BACK TO SCHOOL READING LIST II

                       In my last post I talked about the Little League/Major League Library books. Well as promised here's part II of the back to school reading list. Thanks to someone told me that blogger & fellow person from my state of Michigan Wrigley Wax was a former teacher as wel. I am sure he & I have crossed paths but never knew about the other at shows or something hard to say, anyways here's the before shot of the bookshelf if you remember.

 Kinda plain with the wave of my magic Louisvlle slugger wand.

*pooof* Where did those books come from. Now what to put on my bottom shelf.

                         Now here's the next reading list & just like in my previous post I'll have the titles of the subject of these mini Biographical books at the end of the post. These books at total of 40 in all are mini Biographical books about the player in the title.. I guess I started collecting these books during the pandemic cause I kept seeing them at used book stores & antique shops. Plus my girlfriend suggested I find another book series that I could try to finish since I finished my Time/Life True Crime Series back in 2015 (Stay Tuned on a future post about my Time/Life Reading Series.) So I mentioned these Blue Biographical books I only glanced to read at couple of places to her. She then said "Do your research & go from there." So I started my research on them found out that the Chelsea House Publishing Company made these books geared for kids in the 4th through 9th grade level (Simple for any kid to due a book report of a player.) 

                        These books came out in the early 1990's. Each book has the same introduction by Hall of Fame Sportswriter Jim Murray. The great Hall of Fame Class of 1996,Manager of the 1970 World Champion Baltimore Orioles, Earl Weaver was the Senior Consultant for this book series. Makes me wonder if they came up to Earl & asked him to give his opinion on all 40 of these players & if kids would be interested in reading about this particular legend of the game. Each book is 64 pages filled with black & white photographs well as career stats & if the player was enshrined already in Cooperstown they would showcase his Hall of Fame Plaque.

           Here's the list of the books in Alphabetical order by the players name.

                                   Hank Aaron By James Tackach
                                   Grover Cleveland Alexander By Jack Kavanaugh
                                   Ernie Banks By Peter C. Bjarkman
                                   Johnny Bench By Mike Shannon (Not the former player)
                                   Yogi Berra By Marty Appel
                                   Roy Campanella By James Tackach
                                   Roberto Clemente By Peter C. Bjarkman
                                   Ty Cobb By Norman L. Macht
                                   Dizzy Dean By Jack Kavanaugh
                                   Joe DiMaggio By Marty Appel
                                   Bob Feller By Morris Eckhouse
                                   Jimmie Foxx By Norman L. Macht
                                   Bob Gibson By Bill Deane
                                   Lou Gehrig By Norman L. Macht
                                   Rogers Hornsby By Jack Kavanaugh
                                   Reggie Jackson By Norman L. Macht
                                   Shoeless Joe Jackson By Jack Kavanaugh
                                   Walter Johnson By Jack Kavanaugh
                                   Sandy Koufax By John Grabowski
                                   Mickey Mantle By Mark & Neil Gallagher
                                   Christy Matthewson By Norman L. Macht
                                   Willie Mays By John Grabowski
                                   Stan Musial By John Grabowski
                                   Satchel Paige By Norman L. Macht
                                   Brooks Robinson By Rick Wolff
                                   Frank Robinson By Norman L. Macht
                                   Jackie Robinson By John Grabowski
                                   Pete Rose By Thomas W. Gilbert
                                   Babe Ruth By Norman L. Macht
                                   Nolan Ryan By Lois P. Nicholson
                                   Mike Schmidt By Rick Westcott
                                   Tom Seaver By Norman L. Macht
                                   Duke Snider By Peter J. Bjarkman
                                   Warren Spahn By Peter J. Bjarkman
                                   Willie Stargell By Mike Shannon
                                   Casey Stengel By Lois P. Nicholson
                                   Honus Wagner By Jack Kavanaugh
                                   Ted Williams By Rick Wolff
                                   Carl Yastrzemski By Shepard Long
                                   Cy Young By Norman L. Macht

                I consider these Biographical books of the players like a Reader's Digest Biographical book for kids & maybe adults to enjoy reading. As a person who reads a lot of Biographical books about baseball when its likes of "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton or something more complex "The Big Fella: Babe Ruth & the World He Created' by Jane Leavy & even if its about Teams like "The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn. I like to see if there's any similarities in some books like did the author of this book talk about this or that of the player for example in the Ty Cobb book there's no mention of the feud Cobb had with the fans in Cleveland where he bolted into the stands & beaten a fan who had no hands. I Guess they didn't want to tell about it in a book geared toward children to promote violence. If anyone is interested in owning a complete set of these 40 books I have a second set available just let me know in the comments below & Ill try to reach out to you about the details.

             I hope you enjoyed this 2nd part of my back to school reading list. As you can see the Art work on the front is remarkable as you can see showcasing Rogers Hornsby (Unfortunately my favorite saying isn't talked about in his book & each player has a nice piece of them on their covers as well.) who once was quoted about signing autographs for kids. "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American. He's a Communist."