Essential RBI Reading

[Gantry]

What books out there (that deal specifically with RBI'ers or the era in which they played) should be considered "must read" books? 

Two I can think of offhand

• The Bad Guys Won - A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, The Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform--and Maybe the Best


• One Pitch Away: The Players' Stories of the 1986 League Championships and World Series

I can vouch for One Pitch Away, a great read.  From what others have been saying about The Bad Guys Won, that is also a doozie.  What others?

[fknmclane]

I was gonna start a thread for this but I'll just include it here even though it isn't a book.

The All Fat team includes three RBIers.

If Kevin Mitchell ever writes an autobiography, it should definitely be considered essential reading.

[Gantry]

That reminds me, has anyone read the Gooden or Canseco autobiography?  Essential or fluff?

[Gantry]

From the article:

" For example, in 1990, he was four days late to spring training because he got injured eating a microwaved donut, requiring root canal work"

"We're not sure, but the legendary cupcake injury appears, upon further research, to have actually been the donut injury; we found many references to the cupcake that offer no details, yet we know that the donut icing melted into Mitchell's fillings, which caused that affliction."

The donut injury isn't on the Hall of Shame and this adds a little explanation to the mysterious cupake affliction.  Could it be untrue?  Can I no longer call him cupcake?

[fightonusc]

"Play Ball" by John Feinstein has a lot of information that is RBI related. It follows the 1992 baseball season - a good chapter on the Mets of that year, plus Garner's first year as a manager, etc. If you like John Feinstein books, find this used sometime.

[Gantry]

And if you click on the used section of amazon, they have a bunch for $1

[fightonusc]

I picked mine up at a used bookstore in Lake Tahoe over one vacation. It's prime shitter reading material, although the spine of the book is trashed and the pages are starting to fall apart.

[Gantry]

Buy some toilet paper and you won't have that problem... 

[fightonusc]

I prefer Wet Naps...

Other RBI-related books I haven't read yet:

Bullet Bob Comes to Louisville by John "Blank" Morris - it got a very good review from Baseball Weekly, and I believe anything I read there.
Reggie: The Autobiography by Potatoes
Wizard by Ozzie Smith
The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw by Michael Sokolove (which is supposed to be an amazing book, BTW.

[fightonusc]

Also, I can't believe this is a real book:

Fowl Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes by Wade Boggs.

[fightonusc]

"Nothing But The Truth: A Baseball Life" by Don Baylor
"Rocket Man: The Roger Clemens Story" by Roger Clemens and Peter Gammons
"Bottom of the Ninth" by Kirk Gibson

[fightonusc]

"Miracle Man" by Nolan Ryan

[fknmclane]

"Miracle Man" by Nolan Ryan

I think you mean Elvis Costello.

[RedBarron]

I have read Ozzie, Reggie, and One Pitch Away.

One Pitch Away should be REQUIRED reading for any fan of RBI baseball.  The book is amazing.

Ozzie is a so so read. . . . Reggie is much better because there was cussing involved.

[fightonusc]

I'm sort of interested in the Don Baylor book - not someone I would have thought would have written a autobiography, but it could be interesting.

[fknmclane]

I've had One Pitch Away for quite awhile now but still haven't read it.  It's at the top of my reading list for when school finishes up in the next couple of weeks.  Looks like perfect doody reading material.

[RedBarron]

I've had One Pitch Away for quite awhile now but still haven't read it.  It's at the top of my reading list for when school finishes up in the next couple of weeks.  Looks like perfect doody reading material.

Not a page was read of that book when shit was not flowing from my asshole.


I'm reading "The Natural" now. . . . part is read while ryne takes a bath. . . other parts are read as I doody.


On deck is "Shoeless Joe"

[BeeJay]

I've never been able to read more than a quick article while on the toilet, and even then I'm just sitting there reading after I've finished crapping.  A book would probably take me years to finish if I only read it in the bathroom.

[RedBarron]

I've never been able to read more than a quick article while on the toilet, and even then I'm just sitting there reading after I've finished crapping.  A book would probably take me years to finish if I only read it in the bathroom.

i shoot for a chapter a shit.

[Attezzobal]

Scapegoats : Baseballs Whose Careers Are Marked By One Fateful Play

Chapters on both Donnie Moore and Billy Buck (Buckner makes the cover), picked it up for two bucks...Knew about Merkle and Snod and Branca and obviously Buck, Moore and Mitch Williams, but there's a handful that I wasn't too familiar with, plus it's unbelievably detail oriented, which is nice...Just got to the Donnie Moore chapter, after that comes Billy Buck, I'll edit this post with more info (if I come across any)