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Mover and Shaker: Walter O'Malley, the Dodgers, and Baseball's Westward Expansion
Par Andy McCue. 2014
One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O’Malley (1903–79) is best remembered—and still…
reviled by many—for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Yet much of the O’Malley story leading up to the Dodgers’ move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers. In Mover and Shaker Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of O’Malley’s life. He also departs from the overly sentimentalized accounts of O’Malley as either villain or angel and reveals him first and foremost as a rational, hardheaded businessman, who was a major force in baseball for three decades and whose management and marketing practices radically changed the shape of the game.Pitching to the Pennant: The 1954 Cleveland Indians (Memorable Teams in Baseball History)
Par Steve Johnson, Bill Nowlin, Joseph Wancho, Leonard Levin. 2014
The 1954 Cleveland Indians were one of the most remarkable baseball teams of all time. Their record for most wins…
(111) fell only when the baseball schedule expanded, and their winning percentage, an astounding .721, is still unsurpassed in the American League. Though the season ended with a heartbreaking loss to the New York Giants in the World Series, the 1954 team remains a favorite among Cleveland fans and beyond.Pitching to the Pennant commemorates the ’54 Indians with a biographical sketch of the entire team, from the “Big Three” pitching staff (Mike Garcia and future Hall of Famers Bob Lemon and Early Wynn), through notable players such as Bobby Avila, Bob Feller, Larry Doby, and Al Rosen, to manager Al Lopez, his coaches, and the Indians’ broadcast team. There are also stories about Cleveland Stadium and the 1954 All-Star Game (which the team hosted), as well as a season timeline and a firsthand account of Game One of the World Series at the Polo Grounds. Pitching to the Pennant features the superb writing and research of members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), making this book a must for all Indians fans and baseball aficionados.The Great Eight: The 1975 Cincinnati Reds (Memorable Teams in Baseball History)
Par Mark Armour. 2014
The 1975 Cincinnati Reds, also known as the “Big Red Machine,” are not just one of the most memorable teams…
in baseball history—they are unforgettable. While the Reds dominated the National League from 1972 to 1976, it was the ’75 team that surpassed them all, winning 108 games and beating the Boston Red Sox in a thrilling 7-game World Series. Led by Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, the team’s roster included other legends such as Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Pérez, Ken Griffey Sr., and Dave Concepción. The 1975 Reds were notably disciplined and clean-cut, which distinguished them from the increasingly individualistic players of the day. The Great Eight commemorates the people and events surrounding this outstanding baseball team with essays on team management and key aspects and highlights of the season, including Pete Rose’s famous position change. This volume gives Reds fans complete biographies of all the team’s players, relives the enthralling 1975 season, and celebrates a team that is consistently ranked as one of the best teams in baseball history.In the Best Interests of Baseball?: Governing the National Pastime
Par Andrew Zimbalist. 2013
In the Best Interests of Baseball? is a thoughtful, balanced look at the impact of the ninth commissioner of baseball,…
Bud Selig, on the sport as well as an examination of the commissioner’s position in a historical context. The more controversial topics Andrew Zimbalist probes include the conflicts of interest arising from Selig’s original role as owner/commissioner; Selig’s response to the persistent steroids scandal; the commissioner’s role in promoting and marketing the sport; player relations and the collective-bargaining agreement; managing explosive conflicts among the owners; the game’s economic challenges; major changes made on Selig’s watch; and Selig’s growing compensation. Underlying this very public evaluation is a far more challenging question: given the legal, economic, and political architecture of Major League Baseball, can any commissioner act in the best interest of the game? Based on dozens of interviews with Selig, former president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball Bob DuPuy, and scores of baseball insiders and interested outsiders, as well as on mountains of historic baseball documents, In the Best Interests of Baseball? challenges everything you thought you knew about the game, the Major Leagues, the players, the owners, and, most of all, the man at the helm. This edition includes a new preface and epilogue by the author discussing the developments in the baseball industry since 2005 and anticipating what lies ahead for the national pastime.After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball
Par Robert E. Murphy. 2013
By the mid-1950s, New York had been the unrivaled capital of America’s national pastime for a century, a place where…
baseball was followed with truly fanatical fervor. The city’s three teams—the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, and the Brooklyn Dodgers—had over the previous decade rewarded their fans’ devotion with stellar performances: from 1947 to 1957, one or more of these teams had played in the World Series every year but one. Yet on opening day 1958, the Giants and the Dodgers were gone. Their owners, Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham, had ripped them away from their longtime home and from the hearts of millions of devoted and passionate fans and taken the teams to California. How did it happen? Who was to blame? The relocation of the Giants and the Dodgers, an event that transcended sports and altered the landscape of New York City, has never been addressed with the depth, detail, and insight offered here by Robert E. Murphy. As informed as it is entertaining, After Many a Summer is rich in baseball lore, civic history, and the wheeling and dealing, alliances and betrayals, and sharp-elbowed machinations of big-city business and politics.Brooklyn Dodgers (Images of Sports)
Par Mark Rucker. 2002
If there was ever a place in America where a city and its baseball team were as close as family,…
it was Brooklyn. The legacy of this relationship comes down to us in stories of childhoods spent at Ebbets Field and in the stories of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, whose courage changed the face of America. Baseball in Brooklyn goes back to the beginning of the sport, when a young city embraced a new game and, like missionaries, carried it to the nation. This book tells the story of that beginning and concludes with the heart-wrenching move of the franchise to the West Coast after the 1957 season. Brooklyn Dodgers carries us from the birth of baseball in the streets of Brooklyn through the decades in Flatbush when Ebbets Field was the center of the Brooklyn community. That was a time when the players lived in the neighborhoods not far from the ballpark, side by side with their followers. Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, and Johnny Podres all make appearances in this exciting selection of photographs. A large part of Brooklyn Dodgers is dedicated to those teams of the 1950s and their irrepressible fans.Baseball's Power Shift: How the Players Union, the Fans, and the Media Changed American Sports Culture
Par Krister Swanson. 2016
From Major League Baseball s inception in the 1880s through World War II team owners enjoyed monopolistic…
control of the industry Despite the players desire to form a viable union every attempt to do so failed The labor consciousness of baseball players lagged behind that of workers in other industries and the public was largely in the dark about labor practices in baseball In the mid-1960s star players Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale staged a joint holdout for multiyear contracts and much higher salaries Their holdout quickly drew support from the public for the first time owners realized they could ill afford to alienate fans their primary source of revenue Baseball s Power Shift chronicles the growth and development of the union movement in Major League Baseball and the key role of the press and public opinion in the players successes and failures in labor-management relations Swanson focuses on the most turbulent years 1966 to 1981 which saw the birth of the Major League Baseball Players Association as well as three strikes two lockouts Curt Flood s challenge to the reserve clause in the Supreme Court and the emergence of full free agency To defeat the owners the players union needed support from the press and perhaps more importantly the public With the public on their side the players ushered in a new era in professional sports when salaries skyrocketed and fans began to care as much about the business dealings of their favorite team as they do about wins and losses Swanson shows how fans and the media became key players in baseball s labor wars and paved the way for the explosive growth in the American sports economyThe baseball glove is a ubiquitous item, a crucial piece of equipment in the game of baseball, and it offers…
the opportunity to examine the production of material culture and social practice at numerous levels. Where and how is a glove made, and how does its manufacture square with the narratives surrounding its place in American cultural life? What are the myths, superstitions, and beliefs surrounding its acquisition, care, use, and significance? How does a glove function as the center of a web of cultural practices that illustrate how individuals relate to a consumer good as a symbol of memory, personal narrative, and national identity? How do the manufacturers of baseball gloves draw upon, promote, and in some sense create these practices? How do these practices and meanings change in other national and cultural contexts? The Baseball Glove offers students the opportunity to examine these questions in an engagingly written and illustrated book that promotes hands-on interaction with a quintessential item of material culture. At the same time, the book gives students the space for critical self-reflection about the place of material goods like sporting equipment in their lives, and it provides the chance to learn different methodological approaches to studying everyday objects.Rickwood Field: A Century in America's Oldest Ballpark
Par Allen Barra. 2010
The extraordinary social history of Rickwood Field becomes the story of baseball itself, gloriously evoked for the centennial of America's…
oldest ballpark. While America has changed dramatically over the last hundred years, Rickwood Field, the pride of Birmingham, Alabama, has remained fixed in time. Best-selling baseball writer Allen Barra journeyed to his native Alabama to capture the glories of a century of baseball lore. In chronicling the history of Rickwood Field, where the manually operated scoreboard still uses numbers painted on metal sheets, Barra also tells of segregated baseball, the vaunted Negro Leagues, and captures the ghosts of the players themselves, including Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays. Evoking such classics as Shoeless Joe and The Boys of Summer, Barra recalls not only a simpler, bygone era but also a city rife with racial tension and abject poverty, where a tattered ballpark was, and still is, a rare beacon of hope. Indeed, Barra skillfully convinces us that the histories of Rickwood Field, baseball, and the American south are inextricably bound together.Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game That Saved Me
Par Stacey May Fowles. 2017
A passionate ode to baseball, its culture, and its community, which both celebrates and challenges the game – and reminds…
us why it really matters. What is it about a man hitting a small white ball with a slim wooden bat out of a park that’s so beautiful? In this entertaining and thoughtful book, Stacey May Fowles gives us a refreshingly candid and personal perspective on subjects ranging from bat flips to bandwagoners, from the romance of spring training to the politics of booing, from the necessity of taking a hard look at players’ injuries and mental health issues to finding solace at the ballpark. Fowles confronts head-on the stereotype that female fans lack real knowledge about the game, and calls out the “boys will be boys” attitude and its implications both on and off the field. She also offers exhilarating snapshots of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2015 and 2016 seasons. With remarkable humanity, intelligence, and an unabashed enthusiasm for the game, Fowles explores how we can use the lens of baseball to examine who we are. A must-read for both diehard and casual fans.The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House
Par Curt Smith. 2018
The Presidents and the Pastime draws on Curt Smith’s extensive background as a former White House presidential speechwriter to chronicle…
the historic relationship between baseball, the “most American” sport, and the U.S. presidency. Smith, who USA TODAY calls “America’s voice of authority on baseball broadcasting,” starts before America’s birth, when would‑be presidents played baseball antecedents. He charts how baseball cemented its reputation as America’s pastime in the nineteenth century, such presidents as Lincoln and Johnson playing town ball or giving employees time off to watch. Smith tracks every U.S. president from Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump, each chapter filled with anecdotes: Wilson buoyed by baseball after suffering disability; a heroic FDR saving baseball in World War II; Carter, taught the game by his mother, Lillian; Reagan, airing baseball on radio that he never saw—by “re-creation.” George H. W. Bush, for whom Smith wrote, explains, “Baseball has everything.” Smith, having interviewed a majority of presidents since Richard Nixon, shares personal stories on each. Throughout, The Presidents and the Pastime provides a riveting narrative of how America’s leaders have treated baseball. From Taft as the first president to throw the “first pitch” on Opening Day in 1910 to Obama’s “Go Sox!” scrawled in the guest register at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, our presidents have deemed it the quintessentially American sport, enriching both their office and the nation.Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium (Images of Sports)
Par Rich Westcott. 2012
No ballpark in Philadelphia was more revered than the one atTwenty-first Street and Lehigh Avenue. Originally called ShibePark and later…
Connie Mack Stadium, it opened in 1909 asAmerica's first steel-and-concrete stadium. When it closed in1970, it had earned a special place in the hearts and minds ofPhiladelphia sports fans. Home of the Athletics for 46 years, thePhillies for 32 and a half seasons, and the Eagles for 18 years, itwas also the site of many boxing matches, Negro League baseballgames, and college and high school baseball and football games.Over the years, as the area developed, Shibe Park became knownfor its obstructed views, delicious hot dogs, Sunday curfews,absence of beer, and boobirds. Along with memorable teams andgames, the ballpark played host to eight World Series and twoAll-Star Games.Soldier Athletes
Par Glenn Stout. 2011
Stories of bravery and self-sacrifice from well known athletes who have served in the military. -Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox…
outfielder, whose career was interrupted by service as a pilot during both World War II and Korea, where he saw combat and survived a crash landing. -Rocky Bleier, Pittsburgh Steelers running back: Drafted in 1968, nearly lost a foot on a land mine during Vietnam War. -Carlos May, Chicago White Sox outfielder, an emerging star whose fought to remain in the major leagues after a training accident during National Guard service caused him to lose his thumb. -Pat Tillman, Arizona Cardinals defensive back who turned down a multi-million dollar contract to join the military after 9/11and was later killed in Afghanistan.Mets Journal
Par John Snyder. 2011
Baseball fans will have their hands full well beyond the season of America's favorite game. Dividing the team's history into…
decades, years, and even days, Mets Journal offers hitting and pitching highlights, team and player stats, interesting and unusual facts - much more than just a box score. The book also includes photos, sidebars, statistics, and anecdotes, as well as lists of all-time hitting and pitching leaders, all-decade all-star teams, and even the all-time roster and uniform numbers.Chicago White Sox 2012
Par Chicago Tribune Staff. 2012
The 2012 season of the Chicago White Sox began with few expectations and even fewer hopes of success. As proof,…
team captain Paul Konerko toed traditionally shaky ground in Chicago by suggesting the White Sox didn't have to make the playoffs in order to have a successful season. (Even on the north side of town it's rare to see any member of the Chicago Cubs, perennial losers committed to a lengthy rebuilding process, downplay the significance or possibility of a playoff berth so forthrightly.)To the amazement of fans, division rivals, and baseball enthusiasts across the country, however, the White Sox spent much of the season atop the AL Central. Using strong contributions from three comeback player of the year candidates--Alex Rios, Adam Dunn, and Jake Peavy--as well as solid pitching and defense, the White Sox cobbled together enough winning streaks to be leading their division by the All-Star break.Rookie manager Robin Ventura, who had no previous managerial experience at any level, maintained a composure and focus throughout the season that was matched by his business-as-usual ballclub. While the season was filled with feel-good stories, it eventually was defined by a gut-wrenching slide in the final weeks of September when the White Sox squandered a three-game division lead with 3 weeks left in the season. Ultimately, the Detroit Tigers beat out the Sox for a playoff berth and the South Side boys of summer were forced to spend the fall thinking about what might have been.Comprised of articles from the Chicago Tribune's season-long coverage of the team, this book brings the heartbreaking story of the 2012 Chicago White Sox to readers with its insightful, award-winning sports reporting and commentary. Fans can relive the excitement of a team no one expected to compete and determine just what went wrong at season's end, as told through the trusted voices and beautiful photography of the Chicago Tribune staff.Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers
Par Debra A Shattuck. 2017
Disapproving scolds. Sexist condescension. Odd theories about the effect of exercise on reproductive organs. Though baseball began as a gender-neutral…
sport, girls and women of the nineteenth century faced many obstacles on their way to the diamond. Yet all-female nines took the field everywhere. Debra A. Shattuck pulls from newspaper accounts and hard-to-find club archives to reconstruct a forgotten era in baseball history. Her fascinating social history tracks women players who organized baseball clubs for their own enjoyment and found roster spots on men's teams. Entrepreneurs, meanwhile, packaged women's teams as entertainment, organizing leagues and barnstorming tours. If the women faced financial exploitation and indignities like playing against men in women's clothing, they and countless ballplayers like them nonetheless staked a claim to the nascent national pastime. Shattuck explores how the determination to take their turn at bat thrust female players into narratives of the women's rights movement and transformed perceptions of women's physical and mental capacity.Born to Play
Par Dustin Pedroia, Edward J. Delaney. 2009
The inspirational story of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia -- a giant talent in a small package --…
who defied his critics with hard work, relentless determination, and a looks-can-be-deceiving attitude to become one of the greatest players in the game today. Dustin Pedroia, at five feet seven inches and 170 pounds, is not the biggest, the strongest, or the fastest player in the game of baseball, but in just two years of major-league play he's become a Rookie of the Year, a Most Valuable Player, and a 2007 World Championship titleholder. At a time when steroid scandals dominate media coverage of America's beloved pastime, Pedroia has proven to the world that a good baseball player is more than size and statistics. His success comes from the heart. Pedroia started swinging a bat when he was just a toddler, and by the time he was four years old he was hitting line drives off his older brother. He has natural talent, an unparalleled work ethic, and a pure love of the game, but he has spent his life overcoming the naysayers who believed he was too small, couldn't hit, and would never make it in the big leagues. With commentary from coaches, teammates, and friends, including Red Sox manager Terry Francona and ninety-two-year-old fan (and daughter of Babe Ruth) Julia Ruth Stevens, Pedroia shares the story of his difficult and uplifting journey to prove himself at every turn -- from giving up his college scholarship so his team could have a shot at the College World Series to helping the Red Sox win their second championship in four years in his rookie season to nearly winning back-to-back World Championships in 2008. He takes readers into the legendary Red Sox clubhouse and reveals the challenges a rookie faces in a city so serious about baseball. More than anything, Pedroia's love of the game and desire to win, not just for himself but for his teammates, defines him as an athlete -- but his dedication, his perseverance, and, of course, his monster swing have made him a beloved new symbol of baseball and offer hope for the future of America's favorite game.Ted Williams
Par Leigh Montville. 2004
He was The Kid. The Splendid Splinter. Teddy Ballgame. One of the greatest figures of his generation, and arguably the…
greatest baseball hitter of all time. But what made Ted Williams a legend - and a lightning rod for controversy in life and in death? What motivated him to interrupt his Hall of Fame career twice to serve his country as a fighter pilot; to embrace his fans while tangling with the media; to retreat from the limelight whenever possible into his solitary love of fishing; and to become the most famous man ever to have his body cryogenically frozen after his death? New York Times bestselling author Leigh Montville, who wrote the celebrated Sports Illustrated obituary of Ted Williams, now delivers an intimate, riveting account of this extraordinary life. Still a gangly teenager when he stepped into a Boston Red Sox uniform in 1939, Williams's boisterous personality and penchant for towering home runs earned him adoring admirers--the fans--and venomous critics--the sportswriters. In 1941, the entire country followed Williams's stunning .406 season, a record that has not been touched in over six decades. At the pinnacle of his prime, Williams left Boston to train and serve as a fighter pilot in World War II, missing three full years of baseball. He was back in 1946, dominating the sport alongside teammates Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Bobby Doerr. But Williams left baseball again in 1952 to fight in Korea, where he flew thirty-nine combat missions--crash-landing his flaming, smoke-filled plane, in one famous episode.Ted Willams's personal life was equally colorful. His attraction to women (and their attraction to him) was a constant. He was married and divorced three times and he fathered two daughters and a son. He was one of corporate America's first modern spokesmen, and he remained, nearly into his eighties, a fiercely devoted fisherman. With his son, John Henry Williams, he devoted his final years to the sports memorabilia business, even as illness overtook him. And in death, controversy and public outcry followed Williams and the disagreements between his children over the decision to have his body preserved for future resuscitation in a cryonics facility--a fate, many argue, Williams never wanted. With unmatched verve and passion, and drawing upon hundreds of interviews, acclaimed best-selling author Leigh Montville brings to life Ted Williams's superb triumphs, lonely tragedies, and intensely colorful personality, in a biography that is fitting of an American hero and legend.From the Trade Paperback edition.Baseball For Dummies
Par Joe Morgan, Richard Lally. 2014
Play, watch, and understand America's favorite pastimeBaseball continues to be a popular game both as a spectator sport and as…
a pastime. Since the publication of Baseball For Dummies, 3rd Edition, baseball teams have changed, new MLB stadiums have been built, and rules have been updated. This updated 4th Edition brings you the latest information on the players, the places, and above all, the game.Baseball For Dummies is for baseball fans at all levels, from players and coaches to spectators who love the game. Baseball Hall of Fame player Joe Morgan explains baseball with remarkable insight, using down-to-earth language so everyone from the casual observer to the die-hard fan can gain a fuller appreciation of the sport.Improve your hitting, pitching, and fieldingFind a baseball team to play on, from Little League on upEvaluate stats, players, and recordsCoach baseball or umpire effectivelyGet more out of a trip to the ballparkThe latest on baseball stats and sabermetricsComplete with Morgan's personal lists of top-ten toughest pitchers, smartest players, and most strategic managers, Baseball For Dummies gives you all the inside tips, facts, and stats so you can have Major League fun!The story of six ordinary ballplayers whose paths crossed in the 1947 World Series--and the ways that epic October changed…
their livesThe 1947 World Series was “the most exciting ever” in the words of Joe DiMaggio, with a decade’s worth of drama packed into seven games between the mighty New York Yankees and underdog Brooklyn Dodgers. It was Jackie Robinson’s first Series, a postwar spectacle featuring Frank Sinatra, Ernest Hemingway and President Harry Truman in supporting roles. It was also the first televised World Series – sportswriters called it “Electric October.”But for all the star power on display, the outcome hinged on role players: Bill Bevens, a journeyman who knocked on the door of pitching immortality; Al Gionfriddo and Cookie Lavagetto, bench players at the center of the Series’ iconic moments; Snuffy Stirnweiss, a wartime batting champion who never got any respect; and managers Bucky Harris and Burt Shotton, each an unlikely choice to run his team. Six men found themselves plucked from obscurity to shine on the sport’s greatest stage. But their fame was fleeting; three would never play another big-league game, and all six would be forgotten. Kevin Cook brings the ’47 Series back to life, introducing us to men whose past offered no hint they were destined for extraordinary things. For some, the Series was a memory to hold onto. For others, it would haunt them to the end of their days. And for us, Cook offers new insights—some heartbreaking, some uplifting—into what fame and glory truly mean.