Hello one, hello all! We're just about ready to close the lights on 2021. It's been another strange year without question, and for worse or for better, baseball did not escape that distinction. The national pastime had a bit of dual personality sort of year. On one hand, the 2021 season was a nice return to the pre-pandemic style of baseball as the season went on, with full crowds, playoff baseball not taking place at neutral sites, the All-Star Game, and much more. It truly was a relief, and I've never been happier to be able to attend a ballgame than I was this year. But on the other hand, what a lot of fans in the know were afraid would happen happened: the deadline to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement between the players/union and the club owners has come and went, and the sport now finds itself presently in a lockout. 

Baseball's gone from a high high, to a somewhat-anticipated low low over the past couple of months. And while us fans are hopeful the two sides will return to the bargaining table before spring training's set to get underway, it's nonetheless still disappointing to see so much acrimony between the two sides. Well, while we'll definitely be keeping tabs on all of the news regarding this matter all winter long, we can also get our baseball kicks through all of the new titles that came out on the sport over the last calendar year! There were plenty of interesting baseball books that hit shelves in 2021, so let's close out the year highlighting some of those offerings available at NYPL.

The New York Yankees

While it's been a little over a decade since the Yankees have been on top of the baseball world, they do top our list today as far as 2021 baseball books are concerned. And we have a nice array of them to select from this year, with many different eras of Yankee baseball receiving coverage. Whether you'd like to read about Murderers' Row, or the Steinbrenner days, or maybe you're wacky enough to read about Yankee baseball in the height of the pandemic during 2020 (I kid of course, please do read it), there should be a book out there for you.

The Bronx Zoom: Inside the New York Yankees' Most Bizarre Season by Bryan Hoch
Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer by Lawrence Baldassaro
Till the End by CC Sabathia
Power and Pinstripes: Untold Stories of Berra, the Boss, and Building a Yankees Dynasty by Jeff Mangold & Peter Botte
The Forgotten Game: Game 5 2004 ALCS Yankees at Red Sox by John Vampatella
The Captain & Me: On and Off the Field with Thurman Munson by Ron Blomberg

The New York Mets

While it's been even longer since the Mets have been to baseball nirvana, their 2021 did have its notable moments. It was the first season under its first new owner in decades. Their all-time winningest lefthander Jerry Koosman was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame. The club's had a killer offseason as we look ahead to 2022, and they also had a well-received 4-part ESPN 30 for 30 documentary series come out. The Mets didn't have too bad a year in the literary department either. Here are a few new Mets books that came out in 2021, including a tie-in title to that 30 for 30, plus a biography profiling one of the three Mets managers who have won 1000 games as their skipper. 

So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets—the Best Worst Team in Sports by Devin Gordon
Once Upon a Time in Queens: An Oral History of the 1986 Mets by Nick Davis
Valentine’s Way: My Adventurous Life and Times by Bobby Valentine and Peter Golenbock
New York Mets: Stories From the New York Mets Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box If These Walls Could Talk by Mike Puma

Out Of Towners

Hey maybe you're not originally from New York and are a fan of one of the other 28 teams the league has to offer. Or maybe you're just a diehard baseball fan who doesn't want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to consuming baseball via nonfiction books. Whatever the case may be, we do have a handful of biographies spotlighting players who made their names outside of the Big Apple. That includes one, who not only was coined with inventing the high five, but was also the first ballplayer to publicly come out as gay while his career was still active.

Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood by Dave Parker and Dave Jordan
One Line Drive: A Life-Threatening Injury and a Faith-Fueled Comeback by Daniel Ponce de Leon and Tom Zenner
Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss

Negro Leagues

December of 2020 saw Major League Baseball bestow the seven leagues of Negro League Baseball with the designation of "major league". With this announcement, all of their players, statistics, and records now became recognized by MLB, and were added to its history in a more official capacity. This was both a satisfying and gratifying announcement for everyone who played and was involved with the Negro Leagues, with the bulk of their existence being while Black players were prohibited from playing for Major League Baseball clubs. 2021, the first full year with the Negro Leagues as major leagues, saw some good books come out about those times, focusing on players who were both household names, and unsung heroes. 

42 Today: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy  edited by Michael G. Long
Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier by Ted Reinstein
The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues by Lonnie Wheeler
Comeback Season: My Unlikely Story of Friendship with the Greatest Living Negro League Baseball Players by Cam Perron

Individual Years

Personally I love books that cover individual baseball seasons for one reason or another. The author(s) usually do a great job setting the meat and potatoes of the book up (which would be that primarily focused upon year), giving details about the past. And then when it's time to focus on that said season, the specifics and the insight are usually off-the-charts informative. This year saw a few books released that fit that mold. Be it world champion ballclubs, or scandals that rocked the entire sport, there ought to be something here that will pique the interest of any baseball fan.

Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball by Luke Epplin
Cheated: The Inside Story of the Astros Scandal and a Colorful History of Sign Stealing by Andy Martino
1930: The Story of a Baseball Season When Hitters Reigned Supreme by Lew Freedman

The In-Between Hop

And hey, just like last year we've got a number of noteworthy baseball books that don't quite pigeonhole into any of the other topics we've covered today. Therefore, they get their own section. Included in this miscellaneous group of baseball books include an expatriate's life story about moving to Japan and falling in love with their brand of baseball, and the story of a college ballplayer who seemingly had all the cards in the deck of life stacked against him, yet persevered despite all of the hardships that were thrown his way. 

Max Gordon: Life, Loss, and Baseball's Greatest Comeback by Jacob Kornhauser
Tokyo Junkie: 60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys . . . and Baseball by Robert Whiting
A Season with Mom: Love, Loss, and the Ultimate Baseball Adventure by Katie Russell Newland
Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Understanding by Larry Olmsted

Whatever you decide upon, as long as you're reading baseball, you'll be just fine. Enjoy everybody! Hope to see you at both the Library and the ballpark in 2022!

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