Conducting Baseball Research

For the beginning baseball researcher, there are several excellent starting points for becoming acquainted with research strategies, resources, and publications in the field of baseball. These starting points are listed below. Explore the sub-pages of this section to learn more about how to start researching baseball history at the Library. The pages include an overview of visiting the Library for research purposes; a breakdown of baseball-related materials held in specific Library divisions, reading rooms, and research centers; how to search the Library's online catalog for baseball-related materials; and a list of important subscription databases available at the Library for baseball research.

Note: Some of the book mentioned on this page and its sub-pages link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Starting Points: Baseball Research Guides

Guide to Doing Baseball Research [online resource] External by Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).
Perhaps the most important resource for anyone who wants to begin serious baseball research, SABR's Guide to Doing Baseball Research updates and expands the print guide How to Do Baseball Research (Tomblinson, Gerald, ed. Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 2000).

This online research guide introduces users to important research techniques External, including how to use libraries and archives, how to conduct effective interviews, finding and using images, researching players and other figures from the game, and more; provides an extensive list of print and online resource External essential for conducting baseball research; and makes available a number of in-depth articles on how to conduct research on specific topics External, such as baseball records, the business of baseball, the Negro Leagues, women in baseball, and more.
How to Do Baseball Research by Gerald Tomlinson (Editor)
Call Number: GV867.3 .H69 2000
ISBN: 0910137838
Published/Created: 2000
Tomblinson's How to Do Baseball Research was the primary starting point for anyone interested in conducting in-depth baseball research prior to the 2012 launch of its online successor, SABR's Guide to Doing Baseball Research External. The first eight chapters of the book, each written by a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, introduce readers to keys to good baseball research, the value of libraries and archives, important print publications and online resources, and how to locate and analyze baseball photographs. Since a number of the resources discussed in the book are obsolete, researchers should use SABR's Guide to Doing Baseball Research whenever possible.

Starting Points: Baseball Bibliographies

The Baseball Bibliography by Myron J. Smith
Call Number: Z7514.B3 S64 2006
ISBN: 0786424087
Published/Created: 2006-
The Baseball Bibliography [table of contents] is the most comprehensive print bibliography of baseball publications, with more than 57,000 references to resources documenting all aspects of baseball. The 4-volume set is divided into seven major categories (Reference Works; General Works, History, and Special Studies; Professional Leagues and Team; Youth League, College, Foreign, and Amateur; Baseball Rules and Techniques; Collective Biography; Individual Biography) and indexes a multitude of print sources, including books and monographs, scholarly papers, government documents, doctoral dissertations, masters' theses, poetry and fiction, novels, professional team yearbooks, college and professional All-Star Game and World Series programs, commercially produced yearbooks, and periodical and journal articles.
The Baseball Index [online resource] External by Bibliography Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research.
Published/Created: 1990-
Begun in 1990, The Baseball Index (TBI) is a free online bibliography of baseball literature. TBI includes more than 250,000 references to sources that include books, magazine articles, programs, pamphlets, films, recordings, songs, poems, cartoons, and advertising. TBI is regularly updated by volunteers working with the Bibliography Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Baseball Resources at the Library of Congress

History, Humanities & Social Sciences: Ask a Librarian

Conducting Baseball Research

Starting Points: Baseball Research Guides

Starting Points: Baseball Bibliographies