Best Baseball Movies? Best Baseball Books?

[Cowboy7130]

oooh yeah, Chuck Connors! Great call!

[softball66]

Let us not forget famous gloves from Novels: "Catcher in the Rye."
Kinsella brought J. D. back for "Field of Dreams" novel (Terrance Mann in Movie)
"Allie’s Baseball Glove
Allie’s left-handed baseball glove is a physically smaller but significant symbol in the novel. It represents Holden’s love for his deceased brother as well as Allie’s authentic uniqueness. Allie covered the glove with poems written in green ink so that he would have something to read when things got boring in the baseball field. This mitt is not a catcher’s mitt; it is a fielder’s glove. Holden has shown it to only one person outside the family: Jane Gallagher. When he writes a descriptive theme about the glove for Stradlater to turn in for his English assignment, of course the insensitive roommate does not understand."

I once found a glove with the word "Think" penned on it. Wonder if the owner was following the advice of his coach. They hammered into me
"OK, what do you do with the ball if it's hit to you? Think!"

[robin_buckeye]

Ron Reed - Relief pitcher with the Phillies in the 70's.

[softball66]

Seems like from my era, that Dick Groat played for Duke then MLB, maybe one of the O'Brien twins or both played college bsktball.

[vintagebrett]

Groat played one season of professional basketball. Do you know he never played baseball when at Duke! The only thing that surpasses my passion for old gloves is Duke basketball!

[ristankor]

If I remember right, Fergie Jenkins had signed a "C" form with the Montreal Canadiens (meaning if he had chosen hockey over baseball, He'd be considered their property).
My favorite books:
October 1964 by David Halberstam
Veeck-As In Wreck by Bill Veeck
The Long Season by Jim Bronsan
Storied Stadiums by Curt Smith
Smoke (a GREAT book about Cuban baseball)
Heart Of The Game by Andy Jurinko
and,of course, Glove Affairs by Noah Liberman
My favorite movies:
Big Leaguer (1952)- a spring training film starring Edward G.Robinson-LOTS of cool gloves
the When It Was A Game trilogy
61*(2001)

[mittmutt]

so far we have Danny Ainge, Dave DeBusschere, Gene Conley, Chuck Connors, Ron Reed, Jim Thorpe, Dick Groat, Mark Hendrickson, Bob Gibson?. There's supposed to be 12. Any other knowledge?

[ristankor]

Also,Fergie Jenkins spent some time with the Harlem Globetrotters too.

[softball66]

Late date crossover pro football/baseball players were Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders. Jackson maybe fared better at baseball than Sanders with Sanders a more noted pro footballer. Jackson was an immense and strong talent though and never forget that shot he hit back at Nolan Ryan.
I heard this trivia question years ago and never was sure it was quite true but it could have been. Who caught a touchdown pass from Y. A. Tittle and hit a homerun off Sandy Koufax? Intriguing.

[oldreliable]

Well, I just googled softball66's trivia question. I would never have thought of that player as the answer. Interesting. His name is even on gloves.

Baseball books I enjoyed were both Dynasty and Bums by Peter Golenbock. I also enjoyed Moneyball, though I'm not so much of a moneyball guy. I recently read How Life Imitates the World Series by Thomas Boswell. I really liked it.

Baseball movies: The Rookie, Field of Dreams and Pride of the Yankees. Cobb was pretty good, too.

I read that Robert Redford had a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado but lost it due to drunkenness, back when he was still Chuck Redofrd. He looked like a capable ballplayer in The Natural.

[Moonlight Graham]

Nobody mentioned "Shoeless Joe" by WP Kinsella, the novel that inspired the film "Field of Dreams". A really nice read too.

[burker72]

For books I have to encourage everyone to read Ball Four by Jim Bouton. It is one of those books that you just can't read fast enough.

The Al Stump Cobb biography, the one published after Cobb died is an incredible book.

I have not read "The Bronx Zoo" by Sparky Lyle, but I bet that is a good one.

[oldreliable]

Hi burker72,

The Bronx Zoo by Sparky Lyle is a great one. It's a scream! I read that book when I was twelve or thirteen years old. I loved it. Maybe I'll read it again this year.

[Mike_2007]

I'm also a big fan of Catcher in the Rye and always loved the references to the baseball glove - I also thought playing the outfield fit the theme of Holden not being able to catch his little brother in the rye...

I also like John Fante as an author and there were often baseball references in his stories... googled john fante baseball and found a nice reference regarding this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=SG0DAb ... px3M&hl=en

[nygiants]

That brings to mind another book, Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker. Very funny, always liked Bob on the the Tonight show with Johnny Carson.