Comments on: Harris books top panel’s list of best baseball novels

By: Crazy Fukudome: Seven Ways To Amuse Yourself On A Cubs Off-Day | myMLB - Cubs

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:33:29 +0000

[...] Cooperative has new lists of top baseball novels and top baseball non-fiction. They also mention what they don’t like. Find out why they [...]

By: James Bailey

James Bailey — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:47:58 +0000

I’m not sure why people can’t disagree with selections without tossing around words like “woefully insensitive and ignorant.” As for the panel lacking a real understanding of literature, two of the seven are English professors with pretty solid credentials, and Ron Kaplan probably reads more baseball books in a year than most fans do in a decade.

I have read Coover’s book and found it, in a word, strange. It got hard to read at times because it was just so damn weird. It obviously has its fans, which I’ll refrain from personally insulting, but I didn’t find it to be an enjoyable book.

By: george grella

george grella — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:10:27 +0000

I am quite amazed at the choices and the justifications; sure, the Harris books are very good, and Roth’s is indeed often overlooked, but trashing The Natural, the first really brilliant novel that examines the depth of myth and magic in baseball in a remarkable stylization of sportswriter prose and conventional vernacular, and then ignoring Coover’s Universal Baseball Association seems to me woefully insensitive and ignorant. The respondents, I am sorry to say, lack a real understanding of both literature and baseball, which by the way, despite popular belief among SABR folks, Bill James did not invent.

By: Greg Kannerstein

Greg Kannerstein — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:01:06 +0000

Great discussion. Here’s another vote for The Universal Baseball
Association by Coover. Really gets the historical dimension.

Best novel about umpires I ever read was the unjustly unknown
The Conduct of the Game by John Hough, Jr. (Full disclosure: author is a personal friend.)

By: Joe Anson

Joe Anson — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:45:38 +0000

How about a best/worst baseball book list for teens/kids?

By: Seven Ways To Amuse Yourself On A Cubs Off-Day

Seven Ways To Amuse Yourself On A Cubs Off-Day — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:20:22 +0000

[...] Cooperative has new lists of top baseball novels and top baseball non-fiction. They also mention what they don’t like. Find out why they [...]

By: Blue

Blue — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:14:44 +0000

The Greatest Slump of All Time by David Carkeet is a wonderful look at the most dysfunctional winning team ever. A really fun read.

By: Seven Ways To Amuse Yourself On A Cubs Off-Day | MLB USA

Seven Ways To Amuse Yourself On A Cubs Off-Day | MLB USA — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:13:58 +0000

[...] Cooperative has brand brand new lists of top round novels and top round non-fiction. They additionally discuss what they don’t like. Find out because [...]

By: Karyn Ellis

Karyn Ellis — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:43:23 +0000

There seems to be very little love here for Kinsella. Is he regarded as a one-trick pony?

By: * Another list of “bests” « Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:14:27 +0000

[...] Fiction [...]