With MCLS, It’s Always Baseball Season

The weather has taken a turn for the worse of late.

It’s getting colder. There are plenty of days with some pretty strong wind. And there has even been a hint of snow.

So this seems like the perfect time to be thinking about…..baseball.

Baseball is generally thought of as a sport for three seasons. We’ve got Spring Training, the Dog Days of Summer, and of course, the Fall Classic. But winter and baseball? I think the closest we get are meetings. And only hard-core fans get into the winter meetings.

But here at the Mercer County Library System you can think about baseball all year long - even in the winter. And that’s because we’ve got baseball books and plenty of them. If you type baseball into the search bar of the library’s online catalog, there are over 3,000 choices that pop up.

As part of the MCLS collection, there are over 2,500 books available, as well as 262 videos that have a connection to baseball. There are also ebooks and audiobooks. And the material is for all ages, with over 1,200 items geared towards younger readers. There are biographies, non-fiction books, fiction, and much more available for patrons. We even have 44 books that fall into the category of baseball romance!

I have a few personal favorites that I would like to suggest. Some are considered among the all-time classic baseball books.

If you’re looking for baseball in a fiction book, there are a few that come to mind. 

The Cactus League by Emily Nemens is set during spring training in 2011 in Scottsdale, Arizona. It follows the plights of several different characters through interrelated stories. The main story centers around star player Jason Goodyear, whose career and life seem to be in a freefall. But there are other stories as well and the book is very well written.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is another fiction look at baseball. The story centers around the baseball program at Westish College, which is a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan. It also follows the paths of several different characters, with many of them becoming intertwined by the end. The main story follows Henry Skrimshander, whose fielding prowess has him on the cusp of stardom until things take a turn for the worse. The stories of Henry’s best friend and team captain Mike Schwartz, as well as others, are also very entertaining.

Calico Joe by John Grishman is a favorite of many. Joe Castle is a baseball wonder boy and many consider him the greatest rookie to play the game. The story of what happens when his wonderful start takes a turn for the worse is a good one.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King is another fiction offering that readers will enjoy. It has many of the elements readers have come to expect from King’s novels, but with a baseball twist. Young Trisha McFarland is lost in the woods, but during her nine-day ordeal she is comforted by baseball and music on her portable radio.

On the non-fiction side, there are countless great baseball books offered through the MCLS catalog. Here are some of my own personal favorites. 

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis is a book that led to a statistical revolution in the sport. While many have seen the wonderful movie version starring Brad Pitt, the book is a classic as well, as Lewis follows the fortunes of the Oakland A’s and their general manager, Billy Beane. The book is now more than 20 years old and many of the ideas that were put into place by Beane and the A’s in the early 2000s are now part of every team’s approach to winning.

Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues by John Feinstein gives an inside look of what life is like for players either trying to make their way to the Major Leagues, or in some cases just trying to hang on to a career in baseball. While Feinstein is most known for his books about college basketball, he has also written several baseball books and this is one of his best. Baseball fans will recognize former big league players like Scott Elarton and Scott Podsenik, while also getting to read about Scott Johnson and Charlie Montoyo, who spent much of their baseball lives in the minor leagues.

The Tao of the Backup Catcher by Tim Brown with Erik Kratz is the latest baseball book I read and it quickly became one of my favorites. Much of the story centers on Kratz and his nearly 20-year career through the minors and majors, mostly as a backup catcher. But Brown also delves into stories on other players who spent much of their careers as backup catchers and some who went on to become successful baseball managers. 

K: A History of Baseball in 10 pitches by Tyler Kepner is an interesting take on baseball history through a variety of pitches and the players who were most successful with those pitches. Kepner talks with some of the greatest pitchers in the game such as Bob Gibson, Greg Maddux and Mariano Rivera. We also get insight on what goes into throwing a curveball, a cutter, a knuckleball and other pitches. It’s a great way to take a deep dive into baseball history.

These books, as well as so many others, are available through the MCLS catalog. As a side note, authors John Feinstein and Tim Brown have both been guests on our MCLS podcast, Behind the Books. A link to the podcast is available here.

Feinstein, who sadly passed away earlier this year, was a guest on the Aug. 11, 2021 episode, while Brown was a guest on the recent Nov. 12, 2025 episode.

Hopefully these books help get readers through a winter of waiting for spring training and the start of a new season of baseball.

Bob N., Hopewell Branch