This book uses game accounts, with detailed descriptions of game events, to describe the rivalry between the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota from 1902-1960. It focusses on the 18 seasons during which one or the other of the two rivals captured the American Association championship. Each chapter includes an introduction which explains the general status of the pennant-winning team (including biographical information on key players), followed by a section including the game accounts, followed by a third section which sums up the season and provides analyses of critical statistical areas which help describe the relationship between the two teams for that particular season. Woven into the game accounts are items of interest which help the reader to develop range of viewpoints, for example, how a player may have been injured, when they arrived with the team, the status of the team in the standings and with respect to the pennant race and other specific biographical details about the players. The game accounts are the meat of the book where various techniques are employed to help the reader become immersed in the action from baseball as it was played decades ago. Perhaps the most unique thing about the game accounts is that they are told in the present tense as if the story were being told from the point of view of the broadcaster live in the booth.

In 1924, after the Hilldale Giants captured the league crown in the new Eastern Colored League and the Kansas City Monarchs won out in the four-year-old Negro National League, the two teams met in what was to be a best-of-nine series for the world championship. But a 13-inning tie in Game 4 and alternating wins throughout would force a tenth and deciding game, making it the longest World Series - black or white - on record in the modern era. It was arguably the most dramatic, as well, as each team reeled off three wins in a row, four games were decided by a single run, and five were won in the final inning. This heavily illustrated volume provides a comprehensive account of the first championship series played between teams from two all-black professional leagues. Noted Negro League historian Larry Lester provides commentary, records, and full statistics for each club's regular season performance, along with biographical profiles of the players. Coverage also includes position-by-position comparisons of the Series combatants; a breakdown of the attendance, gate receipts, and team shares; game-by-game summaries; comments from the players; and complete statistics - including pitcher-batter matchups - for both teams.

Old Comiskey Park includes essays and memories covering the history and evolution of the former home of the Chicago White Sox, as well as its importance to its surrounding neighbourhoods, and to the city of Chicago. Essays cover Charles Comiskey and the location of the ballpark; the neighbourhoods that surround the site; the dimensions and configurations of Old Comiskey Park; a summary of All-Star, World Series, and playoff games played there; Negro League baseball at Comiskey Park; Bill Veeck; the ballpark as host to events and sports other than White Sox baseball; and an analysis of the evolution of the famous "exploding scoreboard," the original model for today's modern sports stadium boards. Former players, White Sox personnel, and fans contributed memories, including substantial pieces by Roland Hemond and Nancy Faust.

This is a straightforward history of the Athletics franchise, from its Connie Mack years in Philadelphia with great teams featuring Eddie Collins, Chief Bender, Jimmy Foxx, Mickey Cochrane and Lefty Grove, through its 13 years in Kansas City, under Arnold Johnson and Charles O. Finley, and on to its great years in Oakland-with the three World Series wins featuring Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando and Vida Blue, and the conflicts with Finley-as well as the less successful seasons that followed, and ending up with the unusual operation of the club by Billy Beane.

"Both a pleasure and a revelation."--Daniel Okrent, author of Nine Innings In 1968, two astounding pitchers would dominate the game as never before. One was black, the other white. The stoic Bob Gibson, together with the St. Louis Cardinals, embodied an entire generation's hope for integration at a heated moment in American history. The flashy Denny McLain was a crass self-promoter who lived a life apart from his Detroit Tigers teammates, searching for fame. But for one season, the nation watched as these two men and their teams swept their respective league championships to meet at the World Series. Gibson set a major-league record that year with a 1.12 ERA. McLain won more than 30 games in 1968, a feat not achieved since 1934 and untouched since. They would reach these heights against the backdrop of assassinations, while boys boarded planes to Saigon and riots swept through American cities, forever changing the fabric of this country. In the grand tradition of David Halberstam, The Year of the Pitcher evokes a nostalgic season and its incredible characters through the story of one of the great rivalries in sports, painting an indelible portrait of the national pastime during our most turbulent era.

Being a Phillies fan has never been easy. The team has amassed the most losses of any professional sports franchise in history, as well as the longest losing streak and the most last-place finishes in the major leagues. The year 1980 was redemption for a miserable, century-old legacy of losing. It was also the beginning of the end for a team that could have been among the very best in baseball throughout the decade. Between 1980 and 1983 the Philadelphia Phillies captured two pennants and a world championship. Legends like Tug McGraw, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, and Pete Rose led the collection of homegrown products, veteran castoffs, and fair-haired rookies. If they had won another World Series, the team not only would have distanced themselves from a history of losing but would have established a championship dynasty. It never happened. The 1981 season was a watershed for both the Phillies and baseball. A players' strike led to a sixty-day work stoppage. The Phils, who had been in first place before the strike, were unable to regain their winning ways after play resumed. Labor relations between an increasingly powerful Players Association and inflexible owners became more acrimonious than ever before. Player salaries skyrocketed. Old loyalties were forgotten, and the notion of a homegrown team, like the 1980 Phillies, was a thing of the past. Almost a Dynasty details the rise and fall of the 1980 World Champion Phillies. Based on personal interviews, newspaper accounts, and the keen insight of a veteran baseball writer, the book convincingly explains why a team that had regularly made the post-season in the mid- to late 1970s, only to lose in the playoffs, was finally able to win its first world championship.

Between October 1961 and October 1962, the Yankees and the Mets shared the city for the first time, their front offices located on opposite sides of Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, and their playing fields--Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds--situated on opposite sides of the Macombs Dam Bridge. This book tells the story of the first year of their life together as New York City rivals. The emerging rivalry between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets was about more than just games won or money earned. As personified by Mets manager Casey Stengel and Yankees right-fielder Roger Maris, it was also a struggle over the future of the game. Bill Morales holds a doctorate in history from Rutgers University and has lectured at the Baseball Hall of Fame Symposium in Cooperstown, New York. He has taught at Rutgers University, Nassau Community College, and is professor of history at Bergen Community College.

The Bronx Is Burning "meets Chuck Klosterman in this wild pop-culture history of baseball's most colorful and controversial decade

"The Major Leagues witnessed more dramatic stories and changes in the '70s than in any other era. The American popular culture and counterculture collided head-on with the national pastime, rocking the once-conservative sport to its very foundations. Outspoken players embraced free agency, openly advocated drug use, and even swapped wives. Controversial owners such as Charlie Finley, Bill Veeck, and Ted Turner introduced Astroturf, prime-time World Series, garish polyester uniforms, and outlandish promotions such as Disco Demolition Night. Hank Aaron and Lou Brock set new heights in power and speed while Reggie Jackson and Carlton Fisk emerged as October heroes and All-Star characters like Mark "The Bird" Fidrych became pop icons. For the millions of fans who grew up during this time, and especially those who cared just as much about Oscar Gamble's afro as they did about his average, this book serves up a delicious, Technicolor trip down memory lane.
""

Eddie Cicotte, who pitched in the American League 1905-1920, was one of the tragic figures of baseball. A family man and a fan favourite, he ascended to stardom with nothing more than a mediocre fastball, endless guile and a repertoire of trick pitches. He won 29 games in 1919 and led the Chicago White Sox to the pennant. Although he pitched poorly in the World Series that October, fans did not hold it against him--a slump can happen to anybody. A year later, the public learned the truth: Cicotte's poor performance was no slump. He had taken a bribe to throw the Series. Along with seven teammates, he was implicated in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal, the most disgraceful episode in the history of the sport. Overnight, he became a pariah and would remain so for the rest of his life. This is the first full-length biography of Cicotte, best known today not as a great pitcher but as one of the "Eight Men Out.

Baseball in the 1950s comes to life through the words of 92 players from the fifties. In their conversations with author Gene Fehler, they tell, in more than a thousand stories and comments, of memorable moments, their dealings with umpires and managers, injuries and trades that affected their careers, regrets and joys that still remain with them so many years later. Players spoken to include Hall of Famers, All Stars, journeymen, and a few who were in the big leagues for the proverbial cup of coffee. Regardless of stature, they all have wonderful stories to tell about big league life in the 1950s, high and low, and moments with other players.

[In the early 20th century, two female baseball players signed with minor league teams only to have their contracts canceled when their gender became public. They withdrew politely, never having the chance to put their talents on display. In this historical novel, Cleveland pitcher Annie Cardello does not go so quietly. When the baseball commissioner cancels her signed agreement, she vows to retaliate. A volatile woman with family roots in ancient Sicily, Annie plots her revenge--murder. Before she can follow through with her scheme, however, her efforts to help a troubled brother involve her in another, separate killing, one that piques the interest of the Mafia. A deft blend of sports history and thriller, Drawing Card demonstrates the danger of a woman scorned, especially one with a mean curve ball.]

In 2004, the Atlanta Braves won their 13th straight National League East division title, an unprecedented level of consistency in the current days of free agency. Behind this success has been the architectural genius of John Schuerholz, who not only built one of the strongest teams in baseball history in the early nineties, but kept them among the elite teams in baseball for over a decade. Now Schuerholz pulls back the front office's curtain in the most candid baseball book since Michael Lewis's Moneyball, discussing everything from how the Braves actually traded for Barry Bonds in the early 90's, to dealing with John Rocker's hateful comments in 1999, to the loss of franchise leaders Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine to free agency, to the recent acquisition of Tim Hudson, all the while keeping the Braves at the top of the baseball mountain. John Schuerholz's book will make baseball fans worldwide look at the game in a different way.

The Immaculate Inning shines a light on the miracle of baseball's endless possibility-the way that on any given day, someone (maybe a star, or maybe a scrub) could perform the rarest of single-game feats or cap off a seemingly unobtainable chase for a record. Covering a selection of the most unusual, significant, and rare feats in baseball history, both in the context of single-day (and sometimes even single-play) events and those that require a longer streak or a full season's excellence to reach or complete, the book clearly defines how each task is amassed, provides historical background, and tells riveting stories of the ballplayers that did the unthinkable.

The biography of one of the most controversial figures in sports: New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner

For 34 years, he berated his players and tormented Yankees managers and employees. He played fast and loose with the rules, and twice could have gone to jail. He was banned from baseball for life--but was allowed back in the game. Yet George Steinbrenner also built the New York Yankees from a mediocre team into the greatest sports franchise in America. The Yankees won ten pennants and six World Series during his tenure. Now acclaimed sportswriter and "New York Times" bestselling author Peter Golenbock tells the fascinating story of ""The Boss,"" from his Midwestern childhood through his decades-long ownership of the Yankees-the longest in the team's history.Draws on more than a hundred interviews with those who have known George Steinbrenner throughout his life to tell the complete story of ""The Boss"" and his long tenure as owner of the New York YankeesGets inside Steinbrenner's countless manager hirings and firings, from Billy Martin to Joe Torre; the legendary feuds and hard feelings involving famous figures such as Yogi Berra and Dave Winfield; and the ever-spiraling players' salariesCovers the astute business deals that transformed the Yankees from a $10 million franchise into a powerhouse worth over $1 billion todayWritten by Peter Golenbock, one of the nation's best-known sports authors and the author of five "New York Times" bestsellers, including "Number 1" with Billy Martin and "The Bronx Zoo" with Sparky Lyle

Packed with drama, insight, and fascinating front-office details, "George" is essential reading for baseball fans and anyone who loves a terrific story well told.

At six-feet-six, the hulking Martin Leo Boutilier (1872-1944) was hard to miss. Yet the many books written about Babe Ruth relegate the soft-spoken teacher and coach to the shadows. Ruth credited Boutilier-known as Brother Matthias in the Congregation of St. Francis Xavier-with making him the man and the baseball player he became. Matthias saw something in the troubled seven-year old and nurtured his athletic ability. Spending many extra hours on the ballfield with him over a dozen years, he taught Ruth how to hit and converted the young left-handed catcher into a formidable pitcher. Overshadowed by a fellow Xavierian brother who was given the credit for discovering the baseball prodigy, Matthias never received his due from the public but didn't complain. Ruth never forgot the father figure who continued to provide valuable counsel in later life. This is the first telling of the full story of the man who gave the world its most famous baseball star.

Al Simmons, at top form in the Roaring Twenties, sparked one of baseball's greatest dynasties, the Philadelphia Athletics, to multiple championships--before becoming just another ballplayer. Why? While his achievements demonstrated greatness, he was not an easy man to like--for those competing against him, or even with him--and he seemed to play to the level of team expectation. Today, contemporary accounts and other recollections give us a sense of Al Simmons the person and the ballplayer, his connections to people, his teams and his ability to capture the fans' imagination in his halcyon days. This work gives us an understanding who Simmons was and what he means to the national pastime.

Let's say you're the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, deciding which players should start in Game 7 of the World Series against the American League champs. But instead of choosing from the current roster, you have every player in the team's 131-year history in your clubhouse. Who's your starting pitcher: lefty John Candelaria, steady Bert Blyleven, Cy Young winner Doug Drabek, or crafty Rip Sewell? Who bats cleanup-hitting-machine Honus Wagner, home-run champ Ralph Kiner, Willie "Pops" Stargell, or the hugely talented Barry Bonds? Combining career stats, common sense, and a host of intangibles, veteran sportswriter Dave Finoli imagines an embarrassment of riches and sets the all-time All-Star Pirates lineup for the ages.

Let's say you're the manager of one of the most beloved franchises in Major League Baseball, with every past and current player available on your bench. Game time is approaching and the ump needs your line-up card. Who's your starting pitcher? Fireballer Dwight Gooden, lights-out Tom Seaver, or run-stingy Jacob de Grom? Is Gary Carter behind the plate or Mike Piazza? Who'll bat clean-up? Combining statistical analysis, common sense, and a host of intangibles, Brian Wright constructs an all-time All-Star Mets line-up for the ages. Agree with his choices or not, you'll learn all there is to know about the men who played for and managed New York's Amazin' Mets.

Going as far back as the mid-nineteenth century, to the early days of Cuban baseball, Wendel traces the spread of American baseball fever in the Caribbean and Mexico; discusses lesser-known historical standouts, including Adolfo Luque and Martin Dihigo; and describes the days when only light-skinned Latinos wereallowed to participate in Major League competition as well as the linguistic barrier many Latinos faced when playing on teams with "English only" rules.

Featuring interviews with Latino superstars past and present; a foreword by Bob Costas; the first-ever-published Latino All-Century Team, featuring players selected by Omar Minaya; and photos taken by award-winning Sports Illustrated photographer Victor Baldizon, The New Face of Baseball helps fans of America's favorite pastime to understand the history of those who bring hope and honor every season to the teams they have given their lives to, and the Hispanic culture that, if allowed, can lie hidden and unnoticed under a team jersey.

Each summer, on the fields of glorious Cape Marlin, off the New England coast, the nation's best college players gather to play the most important baseball of their lives.

Jack Faber is a young hotshot pitcher with an unhittable slider and a rocket for a fastball. He plays for the fabled Seapuit Seawolves and dreams of making the Big Show. But a new coach, the scowling Bruno Riazzi, a former pro catcher, resents the kid's celebrity status and decides to knock him down a peg or two. And he stops at nothing to make it happen.

Humiliated, Jack loses his lifelong art, and with it his passion for the game, as well as, mysteriously, his ability to throw. A devastated Jack Faber is released from the St. Charles College roster. But the Seawolves coaches won't give up on him. They bring Jack back to Cape Marlin, determined to help him rediscover his lost talent. He finds himself again under the summer sun, coaches and old friends standing by him. But in the end it will be up to Jack.

Based on a true story, "Slider" celebrates the national pastime, a game that can break grown men's hearts -- as well as make them whole again.

When baseball's reserve clause was struck down in late 1975 and ushered in free agency, club owners feared it would ruin the game; instead, there seemed to be no end to the "baseball fever" that would grip America. In Gathering Crowds: Catching Baseball Fever in the New Era of Free Agency, Paul Hensler details how baseball grew and evolved from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Trepidation that without the reserve clause only wealthy teams would succeed diminished when small-market clubs in Minnesota, Kansas City, and Boston found their way to pennants and World Series titles. The proliferation of games broadcast on cable and satellite systems seemed to create a thirst for more baseball rather than discourage fans from going to the ballpark. And as fans clicked the turnstiles and purchased more and more team-licensed products, the national pastime proved it could survive and thrive even as other professional sports leagues vied for the public's attention. By the end of the 1980s, baseball had positioned itself to progress into the future stronger and more popular than ever. Gathering Crowds reveals how the national pastime moved beyond the grasp of the reserve clause to endure a lengthy strike and drug scandals and then prosper as it never had before. The book also offers insight into how societal issues influenced baseball in this new era, from women in the clubhouses and minorities finally named as managers to a gay player's debut at the big-league level. Gathering Crowds is a fascinating examination of baseball's transformation during this unprecedented era.

This real-time, historical record of the New York Yankees from their hometown newspaper allows you to experience over a century of the pride, power, and pinstripes of Major League Baseball's most successful team. There has never been a team that has won as many World Series titles, hit as many home runs, or had as many great superstars as The New York Yankees. The New York Times Story of the Yankees includes more than 390 articles chronicling the team's rich history through the best writing on the ball club by beloved Times reporters like Arthur Daley, Red Smith, George Vecsey, Tyler Kepner, and more. Organized by era, the book covers the biggest stories and events in Yankee history, such as the purchase of Babe Ruth, Roger Maris's 61st home run, and Derek Jeter's last game. This completely up-to-date through 2020 edition, including the Aaron Boone era and the rise of Aaron Judge, is illustrated with hundreds of black-and-white photographs that capture every era. A foreword by diehard Yankees fan, Alec Baldwin, completes the celebration of baseball's greatest team.

Professional baseball took root in America in the 1860s during the same years that the sons of the first wave Irish famine refugees began to reach adulthood, and the Irish quickly demonstrated a special affinity for baseball. This is a survey of the enormous contribution of the Irish to the American pastime and the ways in which Irish immigrants and baseball came of age together. Chapters cover the Irish and early immigrants in Boston; the Chicago White Stockings; the Shamrocks, Trojans and Giants; Charlie Comiskey; Patsy Tebeau and the Hibernian Spiders; Ned Hanlon and the Orioles; Hugh Duffy and Tommy McCarthy, the ""Heavenly Twins""; umpires; John McGraw; ""Wild Bill"" Donovan, Patrick Joseph ""Whiskey Face"" Moran, and Connie Mack; the Red Sox and the Royal Rooters; and, more.

'The most valuable team player in sports' shows you what 'teamwork' really means. What does it take to be a real team player, especially in a society that glorifies selfishness and a corporate culture that often uses 'team player' as a buzzword but rewards only the show boaters and prima donnas. Well, you can observe a lot by watching. In this happy and hilarious guide to teamwork, sportsmanship, and winning, Yogi Berra draws on the timeless wisdom handed down by example from ballplayers who came before him to inspire you to make the right choices and become not only a better team player - at sports, at work, and in life - but a better person. Filled with colorful stories from his life and career, not to mention the down-to-earth wit and insight that Yogi fans love, "You Can Observe a Lot by Watching" shows you how to make a bad team good and a good team great.

The story of black professional baseball provides a remarkable perspective on several major themes in modern African American history: the initial black response to segregation, the subsequent struggle to establish successful separate enterprises, and the later movement toward integration. Baseball functioned as a critical component in the separate economy catering to black consumers in the urban centers of the North and South. While most black businesses struggled to survive from year to year, professional baseball teams and leagues operated for decades, representing a major achievement in black enterprise and institution building.
"Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution" presents the extraordinary history of a great African American achievement, from its lowest ebb during the Depression, through its golden age and World War II, until its gradual disappearance during the early years of the civil rights era. Faced with only a limited amount of correspondence and documents, Lanctot consulted virtually every sports page of every black newspaper located in a league city. He then conducted interviews with former players and scrutinized existing financial, court, and federal records. Through his efforts, Lanctot has painstakingly reconstructed the institutional history of black professional baseball, locating the players, teams, owners, and fans in the wider context of the league's administration. In addition, he provides valuable insight into the changing attitudes of African Americans toward the need for separate institutions.