Favorite Baseball Authors

[sweaver]

A comment in another thread here got me thinking about the best writers on baseball. I think many of us here would cite Bill James as a favorite, as much for his influence on our perceptions of the game as his straight-ahead prose. But who else do you like to read on baseball? Books, columnists, or beat writers, select whichever category you choose.

I have always liked the lyrical style of Roger Angell, and usually pick up the collections of his essays when they come out. He may be the best writer, stylistically, that regularly writes about baseball.

For beat writers, I like Tracy Ringolsby. He's sort of like Gammons, but without the overblown reputation.

[Fritz Buelow]

Bill James, John Sickels, Dan Gutman, David Nemec, Peter Golenbock, Mike Shannon, Kevin Kerrane, and John Helyar among others.

I like Bob Nightengale in the papers.

[sweaver]

Why those guys, Steve? I am perhaps even more interested in why as in who.

I find Nightengale too often wrong to be a reliable "notes" columnist.

[Fritz Buelow]

Originally posted by sweaver
Why those guys, Steve? I am perhaps even more interested in why as in who.

All are insightful guys who educate with some humor, for the most part.

[SmedIndy]

I'm a big Ring Lardner fan. And Mike Sowell, who wrote "The Pitch That Killed".

And I like David Nemec's work on the 19th century.

[pathogan]

Roger Angell. 1} He is a terrific essayist[though having E.B. White around to check your grammer must be nice.Like having Ted Williams to check your swing}who could write in any genre, he's a fan who loves the gAME more then any one team...and heresy as it is on these boards, numbers bore me to death!!!!!!!!!I would rather read good writing then worry about the probability of Joe Shmo doubling off JOe blow because his XYZ rating is.0013% below the league average for the previous ...too many numbers take all the poetry out of the game, and if its not poetry,at least partly, then we can simply play it on computers...anyway, THATS why I love Angell, Donald Hall,Jim Brosnan...

[pwdennis]

Afraid I must agree with Pathogan, even if he is a Mets fan. For consistantly good writing it is Roger Angell first, and by a wide margin (even when he writes about topics other than baseball).