The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It, by Lawrence Ritter.

Whoa!!!! How did I not read this before?

Here's a collection of first-person narratives by stars of the deadball era. It's an amazingly entertaining book of stories about what the game was like, and how players broke in, over one hundred years ago. You can tell that the author relied on one player to help him find the next one; for example, many players interviewed were born in Cleveland or California or played for the New York Giants. It brings an interesting unity to the entire book, though; for example, you get several retellings (from both sides) of the 1908 Fred Merkle game and the 1912 World Series in which Fred Snodgrass (who tells his own story) dropped a routine fly ball in extra innings which ultimately resulted in the Red Sox winning the series. The first chapter, by Rube Marquard, is one of the most joyful things I have ever read.

Collected in the 1960s, many of the players are in their 80s when interviewed, and sometimes they comment on the players of that era, especially Willie Mays. What's really interesting is to hear them compare modern life to the pre-automobile, pre-radio days in which they grew up. Of course, they also compare baseball of the 1960s to the game they played, and I think almost every one of them takes pains to point out how mental the game was back then or how smart you had to be to play it. Half the guys in the book, maybe more, actually went to college, and they seem to want to let us know that they weren't all just a bunch of rubes. Maybe this was the prevailing sentiment at the time.

The audio version (about five hours) with the players' actual voices is on iTunes, and I'm downloading it now. There are some on Youtube as well.

What a great book.

I'd be really interested in what those old Giants thought about McGraw's wishes to bring in Negro Leaguers. Hell. I'd settle for any stories about him, he's an incredibly interesting character.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

There's a lot about McGraw in there--his players loved him. The book about McGraw and Christy Mathewson by Frank Deford is excellent. McGraw was the king of New York until Babe Ruth and the Yankees arrived. But several of his former players are represented here, so you hear a lot about him.

McGraw tried to pass off a black player as an Indian, didn't he? I've read somewhere else (it might have been the book above) that some of the players named Chief in the big leagues may possibly have been considered black today. Wish I had followed up on that or could find a reference. Anyway, there are a few Indians represented in this book. Man, I can think of one Native American (Jacoby Ellsbury) in MLB right now, but there seemed to have been a lot of them in 1910.

The hotel arrangements up until the early 60s were bizarre. In October 1964, the author talks about how the Cardinals of the late 50s and early 60s--including Curt Flood, Bill White, and Bob Gibson--either had to stay in different hotels on the road or had to live in "a black house" during spring training.

Sports history books really make you empathize with people.

Some baseball books I have enjoyed:

The Boys of Summer - Roger Kahn
Memories of Summer - Roger Kahn
Summer of '49 - David Halberstam
October 1964 - David Halberstam
The Curse of Rocky Colavito - Terry Pluto

Passed down from my grandfather, I have an original copy of Bill Stern's Favorite Baseball Stories which is an interesting collection of very short stories.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Ball Four

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i remember my father passing down to me all three volumes of "the Fireside Book of Baseball", each one a collection of baseball stories and pictures and cartoons and all kinds of baseball-related stuff from the 50's. Those books definitely began shaping my love of the game. Somewhere along the line they got packed up and I haven't been able to find them to hand them down to my kids, but i remember reading them over and over again. Also, The Bronx Zoo by Sparky Lyle chronicling the 1978 New York Yankees remains my favorite baseball book of all time. George Steinbrenner about lost his shit when that book was published. I cant remember if he was traded in response to the release of that book or if it was released after he was a member of the Rangers, but it was a long time before the Yankees ever invited him back for old-timers day or any other team-sponsored events.

I use to love reading baseball books. Not sure what happened along the way but I don't recall many baseball books coming out. I'll def check this one out.




Great list. Summer of '49 AND Boys of Summer are one of my favs.

Anyone remember a book called TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLPARK? It's not the recent release, which is shaped werid, but the old version which was like a long hardcover. It had drawings of all the ballparks old and new in a cartoony way. Where this or that happened in the ballpark. I loved that book.

found a few





added - found a link that has them all : https://imgur.com/gallery/MTwRm

Ball Four and The Boys of Summer are my favorites, though the latter's second half is markedly weaker to me because I don't care so much about the individual Dodgers themselves.

As something of an Expos observer, I've been meaning to read Up, Up, and Away for some time.

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HawaiiYou, that book looks AWESOME, id love to find a copy of that.

There were 2 editions. It was in my family for generations. Even my kids loved it growing up.

There’s an updated one but it’s shit. The book is flimsy and shaped like a baseball and has none of these illustrations.

The original or 2nd version you might be able to find it in your local library. The author died a few years ago at 102. Stlouis guy

I wish I still had it. I think mine got sold in a garage sale when my mom was alive back in Skokie. I bet JORR probably bought it for 5c and has my copy.

Smart Baseball by Keith Law was excellent. Now I’m slowly working my way thru The Arm by Jeff Passan.

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This stuff is exactly why I took my sons to meet and talk to guys like Double Duty Redcliffe and Minnie. If they never heard the stories, they'd never understand what came before.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Had that book once--great book!

I recall enjoying Graig Nettles’ Balls in eighth grade.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

RR: It reminds me of this here book: http://www.chicagofanatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=101324&p=2724079&hilit=books+negro#p2724079

Got that one.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.