Download or read book The Original Curse Did the Cubs Throw the 1918 World Series to Babe Ruth s Red Sox and Incite the Black Sox Scandal written by Sean Deveney and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2009-10-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF EIGHT MEN OUT . . . the untold story of baseball’s ORIGINAL SCANDAL Did the Chicago Cubs throw the World Series in 1918—and get away with it? Who were the players involved—and why did they do it? Were gambling and corruption more widespread across the leagues than previously believed? Were the players and teams “cursed” by their actions? Finally, is it time to rewrite baseball history? With exclusive access to surprising new evidence, Sporting News reporter Sean Deveney details a scandal at the core of baseball’s greatest folklore—in a golden era as exciting and controversial as our sports world today. This inside look at the pivotal year of 1918 proves that baseball has always been a game overrun with colorful characters, intense human drama, and explosive controversy. "The Original Curse is not just about baseball. It is a sweeping portrait of America at war in 1918. . . . In the end, the proper question is not, ‘How could a player from that era fix the World Series?’ It’s, ‘How could he not?’” —Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports, from the Introduction "Sean Deveney plays connect-the-dots in this intriguing account of a possible conspiracy to throw the 1918 World Series. Thoroughly researched and well written, The Original Curse is a must-read for baseball fans and anyone who loves a good mystery. Is Max Flack the Shoeless Joe of the 1918 Cubs? Deveney lays out the case and let's readers decide if the fix was in." —Paul Sullivan, Cubs beat writer, Chicago Tribune "This book gives the reader a fun and honest look at baseball as it used to be-- the good guys, the gamblers, the cheaters, the drunks, the inept leaders. But, more than that, it puts those characters into the context of Chicago, Boston and America at the time of World War I, and you wind up with a unique way to explain the motivations of those characters." —David Kaplan, host, Chicago Tribune Live and WGN's Sports Central “Deveney’s painstaking study of the 1918 World Series between the Cubs and Red Sox argues that the Black Sox scandal was not an aberration and might have had an antecedent. Deveney’s scholarship does not detract from his ability to spin a good tale: his tendency to imagine players’ conversations will remind readers of Leigh Montville’s The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth.... A welcome companion to Susan Dellinger’s Red Legs and Black Sox: Edd Roush and the Untold Story of the 1919 World Series, Deveney’s book contributes greatly to our understanding of this decisive period in baseball and American morals." —Library Journal

Download or read book How Baseball Players Curse written by Determined Afternoon Press and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adult Cursing Coloring Book For Baseball Lovers This swearing coloring book features laugh-out-loud, funny, original designs to color. Perfect for stress relief from work, relationships etc. Hours of coloring fun and at the same time beautiful designs at home, work, in the car, while traveling or when you just want to swear! INSIDE: Sweary and funny words on every design 40 single - sided different designs to color Beautiful stress relieving designs for relaxation Perfect as a gift for Christmas, birthday or any other special occasion!

Download or read book Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse Totally True Adventures written by David A. Kelly and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2010-04-14 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn’t win another World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team. Could they break Babe Ruth’s curse and win it all?

Download or read book Is There a Winner s Curse in the Market for Baseball Players written by Barry Blecherman and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Field of Magic written by John Cairney and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-02-09 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superstition has been a part of baseball from the beginning. From good luck charms to human mascots to ritual statues of Babe Ruth to the curse of Colonel Sanders, there may be almost as many superstitions as players (or fans). Drawing on social science, religious studies and SABRmetrics, this book explores the rich history of supernatural belief in the game and documents a wide variety of rituals, fetishes, taboos and jinxes. Some of these have changed over time but coping with uncertainty on the field through magical thinking remains a constant.

Download or read book The Curse of the Bambino or How the Sox Finally End It written by Liam and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that the Red Sox are part of the patrimony of the New England; generation after generation has inherited a fidelity to the cause of the men of Fenway, known throughout New England as The Sox. The Red Sox are as much a part of that historic corner of the American nation as the mountains, lakes, and shoreline that so graphically characterize it. The focal point of this devotion is Fenway Park, the small, old, oddly shaped home field of the Red Sox since April 20, 1912. Built for a game that feeds off its own history, that follows a seamless course through the years, Fenway is an ideal place to watch baseball, where one can sit comfortably with the shadows of George Herman Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens and all other titans who have passed this way. Every Red Sox fan is a shareholder in that history, possesses an anchorage in that past, and holds a ticket in the future. Through their long and unpredictable history the Red Sox have been many things: triumphant, exciting, and gallant, as well as frustrating and disappointing. Through all personnel changes that baseball teams must necessarily undergo, they have never failed to exude a certain charm that is rare in any athletic endeavor. These are the qualities of the Boston Red Sox, one of the ongoing enchantments of New England.

Download or read book Haunted Baseball written by Mickey Bradley and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007-08-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball and ghost stories are as American as apple pie. Haunted Baseball combines both with this fun and freaky collection of otherworldly yarns. Collected from baseball players, stadium personnel, umpires, front-office folks, and fans, the tales told here explore the spooky connection between baseball and the paranormal, including Babe Ruth sightings at a former brothel, the Curse of the Billy Goat that still haunts the Chicago Cubs, of hidden passageways within the depths of Dodger Stadium, and of the spirits of legendary stars that inspire modern-day players at Yankee Stadium. We hear why Johnny Damon believes in ghosts, and how the memories of a 9/11 hero inspired Ken Griffey Jr. to hit a home run against the Phillies—a team against which he’d never even gotten a hit! There’s the story of how Sam Rice settled a decades-old baseball controversy with a message from beyond the grave, and how the late Roberto Clemente had premonitions of his own death in a plane crash. With a wealth of anecdotes that have never before been told before, the authors present an entertaining and eerie look at our national pastime.

Download or read book The Cubs Way written by Tom Verducci and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: -With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions---

Download or read book The Team Curse written by Israel Keats and published by Darby Creek ™. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For as long as Isaac could remember, the Middleton High baseball team hasn't won a single game. So when he tries out as a sophomore and makes the team, he's excited but not surprised. After the first pathetic losses of the season, Isaac starts to get frustrated—why aren't any of his teammates even trying to win? When he confronts them and threatens to quit, they let him in on the secret: the team has been trapped in a curse for generations. Isaac decides to do whatever it takes to put an end to the curse.

Download or read book How Baseball Explains America written by Hal Bodley and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining the connection between baseball and our society as a whole, How Baseball Explains America is a fascinating, one-of-a-kind journey through America's pastime. Longtime USA TODAY baseball editor and columnist Hal Bodley explores just how essential baseball is to understanding the American experience. He takes readers into the Oval Office with George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton as the former presidents share their thoughts on the game, he looks at the changes that America's Greatest Generation ushered in, as well as examining baseball's struggle with performance enhancing drugs alongside America's war on drugs. An unabashedly celebratory explanation of America's love affair with baseball and the men who make it possible, this work sheds light on topics such as the role Jackie Robinson's signing with the Dodgers played in the civil rights movement, how baseball's westward expansion mirrored the growth of our national economy, labor strife, baseball families, the international explosion of the game, and even the myriad ways in which movies, music, and baseball are intrinsically tied. It is a must read for anyone interested in more fully understanding not only the game but also the nation in which it thrives.

Download or read book The Baseball Codes written by Jason Turbow and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Billy Goat Curse written by Gil Bogen and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2008-12-17 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1945 the most famous curse in sports was placed on the Chicago Cubs when Bill Sianis and his goat were ejected from Wrigley Field. Though Sianis purchased two tickets for the fourth game of the World Series against Detroit, the goat's stench led to the pair's ouster. The indignant Sianis allegedly cursed the Cubs, promising that they'd never again play in the World Series at Wrigley Field. More than six decades later, the team has yet to win a pennant. There were years when fortune seemed to pluck defeat from the wings of sure victory. The book focuses on the attitudes of players and fans, as well as attempts to exorcise the curse. It features photographs and interviews of former Cub players, as well as a foreword by Hall of Fame shortstop Ernie Banks.

Download or read book The Great Baseball Revolt written by Robert B. Ross and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Players League, formed in 1890, was a short-lived professional baseball league controlled and owned in part by the players themselves, a response to the National League’s salary cap and “reserve rule,” which bound players for life to one particular team. Led by John Montgomery Ward, the Players League was a star-studded group that included most of the best players of the National League, who bolted not only to gain control of their wages but also to share ownership of the teams. Lasting only a year, the league impacted both the professional sports and the labor politics of athletes and nonathletes alike. The Great Baseball Revolt is a historic overview of the rise and fall of the Players League, which fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Though it marketed itself as a working-class league, the players were underfunded and had to turn to wealthy capitalists for much of their startup costs, including the new ballparks. It was in this context that the league intersected with the organized labor movement, and in many ways challenged by organized labor to be by and for the people. In its only season, the Players League outdrew the National League in fan attendance. But when the National League overinflated its numbers and profits, the Players League backers pulled out. The Great Baseball Revolt brings to life a compelling cast of characters and a mostly forgotten but important time in professional sports when labor politics affected both athletes and nonathletes. Purchase the audio edition.

Download or read book The Curse of Carl Mays written by Howard Camerik and published by Virtualbookworm Publishing. This book was released on 2006-06 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was it really Bambino's Curse, or something else all along? It's October 25, 1986-for Red Sox Nation, a date that will live in infamy. Game Six. Pat McCarvill is Boston's popular mayor, presiding over a boomtown riding the wave of the "Massachusetts Miracle." Despite his success, he's forever haunted by a youthful decision to abandon a once-promising professional baseball career. McCarvill was born on the anniversary of the tragedy to which he has always felt strangely connected: the death of Ray Chapman, killed by a pitch thrown by a one-time Red Sox star, Carl Mays. Hours before Game Six is to begin, that cosmic connection will un-fold. McCarvill is injured while playing in a pre-game charity event, but the paramedics dispatched to his aid mysteriously travel back to 1920, rescuing Chapman instead. The historical timeline has been tampered with, and back in 1986 things have changed-for McCarvill, for the Red Sox, for all of Boston. Now, a legendary fable will be debunked, a life's regret will be redeemed, and a city's dream will be fulfilled . but at what cost?

Download or read book My Cubs written by Scott Simon and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NPR's Scott Simon's personal, heartfelt reflections on his beloved Chicago Cubs, replete with club lore, memorable anecdotes, frenetic fandom and wise and adoring intimacy that have made the world champion Cubbies baseball's most tortured—and now triumphant—franchise. Heartbreak and hope. Charmed and haunted. My Cubs is Scott Simon’s love letter to his Chicago Cubs, World Series winners for the first time in over a century. Replete with personal reflections, club lore, memorable anecdotes, and tales of frenetic fandom, My Cubs recounts the franchise’s pivotal moments with the wise and adoring intimacy of a long-suffering devotee and Chicago native. Simon illustrates how the condition of “Cubness” has defined the life of so many Chicagoans and how the team’s fortunes became intertwined with the aspirations of its faithful. With the curse finally broken on November 2, 2016, My Cubs is the perfect portrayal of paradise lost and found.

Download or read book Perfect written by James Buckley, Jr. and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2012-04 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among baseball achievements, the perfect game--one in which no runners reach base--remains the greatest. Though many have come close, only 20 pitchers have achieved such perfection in more than a century of baseball. This exhaustive compendium examines the fascinating story behind every perfect game and uncovers details both great and small, illuminating the majesty of these titanic achievements. The faithfully narrated record of all 20 games--punctuated by statistics, trivia, little-known anecdotes, and personal memories from both witnesses and the pitchers themselves--gets inside the minds of the players who made baseball history. In addition to profiling some of the game's greatest pitchers, such as Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, and Randy Johnson, or others including Charley Robertson who had otherwise unremarkable careers, this updated edition features new chapters devoted to Dallas Braden, Mark Buehrle, and Roy Halladay, the three latest pitchers to throw a perfect game, and a comprehensive appendix profiles several pitchers who almost achieved perfection.

Download or read book Spring Training written by Dan Shaughnessy and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2003 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the purpose-pitch that zips inches from the batter's head, before greenfly autograph-seekers stalk hotel lobbies, before thousands of fans stand up and boo in 50,000-seat stadiums, before the proverbial dog days of summer and the pressure-packed moments of October . . . there is sweet spring. The long hello. Baseball's early season. The words spring training have long held special power over baseball fans. They signal the arrival of fresh air and sunshine after a long winter devoid of bare feet and box scores. The chance to see the game up close and personal, in beautiful slow motion. No other sport undergoes this slow, glorious unfolding. And no other book captures baseball's rite of passage in all its magic. Come on a wild ride through spring training's many attractions and peculiarities, from Florida to Arizona, the National to the American League, the dugouts to Section D. Glimpse retirees in Hawaiian shirts singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," million-dollar players taking it easy on the field and in the bars, young rookies flashing their skills, grizzled vets going through the motions, wide-eyed children dressed from head to toe in their favorite team's garb. It's all here, from Alligator Alley to Cactus Way, sit-ups to sunblock, home runs to hangovers -- a lively tribute to America's favorite pastime in its purest, most wonderful form.