Baseball Books Recommended

Top 12 to Read and Add to Your Baseball Library

Someone here on Substack asked me to recommend some baseball books for them to add to their reading. While they asked for 3-5 titles, narrowing to that amount was tough. Here is the list I came up with even though it came to 8. These are absolute must reads for any baseball fan:

The Luckiest Man - Jonathan Eig - One of the best books I have ever read.

Why We Love Baseball - Joe Posnanski - Joe is a great writer and is baseball everything.

Schoolboy - Tim Manners - A great first person story of Waite Hoyt who I listened to as a kid broadcasting Cincinnati Reds games.

The Soul of Baseball - Joe Posnanski - A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America - Great Negro League and Buck reading

The Baseball 100 - Joe Posnanski - More Joe

Charlie Hustle - Keith O’Brien - Ive read all the Pete Rose books. This one is by far the best one, fast moving, great read.

Connie Mack and The Early Years of Baseball - Norman Macht - deep, deep history; one of a series of three; quite long.

Only The Ball Was White - Robert Peterson - Used in my research for Cincinnati Soul about Negro League baseball.

I would be remiss if I didnt include my own books:

Baseball Confidential

Managing the Show

Leveling the Playing Field - Women Breaking Barriers in Major League Baseball Coaching and Leadership - released in February, 2025

Cincinnati Soul - An In Depth Review of the Cincinnati Tigers, the Cincinnati Cuban Stars, and Other Negro League Baseball in Cincinnati released in June, 2025

Let me know of your progress in reading any of these! Enjoy. Thanks, Al

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