Sports Writing Favorites

Ball Four by Jim Bouton

Bouton’s controversial 1970 best-seller irrevocably changed the way baseball fans viewed their diamond heroes and the way the sports media covered them.

Dock Ellis in the country of baseball by dock ellis

Dock Ellis collaborated with poet Donald Hall on this richly detailed account of a man whose personality, passion and intellect often made for an uneasy fit within the buttoned-down world of baseball.

The Bronx Zoo by Sparky Lyle

Sparky Lyle’s 1979 memoir is far and away the best and funniest player’s-eye view of the quasi-Shakespearean circus that was the Yankee clubhouse in the late 1970s.

The Wrong Stuff by Bill Lee

Bill “Spaceman” Lee teamed up with Richard Lally in 1984 for this hilarious book poking merciless fun at nearly every stuffed shirt the outspoken had Lee encountered over the course of his checkered career.

Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen by dick allen

Dick Allen finally set the record straight about his own career with the brutally honest Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen, which he co-wrote with Tim Whitaker.

to all my fans…from norm who? by norm miller

A delightful memoir self-published in 2009 by utility man Norm Miller, who was Bouton’s roommate and who lockered with Hank Aaron during the home run king’s final chapters with the Atlanta Braves.

Joe, you coulda made us proud by joe pepitone

Written with Barry Steinbeck, this memoir digs deep into the ballplayer’s endless conflicts, and the wild times he pursued off the field as a means to numb the pain from his troubled upbringing in Brooklyn.

late innings by roger angell

Incisive, personal reporting that covers five recent baseball seasons and such events as Reggie Jackson’s three World Series home runs, the triumph of the Phillies, and the bitter ordeal of the 1981 players’ strike.

The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book by fred harris and brendan boyd

A look at baseball in the 1950s presents more than two hundred cards, with amusing bios and  observations on the baseball card phenomenon.