I don’t know about you, but where I live, Christmas items started appearing in store before Halloween. And now that the 2024 season is in the books, here’s a preview off baseball books coming in 2024, as per Amazon. Note that there’s always something that could happen to throw a monkey wrench into the works as far as anticipated release dates, but as of today, this is what I’ve got.
Keep in mind that this list was compiled at the beginning of November so there will definitely be changes between now and Opening Day.
As usual, there are trends. For example, the university presses, as the name might imply, offer more scholarly titles and perhaps include topics of more “social significance.” The same could be said for titles under the Rowman and Littlefield imprint. McFarland can always be counted on for the more eclectic subjects that other publishers might shy away from. Triumph is a good source for the more contemporary and popular.
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tales from the Clubhouse: Great Baseball Moments Remembered | Lew Freedman | Blue Sky Press | 12/1/23 |
| Media and the Creation of Babe Ruth | Patrick Adam Trimble | Routledge | 12/23/23 |
| Save Baseball: A Prescription for the Major Leagues | Larry Hausner | McFarland | 1/6/24 |
| Beisbol on the Air: Essays on Major League Spanish-Language Broadcasters | Jorge Iber | McFarland | 1/9/24 |
| Finding America in a Minor League Ballpark: A Season Hosting for the Durham Bulls | Harris Cooper | Skyhorse | 2/1/24 |
| Roberto Alomar: The Complicated Life and Legacy of a Baseball Hall of Famer | David Ostrowsky | Rowman Littlefield | 2/1/24 |
| Work, Fight, or Play Ball: How Bethlehem Steel Helped Baseball's Stars Avoid World War I | William Ecenbarger | Temple U Press | 2/1/24 |
| The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I | Jim Leeke | Potomac | 2/1/24 |
| Pretend the Ball Is Named Jim Crow: The Story of Josh Gibson | Dorian Hairston | University of Kentucky Press | 2/6/24 |
| Frank Chance's Diamond: The Baseball Journalism of Ring Lardner | Ron Rapoport | Lyons | 2/6/24 |
| Tales of the Yankee Clipper: Stories and Reflections on Joe DiMaggio | Jonathan Weeks | Lyons | 2/6/24 |
| The Lineup Card: An Illustrated History of the Baseball Collectible | Tom O'Reilly | McFarland | 2/18/24 |
| Parisian Bob Caruthers: Baseball's First Two-Way Star | David Heller | McFarland | 2/18/24 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm: Life of a Knuckleballer | Lew Friedman | McFarland | 2/18/24 |
| Yankee Stories Untold: An Insider's Memoir from Ruth to Jeter | Rich Mazarri | McFarland | 2/18/24 |
| Searching for Toothpick Sam: A Baseball Card Odyssey | Jamie Selko | McFarland | 2/18/24 |
| Team of Destiny: Walter Johnson, Clark Griffith, Bucky Harris, and the 1924 Washington Senators | Gary Sarnoff | Rowman Littlefield | 2/20/24 |
| Remembering Torn-Down Ballparks, Over a Cold Beer: A Beer Table Book Celebrating Lost Ballparks | Ken Finnigan | Sports Publishing | 3/1/24 |
| Baseball Heaven: Up Close and Personal, What It Was Really Like in the Major Leagues | Peter Goldenbock | Rowman Littlefield | 3/5/24 |
| The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City | Kevin Baker | Knopf | 3/5/24 |
| The 50 Greatest Players in Houston Astros History | Robert Cohen | Lyons | 3/5/24 |
| Baseball's Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn't Live Up to the Hype | Patrick Montgomery | Rowman Littlefield | 3/5/24 |
| Cardinal Dreams: The Legacy of Charlie Peete and a Life Cut Short | Danny Spewak | Rowman Littlefield | 3/5/24 |
| From First to Worst: The New York Mets, 1973-1977, Revised edition | Jason Kanarek | McFarland | 3/5/24 |
| Larry Doby: The Story of a Baseball Pioneer | Jerry Izenberg | Sports Publishing | 3/19/24 |
| A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back | Aaron Fischman | Sports Publishing | 3/19/24 |
| Shakespeare and Baseball: Reflections of a Shakespeare Professor and Detroit Tigers Fan | Samuel Crowl | Ohio U Press | 3/19/24 |
| Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball | Keith O'Brien | Pantheon | 3/26/24 |
| Shadows of Glory: Memorable and Offbeat World Series Stories | Dave Brown, Jeff Rodimer | Lyons | 4/1/24 |
| Schoolboy: The Untold Journey of a Yankees Hero | Waite Hoyt and Tim Manners | University of Nebraska Press | 4/1/24 |
| Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize | Jerry Grillo | University of Nebraska Press | 4/1/24 |
| The Fenway Effect: A Cultural History of the Boston Red Sox | David Krell | University of Nebraska Press | 4/1/24 |
| The 50 Greatest Players in Dodgers History | Robert Cohen | Rubber Ducky | 4/1/24 |
| Baseball's Ultimate Power: Ranking the All-Time Greatest Distance Home Run Hitters | Bill Jenksinson (Revised) | Lyons | 4/2/24 |
| My Mets Bible: Scoring 30 Years of Mets Fandom | Evan Roberts | Triumph | 4/2/24 |
| Home Run King: The Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron | Dan Schlossberg | Sports Publishing | 4/16/24 |
| Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything | Eric Vickery | Rowman Littlefield | 4/16/24 |
| Foxy Ned Hanlon: The Baseball Life of a Hall of Fame Manager | Tom Delise and Jay Seaborg | McFarland | 4/19/24 |
| Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully | Tom Hoffarth | University of Nebraska Press | 5/1/24 |
| Mike Donlin: A Rough and Rowdy Life from New York Baseball Idol to Stage and Screen | Steve Steinberg and Lylke Spatz | University of Nebraska Press | 5/1/24 |
| Lion of the League: Bob Emslie and the Evolution of the Baseball Umpire | Larry Gerlach | University of Nebraska Press | 5/1/24 |
| Cookie Rojas: A Baseball Life | Lou Hernández and Octavio Rojas | McFarland | 5/3/24 |
| Don Drysdale: Up and In | Mark Whicker | Triumph | 5/7/24 |
| The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness | Andy McCullough | Hachette | 5/7/24 |
| Baseball: The Movie | Noah Gittell | Triumph | 5/13/24 |
| The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era | Andy Marino | Doubleday | 5/21/24 |
| In a League of Her Own: A Novel | Kaia Alderson | William Morrow | 5/28/24 |
| Leave While the Party’s Good: The Life and Legacy of Baseball Executive Harry Dalton | Lee Kluck | University of Nebraska Press | 6/1/24 |
| The Wizard of College Baseball: How Ron Fraser Elevated Miami and an Entire Sport to National Prominence | David Brauer | University of Nebraska Press | 6/1/24 |
| The Enchanted Season | Lance Parrish and Tom Gage | Triumph | 6/4/24 |
| The Franchise: Atlanta Braves | Mark Bowman | Triumph | 6/4/24 |
| Chicago Cubs Firsts: The Players, Moments, and Records That Were First in Team History | All Yellon and Pat Hughes | Triumph | 6/4/24 |
| The Franchise: Minnesota Twins | La Velle Neal III | Triumph | 6/11/24 |
| The Big 50: Cincinnati Reds: The Men and Moments that Made the Cincinnati Reds | Chad Dotson and Chris Garber | Triumph | 7/6/24 |
| Behind the Gold Glove | Dwight Evans with Erik Sherman | Triumph | 7/16/24 |
Among the titles I’m looking for to particularly:
- Media and the Creation of Babe Ruth
- Hoyt Wilhelm: Life of a Knuckleballer (always been fascinated with how long he was able to keep on pitching)
- The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City (appreciated the way the author blends his affection for baseball with NY history)
- The Fenway Effect: A Cultural History of the Boston Red Sox (again, always interested in the merging of baseball and culture)
- Shakespeare and Baseball: Reflections of a Shakespeare Professor and Detroit Tigers Fan (curious to see how this compares with David Goodnough’s 2000 release, Shakespeare on Baseball: Such Time-Beguiling Sport)
- Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball (another book about Rose? Plus there’s the suggestion that baseball’s “glory days” are over.)
- Baseball: The Movie (which the publisher describes as “the first definitive history of this film genre,” despite the fact that there are several books on the topic)B
Biographies and memoirs of some heretofore under-reported players include Dwight Evans, Cookie Rojas, Lance Parrish, and Don Drysdale.
Many of the books don’t have finalized art work yet, but among those that do that are eye-catching:
is available on Amazon.com,
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