San Diego Public Library Pathfinder

baseball resources

 

The San Diego Public Library system has formed a partnership with the Ted Williams Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, "SABR." SABR was founded in Cooperstown, NY in 1971.  It is a not-for-profit organization with over 7,000 members worldwide—researchers, biographers, baseball fans, and statisticians. The Ted Williams Chapter of the Society has donated funds which have allowed the Central Library to purchase early issues of The Sporting News from 1886 to 1969 on microfilm from the University of Notre Dame, The Sporting Life from 1883 to 1917 on microfilm, a baseball scrapbook collection and various 19th century sports newspapers from 1857 to 1886. As part of this partnership, San Diego Public Library will soon have an electronic link from the Library Catalog to the SABR Baseball Index. This index, compiled by SABR volunteers, assigns detailed subject headings to over 175,000 books, magazine articles, programs, pamphlets, films, recordings, songs or cartoons about the subject of baseball. Once the link to the Library Catalog is live, patrons will be able to look up books from the SABR Baseball Index in the Library Catalog and get call numbers and availability for the library system.

 

Material relating to baseball is primarily located in the Art, Music & Recreation Section of the Central Library. Biographies of baseball figures are located in the History Section, novels about baseball are located in the Literature Section and some of the reference books pertaining to baseball in California are located in the California Room. In addition to books, the Art, Music & Recreation Section also has CD-ROMs, video documentaries and feature films about baseball, sheet music of baseball songs, compact discs featuring songs about baseball, as well as baseball books on tape. The reference books pertaining to baseball are located in the Art, Music & Recreation Section as well as basement storage. Some of the branch libraries also have unique baseball titles which are not owned by Central.

 

THE CATALOG

Baseball material can be researched in several ways. In the Library Catalog, one can search BASEBALL as a subject or as a keyword. Library users searching for a format other than book  can specify MUSIC RECORDING, VIDEO MATERIALS, etc. under Limit the Search: By Material Type.

 

Magazine articles on baseball can be found by searching the InfoTrac OneFile. If only a citation is given, the patron can obtain the magazine at the Call Desk if it is owned by the library. Newspaper articles can be searched in Proquest which indexes dozens of newspapers from all over the country. Many of these articles are full text and may be printed out at the computer.

 

THE INTERNET

www.sabr.org

Society for American Baseball Research

Find out about SABR's publications, collections, and activities.

 

www.baseballamerica.com

Baseball America Online

Information on high school, college teams, plus major and minor leagues and drafts.

 

www.baseballhalloffame.org

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Read about hall of famers and honorees, view exhibits and collections.

 

www.mlb.com

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

Look up statistics on teams and individual players as well as baseball news.

 

www.baseball-links.com

Baseball Links

Links to baseball history, international baseball and youth baseball

 

www.baseball.com

Baseball.com

Links to team websites, fantasy leagues and baseball news.

 

ART, MUSIC, & RECREATION SECTION

Reference Books

America's national game: historic facts concerning the beginning, evolution, development and popularity of baseball by A. G. Spalding. 1911. R797 SPALDING

 

The Barry Halper Collection of baseball memorabilia. 1999. R796.357 HALPER

 

Baseball: a comprehensive bibliography by Myron J. Smith. 1986. Supplement 1, 1985-May 1992, 1993. R796.357 SMITH

 

Baseball and American culture: a thematic bibliography of over 4,500 works by Donald E. Walker. 1995. R796.357 WALKER

 

Baseball by the numbers: how statistics are collected, what they mean, and how they reveal the game by Willie Runquist. 1995. R796.357 RUNQUIST

 

Baseball card price guide. 2002. R769.49796 BASEBALL

 

Baseball guide. 2002. R796.357 BASEBALL

 

Baseball register. 2002. R796.357 BASEBALL

 

The baseball research handbook by Gerald Tomlinson. 1987. R796.357 TOMLINSON

 

The biographical encyclopedia of the Negro baseball leagues by James A. Riley. 1994. R796.357 RILEY

 

The cultural encyclopedia of baseball by Jonathan Fraser Light. 1997. R796.35703 LIGHT

 

SABR presents the home run encyclopedia: who, what and where of every home run hit since 1876. 1996. R796.35726 SABR

 

Circulating Books

Baseball and the color line: the African-American experience by Tom Gilbert. 1995. 796.357 GILBERT

 

Fear strikes out: the Jim Piersall story by Jim Piersall. 1999. 796.357 PIERSALL

 

Missed it by that much: baseball players who challenged the record books by Victor Debs, Jr. 1998. 796.357 DEBS

 

Nineteenth century baseball: year-by-year statistics for the major league teams, 1871 through 1900 by Marshall D.Wright. 1996. 796.357 WRIGHT

 

Pride of Havana: the history of Cuban baseball by Roberto Gonzalez. 1999. 796.357 GONZALEZ

 

Stolen! a history of base stealing by Russell Roberts. 1999. 796.35727 ROBERTS

 

Videorecordings

Baseball by Ken Burns. 1994. VC 796.357 BASEBALL

 

Heart of San Diego: Buzzie Bavasi. VC B/BAVASI

 

The pride of the Yankees DVD 791.4372 PRIDE

 

Music Recordings

Baseball's greatest hits. 1989. CD782.42164 BASEBALL'S

 

Baseball's greatest hits: let's play II. 1990.  CD 782.42164 BASEBALL'S

 

Books on Tape

Great time coming: the life of Jackie Robinson. 1996. AC B/ROBINSON

 

October 1964 by David Halberstam. 1994. AC 796.357 HALBERSTAM

 

Picture File

San Diego Padres file containing pictures of the team and some individual players.

 

CD-ROMS

Sammy Sosa high heat baseball 2001. CDROM 796.86357 SAMMY

 

High heat baseball 2000. CDROM 794.86357 HIGH

 

Music Scores

The mighty Casey: a baseball opera in three scenes by William Schuman. 1954. M782 SCHUMAN

 

 

Baseball in music and song. 1954. RM 786 BASEBALL

 

HISTORY SECTION

Biographies

Joe DiMaggio: the hero's life by Richard Ben Cramer. 2000. B/DIMAGGIO

 

Nolan Ryan: the road to Cooperstown by Nolan Ryan. 1999. B/RYAN

 

LITERATURE SECTION

Fiction

Havana heat by Darryl Brock. 2000. Fic BROCK

 

Snow in August by Pete Hamill. 1997. Fic HAMILL

 

The sports pages: a critical bibliography of twentieth-century American novels and stories featuring baseball by Grant Burns. 1987. R016.8135 BURNS

 

CALIFORNIA ROOM

More than a ballpark: an investment in our future: a ballpark for San Diego. 1998. RCC 796.357 MORE

 

History of San Diego baseball. 1993. RCC 796.357 HISTORY

 

The Pacific Coast Baseball League, 1903-1947. 1947. RCC 797 PACIFIC

 

Padres magazine: official game day magazine for the San Diego Padres. 1998. RCC 796.357 PADRES

 

San Diego Padres 1969 inaugural yearbook. 1969. RCC 796.357 SAN

 

Vertical Files containing newspaper clippings on the San Diego Padres and many individual players.

 

CALL DESK

Periodicals

Baseball America. (1988-1996)

 

The Sporting News. (1886 to the present; current year's issues in Art & Music)

 

Sports Illustrated. (1954 to the present; current issue on display near Science Section)

 

Sporting Life. (1883-1917 on microfilm in Storage)

 

New York Clipper. (Various issues between 1857 and 1883 on microfilm in Storage)

 

Baseball Players Chronicle (1867 on microfilm in Storage)

 

American Chronicle of Sports & Pastimes (1868 on microfilm in Storage)

 

New England Base Ballist (1868 on microfilm in Storage)

 

Official Baseball Record (1885-1886 on microfilm in Storage)

 

Baseball Scrapbooks (1853-1882 on microfilm in Storage)