Classic Baseball: Timeless Tales, Immortal Moments

by John Rosengren

A collection of iconic, unbelievable, and intimate stories from baseball history that celebrate the enduring impact of the national pastime. Baseball—rooted as it is in tradition and nostalgia—lends itself to the retelling of its timeless tales. So it is with the stories in Classic Baseball, a collection of articles written by award-winning journalist John Rosengren and originally published by Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, Sports on Earth, VICE Sports, and other magazines. These are stories about the game’s legends—Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Josh Gibson, Bob Feller, Frank Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Kirby Puckett—and its lesser-knowns with extraordinary stories of their own. They cover some of the game's most famous moments, like Hank Aaron hitting No. 715, and some you've never heard of, like the time the Ku Klux Klan played a game against an all-Black team. Whether it be the story of John Roseboro forgiving Juan Marichal for clubbing him in the head with a bat, Elston Howard breaking down the Yankees' systemic racism to integrate America's team, or the national pastime played on snowshoes during July in a remote Wisconsin town, these are stories meant to be read and read again for their poignancy, their humor, and their celebration of baseball.

Genres: Baseball

170 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2022

About the author

John Rosengren is the award-winning author of eight books and hundreds of magazine articles.

Reviews

[J.B. Manheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosengren has been writing about baseball for more than thirty years, and hearing its tales for longer still. For older baseball fans, the selections here offer a real trip down memory lane. For younger fans, they capture moments in the history of the game so special they will make you wish the memories were actually yours. What these essays share with all readers, young or old, is the author’s love of the game. Classic.