Of juiced players and juicy baseball stories

 A 2005 story from the San Diego Union-Tribune about the best baseball books ever:

By Doug Williams
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

It was a big league ballplayer writing a book about drugs, late-night carousing, infidelity, locker-room mischief, contract squabbles and his struggle to keep alive a fading career.

It knocked the cover off baseball and made its author a cover story.

The writer?  Jim Bouton, not Jose Canseco.

Almost 35 years before Canseco's "Juiced" helped spur Congressional hearings about drugs and steroids in baseball, Bouton's "Ball Four" was baseball's first book of revelations.

"It certainly started the whole genre of tell-all sports books," said Jim Gates, library director for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. "And it's one of the most-known baseball books."

In a sport buried in books -- everyone from George Will to Lenny Dykstra has written one, and Gates says there are 100-400 new titles each year -- it could be argued "Ball Four" ranks among the most influential.

Influential doesn't necessarily mean best, of course, although "Ball Four" would probably make a top 10 for both, with its humor, clarity and relevance.  The New York Public Library put it on its 100 "Books of the Century" list, and Terry Cannon of the Baseball Reliquary called it "arguably the most influential baseball book ever written, and one which changed the face of sportswriting and our conception of what it means to be a professional athlete."

Rating the most influential books may be more of an art than a science.

Gates, when asked his opinion, has what he calls his "big five": "The Glory of Their Times," the "Boys of Summer," "Only the Ball Was White," the "Baseball Encyclopedia" and "Play Ball."

Only one thing is certain: baseball inspires writers.

"Baseball, boxing, golf and fly fishing produce the greatest (sports) literature," Gates said, citing perhaps the "contemplative time" those sports have.

A closer look at baseball's most influential books:

Ball Four

Author/published: Jim Bouton/1970

Synopsis: Former Yankees star Bouton kept a diary of his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros, as he tried to hang on as a knuckleball pitcher.  In the process, he didn't pull punches.  He talked about Mickey Mantle's drinking, Whitey Ford's cheating, players' widespread use of "greenies" (amphetamines) and the unfairness of the reserve clause that restricted player movement.

Impact: For the first time, fans found out their "heroes" were human, and Bouton provided the spark for later tell-alls.  It also has been suggested that Bouton, by peeling the cover off the reserve clause, helped kill it.

The Baseball Encyclopedia

Author/published: Macmillan Publishing/1969

Synopsis: For the first time, baseball geeks had an ultimate reference book.  Anybody who had ever appeared in a big league game could be looked up, along with year-by-year lineups, league leaders, individual stats and trades.

Impact: For nearly 30 years, "The Baseball Encyclopedia" was the official record book of Major League Baseball.  It sparked a generation of number-crazed fans -- Bill James and the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) types -- to pore over numbers, and it was the source for settling bets and proving points.  And, after watching "Field of Dreams," looking up Moonlight Graham.  It no longer is published, but it begat other baseball bibles, such as "Total Baseball," now MLB's official source.

Baseball Abstract

Author/published: Bill James/1977

Synopsis: At first, a newsletter; then a thick, annual book, looking at baseball numbers and challenging long-held tenets.  In his first "Abstract," James challenged the way fielding stats were collected and interpreted and examined which catchers allowed the most stolen bases.

Impact: Even baseball executives began to read James and embrace his theories.  The Red Sox eventually hired him as an adviser.

Moneyball

Author/published: Michael Lewis/2003

Synopsis: Lewis studied how the business practices of the small-revenue Oakland A's allowed them to compete against large-revenue teams.  How GM Billy Beane got the most from the least, by embracing valuable and often-overlooked qualities in ballplayers not valued by other organizations.

Impact: In a copycat culture, other organizations began to think like the A's. GMs in Los Angeles, Toronto and Boston are "Moneyball" disciples.  The Hall of Fame's Gates, for one, isn't willing to put it on his list yet, because every book should be given time.  "Let's wait and see," he said.

Rotisserie League Baseball

Editor/published: Glen Waggoner/1984

Synopsis: Waggoner and Daniel Okrent spelled out rules and regs for Rotisserie baseball, in which fans can draft players and create their own teams, with results based on actual MLB player performances.

Impact: Casual fans became hooked on box scores; newspapers, Web sites, magazines and networks now cater to Roto fans' hunger for stats; and now we have fantasy football, NASCAR, basketball, etc.  "It's withstood the test of time," said Gates, who says its birth came at the perfect time; in the era of free agency when your hometown team can trade your favorite player, a fan can control his Roto players.

Juiced

Author/published: Jose Canseco/2005

Synopsis: One of baseball's best power hitters admits he used steroids, and says many others did, too.  He names lots of names and offers a tribute to the benefits of steroids.

Impact: Following Ken Caminiti's death and the BALCO revelations, Canseco's book prompted Congress to hold hearings on baseball's drug testing, which resulted in proposed stiffer drug-use penalties.

The Glory of their Times

Author/published: Lawrence S. Ritter / 1966

Synopsis: Players of the early 20th century tell their tales.

Impact: It's important, says Gates, because of its sheer popularity and its continuing strong sales.  The book paints human pictures not only of stars but, more importantly, everyday players and the game as it was.

The Boys of Summer

Author/published: Roger Kahn/ 1972

Synopsis: A tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the '50s by a newspaper reporter who covered the team.

Impact: Same as "The Glory of their Times."  Said Gates: "Everybody could relate to it."

Only the Ball Was White

Author/published: Robert W. Peterson / 1970

Synopsis: The story of the Negro Leagues and its stars.

Impact: Peterson exposed the public to the exploits of wonderful players overshadowed by white baseball.  Many of Peterson's subjects became Hall of Famers over the next decade, such as "Cool Papa" Bell, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Oscar Charleston.

Play Ball

Author/published: Mike "King" Kelly / 1888

Synopsis: The Hall of Famer's story of baseball and 19th-century America.

Impact: The first baseball autobiography, and a popular book at the time. Kelly was the No. 1 star of his era, a man who transcended his game, went into Vaudeville, battled alcoholism and died before age 40.