Like Shoeless Joe, Kinsella's second novel, The Iowa Baseball Confederacy (1986) has mystical overtones of magic and religion as revealed in the rituals of baseball. A man who tries to prove there was a minor league in Iowa in the early 1900s is whisked back in time to witness and participate in it.

Say It Ain't So, Joe!: The True Story of Shoeless Joe Jackson (2nd ed., 1999), by Donald Gropman, is a readable, well-researched biography of Shoeless Joe Jackson. The author argues that Jackson had no involvement in the Black Sox scandal of 1919.

The Boys of Summer (1972), by Roger Kahn, is a classic piece of baseball writing. Kahn grew up as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and, as a young journalist, he traveled with the team in 1952 and 1953. His memoir includes poignant accounts of the lives of the players after...