. Waldo
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $29.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-7832-3 | Amazon |
- Summary: Waldo’s book follows the middle of the Pirates’ three pennant-winning squads from 1901 to 1903, featuring such stars as Honus Wagner and the political battles with the rising American League.
Finding the Left Arm of God: Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1960-1963
By Brian M. Endsley
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $35.00 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-7415-8 | Amazon |
- Summary: The story of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ volatile fortunes in the early 1960s set against the backdrop of John F. Kennedy’s fleeting presidency.
The Grind: Inside Baseball’s Endless Season
By Barry Svrluga
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Rider Press | $23.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-3991-7628-9 | Amazon |
- Summary: A mini-portrait (192 pages) by a Washington Nationals beat writer focusing on the players, their families, and the staff who live through the longest season in sports.
The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All Time
By J.P. Hoornstra
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverdale Avenue Books | $19.99 (sftcvr) | 978-1-6260-1195-3 | Amazon |
- Summary: Spanning two coasts and three centuries of baseball, Dodgers beat writer Hoornstra details some of the most memorable moments in franchise history.
The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball’s Power Brokers
By Jon Pessah
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little, Brown and Co. | $30.00 (hdcvr) | 978-0-3161-8588-2 | Amazon |
- Summary: The story of a crucial moment in the game’s history: the behind-the-scenes struggle for power between Bud Selig, George Steinbrenner, and Donald Fehr in the early 1990s and continuing into the 21st century.
The Miracle Boston Braves of 1914: The Impossible Miracle
By Mark Leiter
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-published | $2.99 (ebook) | n/a | Amazon |
- Summary: The story of a “Miracle Braves” team taught to believe in itself by their inspiring manager, George Stallings.
Montana Baseball History
By Skylar Browning and Jeremy Watterson
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcadia Publishing | $19.99 (sftcvr) | 978-1-6261-9982-8 | Amazon |
- Summary: A detailed history of baseball in Montana, from the Lewis and Clark expedition to native son Dave McNally.
RuleGraphics: Professional Baseball, First Edition
By Dennis Goodman
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coffeehouse Development, LLC | $14.99 (sftcvr) | 978-0-9961-1050-1 | Amazon |
- Summary: A primer and reference for professional baseball rules. This illustrated book helps debunk some of the “myths” of baseball’s extensive rulebook.
The Galveston Buccaneers: Shearn Moody and the 1934 Texas League Championship
By Kris Rutherford
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The History Press | $21.99 (sftcvr) | 978-1-6261-9837-1 | Amazon |
- Summary: A team of talented players who survived the Great Depression overcome the odds to capture the 1934 Texas League championship.
Breaking Ground: How Jackie Robinson Changed Brooklyn
By Alan Lelchuk
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandel Vilar Press | $15.95 (sftcvr) | 978-1-9421-3407-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: A story of how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and single-handedly changed the dynamic of baseball in the city of Brooklyn forever.
Baltimore Orioles: 60 Years of Orioles Magic
By Jim Henneman
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insight Editions | $50.00 (hdcvr) | 978-1-6088-7318-0 | Amazon |
- Summary: A colorful history of the Baltimore Orioles, including rare and never-before-seen images from the team’s photo archives.
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