Sox books to get you through the winter

loading...

I know, I know. It’s at least 15 weeks until pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers, Fla., for Red Sox spring training. (I have season tickets.) God only knows when that Stephen King book about the (finally!) World Series victory is going to come out.

While you are waiting, shoveling snow and making out your Christmas list, let us examine an internal e-mail (I have spies) from the New England Booksellers’ Association about worthy competitors to the King book. All of these will be dated, naturally, since they were printed before the historic World Series (still don’t believe it) victory.

The NEBA members asked for nominations for the “10 best Red Sox books” and got so many they ended up with almost 30. You know how book people are. The list is intended for window display but is a good place to start for any Red Sox zealot. (Raise your hands, please.)

Naturally, many of them deal with Ted Williams, the greatest Red Sox player of them all. “Waiting for Ted Williams,” by Howard Frank Mosher (Houghton, $24).

. “Mr. Red Sox,” by Bill Nowlin, (Rounder books, $24.95) a biography of the famed Johnny Pesky with a foreword by Ted Williams.

. “What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?: A Remembrance,” by Richard Ben Cramer (S & S, $18).

Naturally a host of the suggested window display includes Dan Shaughnessy, poet laureate of the Red Sox, whose “Curse of the Bambino” reportedly will put his children through college and beyond.

. “At Fenway: Dispatches from the Red Sox Nation,” by Shaughnessy (Three Rivers Press, $13).

. “The Curse of the Bambino” the delightfully outdated book by the Boston Globe sportswriter (Penguin, $14).

. “Fenway: A Biography in Words and Pictures,” with Shaughnessy again and the Globe’s gifted photographer Stan Grossfeld (Houghton, $12.95).

The list would not be complete without a few novels and a few murders.

. “Ballpark Blues” a novel that explores what little life there is without baseball, by C. W. Tooke (Doubleday, $22.95).

. “The Girl Who loved Tom Gordon,” a pop-up book by Stephen King (Little Simon, $24.95). You remember him.

. “Murder at Fenway Park,” by Troy Soos (Zebra paperback), a debut Mickey Rawlings book, set in 1912.

. “The Prince of Thieves,” by Chuck Hogan. An attempted robbery of Fenway Park. How dare they? Is nothing sacred?

. “Screwball, ” a novel by David Ferrell (Harper Torch, $7.50). Must be about Bill Lee.

. “The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship,” by David Halberstram. Got it.

. “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant” by Douglas Wallopp (Norton, $13.95), not a Red Sox book but the basis of “Damn Yankees” a sentiment all Sox fans share.

The rest are worthy additions to any Red Sox library, fuel for the Hot Stove League and a help for all those barroom arguments over Ted Lepcio.

. “Boston Red Sox: 100 Years” by the Sporting News.

. “The Boston Red Sox,” (Southern Illinois University Press, $17) described as ” an excellent early history of the Red Sox.

. “The Boys of October: How the 1975 Red Sox Embodied Baseball’s Ideals and Restored Our Spirits,” by Doug Hornig (McGraw Hill, $24.95). How did I miss that one?

. “Chasing Steinbrenner: Persuing the Pennant in Toronto and Boston” by Rob Bradford (Bracey’s $24.95). Another one I missed. Bradford apparently works for the Lowell Sun covering the Sox.

. “The Complete Boston Red Sox: The Total Encyclopedia of the Team” by Derek Gentile (Workman, $24.95). Sounds intriguing.

. “A Day of Light and Shadows : One Die Hard Red Sox Fan and His Game of a Lifetime: The Boston-New York 1978 Playoff” by Jonathan Schwartz (Lyons Press, $12.95). I bet he has a new “game of a lifetime” now.

. “Impossible Dreams,” a Red Sox reader by Glenn Stout (Houghton, $13).

. “One Day at Fenway: One Day in the Life of Baseball in America” by Steve Kettman.

. “Red Sox Century, The Definitive History of Baseball’s Most Storied Franchise,” by Glen Stout and Richard A. Johnson. Got that one.

. “Watching Baseball: Discovering the Game within the Game” by Jerry “Remdog” Remy with Corey Sandler “Globe Pequot, $13.95.” Remy is the TV color commentator for the Sox.

If these don’t pique your interest or fill out your shopping list, then sit around and wait for King’s book.

God knows I tried.

Send complaints and compliments to Emmet Meara at emmet

meara@msn.com.