Books Sticky Request....

[crzblue]

I love this thread and the picures of the books!
.
OK, so I never heard of Frank O'Rourke before but after I googled him, I found that he wrote "Flashing Spikes" which was made into a movie with James Stewart with cameos appearances with Vin Scully and Harry Caray, Jr.

[Kentucky Bomber]

Anyone here read Heavenly World Series? I never heard of the book before but Nao, a Japanese young lady who blogs from Japan was asking me. I never heard of the writer O'Rourke before. Now that I read something about the book, I am going to try to find it.
Thanks!
Emma
http://crzblue.mlblogs.com/

I found it at a flea market a couple of years ago. It was published in 1952 and is a collection of short stories that may have originally appeared in Esqiure.

It'll be pretty tough to find in it's original edition, but it was reprinted recently (2002) in soft cover.

I've had luck in finding older volumes on eBay, and not usually too expensive, unless we're looking at something very old and rare.

[Kentucky Bomber]

Nice collection. What places have you found most of these books? Antique stores?

I don't know about others, but I've been haunting every manner of bookstore for about 35 years. The occasional antique store or flea market wll yield a treasure now and then. The bad news for anybody starting out now is that the collecting hobby has stripped the dwindling number of bookstores of anything of any age. In the mid 70's I'd come back from used bookstores in the LA area with bags full of stuff from the 50's, even the 30's or 40's. The used bookstore is a dying breed and what little there is to be found is usually pretty recent.

A collecting story: my wife was in the late stages of pregnancy and we went to Santa Barbara to relax before the baby came. We walked around town, which was full of little shops, and of course I was looking out for books. We passed a shop that was closed, and there in the window was Lee Allen's 1964 history of the World Series. We weren't leaving town until that store opened. On that same trip we came across a bookstore and went in and I looked in vain for the sports section, the two lady proprietors looking at me pretty strangely the whole time we were there. It wasn't until we left and I looked back at the store that I realized it was a shop that dealt exclusively in gay and lesbian topics.

[King Crimson]

I want to get a book about the cookiecutter ballparks.Any goos books about it that I should picked up?

[Iowanic]

I'd check with Betty Cocker or Duncan Hines books...

[Bill Burgess]

I want to get a book about the cookiecutter ballparks.Any goos books about it that I should picked up?

Here is a small list of books with respect to baseball parks. Hope this assists you in your search.

Baseball Stadium books:

1. Green Cathedrals, by Phillip Lowry, 1992
2. Diamonds: The Evolution of the Ballpark, by Michael Gershman, 1993
3. Lost Ballparks: A Celebration of Baseball's Legendary Fields, by Lawrence S. Ritter, 1992
4. Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks, Past and Present, by Josh Leventhal, 2000
5. The Ballpark Book, by The Sporting News, 2000
6. Ballparks: A Panoramic History, by Sandalow and Sutton, 2004
7. Historic Ballparks: A Panoramic Vision, by Pastier, 2006
8. Blue Skies, Green Fields, by Ira Rosen, 2001
9. Storied Stadiums: Baseball's History Through Its Ballparks, by Curt Smith, 2001
10. The Summer That Saved Baseball: A 38-Day Journey to Thirty Major League Ballparks, by Brad Null, 2001
11. Fodor's Baseball Vacations: Great Family Trips to Minor League and Classic Major League Ballparks Across America, 2000
12. St. Louis' Big League Ballparks (Images of Baseball), by Joan M. Thomas, 2004
13. Minor League Baseball Towns of Michigan: Adrian to Ypsilanti: The Teams & the Ballparks of the Wolverine State from the 1880s to the Present, by Marc Okkonem , 1997
14. The Baseball Stadium Postcard Album: 31 Postcards of American League Ballparks, by Michael Gershman, 1990
15. Ballpark: The Story of America's Baseball Fields, by Lynn Curlee, 2005
16. Philadelphia's Old Ballparks (Baseball In America), by Rich Westcott, 1996
17. The Ballpark Book: A Journey Through the Fields of Baseball Magic, by Ron Smith, 2003
18. Ballparks of North America: A Comprehensive Historical Reference to Baseball Grounds, Yards and Stadiums, by Michael Benson, 1989
19. Cradle of the Game: Baseball and Ballparks in North Carolina, by Mark Cryan, 2008
20. Working at the Ballpark: The Fascinating Lives of Baseball People from Peanut Vendors and Broadcasters to Players and Managers, by Tom Jones, 2008
21. In the Ballpark: The Working Lives of Baseball People, by George Gmelch, 1998
22. Baseball Visions of the Roaring Twenties: A Fans Photographs of More Than 400 Players and Ballparks of the Era, by George E. Outland, 2009
23. The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: A Fan's Guide To Major League Stadiums, by Kevin O'Connell and Joshua Pahigian, 2004
24. The Ballparks, by Bill Shannon and George Kalinsky, 1975

[Mr. Grission]

Thought I should add two Mets books that I found to be very enjoyable reads.

"Last Days of Shea" by Dana Brand and "Faith and Fear in Flushing" by Greg Prince

[crzblue]

I found it at a flea market a couple of years ago. It was published in 1952 and is a collection of short stories that may have originally appeared in Esqiure.

It'll be pretty tough to find in it's original edition, but it was reprinted recently (2002) in soft cover.

I've had luck in finding older volumes on eBay, and not usually too expensive, unless we're looking at something very old and rare.

thanks Kentucky Bomber. I know I am late responding. Love your collecting story! You are right that is hard to find old baseball books now days with the dying of old bookstores.

Emma

[crzblue]

Sometimes I got to this thrift store in Arcadia that has a lot of books but not in order. I feel like telling them "Can I come one day and organize your books?" just so that I can go thru the whole thing. Anyway, I discovered the San Marino library last weekend. They have a nice bookstore that is even open on Sundays. I bought "Nice Guys finish last" by Leo Durocher. I know you can easily find this book but is the first chance I got to buy it. I also bought a coffee book but with some history about Los Angeles. It was put out by the LA Times when Los Angeles was celebrating 200 years back in 1981. Interesting to see a picture of Dodger Stadium in that book with a ton of unbrellas from a Jehova Witness convention.
Emma
http://crzblue.mlblogs.com

[Brad Pitt]

Hi everyone, it's my 1st post here so I think it's better if I introduce myself. My name is Diego, I'm Brazilian, and I have only recently started to follow baseball, thanks to the book Moneyball (my username is obviously a joke making reference to the film :P). I read Moneyball without even knowing the rules of baseball, because I was told the game itself didn't really matter: it was above all else a business book. And it is partly true. Indeed, without even knowing what is a stolen base or a bunt, I fully understood the point it was trying to make, and the relevance of the A's methods. As a result, though, I found myself very interested in watching a baseball game as soon as I finished the book. I was also lucky to start doing so in a very privileged time, during last year's playoffs... the World Series was brilliant, and all of a sudden I realized Baseball was hands down my favorite American sport.

Anyway... the reason I am in this thread is: being so new to the game, I obviously still have a lot to learn. I've been reading a lot of stuff about baseball, recent trades and signings (unsurprisingly I picked the A's as my team), but I'd love to know more about the game's history. I got Ken Burn's documentary but still haven't had the time to watch it. And I would prefer a book anyway.

I'm looking for a book that tells the whole story of the game - even if it does not go too deep in details -, so I can have a general picture of how it developed during time. I love the fact baseball is so connected to its traditions so I want to understand them better.

A baseball commentator on ESPN Brasil recommended me 'Baseball As America', which I've already ordered from Amazon but has not arrived yet. Do you guys have any other recommendations? That would be much appreciated!

[MLB4LYF]

It's Good to be Alive - Roy Campanella - 1959.

I still have the paperback version of this book, and after all these years I still enjoy reading it.