This last week Jon, from the wonderful Rain of Error blog, put out a call for participants in a Fantasy Book Draft. He
Jon gave a round by round account of the draft, I'm here to just give the results in case you missed it on his blog. The Round # links take you to Jon's blog entries, the book title links take you to amazon.com.
Round 1
Jason - The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence Ritter
Mark - A False Spring by Pat Jordan
Jon - John McGraw by Charles Alexander
Round 2
Jon - The Celebrant by Eric Rolfe Greenberg
Mark - A Donald Honig Reader by Donald Honig
Jason - The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
Round 3
Jason - The Great American Novel by Philip Roth
Mark - Ball Four by Jim Bouton
Jon - Dollar Sign on the Muscle by Kevin Kerrane
Round 4
Jon - Prophet of the Sandlots by Mark Winegardner
Mark - The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by Bill James
Jason - The Bullpen Gospels by Dick Hayhurst
Round 5
Jason - Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Mark - Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress by Harry Katz, Frank Ceresi, Phil Michel, and Susan Reyburn
Jon - Baseball (1845-1881): From the Newspaper Accounts by Preston Orem
Round 6
Jon - Blackguards and Red Stockings by William Ryczyk
Mark - The Last Nine Innings by Charles Euchner, Jr.
Jason - Baseball's Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon by Neal and Constance McCabe
Round 7
Jason - October 1964 by David Halberstam
Mark - Sandy Koufax: A Lefthander's Legacy by Jane Leavy
Jon - The Hidden Game of Baseball by John Thorn and Pete Palmer
Round 8
Jon - Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan by Peter Morris
Mark - Luke Goes To Bat by Rachel Isadora
Jason - Willie's Time: Baseball's Golden Age by Charles Einstein
Honorable Mentions and books we'd like to read:
Jason:
Honorable mention:
You Know Me Al by Ring Lardner
The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm
To read:
Willie's Time: Baseball's Golden Age by Charles Einstein
Mark:
Honorable mention:
Diamond Ruby: A Novel by Joseph Wallace
Brushing Back Jim Crow by Bruce Adelson
Negro League Baseball by Neil Lanctot
Wild and Outside by Stefan Fatsis
To read:
The Catcher was a Spy by Nicholas Dawidoff
The Only Game in Town by Robert M. Garrow
SOB: Southwestern Outlaw Baseball by Chuck Pederson
Jon:
Honorable mention:
If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock
Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez
A Tale of Four Cities: Nineteenth Century Baseball's Most Exciting Season; in Contemporary Accounts by Jean-Pierre Caillault
To read:
The Pitch that Killed by Mike Sowell
Thanks to Jon for putting this together. Thanks to Jason for tossing out your picks. It looks like I've got some reading to do.
I am currently "reading" The Catcher Was a Spy.
ReplyDeleteBy "reading" I mean it sits on the coffee table night after night hoping I'll pick it up to scan a page or two. I'll get there someday.
Very cool. The Celebrant was awesome and the Golem's Mighty Swing was cool too. I think you should have had separate fiction and non-fiction drafts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking part, Mark. It was a lot of fun. Next time, we'll figure out a way to make it live.
ReplyDeleteGlad I found this blog! I'm the author of an "Honorable Mention," from Mark, the novel Diamond Ruby, and love seeing so many of my favorite baseball books listed here.
ReplyDeleteOne cool thing about Ruby: I was inspired to write it by a photo I found for a nonfiction book I was doing with the Hall of Fame. A photo of Jackie Mitchell with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. So baseball itself led to my writing my first novel! Thanks again.