When Jackie Robinson became the first African American player in major league baseball in 1947, elbowing aside the league's policies of segregation that had been inviolate for 60 years, he became a symbol of opportunity and acceptance for African American players everywhere. Robinson withstood discrimination to establish himself as a Hall of Fame player, and to lead future generations of black players into the previously all-white world of Major League Baseball. Written for students and general readers alike, this biographical encyclopedia chronicles the history of African American baseball through the life stories of the game's greatest players, the legends who played a significant role in the integration of the major league. From Negro League stars Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, to color line shatterer Jackie Robinson, and those who followed them in the limelight, such as Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, readers will learn how the inclusion of African American players in Major League Baseball improved the sport and race relations in the United States during this critical period in history. Comprehensive biographical entries also include: BLBuck O'Neil Judy Johnson BLBuck Leonard BLCool Papa Bell BLRoy Campanella BLLarry Doby BLMonte Irvin BLWillie McCovey BLErnie Banks BLElston Howard BLMinnie Minoso BLFrank Robinson BLBob Gibson BLCurt Flood Providing detailed accounts of each player's amazing professional achievements, this insightful reference describes how the spectacular talents of African American players elevated Major League Baseball forever. Features include a timeline of important events, numerous photographs, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources for further reading.

"Informative . . . Ross has opened some important doors"
--"American Historical Review"

"a]offers an interesting recitation of the on-again-off-againparticipation of blacks in the early years of pro football."
"--The Baltimore Sun"

"An important analysis for all who care about the African American experience in professional sports. Significant not only for the history it tells, but for the questions it raises about race relations in football as an industry and as a United States institution ."
--Michael E. Lomax

"Charles Ross' stellar research clearly demonstrates that the African American struggle for merit and equality not only extends to the playing field but has, in fact, long defined the game of professional football. A must read for students of the game, from casual gridiron enthusiasts to scholars alike."
--C. Keith Harrison

Outside the Lines traces how sports laid a foundation for social change long before the judicial system formally recognized the inequalities of racial separation. Integrating sports teams to include white and black athletes alike, the National Football League served as a microcosmic fishbowl of the highs and lows, the trials and triumphs, of racial integration.

Watching a football game on a Sunday evening, most sports fans do not realize the profound impact the National Football League had on the civil rights movement. Similarly, in a sport where seven out of ten players are black, few are fully aware of the history and contributions of their athletic forebears. Among the touchdowns and tackles lies a rich history of African American life and the struggle to achieve equal rights.

Although the Supreme Court did not reversetheir 1896 decision of "separate but equal" in the "Plessy v Ferguson" case until more than fifty years later, sports laid a foundation for social change long before our judicial system formally recognized the inequalities of racial separation. Integrating sports teams to include white and black athletes alike, the National Football League served as a microcosmic fishbowl of the highs and lows, the trials and triumphs, of racial integration.

In this chronicle of black NFL athletes, Charles K. Ross has given us the story of the Jackie Robinsons of American football.

Pride and Poise: The Oakland Raiders of The American Football League takes a definitive look into the formation and turbulent early history of the Oakland Raiders. Beginning with the hurried scramble to bring professional football to a city that couldn't provide a home for the team only to suffer through three losing seasons a combined 9-33 record with 19 consecutive losses. After plodding through three head coaches and an alarming player turn around before finding a young dynamo who transformed their club from a doormat rumored to move to another city willing to pour more funds into a prolific loser before having ever played in their home city to an immediate, nearly unstoppable winner. Relive the exploits of the Oakland Raiders in a week in, week out chronicle of their first ten seasons. Meet six unique head coaches and the legends who helped to make the transitions caused by age, injuries associated with football seamless and the whirlwind transformation of a young dynamo from coach to commissioner and ultimately to ownership as he built one of the most respected and feared organization in professional sports. Packed with statistics, transactions and forgotten lore, Pride and Poise: The Oakland Raiders of the American Football League is the most complete, accurate and fair account ever produced of the early Raiders, revisiting every game, win, lose or tie as they make the great journey from near oblivion to professional football's elite and its most dominating franchise.

Gary loved to play basketball from the first moment his hands touched a ball and he dribbled up and down his stairs. He always dreamed of playing point guard on the high school varsity team. Flustered by fights with the town bully, and conflicts with a coach who never gave him a fair shake, Gary transferred to Ashland High for his senior year.

Ashland was a sleepy little farm community in Illinois, it was the place where he had been born. Gary wasn't treated like a new kid at all; he was a wayward friend who'd finally returned home. Everything began to click with his new coach and teammates.

At a time for hot rods, tiny Nash Ramblers, and long black hearses, Elvis had the top hits on radio and the juke boxes. Magically, all the dreams for the purple and white Ashland Panthers basketball team began to come true. "Point Guard" is the story of how it happened way back in 1957.

The 50 Greatest Players in Green Bay Packers History examines the careers of the 50 men who made the greatest impact on one of the National Football League's most iconic and successful franchises. Using as measuring sticks the degree to which they impacted the fortunes of the team, the extent to which they added to the Packers legacy of excellence, and the levels of statistical compilation and overall dominance they attained while wearing a Packers uniform, The 50 Greatest Players in Green Bay Packers History ranks, from 1 to 50, the top 50 players in team history. Quotes from opposing players and former teammates are provided along the way, as are summaries of each player's greatest season, most memorable performances, and most notable achievements

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"Along with his astute social scientific insight, Borer also includes plenty of first-person accounts of the ballpark from Red Sox greats like Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Pesky and from regular Bostonians and out-of-town baseball fans. This ability to intermingle scholarly research with Americaas beloved pastime has allowed Borer to write an astute academic treatise that has the appeal of a consumer sports pub."
--"Publishers Weekly"

"Borer assesses the attraction of Fenway Park through his own expert lens. The results . . . will prove invaluable not only to Red Sox and more general baseball scholars but also to students of urban life, the organization of limited inner-city space, social psychology and collective memory, how a baseball park can become a cultural shrine, and a cohorts shared values--not to mention Fenway's contributions to our understanding of fandom.
--"Library Journal"

"Boston's Fenway Park has become as valued as any star player in those cities and as much an attraction as the teams themselves. Borer, a sociologist and lifelong New Englander, explores the history of Fenway and its place in Bostons culture through research and interviews with players, stadium personnel, fans, and team owners...[H]e explains Fenway's place in the culture as an example of identity continuity. Fenway is an emotional anchor for fans in the sense that it encompasses a part of an individuals past and present."
--"Booklist"

"Borer has captured the magic of Fenway Park. "
--Doris Kearns Goodwin

"Even Yankee fans will have much to consider from this book, published so soon after the Red Sox curse has ended. This isan important work of the sociology of sport and of urban sociology."
--Gary Alan Fine, author of "With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Pre-adolescent Culture"

Even if you don't already love the Red Sox, you'll love this account of the stories people tell about why Fenway matters.
--Nancy T. Ammerman, author of "Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives"

"[Faithful to Fenway is] a must-have item for the Red Sox fans who champion their old stadium despite its uncomfortable seats."
--"Portland Press Herald"

The Green Monster. Pesky's Pole. The Lone Red Seat. Yawkey Way. To baseball fans this list of bizarre phrases evokes only one place: Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Built in 1912, Fenway Park is Americas oldest major league ballpark still in use. In Faithful to Fenway, Michael Ian Borer takes us out to Fenway where we sit in cramped wooden seats (often with obstructed views of the playing field), where there is a hand-operated scoreboard and an average attendance of 20,000 less fans than most stadiums, and where every game has been sold out since May of 2003. There is no Hard Rock Caf (like Torontos Skydome), no swimming pool (like Arizonas' Chase Field), and definitely no sushi (which has become a fan favorite from Baltimore to Seattle). As Borer tells us in this captivating book, Fenway is short on comfort but long on character.

Faithful to Fenway investigates the mystique of the ballpark. Borer, who lived in Boston before and after the Red Sox historic 2004 World Series win, draws on interviews with Red Sox players, including Jason Varitek and Carl Yastrzemski, management, including Larry Lucchino and John Henry, groundskeepers, vendors, andscores of fans to uncover what the park means for Boston and the people who revere it. Borer argues that Fenway is nothing less than a national icon, more than worthy of the banner outside the stadium that proclaims, Americas Most Beloved Ballpark. Certainly as one of New Englands greatest landmarks, Fenway captures the hearts and imaginations of a deferential and devoted public. There are T-shirts, bumper stickers, banners, and snow globes that honor the ballpark. Fenway shows up in popular films, novels, television commercials, and in replicated form in peoples backyards--and coming in 2008 to Quincy, Massachusetts, is Mini-Fenway Park, a replica stadium built especially for kids.

Full of legendary stories, amusing anecdotes, and the shared triumph and tragedy of the Red Sox and their fans, Faithful to Fenway offers a fresh and insightful perspective, offering readers an unforgettable pilgrimage to the Mecca of baseball.

This story is about endless problems and assaults against the Yankee franchise between 1919 and 1923. It involves bookmakers, racetrack owners, bootleggers, gamblers, shakedown artist, promoters, murderers, those with political clout and simply an over supply of corrupt underhanded individuals. They would and could muscle anyone that was a threat or hadn't earned the right to succeed. Some of the same individuals that frustrated the Yankee club were also actively involved in planning and or covering up the 1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal. A brief introduction is offered that details the assault that occur against the Baltimore Orioles that all but destroyed the club and lead to American League President Ban Johnson, moving the franchise to Manhattan. Unknowingly, Johnson would find those mat worked against him in Baltimore were waiting for his every move in New York. Ultimately he would be duped into selling the club to the worst two characters that New York had to offer. Colonels Jacob Ruppert and Til L. Huston would buy the franchise in 1915 before the previous owners had all but destroyed. As a result of a single player trade in 1919, the Yankee club owners would find themselves thrown into four years of continuous fighting to assure their franchise survival. Attacks against the baseball franchise would lead to, battles in the courts, a split with the American League owners creating two camps, many delays and unnecessary financial hardships. During this same time, the club had to deal with building a stadium under adverse conditions, contending with labors strikes, 1919 fan outrage, political under-handedness and baseball governance, back room dealings. The reader will also be exposed to the most detailed account of the building of Yankee Stadium ever written from heated memos and cost over runs, to the make and models of the trucks used to carry materials. All problems/issues are presented, discussed and responsibility assigned. Four years of constant turmoil. It would take one "bigger than life player" to counter all these negative forces and save the franchise. That player was Babe Ruth. If you didn't appreciate the Babe and what he did for baseball and the New York Yankees before, you will after reading this book. All was made possible by the Babe.

In this personal history of the Negro Leagues, Stanley Glenn gives an intimate and in-depth look at the daily trials and tribulations of a Negro League Baseball player. With wisdom, wit and perspective, Glenn recalls the indignities he and his teammates suffered during the days of Jim Crow, a time when they were denied gas for their vehicles or even a decent place to stay as they went "barnstorming" around the country, playing against and alongside some of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Glenn's story illuminates the strength and determination of black ball players. In spite of the forces against them, they persevered for love of the game. And despite the adversities these men faced, they enjoyed the journey and came away with treasured memories and lifelong friendships. Through his blend of humorous anecdotes, inspiring words of wisdom, and colorful imagery, Mr. Glenn wonderfully conveys the bittersweet paradox that was the Negro League Baseball experience.

In this follow-up to "Balls and Strikes: The Money Game in Professional Baseball" (Praeger, 1990), Jennings examines the state of professional baseball's labor relations during a nearly 25 year period, focusing on the background and the outcome of the 1994 baseball strike. Jennings concludes by suggesting ways to improve future labor relations in the sport.

While the entire professional sports industry generates less revenue than sales of Fruit of the Loom underwear, a lengthy strike in professional baseball assures a national notoriety far beyond its economic impact. When the 1994 strike was underway, scores of members of Congress were involved in related investigations and legislation, while President Clinton invoked the public interest in his efforts to resolve the dispute.

The 1939 Arsenal side is firing on all cylinders and celebrating a string of victories. They appear unstoppable, but the Trojans - a side of amateurs who are on a winning streak of their own - may be about to silence the Gunners. Moments into the second half the whistle blows, but not for a goal or penalty. One of the Trojans has collapsed on the pitch. By the end of the day, he is dead. Gribble's unique mystery, featuring the actual Arsenal squad of 1939, sends Inspector Anthony Slade into the world of professional football to investigate a case of deadly foul play on and off the pitch.

He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court – but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game.

Coaxed to swing a racket while still in the crib, forced to hit hundreds of balls a day while still in grade school, Agassi resented the constant pressure even as he drove himself to become a prodigy, an inner conflict that would define him. Now, in his beautiful, haunting autobiography, Agassi tells the story of a life framed by such conflicts.

Agassi makes us feel his panic as an undersized seven-year-old in Las Vegas, practicing all day under the obsessive gaze of his violent father. We see him at thirteen, banished to a Florida tennis camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world's best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match, and every public relationship. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals, Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals the depression that shatters his confidence, and the mistake that nearly costs him everything. Finally, he recounts his spectacular resurrection and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi's game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed and power.

Most fans of women's basketball would be startled to learn that girls' teams were making their mark more than a century ago--and that none was more prominent than a team from an isolated Indian boarding school in Montana. Playing like "lambent flames" across the polished floors of dance halls, armories, and gymnasiums, the girls from Fort Shaw stormed the state to emerge as Montana's first basketball champions. Taking their game to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, these young women introduced an international audience to the fledgling game and returned home with a trophy declaring them champions.

World champions. And yet their triumphs were forgotten--until Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith chanced upon a team photo and embarked on a ten-year journey of discovery. Their in-depth research and extensive collaboration with the teammates' descendents and tribal kin have resulted in a narrative as entertaining as it is authentic.

"Full-Court Quest" offers a rare glimpse into American Indian life and into the world of women's basketball before "girls' rules" temporarily shackled the sport. For anyone captivated by "Sea Biscuit," "A League of Their Own," and other accounts of unlikely champions, this book rates as nothing but net.

M?'s de 200 millones de personas viven del futbol, es decir, aproximadamente el 3% de la poblaci n mundial. Es claro que este deporte representa el negocio m?'s grande del mundo, pero cu nto tiempo m?'s podr resistir la corrupci n, las muertes de futbolistas en la cancha, a genocidas, nepotismo y cualquier cantidad canalladas que afectan el desarrollo de esta actividad con esencia l dica.Los due os del bal n (tambi n editado como Cu nto cuesta su pelota?) es una investigaci n de la gente que ha hecho del futbol un negocio redondo para unos cuantos elegidos como Joao Havelange, Joseph Blatter y Jack Warner, su impunidad y el poco alentador futuro del deporte m?'s popular del mundo. Chicos de 17 a os tratados como ganado en la Copa del Mundo, dinero de los contribuyentes de Sud frica listo para cumplir con los caprichos expansionistas de Sepp, venta de boletos en el mercado negro y esp as haciendo de RP para el presidente de la FIFA.El futbolista es un pe n, el aficionado una herramienta y el dinero es el objetivo de Los due os del bal n.

Explores Jackie Robinson's compelling and complicated legacy Before the United States Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools, and before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson walked onto the diamond on April 15, 1947, as first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making history as the first African American to integrate Major League Baseball in the twentieth century. Today a national icon, Robinson was a complicated man who navigated an even more complicated world that both celebrated and despised him. Many are familiar with Robinson as a baseball hero. Few, however, know of the inner turmoil that came with his historic status. Featuring piercing essays from a range of distinguished sportswriters, cultural critics, and scholars, this book explores Robinson's perspectives and legacies on civil rights, sports, faith, youth, and nonviolence, while providing rare glimpses into the struggles and strength of one of the nation's most athletically gifted and politically significant citizens. Featuring a foreword by celebrated directors and producers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, this volume recasts Jackie Robinson's legacy and establishes how he set a precedent for future civil rights activism, from Black Lives Matter to Colin Kaepernick.