Description
Book Synopsis Focusing on the ten most influential baseball books of all time, this volume explores how these landmark works changed the game itself and made waves in American society at large. Satchel Paige''s Pitchin'' Man informed the dialog surrounding integration. Ring Lardner''s You Know Me Al changed the way Americans viewed their baseball heroes and influenced the work of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Bill James''s Baseball Abstract transformed the way managers--including those in fields other than baseball--analyzed numbers. Pete Rose''s My Story and My Prison Without Bars exposed and deepened a cultural divide that paved the way for Donald Trump.
Trade Review“No one has read the literature of baseball with as much insight as Paul Aron has. Even better, his narratives about the creation and the impact of his selected books are as engaging as many of the books themselves. I approached this book expecting cogent literary analysis; I didn’t expect to be charmed and delighted as well. This is a marvelous book.” —Daniel Okrent, author of
Nine Innings and co-editor of
The Ultimate Baseball Book“Aron’s delightful account of the most influential books on baseball is, at once, informative, insightful, entertaining, and historically penetrating. The reader is introduced not only to the great baseball narratives, but also to the historical circumstances surrounding them.” &8212;Andrew Zimbalist, author of
Baseball and Billions“Richly entertaining and insightful,
The Lineup chronicles baseball’s long love affair with the written word, from biographies and memoirs of such immortals as Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson to Jim Bouton’s controversial
Ball Four to Roger Kahn’s elegiac
The Boys of Summer, to Bill James’ revolutionary
Baseball Abstract. Anyone who has a love of baseball and a passion for books will want to read this remarkable book.” —James Mote, author of
Everything BaseballTable of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1. America's National Game by A.G. Spalding, 1911
- 2. You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters by Ring Lardner, 1916
- 3. Pitchin' Man: Satchel Paige's Own Story by Satchel Paige, 1948
- 4. The Natural by Bernard Malamud, 1952
- 5. Ball Four: My Life and Hard Times Throwing the Knuckleball in the Big Leagues by Jim Bouton, 1970
- 6. The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn, 1972
- 7. The Bill James Baseball Abstract by Bill James, 1982
- 8. Rotisserie League Baseball by Glen Waggoner, 1984
- 9. Pete Rose: My Story by Pete Rose and Roger Kahn, 1989, and My Prison Without Bars by Pete Rose with Rick Hill, 2004
- 10. Other Influential Books
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliographic Essay
- Index
