In a little less than a week, baseball fans will be celebrating the 91st Midsummer Classic, also known as Major League Baseball’s 2021ย All-Star Game. Last year, because of the pandemic, this annual event didn’t happen. But this year, well … we’re ready! To help get ready for the big game, let’s have some fun with a little trivia.
โพ “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was registered with the US Copyright Office in May 1908, and was one of the most popular songs that year. [Source:ย Take Me Out to the Ball Game – Wikipedia]
โพ The first reference to baseball was described as our “National Pasttime” was in an article printed in The New York Mercury newspaper on December 5, 1856. [Source: 50 Interesting Facts About Baseball That You Should Know – The Fact File]
โพย The first official game of baseball in the United States took place on June x, 1846 in Hoboken, NJ. It wasn’t until 23 years later when the Cincinnati Red Stocking became the first professional team (1869).ย [Source: National League of baseball is founded – HISTORY]
Show me a baseball player and I’ll show you a superstitious habit (or two or three). Not that we are superstitious or anything, but this post went live at 713 – the date of the All-Star game this year.
If those bits of baseball history didn’t “strike” your fancy, we bet you’ll hit a home run with these Cybils-nominated books. Whether you love baseball or just want to learn a little more, check out this collection of fiction and nonfiction, poetry, biography, humor,ย zombies, and genies! There are picture books, an easy reader, and a couple of full-length middle-grade novels that will have your baseball lover laughing out loud. Promise.
So pick your book, grab your Cracker Jacks, and settle in for some books that will take you around the horn!
Anybody’s Game:
Kathryn Johnston, the First Girl to Play Little League Baseball
by Heather Lang, illustrated by Cecilia Buglesi
2018 Nominee
Elementary Nonfiction
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Barbed Wire Baseball
by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizo
2013 Finalist
Elementary Nonfiction [Nonfiction Picture Book]
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Betsy’s Day at the Game
by Greg Bancroft,
illustrated by Katherine Blackmore
2013 Nominee
Fiction Picture Book
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Change-up: Baseball Poems
by Gene Fehler, illustrated by Donald Wu
2009 Nominee
Poetry
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Cy Young:
An American Baseball Hero
Biographies for Young Readers series
by Scott H. Longert
2020 Nominee
Middle Grade Nonfiction
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Dodger and Me
by Jordan Sonnenblick
2008 Nominee
Middle Grade Fiction
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The Fastest Game on Two Feet:
And Other Poems About How
Sports Began
by Alice Low, illustrated by John O’Brien
2009 Nominee
Poetry
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Keeping Score
by Linda Sue Park
2008 Nominee
Middle Grade Fiction
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The Kid from Diamond Street:
The Extraordinary Story of Baseball Legend Edith Houghton
by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Steven Salerno
2016 Nominee
Elementary Nonfiction [Nonfiction Picture Book]
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Miracle Mud:
Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud That Changed Baseball
David A. Kelly
2013 Nominee
Middle Grade Nonfiction
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Miss Mary Reporting:
The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber
Sue Macy
2016 Nominee
Elementary Nonfiction
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My First Book of Baseball:
A Rookie Book
A Sports Illustrated Kids Book
byย The Editors of Sports Illustrated Kids
2016 Nominee
Elementary Nonfiction [Nonfiction Picture Book]
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She Loved Baseball:
The Effa Manley Story
by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate
2011 Nominee
Elementary Nonfiction (Nonfiction Picture Book)
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Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy:
The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports
by Robyn Ryle
2020 Finalist
High School Nonfiction
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Watch Me Throw the Ball!
An Elephant and Piggie Bookย
written and illustrated by Mo Willems
2009 Winner
Easy Reader
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We Are the Ship:
The Story of Negro League Baseball
written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
2008 Nominee
Middle Grade Nonfiction
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The William Hoy Story:
How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game
by Nancy Churnin, illustrated by Jez Tuya
2016 Nominee
Elementary Nonfiction
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Zombie Baseball Beatdown
Paolo Bacigalupi
2013 Nominee
Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
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