By Mark Carpenter-
I consider myself a very fortunate person to have been taught the importance of reading, since I was old enough to pick up a book or a newspaper. I like to think that I have varied interests, but 99% of what I read or have read in my life involves sports. I was raised in a sports family so it figures that would be the case. I was sitting in my man cave a couple of nights ago and noticed that I sure do have a lot of books among all the other memorabilia. I got to thinking that maybe I should turn some of those books into a column, so here we go with the top 10 baseball books that I have read. Now, these are in no particular order, no way I could ever decide that, but I think that is interesting how thinking back on all these books that they all seem to have a personal story behind them.
I’m going to start with baseball and perhaps sometime soon I will do football and basketball books, since I have read a whole bunch of them too. But first, here’s my top 10 baseball books, when libraries open back up you should check them out.
– “The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book” (by Brendan Boyd and Fred Harris). I doubt that few if any of you have ever heard of this book but to this day it remains one of the favorites on my list, which would be easy to guess if you could see how frayed the book jacket is. If you were a card collector, this book is a must and hilarious to boot, published in 1973. I assume my parents bought it for me and I devoured it. I can recall a mission to try and collect all of the cards featured in the book, which I never completed. Try these names on for size: Duke Carmel, “Rip” Repulski, Dusty Rhodes, Steve Bilko, Al Silvera, Tex Clevenger, or Bubba Morton. Look em’ up, they’re all in the book.
– “The Three-Two Pitch: A Bronc Burnett Story” (by Wilfred McCormick). How did a book published in 1948 get on my list? Well, the Bronc Burnett and Chip Hilton series were some of the books that I grew up in. On my shelves, I still have six of the Bronc books and three of the Chip books. Both were multi-sport athletes with their adventures in both baseball and football. It was a series of books that I am sure many boys growing up in the 1950’s read religiously. “Whether he’s stepping to the plate in a ninth inning rally or barreling through a goal-line stand, sixteen-year old Bronc Burnett is the kid of athlete who sets your pulses quickening.” How can you resist that description?
– “Red Legs and Black Sox” (by Susan Dellinger). The title is self-explanatory, a tale of the 1919 World Series, this one told by the granddaughter of Reds outfielder Edd Roush. I read about everything I can about the 1919 World Series, and have seen the movie “Eight Men Out” about a dozen times. I have a personal connection to this series as Reds pitcher Harry “Slim” Sallee was from Higginsport and a card-playing partner with my grandparents as well as a secret soda provider to my Mom and uncle.
-“Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season” (by Jonathan Eig). The stories of Jackie Robinson have always been gold for me and as I sit in my man cave typing this column, right over my shoulder on a shelf is my favorite baseball card, a 1956 Jackie Robinson. So much history, so much meaning. And if you’re into good baseball reading, Eig also has a fantastic book on the life of Lou Gehrig.
– “Ballplayer” (by Chipper Jones). It was last spring, when we actually had sports, and I was in the mood for a good baseball biography on audiobook. In a search of what was available from the local library, I came across Chipper’s bio, which I didn’t have great expectations for but it turned out to be a fantastic listen. Chipper’s stories about life on the road in the big leagues and how an affair on the road destroyed his marriage were very revealing, added to the fact that he played on some very good Braves teams.
-“Game Six” (by Mark Frost). As you can probably guess, this one is about the 1975 World Series, centering around the thrilling Game Six that ended with the 12th inning home run by Carlton Fisk. The book was more geared to the Red Sox side of things, much like the original television broadcasts of the Series, but nevertheless it is a compelling read that breaks down every second of that sixth game, And by the way, the Reds won Game Seven.
– “Big Hair and Plastic Grass” (by Dan Epstein). As you can likely figure out, if it has to do with baseball in the 1970’s, I probably read it. That was the heyday for me with the sports, as I was playing Knothole with my Dad as the coach and learning names and stats every day by shuffling through the baseball cards that covered the top of my bed. Epstein has written a couple of great books about baseball in the 70’s and this one happens to be the first pandemic audiobook that I’ve finished (not on the road quite as much). Plus, in the book Epstein refers to Pete Rose as a “horndog” with a girl in every National League city. To quote Gomer, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”
– “Me and My Dad” (by Paul O’Neill). Yes, it’s that Paul O’Neill, former Reds and Yankees rightfielder. As connected with baseball as my own Dad and I are, this book was a no doubter for me to read. O’Neill was a player always pretty humble and quiet about his personal life so this was a nice look into the more personal side of his life. I bet few people realize that O’Neill owns five World Series rings, just a plain ol’ winner.
– Catch You Later” (by Johnny Bench). Numerous players on the Big Red Machine wrote autobiographies and I’ve read them all. It’s a tough call between this book and “The George Foster Story” but since I wrote this on Mother’s Day and my Mom and grandmother were giant Bench fans, I’m going with Johnny. “A very personal memoir” is how the flap describes this book, published in 1979, even before Bench retired. He ends the book with words from his Grandma Pearl” “You know now, I’ll be praying for you. I know you can do it. You’re the best now John.”
-“Born to Play: The Eric Davis Story” (by Eric Davis). After George Foster, Eric Davis was probably my second favorite all-time Reds players. He was electric, so talented, so athletic, the true definition of a five-tool player. I think most people forget him coming back from cancer to play in the big leagues again, becoming an inspiration to so many, as his brother was killed right in the midst of his cancer battle. I will never forget Game One of the 1990 World Series, extra special because I was the game with my grandmother.
I’ve often mentioned in this column that writing is therapy for me and it might be the case here. To set you up, I wrote this column on Mother’s Day evening, the first Mother’s Day in my life that I did not have my own mother. I know that applies to many of you also, but the first one has to be the hardest. But since it was my mother who instilled the importance of reading to me at a very young age along with the fact that she lived for baseball, it seemed fitting that I should sit down and write something about baseball books that I have read. Mom allowed me to bring the sports page of The Cincinnati Post to the dinner table every night where I absolutely lived on box scores and statistics.
On one of the first nights of this pandemic, my wife and I were actually able to sit down at our dining room table to eat at the same time. Neither of our scheduled allowed that in the pre-virus days. Of course, I brought the latest issue of Sports Illustrated to the table. “We finally sit down at the same table at home to eat together and you’re reading a magazine,” she said. Yep, Mom, I’ve never stopped reading.