Books About the Craft, Magic, and Art of Baseball

As long-time Yankee fan, there is nothing like reliving the year the team came from behind and, on the final weekend of the year, snatched the pennant from the hated Red Sox. Casey Stengel in the first year of his unequaled string of winners; legends like Dimaggio, Henrich, Rizzuto, Berra; fabled pitchers like Raschi, Reynolds and Joe Page come alive and give you all the glory of the fabled Yankees.

Growing up in New York in the 40s and 50s, my Dad was a congenital Dodger hater... but even he said this was a great read. Kahn provides considerable baseball detail about the Dodger greats of that era — Robinson, Campanella, Snyder, Newcombe, Reese — plus enough of their human side to make them into likable real people, even to a Yankee fan.

This is a fascinating read. With his ever-present eye for detail, plus his typical insight, George Will has readers realizing that baseball managers and players are constantly thinking about what is happening and projecting that into what might happen next. I used to think they ballplayers just playing a game. Now I see they are really "at work."