Download or read book The Best of Hal Lebovitz written by Hal Lebovitz and published by Gray & Company. This book was released on 2006-04 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best sports writing of Hal Lebovitz, the dean of Cleveland sportswriters for six decades. Many of his columns were anthologized in "Best American Sportswriting" and other collections, and he won countless national and regional sportswriting awards--among them induction into the writers' wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Download or read book Ask Hal written by Hal Lebovitz and published by Gray & Company, Publishers. This book was released on 2007 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fun and fact-filled collection of baseball Q&As from a legendary sportswriter and rules expert. The popular "Ask Hal" column ran for decades in "The Plain Dealer" and "The Sporting News," answering fans questions about serious, goofy, and bizarre situations on the playing field. This best-of collection is for fans who love to "know it all."
Download or read book Of Tribes and Tribulations written by James E. Odenkirk and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-06-12 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over their first four decades in the American League, the Cleveland Indians were known more for great players than consistently great play. Its rosters filled with all-time greats like Cy Young, Nap Lajoie, Elmer Flick, Tris Speaker, and the ill-fated Addie Joss and Ray Chapman, Cleveland often found itself in the thick of the race but, with 1920 the lone exception, seemed always to finish a game or two back in the final standings. In the 10 years that followed the end of World War II, however, the franchise turned the corner. Led by owner (and world-class showman) Bill Veeck, the boy-manager Lou Boudreau, ace Bob Feller, and the barrier-busting Larry Doby, Cleveland charged up the standings, finishing in the first division every season but one and winning it all in 1948. This meticulously researched history covers the Indians' first six decades, from their minor league origins at the end of the 19th century to the dismantling of the 1954 World Series club. It is a story of unforgettable players, frustrated hopes, and two glorious victories that fed a city's unwavering devotion to its team.
Download or read book The Best Man Plays written by Andrew O’Toole and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2003-04-25 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that sport is the great leveler, that on the playing field everyone is of equal status. Through the years, however, few institutions have better embodied America's ideals and prejudices than baseball. Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers marked the first time an African American participated in a major league contest in the 20th century, and his abilities verified what many had believed all along--that African Americans could compete with white players and excel. The experiences and important contributions of six African American baseball players from the 1900s to the present day are presented in this work. The players are Andrew "Rube" Foster, perhaps the most important figure in black baseball during the first quarter of the 20th century; Satchel Paige, whose talent quickly became known in organized baseball and was built into a near mythical figure by an enchanted press; Larry Doby, who took the field with the Cleveland Indians three months after Jackie Robinson appeared with the Dodgers; Curt Flood, remembered less for the exceptional player he was than for challenging baseball's reserve clause; Dave Parker, the first black player to make a million dollars a year but also a prominent witness to the Pittsburgh drug trial; and Barry Bonds, known for his clashes with fans and the media but most recently revered for his MVP season in 2002 and record-breaking 73 home runs in 2001.
Download or read book Godcast written by Dan Betzer and published by New Leaf Publishing Group. This book was released on 2008-09-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With discernment and an eye for finding scriptural relevance in daily life, Dan Betzer shares a powerful collection of observation and insight from his beloved "Byline" radio and television programs in Godcast: Transforming Encounters with God. Contains 245 unique "godcasts" - read each in two minutes or less. Focused on life, the church, the bible, and a culture sometimes at odds with all of three. Each godcast includes a scriptural reference and a simple prayer. Unique collection for personal enrichment or as an empowering pastoral resource! An executive Presbyter of the General Council of the Assemblies of God, the senior pastor of the 10,000 member/adherent First Assembly of God Church in Fort Myers, Florida, and with over 60 years of media and ministry experience, Dan Betzer served as the familiar face and beloved voice for Revival time and Byline radio/TV for millions of viewers and listeners over a thousand radio and television stations. He continues to host daily television programs, has authored over 20 books, produced dozens of music and children's albums, and remains a dynamic and powerful speaker who has ministered in 61 nations.
Download or read book Rocky Colavito written by Mark Sommer and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-06-10 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iconic ballplayer Rocky Colavito captivated fans during the 1950s and 1960s with his movie-star looks, boyish enthusiasm, powerful bat and cannon-like arm. This biography of "the Rock"--the first in more than half a century--recounts his origins in an Italian immigrant family, his close friendships with Herb Score and Roger Maris, and his rise through the minors to become one of the Cleveland Indians' most beloved players--who retired with the third most home runs by a right-handed AL batter. The author also examines the controversial trade that sent Colavito, the AL's 1959 home run champion, to the Detroit Tigers for batting champion Harvey Kuenn. Colavito's departure was a crushing blow to Indians fans and the team's subsequent 34-year slump was dubbed "the Curse of Colavito."
Download or read book Our Team written by Luke Epplin and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The riveting story of four men—Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige—whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond. In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history. In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy. Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series--all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.
Download or read book Satchel written by Larry Tye and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The superbly researched, spellbindingly told story of athlete, showman, philosopher, and boundary breaker Leroy “Satchel” Paige “Among the rare biographies of an athlete that transcend sports . . . gives us the man as well as the myth.”—The Boston Globe Few reliable records or news reports survive about players in the Negro Leagues. Through dogged detective work, award-winning author and journalist Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about this majestic and enigmatic pitcher, interviewing more than two hundred Negro Leaguers and Major Leaguers, talking to family and friends who had never told their stories before, and retracing Paige’s steps across the continent. Here is the stirring account of the child born to an Alabama washerwoman with twelve young mouths to feed, the boy who earned the nickname “Satchel” from his enterprising work as a railroad porter, the young man who took up baseball on the streets and in reform school, inventing his trademark hesitation pitch while throwing bricks at rival gang members. Tye shows Paige barnstorming across America and growing into the superstar hurler of the Negro Leagues, a marvel who set records so eye-popping they seemed like misprints, spent as much money as he made, and left tickets for “Mrs. Paige” that were picked up by a different woman at each game. In unprecedented detail, Tye reveals how Paige, hurt and angry when Jackie Robinson beat him to the Majors, emerged at the age of forty-two to help propel the Cleveland Indians to the World Series. He threw his last pitch from a big-league mound at an improbable fifty-nine. (“Age is a case of mind over matter,” he said. “If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”) More than a fascinating account of a baseball odyssey, Satchel rewrites our history of the integration of the sport, with Satchel Paige in a starring role. This is a powerful portrait of an American hero who employed a shuffling stereotype to disarm critics and racists, floated comical legends about himself–including about his own age–to deflect inquiry and remain elusive, and in the process methodically built his own myth. “Don’t look back,” he famously said. “Something might be gaining on you.” Separating the truth from the legend, Satchel is a remarkable accomplishment, as large as this larger-than-life man.
Download or read book A Summer to Remember written by Lew Freedman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the Cleveland Indians are known lately more for being cellar dwellers than world champions, that wasn’t the case in 1948. Ranked by the Sporting News as the ninth-best team in baseball history, the ’48 Indians were a colorful group of guys, led by the always colorful Bill Veeck, the future Hall of Famer who was running his first team. But the Indians weren’t just well run in the front office; their team on the field was comprised of seven future Hall of Famers. Player-manager Lou Boudreau would not only lead his team to the playoffs, but would also become the first shortstop to ever win the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. He also relied on pitchers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Negro leagues legend Satchel Paige (then forty-one years old), as well as second baseman Joe Gordon and right fielder Larry Doby, who followed Jackie Robinson by only a few weeks in breaking the color barrier in baseball. The Indians finished the ’48 season at 97–58 and were tied with Joe McCarthy’s Boston Red Sox, which led to the first-ever one game playoff in American League history. The Indians were victorious and would then defeat the Boston Braves in six games to win the World Series. The Monsters of Municipal Stadium is a fantastic look at one of the greatest teams ever to play the game, and at how everyone involved in this extraordinary season—from the players to management—made 1948 a memorable year for baseball and the city of Cleveland. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Download or read book Mrs Morhard and the Boys written by Ruth Hanford Morhard and published by Citadel. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Great Depression brought America to the brink of disaster, a devoted single mother in Cleveland, Ohio, wrestled triumph out of adversity by creating a community activity that would inspire the nation. Josephine Morhard never waited for something to happen. At twelve years old, fiercely independent Josephine left her family’s Pennsylvania farm to start a new life. Coming of age during one of the most devastating times in America, and weathering two bad marriages, Josephine put her personal problems aside to insure a productive future for her daughter and son. But Junior was a volatile boy of eight—until his mother came upon a novel sports idea to encourage discipline, guidance, and self-worth in her son. Out of a dream, an empty lot, and the enthusiasm of other neighborhood kids, Josephine established the first boys’ baseball league in America. Her city—and the country—was watching. Beyond all expectations, the Cleveland Indians rallied behind her project. Indians legends Bob Feller, Jeff Heath, and Roy Weatherly helped hone the boys’ skills; renowned sports reporter Hal Lebovitz became an umpire; and they were given permission to play in historic League Park. All the while, as Josephine’s Little Indians graduated into the Junior American and Junior National Leagues, and finally a Little World Series, she instilled in her boys strong values, good sportsmanship, and an unprecedented sense of accomplishment. Some of them, like Ray Lindquist and Jack Heinen, would become Minor League players. Not one of Mrs. Morhard’s boys would ever forget her. In this stirring biography of an unsung American heroine, Josephine Morhard’s daughter-in-law recounts the extraordinary life and accomplishments of a resilient, selfless, and determined woman. Her inspiring true story—a long time coming—is something to cheer for.
Download or read book The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United States written by Mark Dyreson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Americans know more about the stadiums that loom over their cityscapes or college campuses than they do about any other aspect of the nation’s geography. Stadiums serve as iconic monuments of urban and university identities. Indeed, the power of sport in modern American culture has produced ‘sportscapes’—landscapes literally shaped by their devotion to athletic competition. Curiously, given the importance of the secular cathedrals in American culture, historians have paid little attention to these edifices. The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United States: Cathedrals of Sport seeks to remedy that oversight. This book will analyze stadiums from a variety of perspectives, paying special attention to the links between the ‘built environment’ in which Americans watch and play games and the larger social environments that the nation’s sporting practices inhabit. The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United States: Cathedrals of Sport explores the role of stadiums in shaping urban identities, determining the economics of intercollegiate athletics, influencing local and national politics. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.
Download or read book Going Going Caught written by Jason Aronoff and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-01-23 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though Willie Mays' World Series catch of Vic Wertz's long drive in 1954 immediately comes to mind, there are many catches that have been called "the greatest." This work documents baseball's best catches by outfielders from 1887 through 1964 (the year of Duke Snider's retirement, the demolition of the Polo Grounds, and, arguably, Willie Mays' last great grab). After introductory chapters on factors that influenced the catches and their legacies--from ballpark quirks, changes to the baseball and the evolution of baseball gloves, to sportswriters and photography--the book describes famous catches by decade from such players as Mays, Willie Keeler, Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Roberto Clement, Curt Flood and many others. Extensive research yields a wealth of information for each catch, including commentary by period sportswriters, players, and, often, the man who snagged the ball.
Download or read book Hebrew Hammer written by Joseph Wancho and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-12-21 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first biography of four-time all-star Al Rosen covers the career of perhaps the best player on the fabulous Cleveland Indians' teams of the 1950s. From 1951 to 1956, the Tribe won one American League pennant (1954) and finished second to New York the other five seasons. Rosen was selected as the League's Most Valuable Player in 1953, the last Indians player to be so honored. He led the League in home runs (43) and RBI (145). Washington's Mickey Vernon edged Rosen by a single percentage point (.337 to .336) for the league batting championship. His play between the white lines was not the only place where Rosen left his mark on the game. He spent 14 seasons as a president or general manager for the New York Yankees (1978-1979), Houston Astros (1981-1985) and the San Francisco Giants (1986-1992). Under his guidance, those teams won two pennants and one world championship. Rosen is the only person in Major League Baseball history to win an MVP award as a player and to be recognized as Executive of the Year by The Sporting News (1987).
Download or read book Pitchin Man written by Paige Satchel and published by Gray & Company, Publishers. This book was released on 2012-05 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first autobiography by Leroy “Satchel” Paige, one of the best and most colorful pitchers in the history of professional baseball. Based on interviews conducted by Cleveland sports writer Hal Lebovitz, this book was first released shortly after Paige joined the Indians in 1948 (days after his 42nd birthday and after 22 years playing with various Negro League, minor league and Puerto Rican League teams). Told in a casual first-person style, Paige's stories provide a snapshot from a bygone era of Major League baseball. Paige tells how he began his pitching career by throwing rocks (”We had a pretty rough gang down on the South Side of Mobile, near the Bay, where I was born and raised”). He describes his early years in baseball, starting at age 17 with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts in 1926, and addresses the controversy over varying claims about his age and the source of his nickname. He talks about ballplayers he had known, in particular Josh Gibson (”the best of all”) of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays, and Bob Feller (with whom Paige barnstormed years before joining the Indians). Includes a foreword by Indians owner Bill Veeck and a note from Indians player-manager Lou Boudreau. With Paige's help, the Indians went on to win the 1948 World Series.
Download or read book Our Tribe written by Terry Pluto and published by Gray & Company, Publishers. This book was released on 1999-04-15 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A beautiful, absolutely unforgettable memoir.” — Booklist A son, a father, a baseball team . . . This remarkable baseball memoir will touch the heart of any baseball fan who has ever shared a love for the game with a parent or child. Award-winning sportswriter Terry Pluto (The Curse of Rocky Colavito) tells the story of a son and a father and the relationship they shared through their resilient devotion to one particularly frustrating baseball team, the Cleveland Indians (who always seemed to need just one more run to win). The story includes the joys and struggles of growing older together, of coping with a sick parent, and, finally, of burying the man who indelibly shaped his son’s life. It also includes a lively history of the Cleveland Indians franchise, full of personal recollections about remarkable players and memorable moments from seasons past. For so many people, baseball remains an important bridge across generations, sometimes the only topic of conversation when all other topics seem threatening. Absorbing his father’s love for the game, and their team, Pluto grew to understand and respect the often distant man who allowed himself few pleasures besides baseball in a life built around laboring to provide for his family. This book celebrates our ability to make that connection through baseball. It is a heartfelt, memorable tale.
Download or read book Keepers of the Game written by Dennis D'Agostino and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside stories from baseball's legendary beat writers
Download or read book Black Stats Matter written by Philip Lee and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than half a century, Black baseball players, barred from the Major Leagues by systemic racism, competed in leagues of their own. This book re-interprets the history of race in baseball from the ground up. It tells the story of how the Major Leagues became the "Caucasian Leagues," and names the person most responsible for their segregation; showing how Major League owners and executives tried to delay and even prevent integration; and proving, using a broad range of methods, that Negro League players were every inch the equals of their Major League counterparts. Cherished records held by white players since the days of segregation are shown to belong rightfully to Negro League superstars. This book takes a fresh look at a subject that's both straight from today's headlines and as old as baseball itself.
