July – August 2023 Baseball Reads

“Aaron” by Henry Aaron with Furman Bisher (Finished July 8) – Half Price Books Corpus Christi
Note: Originally published in 1968, there was added content after the 1973 season just before he broke Ruth’s record. Pulled a few punches, but nothing earth shattering.

“The Last Yankee Dodger: Fred Kipp From Brooklyn to LA and The Bronx” by Fred Kipp and Scott Kipp (Finished July 12) – Re-Reads Bookstore
“Baseball in Blue & Gray: The National Pastime During The Civil War” by George B. Kirsch (Finished July 14) – Re-Reads Bookstore
Note: Got these two books in the resale book store associated with the public library in Alpine. Grabbed these in the last hour before the store closed. Had never heard of Fred Kipp before, but this was an excellent pickup. Also the book on baseball during the Civil War was very good too.

“Strike IX: The Story of a Big East College Forced to Eliminate Its Baseball Program and the Team That Refused to Lose” by Paul Lonardo (Finished July 14) – Half Price Books Frisco
Note: This was about Providence College folding up baseball in 1999. Good read. In fact if you Google “Providence College baseball” and click a couple of times, it’ll take you to the link of one of their players in the last year winning All-American honors.

“The 17-Inch Baseball Bat” by Charles M. Province (Finished July 16) – Amazon
Note: A lot more information on the Eddie Gaedel than you’ve probably ever known. A bargain pickup on Amazon.

“The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship” by David Halberstam (Finished July 29) – Recycled Books, Denton
Note: Great read on Williams’ frienship with Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio.  One of many Halberstam’s baseball classics.

“Breakout: From Prison to the Big Leagues” by Ron LeFlore with Jim Hawkins (Finished July 30) – Half Price Books Lewisville
Note: Never realized growing up that LeFlore had been to prison. This book goes from his childhood to his time with the Tigers.

“Seasons In Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and “The Worst Baseball Team in History” – The 1973-1975 Texas Rangers” by Mike Shropshire (Finished July 30) – Barnes and Noble Midland
Note:  Slapstick style writeup of the Rangers at that time.

“Perfect, Once Removed: When Baseball Was All The World To Me” by Phillip Hoose (Finished August 10) – Published Page Bookshop
Note: Hoose was a cousin of Don Larsen, the World Series perfect game pitcher of the Yankees, and recounts that time as a teenager when Larsen through his gem.

“When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball’s Greatest Heroes” by Yogi Berra with Dave Kaplan (Finished August 17) – Published Page Bookshop
Note: Fun, casual read. If you’re not a die-hard Yankee fan, you’ll pickup a few things you might not have known before.

“Aloha and Sayonara: The 1940 Keio University Baseball Tour of Hawaii” by Gary Bedingfield (Finished August 28) – Amazon
Note: Grabbed this for $4 off of Amazon. Very interesting, considering that they were the last team from Japan to come to the Mainland before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Only about 40 pages, but really, really well done.

“Judge Landis And Twenty-Five Years of Baseball” by J.G. Taylor Spink (Finished August 30) – Kindle
Note: Learned a LOT about Landis that I never knew. If you only know little about Landis, you associate him with the Black Sox scandal, but his efforts to clean up the gambling influences were steadfast.