Here are some gift picks for a baseball fan by Shanan Delp. Shanan is a friend of Elfster and a car and baseball nut.
College football season is over, and I’m not much of an indoor spectator sports guy, so I am looking ahead to next year, and baseball books. I am a pushover for baseball books baseball. He chose to focus his razor sharp journalistic skills on sports in between his heavier volumes. Rather than look at individuals, Halberstam looks at moments in time (the Summer of ‘49) and matchups of teams (October 1964 ) to tell epic societal tales via the baseball diamond.
And you have the newish Watching Baseball Smarter, Zack Hample’s enthusiastic primer containing everything you’d want to know about the sport (but were afraid to ask).
then there’s Moneyball, Michael Lewis’ profile of baseball’s new statistic-minded braintrusts, notably focused on Oakland’s Billy Beane.
Last but not least, there is Game of Shadows of Shadows, which apparently tells of the talented but fatally-flawed Barry Bond decision to turn from a hall of famer to a pariah.
What else is there? This list alone will not get me through to spring training.
