Download or read book George Toma written by George Toma and published by Sports Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2004 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of George Toma, who climbed from his roots in a poor coal-mining town in Depression-era Pennsylvania to the top of his profession as a groundskeeper. Toma has become the authority in his profession, preparing the field for every Super Bowl that has ever been played. Toma was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2001.

Download or read book George Brett written by Mark Zeligman and published by Sports Publishing LLC. This book was released on 1999-06-01 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Brett: A Royal Hero is the most complete volume ever compiled about the 1999 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. His legendary career is reviewed in precise detail through articles that appeared in The Kansas City Star from the early 1970s through 1999. No one followed George Brett with greater interest nor wrote of his exploits with greater insight than the sportswriters of the Royals' hometown daily newspaper.

Download or read book The Sodfather written by George Toma and published by . This book was released on 2024-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sodfather chronicles the 80-year career of George Toma, who many consider the greatest groundskeeper of all time. George rose from hardscrabble beginnings in the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania to manicure sports fields in stadiums and ballparks all over the world. While doing so, he brought attention, respect and honor to a profession. In many ways George Toma became an artist. Green grasses and artificial turfs were his canvases and Super Bowls his masterpieces. "Nobody alive can carry George's shovel," former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Jim Schaaf said. George has two creeds. The first is a work ethic where one gives his best effort - "and then some." The other is that the best insurance for an athlete is a safe playing field. George's insistence on safe fields created a conflict at times with the NFL and he gives his views as only he can - to the point with no punches pulled. If you treasure people who dedicate their lives to a craft, this book is for you!

Download or read book The Devil s Snake Curve written by Josh Ostergaard and published by Coffee House Press. This book was released on 2014-03-24 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Devil's Snake Curve offers an alternative American history, in which colonialism, jingoism, capitalism, and faith are represented by baseball. Personal and political, it twines Japanese internment camps with the Yankees; Walmart with the Kansas City Royals; and facial hair patterns with militarism, Guantanamo, and the modern security state. An essay, a miscellany, and a passionate unsettling of Josh Ostergaard's relationship with our national pastime, it allows for both the clover of a childhood outfield and the persistence of the game's service to those in power. America and baseball are both hard to love or leave in this, by turns coruscating and heartfelt, debut. Josh Ostergaard holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota and an MA in cultural anthropology. He has been an urban anthropologist at the Field Museum and now works at Graywolf Press.

Download or read book The Arena Inside the Tailgating Ticket Scalping Mascot Racing Dubiously Funded and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport written by Rafi Kohan and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist • PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing “An inventive, fast-paced look at what have become our modern shrines in a sports-obsessed society.” —Tom Verducci In this “addictive” (Publishers Weekly) romp, intrepid sportswriter Rafi Kohan finagles access to our most beloved fields to find out just what makes them tick: from old-timer Wrigley, creakily adjusting to the twenty-first century, to the oversized monstrosity of Jerry’s World in Dallas. Investigating harrowing logistics and deeply ingrained traditions, Kohan employs his infectious “wit and style” (Christian Science Monitor) to expose the realities of building and maintaining these commercial cathedrals of sports worship. “Highly compelling” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), The Arena is a must-read for superfans, shameless bandwagoners, athletes, groundskeepers, culture junkies, and anyone who’s ever headed off eagerly to the ballpark to catch a game.

Download or read book Her Name Is America written by Sabah Toma and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2017-07-26 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opinions regarding immigration have been a vital part of the American conversation throughout our entire history. Perhaps never more so than now. Our country has reached a crossroads in this conversation, a time in which discussion ends and action begins. From the Puritans over three hundred years ago until this very day, America, more than any other nation in the world, has been defined by its immigrants. It can be fairly said America is not only a land of immigrants, America is her immigrants. Sabah Toma would become one of those countless millions searching for what Americans call a better life but what immigrants call life itself. Mr. Toma would discover America is not as he imagined: the warm, nurturing woman standing in the harbor, holding her lantern aloft for the world. He would learn she is a harsheven brutaltask mistress demanding everything he could possibly give, and more. Finally, he would learn he could never give her enough because she, in turn, would give him everything. Her Name Is America distills the vast complexity of our current social and political discourse into one single human face. In the face of Sabah Toma, we find hope, pain, loss, joy, and ultimately, perseverance. This is one immigrants storythe story of Sabah Toma.

Download or read book Finley Ball written by Nancy Finley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of a losing baseball team that became a 1970s dynasty, thanks to the unorthodox strategies and stunts of two very colorful men. When Charlie Finley bought the A's in 1960, he was an outsider to the game—a insurance businessman with a larger-than-life personality. He brought his cousin Carl on as his right-hand man, moved the team from Kansas City to Oakland, and pioneered a new way to put together a winning team. With legendary players like Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, and Vida Blue, the Finleys' Oakland A's won three straight World Series and riveted the nation. Now Carl Finley's daughter Nancy reveals the whole story behind her family's winning legacy—how her father and uncle developed their scouting strategy, why they employed odd gimmicks like orange baseballs and "mustache bonuses," and how the success of the '70s Oakland A's changed the game of baseball.

Download or read book Pro Football in the 1960s written by Patrick Gallivan and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-06-08 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1960s were a tumultuous period in U.S. history and the sporting world was not immune to the decade's upturn of tradition. As war in Southeast Asia, civil unrest at home and political assassinations rocked the nation, professional football struggled to attract fans. While some players fought for civil rights and others fought overseas, the ideological divides behind the protests and riots in the streets spilled into the locker rooms, and athletes increasingly brought their political beliefs into the sports world. This history describes how a decade of social upheaval affected life on the gridiron, and the personalities and events that shaped the game. The debut of the Super Bowl, soon to become a fixture of American culture, marked a professional sport on the rise. Increasingly lucrative television contracts and innovations in the filming and broadcasting of games expanded pro football's audiences. An authoritarian old guard, best represented by the revered Vince Lombardi, began to give way as star players like Joe Namath commanded new levels of pay and power. And at last, all teams fielded African American players, belatedly beginning the correction of the sport's greatest wrong.

Download or read book If These Walls Could Talk Kansas City Royals written by Matt Fulks and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With their 2015 World Series championship, the Kansas City Royals claimed their spot among baseball's top current franchises. Through the words of the players, via multiple interviews conducted with current and past Royals, readers will meet the players, coaches, and management and share in their moments of greatness and defeat. Montgomery recounts moments with George Brett, Willie Wilson, and Mike Sweeney as well as the current squad under Ned Yost, including Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon. Kansas City fans will not want to be without this book.

Download or read book The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball 2d ed written by Jonathan Fraser Light and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-03-25 with total page 1112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than any other sport, baseball has developed its own niche in America’s culture and psyche. Some researchers spend years on detailed statistical analyses of minute parts of the game, while others wax poetic about its players and plays. Many trace the beginnings of the civil rights movement in part to the Major Leagues’ decision to integrate, and the words and phrases of the game (for example, pinch-hitter and out in left field) have become common in our everyday language. From AARON, HENRY onward, this book covers all of what might be called the cultural aspects of baseball (as opposed to the number-rich statistical information so widely available elsewhere). Biographical sketches of all Hall of Fame players, owners, executives and umpires, as well as many of the sportswriters and broadcasters who have won the Spink and Frick awards, join entries for teams, owners, commissioners and league presidents. Advertising, agents, drafts, illegal substances, minor leagues, oldest players, perfect games, retired uniform numbers, superstitions, tripleheaders, and youngest players are among the thousands of entries herein. Most entries open with a topical quote and conclude with a brief bibliography of sources for further research. The whole work is exhaustively indexed and includes 119 photographs.

Download or read book The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture 2007 2008 written by William M. Simons and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-06-08 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology gathers selected papers from the 2007 and 2008 meetings of the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, the long-running academic conference held annually at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Essays included employ the national pastime to comment on issues transcending the playing field, and are divided into six sections: "Cultural Perspectives on the Game," "Literary Baseball," "Baseball at the Movies," "Minority Standard Bearers," "New Leagues," and "The Business of Baseball."

Download or read book ESPN The Mighty Book of Sports Knowledge written by Steve Wulf and published by ESPN. This book was released on 2009-06-09 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The ESPN Mighty Book of Sports Knowledge, Steve Wulf, acclaimed author and founding editor of ESPN The Magazine, delivers an arena’s worth of sporting wisdom, trivia, best-of lists, curiosities, legendary feats, and sacred objects–from the magic of Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech to the lore of hockey’s Stanley Cup to the art of the perfectly thrown Wiffle Ball pitch. Written to remind us all why we love the games, this indispensable reference features contributions from the finest minds at ESPN, as well as guidance from actual professionals. Inside you’ll discover • twenty-five of the greatest sporting nicknames • the keys to being a mascot • what happens during a pit stop • the five best (worst?) on-field temper tantrums • a tour of Donovan McNabb’s locker • how Wayne Gretzky tapes his sticks • the unbeatable secret of rock-paper-scissors • how to tape an ankle, fold a paper football, hit a hole in one, whistle with your fingers, throw a knuckleball, jump rope like a champ, and oil a baseball glove • advice from star athletes–learn to run routes like Jerry Rice, take a penalty kick like Landon Donovan, fake opponents out like Chris Paul, and put on your socks the John Wooden way The ESPN Mighty Book of Sports Knowledge is the perfect antidote to our video-game culture and an essential gift for any fan who ever dreamed of throwing a tight spiral in a Super Bowl, closing out a World Series game, or lining up a putt to win a major. In other words, it’s a book for the young and the young at heart.

Download or read book Super Bowl Blueprints written by Bill Polian and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A straight-from-the-source look at how NFL dynasties are built In Super Bowl Blueprints, Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian and veteran football scribe Vic Carucci sit down with the architects of the greatest teams of all time, digging into how these dynastic squads did what they did, with more insight and access than any football book in history. Polian, the architect of the Super Bowl XLI–champion Indianapolis Colts, provides a rare glimpse inside the locker rooms, coaches' room, and front offices for the key moments that defined the modern NFL. Whether Polian is discussing variations of the no-huddle with Jim Kelly and Peyton Manning or the culture of the Steel Curtain with Terry Bradshaw and "Mean" Joe Greene or different versions of Bill Walsh's West Coast offense with Mike Holmgren and Steve Young, his command of the game mixed with the perceptions of these legends creates a book like no other. Tom Flores, Ron Wolf, and Mike Haynes debate how Al Davis built the iconic Raiders franchise, while Jimmy Johnson, Jerry Jones, Troy Aikman, and more share how tension and football IQ were married to create the unstoppable Cowboys teams of the '90s. Super Bowl Blueprints tells the story of championship football—how it's attained and what it takes—through the voices of Bill Parcells, Marv Levy, Art Rooney II, Charles Haley, Doug Williams, John Mara, Charley Casserly, Joe Theismann, Harry Carson, Tom Moore, Brian Billick, Frank Reich, Dwight Freeney, Joe Gibbs, Tony Dungy, and many more!

Download or read book Walter Johnson Had No Idea written by Robert McCammon and published by Covenant Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dirt farmer in Southern Indiana in the year 1924 chose to name his son after a famous baseball player who would someday enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Little did anyone know at the time, including that famous player, just how much that decision would mean to that son and the generations to follow. That was the beginning of a love affair with baseball that would identify this family, a love that would begin with the Washington Senators and move on to Minnesota in 1961. Now five generations in, this family allegiance is still very much alive today. This is a story of the son of that son with the famous name and his love of baseball that was handed down to him. He in turn has passed that love on to his son, who now has a daughter who will hopefully understand this love of the game. Memories are made with the game of baseball, and so many are worth sharing. As the pages of this book are turned, the reader will begin to recognize many of these memories and hopefully be reminded of memories that are part of their lives. Hopefully, the reader will have a better understanding of how generations of a family can be connected by the threads of a baseball.

Download or read book Advances in Production Management Systems written by Jan Olhager and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-12-24 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together some of the latest thinking by leading experts from around the world on integrating systems and strategies in production management and related issues that are relevant for making production into a competitive resource for the firm. This book is composed of five parts, each focused on a specific theme: Linking systems and strategies; Strategic operations management; IS/IT applications in the value chain; Modelling and simulation; Improving operations.

Download or read book Baseball Gold written by Dan Schlossberg and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even the most ardent baseball fan will be amazed at the quirks, quips, and comments in Baseball Gold. Consisting entirely of bits and pieces of baseball’s offbeat history, this volume covers teams and a myriad of players, owners, managers, and broadcasters—from their exploits on the field to those behind clubhouse doors. It can even be picked up in the middle and read backward—one nugget at a time.

Download or read book The Games That Changed the Game written by Ron Jaworski and published by ESPN. This book was released on 2011-08-30 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gift for sports fans and football afficianados Professional football in the last half century has been a sport marked by relentless innovation. For fans determined to keep up with the changes that have transformed the game, close examination of the coaching footage is a must. In The Games That Changed the Game, Ron Jaworski—pro football’s #1 game-tape guru—breaks down the film from seven of the most momentous contests of the last fifty years, giving readers a drive-by-drive, play-by-play guide to the evolutionary leaps that define the modern NFL. From Sid Gillman’s development of the Vertical Stretch, which launched the era of wide-open passing offenses, to Bill Belichick’s daring defensive game plan in Super Bowl XXXVI, which enabled his outgunned squad to upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams and usher in the New England Patriots dynasty, the most cutting-edge concepts come alive again through the recollections of nearly seventy coaches and players. You’ll never watch NFL football the same way again.