Download or read book The Greatest Thing written by Kristy Nerstheimer and published by Little Fig. This book was released on 2021-02 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Join John Jordan 'Buck" O'Neil Jr., baseball player extraordinaire and eternal optimist. Follow him on his journey from childhood dreams, to playing baseball with the Kansas City Monarchs, to becoming the first African American coach in the major leagues. He is a baseball legend who showed the world how to live, love, and play ball. Buck's biography coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Negro National Leagues and is approved for inclusion in the National Centennial Celebrations in Kansas City, Missouri.
Download or read book John Buck O Neil written by Phil S. Dixon and published by . This book was released on 2009-04-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The summer of 1938 was a pivotal year for baseball and American history. In that same year, John Jordon "Buck" O'Neil, was a rookie first baseman playing his first season in the Negro American League. Born in Carrabelle, Florida, raised in Sarasota and nicknamed Buck, it had taken five years and five different teams before the Kansas City, Monarchs finally signed O'Neil to a contract. Before he could get the starting assignment, though, O'Neil had to dethrone one of the Negro Leagues' hardest hitting first basemen, Eldridge Mayweather. In 1938, a time when African-American hall of fame ballplayers worth millions could be purchased for pennies on the dollar, times were hard and the baseball was tough. Kansas City's Monarchs were a blend of youth and maturity, and one of the best teams in the Negro American League. Oddly, Kansas City, in spite of winning records against every team in the Negro American League, failed to win the first-half or second-half pennant. For the first time ever John "Buck" O'Neil, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe and James "Gabby" Kemp and many others are united together to speak on this celebrated season. With interviews from Monarchs' players Willard "Sonny" Brown, Newt Allen and Byron "Mex" Johnson and many others readers are taken on a road trip around America. Along the way readers, just as the team did in 1938, come in contact with segregation and racism as the book helps everyone to relive the glory days of the Negro Baseball Leagues. Illustrated with over forty historic photographs, John "Buck" O'Neil, the rookie, the man, the lagacy 1938 is a welcome addition to every baseball fans reading list.
Download or read book The Soul of Baseball written by Joe Posnanski and published by William Morrow Paperbacks. This book was released on 2008-03-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When legendary Negro League player Buck O'Neil asked Joe Posnanski how he fell in love with baseball, the renowned sports columnist was inspired by the question. He decided to spend the 2005 baseball season touring the country with the ninety-four-year-old O'Neil in hopes of rediscovering the love that first drew them to the game. The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions—for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music—O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life.
Download or read book I Was Right On Time written by David Conrads and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eye-opening biography of baseball legend Buck O’Neil, first baseman and then manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, who witnessed the heyday of the Negro leagues and their ultimate demise. From Babe Ruth to Bo Jackson, from Cool Papa Bell to Lou Brock, Buck O’Neil had seen it all. In I Was Right on Time, he charmingly recalled his days as a ballplayer and as a Black American in a racially divided country. From his barnstorming days with the likes of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson or to the day in 1962 when he became the first Black American coach in the major leagues, I Was Right On Time takes us on a trip not only through baseball’s past but through America’s as well.
Download or read book Catching Dreams written by Frazier Robinson and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2000-12-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a rare memoir about the Negro Leagues and its celebrated players, Frazier "Slow" Robinson offers an inspiring and often entertaining view of the black baseball diamond through a catcher's mask. In 1939, at the age of 29—after playing professional baseball for twelve years—Frazier Robinson caught the legendary Satchel Paige in barnstorming games from New Orleans to Walla Walla. Robinson played several more seasons in the Negro Leagues before finishing his career in Canada. While his career was a solid one, it was less spectacular than that of his friend and Hall-of-Famer, Satchel Paige, and so more typical of the experience of most Negro Leaguers. Richly embroidered with the threads of black society and of life as a black athlete in a racially divided nation, Robinson recounts his long career with the skill and ease of a natural storyteller. He covers, in remarkable detail, the personal perspective of the men, the teams, and the times that shaped this uniquely American subculture. From playing catcher for obscure industrial teams to barnstorming with Satchel Paige, he chronologically traces his nationwide path through the 1920s, '30s, '40s, and early '50s. The Foreword by John "Buck" O'Neil and Introduction by Gerald Early place Robinson squarely in the world of sports, African American culture, and American history.
Download or read book Shades of Glory written by Lawrence D. Hogan and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The result of a study commissioned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and funded by a grant from Major League Baseball(, this richly illustrated, comprehensive history combines vivid narrative, visual impact, and a unique statistical component to re-create the excitement and passion of the Negro Leagues. 75 photos.
Download or read book Willie s Boys written by John Klima and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2009-07-28 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Willie Mays's rookie year with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro World Series, and the making of a baseball legend Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is one of baseball's endearing greats, a tremendously talented and charismatic center fielder who hit 660 career homeruns, collected 3,283 hits, knocked in 1,903 runs, won 12 Gold Glove Awards and appeared in 24 All-Star games. But before Mays was the "Say Hey Kid", he was just a boy. Willie's Boys is the story of his remarkable 1948 rookie season with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, who took a risk on a raw but gifted 16-year-old and gave him the experience, confidence, and connections to escape Birmingham's segregation, navigate baseball's institutional racism, and sign with the New York Giants. Willie's Boys offers a character-rich narrative of the apprenticeship Mays had at the hands of a diverse group of savvy veterans who taught him the ways of the game and the world. Sheds new light on the virtually unknown beginnings of a baseball great, not available in other books Captures the first incredible steps of a baseball superstar in his first season with the Negro League's Birmingham Black Barons Introduces the veteran group of Negro League players, including Piper Davis, who gave Mays an incredible apprenticeship season Illuminates the Negro League's last days, drawing on in-depth research and interviews with remaining players Explores the heated rivalry between Mays's Black Barons and Buck O'Neil's Kansas City Monarchs , culminating in the last Negro League World Series Breaks new historical ground on what led the New York Giants to acquire Mays, and why he didn't sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, or Boston Red Sox Packed with stories and insights, Willie's Boys takes you inside an important part of baseball history and the development of one of the all-time greats ever to play the game.
Download or read book The Negro Leagues Revisited written by Brent Kelley and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a followup volume to the acclaimed Voices from the Negro Leagues, (McFarland, 1998; softcover 2005) which features interviews with 52 former Negro League players from the 1920s to 1960s. Interviewed in this new volume are Bobby Robinson, Double Duty Radcliffe, Red Lindsay, Pullman Porter, Earl Wilson, Sr., Percy Reed, Joe Burt Scott, Willie Simms, Bo Campbell, Big Train Dudley, Mex Johnson, Buck O'Neil, Herbert Barnhill, Bernard Fernandez, Dick Powell, Jimmy Barnes, Charlie Biot, Monk Favors, Alton King, Buster Haywood, Casey Jones, Hickey Redd, Tommy Sampson, John Gibbons, Schoolboy Gulley, Schoolboy Kimbrough, Briefcase Simpson, Doc Dennis, Ralph Johnson, Lefty LaMarque, Junior Miller, Tex Williams, Baby Face Peatros, Big Jim McCurine, Eddie Williams, Zipper Zapp, Billy Fender, Dave Pope, Bill Powell, Marvin Price, Bob Scott, Dirk Gibbons, Hoss Ritchey, Lefty Bo Maddix, Hank Presswood, Mickey Stubblefield, Josh Gibson, Jr., Bobo Henderson, Fancy Dan Porter, Jumpin Johnny Wilson, Quack Brown, Granny Gladstone, Hoppy Hopkins, Carl Long, Jim Robinson, Juan Armenteros, Peanut Johnson, Eddie Reed, Ricky Maroto, Peachhead Mitchell, Ted Rasberry, Pedro Sierra, Jim Cobbin, Dick Scruggs, Sonny Webb and Tommy Taylor. Rare personal photographs and complete-as-possible statistics supplement the interviews.
Download or read book Maybe I ll Pitch Forever written by LeRoy Paige and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Satchel Paige was forty-two years old in 1948 when he became the first black pitcher in the American League. Although the oldest rookie around, he was already a legend. For twenty-two years, beginning in 1926, Paige dazzled throngs with his performance in the Negro Baseball Leagues. Then he outlasted everyone by playing professional baseball, in and out of the majors, until 1965. Struggle—against early poverty and racial discrimination—was part of Paige's story. So was fast living and a humorous point of view. His immortal advice was "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."
Download or read book The Negro Leagues written by James A. Riley and published by Chelsea House. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a history of the Negro leagues and the role they played in integrating baseball.
Download or read book The Baseball 100 written by Joe Posnanski and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 702 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year “An instant sports classic.” —New York Post * “Stellar.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” —BookPage (starred review) * “This is a remarkable achievement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will. Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,? The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?” Baseball’s legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history? No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more. The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.
Download or read book The Kansas City Monarchs written by Janet Bruce and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated study of the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the top teams in the Negro National League, which served as a training ground for Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, and over twenty other players who were eventually sent to the major leagues.
Download or read book The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues written by James A. Riley and published by Carroll & Graf Pub. This book was released on 2002 with total page 952 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Briefly traces the history of the Negro Baseball League, and identifies over four thousand of its players.
Download or read book Oscar Charleston written by Jeremy Beer and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-04 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biography of Oscar Charleston, a Negro Leagues legend and one of baseball’s greatest and most unjustifiably overlooked players.
Download or read book Black Baseball 1858 1900 written by James E. Brunson III and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-03-22 with total page 1402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is one of the most important baseball books to be published in a long time, taking a comprehensive look at black participation in the national pastime from 1858 through 1900. It provides team rosters and team histories, player biographies, a list of umpires and games they officiated and information on team managers and team secretaries. Well known organizations like the Washington's Mutuals, Philadelphia Pythians, Chicago Uniques, St. Louis Black Stockings, Cuban Giants and Chicago Unions are documented, as well as lesser known teams like the Wilmington Mutuals, Newton Black Stockings, San Francisco Enterprise, Dallas Black Stockings, Galveston Flyaways, Louisville Brotherhoods and Helena Pastimes. Player biographies trace their connections between teams across the country. Essays frame the biographies, discussing the social and cultural events that shaped black baseball. Waiters and barbers formed the earliest organized clubs and developed local, regional and national circuits. Some players belonged to both white and colored clubs, and some umpires officiated colored, white and interracial matches. High schools nurtured young players and transformed them into powerhouse teams, like Cincinnati's Vigilant Base Ball Club. A special essay covers visual representations of black baseball and the artists who created them, including colored artists of color who were also baseballists.
Download or read book They Played for the Love of the Game written by Frank M. White and published by Minnesota Historical Society. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century before Kirby Puckett led the Minnesota Twins to World Series championships, Minnesota was home to countless talented African American baseball players, yet few of them are known to fans today. During the many decades that Major League Baseball and its affiliates imposed a strict policy of segregation, black ballplayers in Minnesota were relegated to a haphazard array of semipro leagues, barnstorming clubs, and loose organizations of all-black teams—many of which are lost to history. They Played for the Love of the Game recovers that history by sharing stories of African American ballplayers in Minnesota, from the 1870s to the 1960s, through photos, artifacts, and spoken histories passed through the generations. Author Frank White’s own father was one of the top catchers in the Twin Cities in his day, a fact that White did not learn until late in life. While the stories tell of denial, hardship, and segregation, they are highlighted by athletes who persevered and were united by their love of the sport.
Download or read book If You Were Only White written by Donald Spivey and published by University of Missouri. This book was released on 2012-05-14 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If You Were Only White explores the legacy of one of the most exceptional athletes ever—an entertainer extraordinaire, a daring showman and crowd-pleaser, a wizard with a baseball whose artistry and antics on the mound brought fans out in the thousands to ballparks across the country. Leroy “Satchel” Paige was arguably one of the world’s greatest pitchers and a premier star of Negro Leagues Baseball. But in this biography Donald Spivey reveals Paige to have been much more than just a blazing fastball pitcher. Spivey follows Paige from his birth in Alabama in 1906 to his death in Kansas City in 1982, detailing the challenges Paige faced battling the color line in America and recounting his tests and triumphs in baseball. He also opens up Paige’s private life during and after his playing days, introducing readers to the man who extended his social, cultural, and political reach beyond the limitations associated with his humble background and upbringing. This other Paige was a gifted public speaker, a talented musician and singer, an excellent cook, and a passionate outdoorsman, among other things. Paige’s life intertwined with many of the most important issues of the times in U.S. and African American history, including the continuation of the New Negro Movement and the struggle for civil rights. Spivey incorporates interviews with former teammates conducted over twelve years, as well as exclusive interviews with Paige’s son Robert, daughter Pamela, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, and John “Buck” O’Neil to tell the story of a pioneer who helped transform America through the nation’s favorite pastime. Maintaining an image somewhere between Joe Louis’s public humility and the flamboyant aggression of Jack Johnson, Paige pushed the boundaries of segregation and bridged the racial divide with stellar pitching packaged with slapstick humor. He entertained as he played to win and saw no contradiction in doing so. Game after game, his performance refuted the lie that black baseball was inferior to white baseball. His was a contribution to civil rights of a different kind—his speeches and demonstrations expressed through his performance on the mound.
