Author: Paul Votano Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786484527 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 217
Book Description
Baseball player Tony Lazzeri was the first great Italian-American sports superstar. He was known for his excellent glove, strong throwing arm and good speed, as well as his honesty, integrity and support of his teammates. This member of the 1927 Murderers' Row of the New York Yankees batted sixth behind Earl Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel. The major league's first power-hitting second baseman, he batted over .300 five times and drove in over 100 runs in seven seasons. He was the Yankees regular second baseman for twelve consecutive seasons and helped them win six pennants and five world championships. Chosen to play in the first All-Star Game in 1933, he made the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. Researched from primary sources as well as interviews with his peers, this biography covers Lazzeri's life from his birth in San Francisco to Italian immigrants; his harsh, poverty-stricken childhood, and struggles with epilepsy (though he never suffered an attack while playing baseball); through every moment of his impressive career (as well as the time he struck out against Grover Cleveland Alexander in Game Seven of the 1926 World Series); ending with his death at age 42 of a heart attack. Lazzeri's batting record is included as an appendix and the work is illustrated with both private and public photographs.
Author: Lawrence Baldassaro Publisher: U of Nebraska Press ISBN: 1496226186 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
2022 SABR Baseball Research Award Before there was Joe DiMaggio, there was Tony Lazzeri. A decade before the "Yankee Clipper" began his legendary career in 1936, Lazzeri paved the way for the man who would become the patron saint of Italian American fans and players. He did so by forging his own Hall of Fame career as a key member of the Yankees' legendary Murderers' Row lineup between 1926 and 1937, in the process becoming the first major baseball star of Italian descent. An unwitting pioneer who played his entire career while afflicted with epilepsy, Lazzeri was the first player to hit sixty home runs in organized baseball, one of the first middle infielders in the big leagues to hit with power, and the first Italian player with enough star power to attract a whole new generation of fans to the ballpark. As a twenty-two-year-old rookie for the New York Yankees, Lazzeri played alongside such legends as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He immediately emerged as a star, finishing second to Ruth in RBIs and third in home runs in the American League. In his twelve years as the second baseman for Yankee teams that won five World Series, he was their third-most productive hitter, driving in more runs than all but five American Leaguers, and hitting more home runs than all but six. Yet for all that, today Lazzeri is a largely forgotten figure, his legacy diminished by the passage of time and tarnished by his bases-loaded strikeout to Grover Cleveland Alexander in Game Seven of the 1926 World Series, a strikeout immortalized on Alexander's Hall of Fame plaque. Tony Lazzeri reveals that quite to the contrary, he was one of the smartest, most talented, and most respected players of his time, the forgotten Yankee who helped the team win six American League pennants and five World Series titles.
Author: Frank Graham Publisher: SIU Press ISBN: 9780809324149 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 332
Book Description
In January of 1903, American League president Ban Johnson, “his pince-nez riding precariously on the bridge of his nose,” raised a glass to toast his young baseball league, which had just received permission to purchase the Baltimore organization and establish a team in New York City. That marked the genesis of the fabulous Yankee franchise (known in 1903 as the Highlanders) as well as the opening chapter of Frank Graham’s The New York Yankees: An Informal History. One of fifteen team histories commissioned by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in the 1940s and 1950s, The New York Yankees traces the most successful team in either league from the beginning through their 1943 World Series victory over the Cardinals, ending with a quick synopsis of the 1944 season. In Yankee (and baseball) history, of course, Babe Ruth stands above all the rest, but he is flanked by such legends as Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig. Wee Willie Keeler is there, too, joined by fellow Hall of Famers Charlie “Red” Ruffing, Herb Pennock, and Bill Dickey. The Hall of Fame lineup also includes Miller Huggins, Lefty Gomez, Ed Barrow, Joe McCarthy, Tony Lazzeri, Waite Hoyt, and Earle Combs. In his foreword, Leonard Koppett writes that Graham’s “New York Sun columns called ‘Overheard in the Dugout’ delighted me as I was growing up; but what I learned later, when I got to work alongside him, was that they were as good and as reliable as court transcripts. He didn’t take a lot of notes. He just absorbed what was being said—and what it meant in the right context—and reproduced it in graceful prose and natural speech. It is this style of narration through dialogue that makes his books come so alive.” Twenty-four black-and-white Yankee photographs enliven Graham’s informal history.
Author: Alan D. Gaff Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1982132418 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
The lost memoir from Lou Gehrig—“a compelling rumination by a baseball icon and a tragic hero” (Sports Illustrated) and “a fitting tribute to an inspiring baseball legend” (Publishers Weekly). At the tender age of twenty-four, Lou Gehrig decided to tell the remarkable story of his life and career. He was one of the most famous athletes in the country, in the midst of a record-breaking season with the legendary 1927 World Series–winning Yankees. In an effort to grow Lou’s star, pioneering sports agent Christy Walsh arranged for Lou’s tale of baseball greatness to syndicate in newspapers across the country. Those columns were largely forgotten and lost to history—until now. Lou comes alive in this “must-read” (Tyler Kepner, The New York Times) memoir. It is an inspiring, heartfelt rags-to-riches tale about a poor kid from New York who became one of the most revered baseball players of all time. Fourteen years after his account, Lou would tragically die from ALS, a neuromuscular disorder now known as Lou Gherig’s Disease. His poignant autobiography is followed by an insightful biographical essay by historian Alan D. Gaff. Here is Lou—Hall of Famer, All Star, MVP, an “athlete who epitomized the American dream” (Christian Science Monitor)—back at bat.
Author: Jason Turbow Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 030727862X Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 306
Book Description
An insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments. Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining. At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field. With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.
Author: Mark Simon Publisher: Triumph Books ISBN: 1633195252 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 332
Book Description
Yankees fans have witnessed improbable feats, extraordinary achievements, and unmatched performances during the team's 100-plus seasons. The Yankees Index details the numbers every Yankees fan—from the rookie attending his first game at Yankee Stadium to the veteran who recalls Ron Guidry's days on the mound—should know. Author Mark Simon tells the stories behind the most memorable moments and achievements in Yankees history in this full-color book full of insightful and fun infographics and history.
Author: Lew Freedman Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786454199 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 219
Book Description
He pitched a baseball game that was more than perfect, and yet he lost. Southpaw Harvey Haddix had logged a solid but unspectacular career by the time he took the mound on May 26, 1959. Facing the Milwaukee Braves, he set down the first 36 batters in a row, or 12 innings' worth--a perfect game three innings longer than the norm. But his Pittsburgh Pirates couldn't score, either, and Haddix lost in the 13th inning on a controversial play. This book recounts Haddix's one-of-a-kind performance and describes the official decisions that changed the historical record.
Author: Harvey Frommer Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 1630760056 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 273
Book Description
An entertaining read about the greatest baseball team, the 1927 New York Yankees, who beat up on American League rivals during the regular season and then swept the World Series. With verve, facts, and stories, Harvey Frommer evokes the Murderers' Row of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Miller Huggins, Tony Lazerri, Bob Meusel, and more.
Author: Bill Gutman Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781719265133 Category : Languages : en Pages : 278
Book Description
When detective Mike Fargo is sent to Yankee Stadium on a hot, May afternoon in 1927 to check out the murder of a stadium groundskeeper, he soon finds himself immersed in a dangerous and complex investigation. His first suspect turns out to be the Yankees star slugger and toast of New York, George Herman "Babe" Ruth. And when the Babe is also a suspect in a second murder, that of a local sportswriter, Fargo sets out to find the real killers. The case takes on even more significance when a special prosecutor, Brent Forrester, comes to town to slow the spread of organized crime, spawned largely by Prohibition. Fargo's initial investigation leads him to a low-level hoodlum, Augie "The Mole" Bendetti, while Forrester begins his pursuit of an Arnold Rothstein wannabe named Manny Goldman. Soon, the two cases merge and Fargo begins working more closely with the special prosecutor while trying to protect the Babe from a deranged killer. The story follows the tough and uncompromising Fargo as he navigates New York City in a year when Broadway flourished, the movies were ready to talk, and the New York Yankees, with a lineup known as Murderer's Row, were being called the greatest baseball team of all-time. Fargo's investigation takes him to venues such as Yankee Stadium, the Cotton Club, Wall Street and the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, painting a vivid picture of New York City during a never-to-be forgotten decade, before the story reaches a gripping and surprising conclusion.