Download or read book Baseball s Other All Stars written by William F. McNeil and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2000-03-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball is played in all corners of the world, so it is no surprise to learn that some of the greatest hardballers of all time never played on a U.S. major league diamond. Who knows what major league records would have been shattered had Sadaharu Oh of Japan, Josh Gibson of the Negro Leagues, Martin Dihigo of Cuba, Francisco Coimbre of Puerto Rico and Hector Espino of Mexico played in the United States. This work is a survey of the greatest baseball players who never played in the U.S. major leagues. The greatest players from the various professional leagues outside organized baseball in the United States are reviewed, and all-star teams are selected for each league. Finally, the author selects an "all-world all-star team" from the individual all-star teams from Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Negro Leagues.

Download or read book Baseball s Natural written by John Theodore and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2002-09-09 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball’s Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus is John Theodore’s true account of the slick-fielding first baseman who played for the Cubs and Phillies in the 1940s and became an immortalized figure in baseball lore as the inspiration for Roy Hobbs in Bernard Malamud’s The Natural. The son of Lithuanian immigrants, Edward Stephen Waitkus (1919–1972) grew up in Boston and served in the Pacific during World War II. His army service in some of the war’s bloodiest combat earned him four Bronze Stars. Following the war, Waitkus became one of the most popular players of his era. As a rookie he led the Cubs in hitting in 1946 and quickly established himself as one of the best first basemen in the National League. To the disappointment of fans, the Cubs traded Waitkus to the Phillies in December of 1948. When he returned to Chicago in a Philadelphia uniform in June of the following year, he was hitting .306 and seemed destined for the All Star team. On the night of June 14 at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Waitkus’s bright career took an infamously tragic turn. He received a cryptic note summoning him to meet a young fan, Ruth Steinhagen. When Waitkus entered her hotel room, she proclaimed, “I have a surprise for you,” and then she just as quickly shot him in the chest. Steinhagen, then only nineteen, was one of the many young women—called “Baseball Annies”–who were fanatic about the game and its players, though her obsession proved more dangerous than most. A criminal court indicted Steinhagen and confined her to a state mental hospital for nearly three years. Waitkus survived the shooting, made an inspirational return to baseball in 1950, and led the Phillies to the World Series. While Waitkus triumphed over his assault, he could not conquer his private demons. Depression stemming from the attack led to a severe problem with alcohol, a failed marriage, and a nervous breakdown. Waitkus found some happiness in his final summers working with youngsters at the Ted Williams baseball camp. Cancer claimed him in 1972, just days after his fifty-third birthday. Through interviews with Waitkus’s family, fellow servicemen, former ballplayers, and childhood friends, and aided by fifteen photographs, Theodore chronicles Waitkus’s remarkable comeback as well as the difficult years following his eleven-year major league career.

Download or read book Baseball s Creation Myth written by Brian Martin and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-05-28 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story about baseball's being invented in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839 by Abner Doubleday served to prove that the U.S. national pastime was an American game, not derived from the English children's game of rounders as had been believed. The tale, embraced by Americans, has long been proven false but to this day, Cooperstown is celebrated as the birthplace of baseball. The story has captured the hearts of millions. But who spun that tale and why? This book provides a surprising answer about the origins of America's most durable myth. It seems that Abner Graves, who espoused Cooperstown as the birthplace of the game, likely was inspired by another story about an early game of baseball. The stories were remarkably similar, as were the men who told them. For the first time, this book links the stories and lives of Graves, a mining engineer, and Adam Ford, a medical doctor, both residents of Denver, Colorado. While the actual origins of the game of baseball remain subject to debate and study, new light is shed on the source of baseball's durable creation myth.

Download or read book Home Run Heroes The Ultimate Guide to Baseball s Greatest Moments Strategies written by Alex Jones and published by Pure Water Books. This book was released on 2024-06-17 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you find yourself lost in the lingo of line drives and longing for the lowdown on lockouts? Wondering why a ‘sacrifice fly’ isn’t just an insect on the field? Absolutely, you can become a baseball buff! “Home Run Heroes: The Ultimate Guide to Baseball’s Greatest Moments & Strategies” is the grand slam of guides for the burgeoning baseball enthusiast. This book is your all-access pass to understanding every pitch, play, and part of the game. Unlock the joys of baseball with: · In-Depth Explanations: Demystify baseball jargon and uncover the rules of the game. · Historical Highlights: Relive the most thrilling moments in baseball history. · Strategic Smarts: Gain insights into the strategies that shape the game. · Legendary Lore: Learn about the heroes who have made baseball what it is today. This book is your ticket to a fuller, richer baseball experience. Don’t sit on the sidelines—immerse yourself in the game and discover a newfound appreciation for America’s favorite pastime. Step up to the batter’s box of knowledge and hit a home run in understanding baseball. Get your copy of “Home Run Heroes” now and join the league of happier, more informed sports fans! In Summary: “Home Run Heroes” is an essential guide for anyone looking to deepen their understanding and enjoyment of baseball. It’s packed with explanations, strategies, and stories that will transform you from a spectator to a connoisseur of the game. This book promises to enhance your baseball experience and bring you the happiness that comes with being a true fan of the sport.

Download or read book Baseball s Top 10 written by Robert Kuenster and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparing major league players has always been a popular topic among baseball fans. Debating the strengths and weaknesses of such greats as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, or Tom Seaver and Greg Maddux continues to stir up controversy among fans eager to champion their heroes. In Baseball’s Top 10, Bob Kuenster has compiled a ranking of the game’s best players by position, highlighting the achievements of nearly 300 individuals. In addition to the top 10, Kuenster includes Honorable Mentions—players who were considered but didn’t make the final list—and Dishonorable Mentions—players who were left off the rankings due to alleged steroid and performance enhancing drug use. Drawing upon original interviews conducted by the author, this ranking reveals the best players in major league history as seen through the eyes of former players, managers, and announcers. Player entries include biographical information, individual achievements, stats, and quotes. Organized by position—first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, right field, catcher, designated hitters, multi-position players, right-handed starting pitchers, left-handed starting pitchers, and closers—280 outstanding players made the cut as the most elite pitchers, hitters, and fielders in MLB history. Baseball’s Top 10 features interviews with some of baseball’s greatest personalities—including players who have since passed, such as Al Lopez, Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Lou Boudreau, Andy Pafko, Ron Santo, Harry Caray and Harry Kalas. With over 50 photographs and a comprehensive list of suggested titles for further reading, this book is sure to interest baseball fans and historians who love to debate the many outstanding players who have appeared in the major leagues.

Download or read book Finding Baseball s Next Clemente written by Roger Bruns and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines what it takes for Latino youngsters to beat the odds, overcoming cultural and racial barriers—and a corrupt recruitment system—to play professional baseball in the United States. Latin Americans now comprise nearly 30 percent of the players in Major League Baseball (MLB). This provocative work looks at how young Latinos are recruited—and often exploited—and at the cultural, linguistic, and racial challenges faced by those who do make it. There are exposés of baseball camps where teens are encouraged to sacrifice education in favor of hitting and fielding drills and descriptions of fraud cases in which youngsters claim to be older than they are in order to sign contracts. The book also documents the increasing use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by kids desperately trying to gain an edge. In addition to discussing the hard road many Latinos follow to MLB, the work also traces the fascinating history of baseball's introduction in Latin American countries—in some cases, more than a century ago. Finally, there are the stories of great Latino players, of men like Roberto Clemente and Carlos Beltran who made it to the majors, but also of men who were not so lucky. Through their tales, readers can share the dreams and expectations of young men who, for better or worse, believe in "America's pastime" as their gateway out of poverty.

Download or read book Baseball s Most Wanted written by Floyd Conner and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2002-02-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edd Roush was once ejected from a game for falling asleep in the outfield. Dan Friend played left field while dressed in a bathrobe. Outfielder Len Koenecke was killed attempting history’s first skyjacking. Pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich swapped not only their wives but also their children, station wagons, and pets. Baseball history is brimming with the weird, the bizarre, and the hard to believe. Baseball's Most Wanted™chronicles 700 of the most outlandish players, managers, and owners throughout baseball history. Its seventy lists describe in humorous detail baseball’s top-ten inept players, strange plays, bad practical jokes, bizarre nicknames, murderers, politicians, Don Juans, unusual contracts, notable nicknames, curses, worst trades, freak injuries, unsolved mysteries, least-known records, and more. Many of these anecdotes have been published here for the first time.

Download or read book Baseball Books written by Mike Shannon and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-10-14 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is widely, and wrongly, assumed that books are never so valuable as when they lie unopened before us, waiting to be read. Good books bear multiple readings, and not merely because our memories fail us; the desire to repeat a good reading experience can be its own powerful motivation. And for bibliophiles, books can also be works of art, physical objects with an aesthetic value all their own. This guide for the book-loving baseball fan is written by one of the most knowledgeable collectors in the country, author and editor Mike Shannon. Beginning with a history of baseball books and collecting, it also identifies the most sought-after titles and explains how to find them, what to pay, and how to maintain their condition.

Download or read book Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs written by Ron Keurajian and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richly illustrated with nearly 1,000 examples of both autographs and forgeries, this new and expanded edition includes signature studies of all Hall of Famers from the 19th century to the present. Collectors can compare signatures to the examples to determine the genuineness of autographs. Shoeless Joe and the rest of the Black Sox are explored in depth, along with Roger Maris, Gil Hodges and the top 50 non-Hall of Fame autographs. A new price guide examines values of various signed mediums. A market population grid lists rare and seldom seen signatures.

Download or read book The Best of Everything Baseball Book written by Nate LeBoutillier and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When was the first World Series played? What MLB pitcher holds the league record with seven no-hitters? Which player stole home 54 times during his career? Learn the answer to these questions and more in The Best of Everything Baseball Book.

Download or read book Odd Words for Crosswords and People in Puzzles written by Bentley Bougard and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2009 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains over 20,000 clues and answers exactly as they are found in crossword puzzles.

Download or read book Baseball s Most Bizarre Plays written by Alan Hirsch and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball has produced some notably strange plays--like Randy Johnson's fastball dismantling a bird--yet there have been many that defy belief. Beginning with Todd Frazier tricking umpires into calling an out with a rubber ball and culminating in Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky pitching into a scrum of two batters and a manager at home plate, this book describes the 150 most bizarre plays in the history of the game. Baserunners going in the wrong direction, outfielders kicking the ball, three runners meeting at one base, two balls in play, players ejected for dancing and many other anomalies are presented with detailed commentary.

Download or read book Baseball s Last Great Scout written by Daniel L. Austin and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late in 1937 Hugh Alexander, a kid fresh out of small-town Oklahoma, had just finished his second year playing outfield for the Cleveland Indians when an oil rig accident ripped off his left hand. Within three months he was back with the Indians, but this time as a scout—the youngest ever in Major League history. In the next six decades he signed more players who made it to the Majors than any other scout. His story, Baseball’s Last Great Scout, reads like a backroom, bleacher-seat history of twentieth-century baseball—and a primer on what it takes to find a winner. It gives a gritty picture of learning the business on the road, from American Legion field to try-out camp to beer joint, and making the fine distinctions between “performance” and “tools of the trade” when checking out prospects. Over the years Alexander worked for the Indians, the White Sox, the LA Dodgers, the Phillies, and the Cubs—and signed the likes of Allie Reynolds, Don Sutton, and Marty Bystrom. This book, based on extensive interviews and Alexander’s journals, is filled with memorable characters, pithy lessons, snapshots of American life, and a big picture of America’s pastime from one of its great off-the-field players.

Download or read book Baseball s Shooting Stars written by David J. Gordon and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-09-12 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every serious baseball fan can attest to the perennial excellence of stars like Babe Ruth and Ken Griffey, Jr. But how many can recall the exploits of Fred Dunlap, George Stone, Bobby Shantz, or Mark Fidrych? Each of these players performed like a superstar for a single season, but none of them came close to replicating that success in subsequent years. Some achieved early success and flamed out, while others overcame early setbacks to achieve brief stardom late in their careers. Some were one-year wonders, and others sustained solid careers after setting an early standard that they would never again reach. This book contains the bittersweet stories of 30 such players who tantalized their fans with visions of greatness, but ultimately fell short.

Download or read book The Black Stars Who Made Baseball Whole written by Rick Swaine and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2005-12-27 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For major league baseball, the decade following Jackie Robinson's 1947 debut was one of slow yet persistent change. Four other black players made their first, brief big-league appearances that year, followed by only two in 1948 and four in 1949. But by the end of 1959, 122 black ballplayers had made it to the big leagues. Like Robinson, their lives were made difficult off the field, and on it they dodged beanballs and spikes. This book brings attention to the accomplishments of this transitional generation of African American players--made up of men like Luscious Luke Easter, Sam "The Jet" Jethroe, and Sad Sam Jones--many of whom spent years in the minors, the Negro leagues, or both before getting their shot. Chapters on each season from 1947 to 1959 incorporate biographical and career profiles for 25 players who stood out during baseball's integration. A final chapter covers the outstanding minor league players who for various reasons never got a real chance to play major league ball. Appendices include a roster of black major leaguers from 1947 through 1959, a list of black-player firsts and statistics on the year-by-year population of black players in the majors.

Download or read book Baseball Meets the Law written by Ed Edmonds and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball and law have intersected since the primordial days. In 1791, a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, ordinance prohibited ball playing near the town's meeting house. Ball games on Sundays were barred by a Pennsylvania statute in 1794. In 2015, a federal court held that baseball's exemption from antitrust laws applied to franchise relocations. Another court overturned the conviction of Barry Bonds for obstruction of justice. A third denied a request by rooftop entrepreneurs to enjoin the construction of a massive video screen at Wrigley Field. This exhaustive chronology traces the effects the law has had on the national pastime, both pro and con, on and off the field, from the use of copyright to protect not only equipment but also "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to frequent litigation between players and owners over contracts and the reserve clause. The stories of lawyers like Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Branch Rickey are entertainingly instructive.

Download or read book Baseball s Longest Games written by Philip J. Lowry and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-04-23 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball is the only major team sport that doesn't feature a clock, and there's a familiar saying among fans that as long as outs remain, the game can, theoretically, go on forever. Every now and again, it nearly does, as author Phil Lowry demonstrates. The product of more than four decades of research, this book catalogs baseball games from around the world and throughout history that lasted 20 or more innings, stretched five or more hours, or ended after 1:00 am. Lowry also examines probability models to predict how often games of unusual length will occur.