Download or read book Baseball s Pivotal Era 1945 1951 written by William Marshall and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-11-21 with total page 694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With personal interviews of players and owners and with over two decades of research in newspapers and archives, Bill Marshall tells of the players, the pennant races, and the officials who shaped one of the most memorable eras in sports and American history. At the end of World War II, soldiers returning from overseas hungered to resume their love affair with baseball. Spectators still identified with players, whose salaries and off-season employment as postmen, plumbers, farmers, and insurance salesmen resembled their own. It was a time when kids played baseball on sandlots and in pastures, fans followed the game on the radio, and tickets were affordable. The outstanding play of Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Don Newcombe, Warren Spahn, and many others dominated the field. But perhaps no performance was more important than that of Jackie Robinson, whose entrance into the game broke the color barrier, won him the respect of millions of Americans, and helped set the stage for the civil rights movement. Baseball's Pivotal Era, 1945-1951 also records the attempt to organize the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Mexican League's success in luring players south of the border that led to a series of lawsuits that almost undermined baseball's reserve clause and antitrust exemption. The result was spring training pay, uniform contracts, minimum salary levels, player representation, and a pension plan—the very issues that would divide players and owners almost fifty years later. During these years, the game was led by A.B. "Happy" Chandler, a hand-shaking, speech-making, singing Kentucky politician. Most owners thought he would be easily manipulated, unlike baseball's first commissioner, the autocratic Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis. Instead, Chandler's style led one owner to complain that he was the "player's commissioner, the fan's commissioner, the press and radio commissioner, everybody's commissioner but the men who pay him."

Download or read book The Dickson Baseball Dictionary Third Edition written by Paul Dickson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-06-13 with total page 1001 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.

Download or read book Golden Boys written by Andy Jurinko and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-15 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned artist Andy Jurinko believed the golden age of baseball was 1946-1960, an era that, not coincidentally, coincided with his childhood. It was a time that welcomed such legendary stars as Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, and Henry Aaron into the national consciousness, a fifteen year stretch marked by Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in 1947 and by ten Yankee championships. Jurinko spent twenty years creating more than 600 portraits of the colorful characters and stadiums that typify this era, all collected here for the first time in Golden Boys. With illuminating text by sportswriter Christopher Jennison, Golden Boys is the definitive artistic portrait of a remarkable time in American sports history.

Download or read book The 25 Greatest Baseball Teams of the 20th Century Ranked written by Chris Holaday and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best baseball team of the 20th century? How about the 1906 Cubs? Or the 1998 Yankees? Don't forget the 1929 A's, or the 1976 Reds. Some say the Yanks had a pretty good squad in 1927. There were so many great teams in the last century, it would be hard to compile a list of the 25 best--much less rank those clubs--but that's what the authors have done! This is an endlessly fascinating tome, sure to prompt spirited discussions around the water cooler or above the dugout. Let the arguments (and the fun!) begin!

Download or read book The End of Baseball as We Knew it written by Charles P. Korr and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of contents

Download or read book Stan the Man written by Wayne Stewart and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Broad in scope and deep in analysis, this biography of Stan Musial details not only the personality and the accomplishments of the man, but artfully examines his life against the backdrop of the Great Depression, which the already-impoverished Musial family endured. It looks at Stan’s support racial integration in baseball, as well as the tragedy that struck his hometown of Donora, Pennsylvania, and claimed many lives, including his father’s. The slew of never-before-published material and revealing anecdotes gained through numerous exclusive interviews with former classmates, relatives, friends, teammates, and contemporaries allow this book to shed fresh light on the legendary Musial while making the book a must-read for all baseball fans. This updated, paperback edition includes a new, commemorative section written after Musial’s passing.

Download or read book A Brand New Ballgame written by G. Scott Thomas and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America grew rapidly after World War II, and the national pastime followed suit. Baseball dramatically changed from a 19th century pastoral relic to a continental modern sport. Six Major League clubs relocated to new cities, capped by the coast-to-coast moves of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. Four expansion teams were created from thin air. Dozens of black stars emerged after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. The players formed a union--higher salaries materialized. This book tells the story of baseball's metamorphosis 1945-1962, driven by larger-than-life personalities like the bombastic Larry MacPhail, the sage Branch Rickey, the kindly Connie Mack, the quick-witted Bill Veeck and the wily Walter O'Malley--Hall of Famers all. The upheaval they sparked--and sometimes failed to control--would broaden the sport's appeal, setting the stage for tremendous growth in the half-century to come.

Download or read book Frick written by John P. Carvalho and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-11-18 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ford Frick is best known as the baseball commissioner who put the "asterisk" next to Roger Maris's record. But his tenure as commissioner carried the game through pivotal changes--television, continued integration, West Coast expansion and labor unrest. During those 14 years, and 17 more as National League president, he witnessed baseball history from the perspective of a man who began as a sportswriter. This biography of Frick, whose tenure sparked lively debate about the commissioner's role, provides a detailed narrative of his career and the events and characters of mid-20th century baseball.

Download or read book The Business of Baseball written by Albert Theodore Powers and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2003-01-16 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The crack of the bat, the cheering of fans and the agility and athleticism of the players are all characteristics that many people fondly associate with Major League Baseball. However, the players' strike and owners' lockout in 1994 and 1995 brought the game under great scrutiny, revealing a side of baseball that is not admirable, honorable, or enjoyable. Nor is this darker side of "America's Pastime" a recent development. The majority of problems in today's Major Leagues are a continuation of ills that have plagued organized baseball since its inception. This book examines the business of baseball, addressing its most significant problems and proposing solutions. It covers some of Major League Baseball's greatest players and their effect on the game and its business. Among the many topics analyzed are the roles of franchise owners, commissioners, and players' unions in organized baseball. The book also examines Major League ballparks and baseball fans, and considers how they are relevant to baseball as a game and a business.

Download or read book Baseball Literature Culture written by Ronald E. Kates and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-03-10 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Conference on Baseball in Literature and American Culture has consistently produced a strong body of scholarship since its inception in 1995. Essays presented at the 2008 and 2009 conferences are published in the present work. Topics covered include religion; class and racial dichotomies in the literature of cricket and baseball; re-reading The Natural in the 21st century; the feminist movement; Don DeLillo's Game 6; baseball in Seinfeld; Robert B. Parker; Harry Stein's Hoopla; Negro league owner Tom Wilson's impact on Nashville; Major League Baseball's postwar boom; and overwrought baseball editorials, among others.

Download or read book Team First written by Lloyd H. H. Barrow and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year 2017 is a special year, the seventieth anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers' Jackie Robinson integrating modern baseball. Robinson's successes and challenges have been documented by baseball and civil rights historians. This three-part book presents the chronological history of baseball integration along with the major civil rights events of the 1940s and 1950s. Team First focuses upon each of the sixteen Major League teams and players (with life stories) who were the first to integrate each team. Some individuals were players of the Negro League, Hall of Famers, and World Series players and others whose notable contribution was only being the first to integrate. Information about owners, general managers, and managers influenced teams' orientation about integration. Rates of integration varied by team. The final three teams to integrate happened ten years after Robinson won the 1947 Rookie of the Year Award. Find out how your favorite team approached integration. How did your team compare to other National League and American League teams? How was your favorite team influenced by early civil rights events?

Download or read book The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America written by Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2012-04-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of all the teams in the annals of baseball, only a select few can lay claim to historic significance. One of those teams is the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, the first racially integrated Major League team of the twentieth century. The addition of Jackie Robinson to its roster changed not only baseball but also the nation. Yet Robinson was just one member of that memorable club, which included Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, Duke Snider, Eddie Stanky, Arky Vaughan, and Dixie Walker. Also present was a quartet of baseball’s most unforgettable characters: co-owners Branch Rickey and Walter O’Malley, suspended manager Leo Durocher, and radio announcer Red Barber. This book is the first to offer biographies of everyone on that incomparable team as well as accounts of the moments and events that marked the Dodgers’ 1947 season: Commissioner Happy Chandler suspending Durocher, Rickey luring his old friend Burt Shotton out of retirement to replace Durocher, and brilliant outfielder Reiser being sidelined after running into a fence. In spite of all this, the Dodgers went on to win the National League pennant over the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals. And of course, there is the biggest story of the season, where history and biography coalesce: Jackie Robinson, who overcame widespread hostility to become Rookie of the Year—and to help the Dodgers set single-game attendance records in cities around the National League.

Download or read book A Whole New Game written by John P. Rossi and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bismarck once said that God looked after drunkards, children and the U.S. of A. Some say that baseball should be added to the list. It must have been divine intervention that led the sport through a series of transformative challenges from the end of World War II to the game's first expansion in 1961. During this period baseball was forced to make a number of painful choices. From 1949 to 1954, attendance dropped more than 30 percent, as once loyal fans turned to other activities, started going to see more football, and began watching television. Also, the sport had to wrestle with racial integration, franchise shifts and unionization while trying to keep a firm hold on the minds and emotions of the public. This work chronicles how baseball, with imagination and some foresight, survived postwar challenges. Some of the solutions came about intelligently, some clumsily, but by 1960 baseball was a stronger, healthier and better balanced institution than ever before.

Download or read book Town Ball written by Armand Peterson and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth study of the magical era of amateur baseball in Minnesota, from 1945 to 1960, looks at the social and economic factors that contributed to the sport's success, profiles some of the teams and their players, and includes a collection of anecdotes, vintage photographs, and statistics.

Download or read book Bums No More written by Brian M. Endsley and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-11-21 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the 1959 Dodgers, a team that rose above its disastrous first season on the West Coast for an out-of-nowhere World Series title. One of baseball's greatest underdog champions, the '59 Dodgers were a rag-tag team made of long shots salvaged from the minor leagues and over-the-hill ballplayers who reached back for one final triumph. After surviving a thrilling three team pennant race, they met fellow long shots the Chicago White Sox in an underdog World Series. Here, the team's story is recounted in detail, with game-by-game highlights, and set against the cultural backdrop of the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and the rock and roll cultural revolution.

Download or read book Small Ball in the Big Leagues written by James D. Szalontai and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The typical baseball fan yearns for one of two things: a strikeout or a home run. But most of the game takes place in between these electrifying moments, and this book discusses the importance of "small ball" to baseball. It examines the multitude of times small ball activities have secured victories through aggressive base running, sacrifice hits, squeeze bunts, stolen bases, productive outs and hit-and-run plays, as well as games in which aggressive small ball activity led to defeat. The book covers the most important small ball players, managers and teams.

Download or read book Indiana Born Major League Baseball Players written by Pete Cava and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-10-02 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indiana boasts a rich baseball tradition, with 10 native sons enshrined in Cooperstown. This biographical dictionary provides a close look at the lives of all 364 Hoosier big leaguers, who include New York City's first baseball superstar; the first rookie pitcher to win three games in a World Series; the man who caught most of Cy Young's record 511 career wins; one of the game's first star relievers; the player who held the record for consecutive games played before Lou Gehrig; an obscure infielder mentioned in Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip; baseball's only one-legged pitcher; Indiana's first Mr. Basketball, who became one of baseball's greatest pinch-hitters; the first African American to play for the Cincinnati Reds; the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in the World Series; the skipper of the 1969 "Miracle Mets"; the pitcher for whom a ground-breaking surgical procedure is named; and the only two men to have played in both the World Series and the Final Four of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.