Author: Glen Waggoner Publisher: Triumph Books ISBN: 162368479X Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
For everyone who has ever wondered about spitballs, pine tar, the size of the diamond—all of the fascinating stories behind the rules of America's pastime—this book provides all of the answers. The authors take readers on a unique trip around the bases, explaining the development of the existing rules and drawing on a vast amount of fascinating history, lore, and trivia. Anecdotes feature legendary figures and events such as Yogi Berra, who threw himself out at first while playing in the minors in order to win a bet for a steak dinner; Fred “Bonehead” Merkle, who famously cost the New York Giants the pennant when he failed to tag a base; Albert Belle and the corked bat controversy; and Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who appeared in disguise after having been ejected by umpires. Every rule is dissected in this appealing look at baseball history that supplements its stories with archival photographs from the Hall of Fame as well as photos of current heroes.
Author: Mike Roer Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786423552 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 342
Book Description
As a player, manager, team captain, umpire, owner and league president, Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke (1851-1918) spoke for the players in the emerging game of baseball. O'Rourke's career paralleled the rise of the game from a regional sport with few strategies to the national pastime. Nicknamed "Orator" for his booming voice and his championing of the rights of professional athletes, he was a driving force in making the sport a profession, bringing respectability to the role of professional baseball player. From contemporary sources, O'Rourke's own correspondence, and player files available through the National Baseball Library, a rounded portrait of Jim O'Rourke emerges. Quick to speak his mind, the outfielder played on nine pennant-winning teams, but his playing career was overshadowed by his work in organizing baseball's first union. After his playing days ended, O'Rourke attempted to establish the Connecticut League, becoming the circuit's president, secretary, and treasury. Though the league failed to fully materialize, his Bridgeport Victors did play several games and were one of the few racially integrated teams--a fact emblematic of O'Rourke's efforts to change the national pastime. In those efforts, he attempted to wrest control of the game from the owners and empower the players. A carefully researched account of O'Rourke's life and career, this biography also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the growth of the national pastime from the Civil War through the deadball era.
Author: Peter Morris Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 1566636779 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 663
Book Description
"The scope of A Game of Inches is encyclopedic, with nearly a thousand entries that illuminate the origins of items ranging from catchers' masks to hook slides to intentional walks to cork-center baseballs. But this is much more than just a reference guide. Along the way, award-winning author Peter Morris has a sharp eye for the telling quote and the entertaining anecdote. He explains the context that led each new feature of the game to emerge when it did, and chronicles the often surprising responses to these innovations."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Josh Leventhal Publisher: Voyageur Press ISBN: 0760326460 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 156
Book Description
A collection of historical and modern photographs highlighting the baseball players and ballparks of the last 150 years, exploring how the game has changed and evolved throughout history and how it has impacted popular culture.
Author: Rick Huhn Publisher: University of Missouri Press ISBN: 0826264212 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
“Gorgeous George” Sisler, a left-handed first baseman, began his major-league baseball career in 1915 with the St. Louis Browns. During his sixteen years in the majors, he played with such baseball luminaries as Ty Cobb (who once called Sisler “the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer”), Babe Ruth, and Rogers Hornsby. He was considered by these stars of the sport to be their equal, and Branch Rickey, one of baseball’s foremost innovators and talent scouts, once said that in 1922 Sisler was “the greatest player that ever lived.” During his illustrious career he was a .340 hitter, twice achieving the rare feat of hitting more than .400. His 257 hits in 1920 is still the record for the “modern” era. Considered by many to be one of the game’s most skillful first basemen, he was the first at his position to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Yet unlike many of his peers who became household names, Sisler has faded from baseball’s collective consciousness. Now in The Sizzler, this “legendary player without a legend” gets the treatment he deserves. Rick Huhn presents the story of one of baseball’s least appreciated players and studies why his status became so diminished. Huhn argues that the answer lies somewhere amid the tenor of Sisler’s times, his own character and demeanor, the kinds of individuals who are chosen as our sports heroes, and the complex definition of fame itself. In a society obsessed with exposing the underbellies of its heroes, Sisler’s lack of a dark side may explain why less has been written about him than others. Although Sisler was a shy, serious sort who often shunned publicity, his story is filled with its own share of controversy and drama, from a lengthy struggle among major-league moguls for his contractual rights—a battle that helped change the structure of organized baseball forever—to a job-threatening eye disorder he developed during the peak of his career and popularity. By including excerpts from Sisler’s unpublished memoir, as well as references to the national and international events that took place during his heyday, Huhn reveals the full picture of this family man who overcame great obstacles, stood on high principles, and left his mark on a game he affected in a positive way for fifty-eight years.
Author: Fred W. Veil Publisher: Wheatmark, Inc. ISBN: 1604948280 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 361
Book Description
Bucky Veil was a professional baseballer who played the game in the early years of the twentieth century, a time when baseball was beginning to evolve into America's national pastime. As a twenty-two-year-old rookie with the 1903 Pittsburg Pirates, he pitched in the first World Series of modern major league baseball, thus witnessing firsthand an important milestone in the history of the sport. No less an authority than Hall of Famer Honus Wagner predicted that Bucky would be "a great star." Bucky is a story of baseball in the Deadball Era, told from the perspective of the author's grandfather, Fred "Bucky" Veil, and other professionals who played a game that was very different from that of the modern era. It was a game that emphasized strategy over power-Babe Ruth and the long ball were a decade or more in the future-and relied upon speed; smart, aggressive base-running; good bunting techniques; and timely hitting, all designed to advance runners into positions from which they could score. Baseball in the Deadball Era was played with a passion that is largely absent in the modern game. Bucky was blessed to have had the opportunity to play professional baseball in an era when it truly was a game. Fred W. Veil currently lives in Prescott, Arizona. A native Pennsylvanian and a Marine Corps veteran, he is a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College and the Duquesne University School of Law. Previously published works include articles in the Duquesne Law Review and the Journal of Arizona History. He and his wife, Sally, have two adult children and one grandchild.
Author: Rick Huhn Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 078648571X Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 377
Book Description
In what is sure to be the definitive book on Eddie Collins's life and long career, author Rick Huhn covers the Hall of Fame player's experiences from childhood through his days at Columbia University, his tenure with the great Athletics clubs of 1906-1914, the highs and lows of a championship and scandal with the White Sox, and his return to the A's during their final run at greatness. By the time his 25-year playing career had ended, he was a pivotal performer on five all-time great clubs, dominating his position like no one before (or since), and earning a reputation for intelligent, selfless play that followed him to Cooperstown. Also covered in detail is his tenure with the Boston Red Sox, a team he served variously as part owner, vice-president and general manager until 1951, when after 45 years in major league baseball a stroke ended his career and, weeks later, his life.
Author: Rochelle Llewelyn Nicholls Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476615314 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 295
Book Description
"A gentleman when the game was hard-bitten, played by rough-and-ready lads out to win whatever the cost...." Australia had few sporting heroes in the years preceding its federation in 1901. But before its 20th-century Olympic trailblazers, and Depression-era icons such as Phar Lap and Don Bradman, came an Australian sporting pioneer who was celebrated on the most glamorous stage in the world--American major league baseball. Joe Quinn's story has long been lost in the land of his birth. This tale gallops from the deprivation of famine-ravaged Ireland through colonial Australia to the raucous ballfields of 19th-century America, with their unruly players and owners, brawls and adulation and backroom betrayals. Through 17 seasons in the major leagues, "Undertaker" Joe Quinn earned his place among the colorful characters who pioneered the modern game of baseball, as much for his ability to stand apart from their bad behavior as for his steadfastness on the field. Meet Australia's first professional baseball player and manager, whose willingness to "have a go" in the grand Australian tradition will live long in the minds of sports fans on both sides of the Pacific.
Author: Ettie Ward Publisher: ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 492
Book Description
In a series of twenty-one original articles by legal scholars, editor Ettie Ward and the contributors examine both baseball law and baseball lore. By focusing on the famous New York Yankees, and incidents involving the team and the Yankee franchise, the book explores a wide range of legal issues as they relate to baseball. The chapters are organized so that the sports fan (even if neither a lawyer nor a Yankees' fan) is invited to read about sports and learn about the law. Baseball aficionados will enjoy the added insights provided by the discussion of various legal concepts, and lawyer sports fans will gain greater insight as to the application of familiar legal principles on and off the baseball diamond. The chapters cover some topics that would ordinarily be covered in a sports law course, as well as others that would not.
Author: Glen Waggoner
Author: Mike Roer
Author: Peter Morris
Author: Rick Huhn
Author: Josh Leventhal
Author: Rick Huhn
Author: Fred W. Veil
Author: Rick Huhn
Author: Rochelle Llewelyn Nicholls
Author: Ettie Ward