Diamond Classics: Essays on 100 of the Best Baseball Books Ever Published » (ALT)

This is a paperbound reprint of a 1989 book. Shannon, a writer-editor heavily involved with baseball since childhood, made a careful selection of 100 books, and his essays present a kind of history of the sport since 1950. Most of the selections are from the 1970s and 1980s, reflecting, he says, improved writing on the subject. He analyzes each piece of writing, summarizing its importance as baseball literature, its place in the genre, and what the critics thought of it when published. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

In a remarkable survey of baseball literature the editor of the magazine Spitball: The Literary Baseball Literature chooses his 100 favorites. A book's relative availability, level of interest to average readers, and contribution to baseball literature comprise his selection criteria. Shannon skips ``how-to'' books and juveniles but covers history, biography, pictorials, poetry, humor, statistics, essays, fiction, and anthologies. For each book he gives the content, author's background, and the book's significance--often with critical comments of others. His favorite writers/works include David Q. Voigt ( American Baseball ), Roger Kahn ( Boys of Summer , etc.), Robert Creamer ( Babe and Stengel ), Roger Angell ( Summer Game , etc.) and Casey at the Bat . Special tribute goes to two bibliographies: Anton Grobani's Guide to Baseball Literature (LJ 7/75) and Myron J. Smith's Baseball: A Comprehensive Bibliography (LJ 12/15/86). Aside from the annual SABR Review of Books (Soc. for American Baseball Research, vol. 3, 1988) and Spitball, Diamond Classics provides a unique resource useful for selection, reference, and yes, fun reading.-- Morey Berger, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.