Download or read book Major League Baseball Players of the 1970s written by Bill Ballew and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-08-02 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1970s, after a decade of stagnant fan interest that seemed to signal the demise of Major League Baseball, the game saw growth and change. In 1972, the players became the first in professional sports to go on strike. Four years later, contractual changes allowed those with six years in the majors to become free agents, leading to an unprecedented increase in salaries. Developments in the play of the game included new ballparks with faster fields and artificial turf, and the introduction of the designated hitter in 1973. Eminent personalities emerged from the dugout, including many African Americans and Latinos. Focusing on the stars who debuted from 1970 through 1979, this book covers the highs and lows of more than 1,300 players who gave fans the most exciting decade baseball has ever seen.
Download or read book Major League Baseball in the 1970s written by Joseph G. Preston and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of the most powerful trends in baseball today have their roots in the 1970s. Baseball entered that decade seriously behind the times in race relations, attitudes toward conformity versus individuality, and the manager-player relationship. In a sense, much of the wrenching change that American society as a whole experienced in the 1960s was played out in baseball in the following decade. Additionally, the game itself was rapidly evolving, with the inauguration of the designated hitter rule in the American League, the evolution of the closer, the development of the five-man starting rotation, the acceptance of strikeout lions like Dave Kingman and Bobby Bonds and the proliferation of stolen bases. This book opens with a discussion of the challenges that faced baseball's movers and shakers when they gathered in Bal Harbour, Florida, for the annual winter meetings on December 2, 1969. Their worst nightmares would be realized in the coming years. For many and often contradictory reasons the 1970s game evolved into a war of competing ideologies--escalating salaries, an acrimonious strike, Sesame Street-style team mascots, and the breaking of the time-honored tradition that all players, including the pitcher, must play on offense as well as defense--that would ultimately spell doom for the majority of attendees.
Download or read book We Would Have Played for Nothing written by Fay Vincent and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-04-07 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent brings together a stellar roster of ballplayers from the 1950s and 1960s in this wonderful new history of the game. Whitey Ford, Duke Snider, Carl Erskine, Bill Rigney, and Ralph Branca tell stories about baseball in New York when the Yankees dominated and seemed to play either the Dodgers or the Giants in every World Series. By the end of the fifties, the two National League teams had relocated to California, as baseball expanded across the country. Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts, Braves mainstay Lew Burdette, home-run king Harmon Killebrew, Cubs slugger Billy Williams, and Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson share great stories about milestone events, from Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier on the field to Frank Robinson doing the same in the dugout. They remember the teammates and opponents they admired, including Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Warren Spahn, Don Newcombe, and Ernie Banks. For anyone who grew up watching baseball in the 1950s and 1960s, or for anyone who wonders what it was like in the days when ballplayers negotiated their own contracts and worked real jobs in the off-season, this is a book to cherish.
Download or read book Nine Innings written by Daniel Okrent and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You'll never watch baseball the same way again. A timeless baseball classic and a must read for any fan worthy of the name, Nine Innings dissects a single baseball game played in June 1982 -- inning by inning, play by play. Daniel Okrent, a seasoned writer and lifelong fan, chose as his subject a Milwaukee BrewersBaltimore Orioles matchup, though it could have been any game, because, as Okrent reveals, the essence of baseball, no matter where or when it's played, has been and will always be the same. In this particular moment of baseball history you will discover myriad aspects of the sport that are crucial to its nature but so often invisible to the fans -- the hidden language of catchers' signals, the physiology of pitching, the balance sheet of a club owner, the gait of a player stepping up to the plate. With the purity of heart and unwavering attention to detail that characterize our national pastime, Okrent goes straight to the core of the world's greatest game. You'll never watch baseball the same way again.
Download or read book Win Shares written by Bill James and published by STATS Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dynastic Bombastic Fantastic written by Jason Turbow and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An exciting and engrossing book. . . . will engage fans of Charlie O. Finley and the Oakland Athletics, along with anyone captivated by baseball history.” —Library Journal, starred review The Oakland A’s of the early 1970s: Never before had an entire organization so collectively traumatized baseball’s establishment with its outlandish behavior and business decisions. The high drama that played out on the field—five straight division titles and three straight championships—was exceeded only by the drama in the clubhouse and front office. Under the visionary leadership of owner Charles O. Finley, the team assembled such luminary figures as Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, and Vida Blue, and with garish uniforms and revolutionary facial hair, knocked baseball into the modern age. Finley’s need for control—he was his own general manager and dictated everything from the ballpark organist’s playlist to the menu for the media lounge—made him ill-suited for the advent of free agency. Within two years, his dynasty was lost. A history of one of the game’s most unforgettable teams, Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic is a paean to the sport’s most turbulent, magical team, during one of major league baseball’s most turbulent, magical times. “Masterfully recounts a thrilling period in Oakland A’s history.” —Billy Beane, executive vice president of baseball operations, Oakland A’s “Not to be believed, and yet 100 percent true.” —Steve Fainaru, senior writer for ESPN and author of League of Denial “A must-read for any fan of the sport.” —Chris Ballard, Sports Illustrated senior writer and author of One Shot at Forever “Carefully researched and often hilarious.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A chance to relive a period of outlandish moments in America’s pastime.” —Publishers Weekly
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 Big Hair and Plastic Grass written by Dan Epstein and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Epstein takes readers on a funky ride through baseball and America in the swinging '70s in this wild pop-culture history of baseball's most colorful and controversial decade. Includes 8-page photo insert.
Download or read book Talkin Baseball written by Phil Pepe and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball in the 1970s -- remember how fabulous it was? It was a decade of heroes and upsets and dramatic freeze-frame moments. Never had the game been more exciting. Never did it change so radically. In this wonderful oral history featuring interviews with more than thirty-five players, managers, coaches, scouts, announcers, and owners, veteran sportswriter Phil Pepe brings one incredible baseball decade back to life in the words of the guys who played -- and lived -- the game.The decade was only sixteen days old when St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Hood initiated what may prove to be the most important legal action in baseball history -- his challenge of the iron-clad reserve clause. On the lighter side, the 1970s ushered in wife-swapping pitchers, fu manchus, and Disco Demolition night; it was the first time a player ever earned a million bucks. Fans were screaming "Ya gotta believe" and "We are family", while terms like designated hitter, free agent, and night World Series game entered the lexicon of the game.Ron Blomberg became the first DH. The Big Red Machine dominated the National League. Reggie Jackson had a candy bar named after him. Hank Aaron became the all-time home-run king. And Yankee captain Thurman Munson died in a tragic plane crash. It all happened in one amazing decade -- and it's all here in one stupendous book.
Download or read book History of Major League Baseball written by John Stewart Bowman and published by Gramercy. This book was released on 1992-04 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This expansive book covers the long history of major league baseball in the United States.
Download or read book Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues written by John B. Holway and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The foremost historian of the "blackball" era spent nearly 10 years researching this acclaimed oral history, interviewing 17 outstanding players including Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, and Willie Wells. Over 80 vintage photographs.
Download or read book The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball written by Jonathan Fraser Light and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Articles covers such diverse topics as alcoholism in baseball, baseball in France, the dumbest player, perfect games, and famous players.
Download or read book Calico Joe written by John Grisham and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball… “Grisham knocks it out of the park.”—The Washington Post It’s the summer of 1973, and Joe Castle is the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone has ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas, dazzles Chicago Cubs fans as he hits home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shatters all rookie records. Calico Joe quickly becomes the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing New York Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faces Calico Joe, Paul is in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his dad. Then Warren throws a fastball that will change their lives forever. Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!
Download or read book The American League written by John Stewart Bowman and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Marvin Miller Baseball Revolutionary written by Robert F Burk and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marvin Miller changed major league baseball and the business of sports. Drawing on research and interviews with Miller and others, Marvin Miller, Baseball Revolutionary offers the first biography covering the pivotal labor leader's entire life and career. Baseball historian Robert F. Burk follows the formative encounters with Depression-era hard times, racial and religious bigotry, and bare-knuckle Washington and labor politics that prepared Miller for his biggest professional challenge--running the moribund Major League Baseball Players Association. Educating and uniting the players as a workforce, Miller embarked on a long campaign to win the concessions that defined his legacy: decent workplace conditions, a pension system, outside mediation of player grievances and salary disputes, a system of profit sharing, and the long-sought dismantling of the reserve clause that opened the door to free agency. Through it all, allies and adversaries alike praised Miller's hardnosed attitude, work ethic, and honesty. Comprehensive and illuminating, Marvin Miller, Baseball Revolutionary tells the inside story of a time of change in sports and labor relations, and of the contentious process that gave athletes in baseball and across the sporting world a powerful voice in their own games.
Download or read book The Boyer Brothers of Baseball written by Lew Freedman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-24 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This the story of the seven baseball-playing Boyer brothers from western Missouri who signed professional contracts in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Led by oldest brother Cloyd, a pitcher, third baseman Ken and third baseman Clete, three of the seven brothers reached the majors. This book recounts their hardscrabble upbringing and how they fought their way to success. Initially discouraged by arm injuries that curtailed his big-league career, Cloyd became a coach and manager at the minor and major league levels, and remained in the game for nearly half a century. The most accomplished, Ken, became a perennial National League All-Star, and was the 1964 Most Valuable Player. In the 1960s, he was the face of the St. Louis Cardinals, and after his playing days ended he returned to manage the team. Clete gained prominence as a regular for the American League champion New York Yankees, and competed in five World Series before starring in the National League and concluding his career in Japan. While they did not make it to the top, the other four brothers enrich the story with their own baseball histories, and help illustrate how the closeness of the family helped each of them succeed.
Download or read book The Book of Baseball Literacy written by David H. Martinez and published by Plume Books. This book was released on 1996 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For baseball's millions of fans, this ultimate reference to the national pastime features a listing of more than 800 memorable people, places, dates, events, terms, records, and statistics. From the game's origins in the 1840s to the present day, The Book of Baseball Literacy presents complete details on the great sport in one lively, fascinating treasury.
