At the start of the 1947 baseball season, reporters projected the Boston Red Sox would repeat as American League champions. The New York Yankees were picked to finish no higher than third place. The reporters were wrong. The Yankees were a veteran team as Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Tommy Henrich, and Charlie Keller returned from World War II military service. It was also a team that introduced New York fans to rookies Yogi Berra, Bobby Brown, and Frank Shea. The team saw stand-out performances from players such as Allie Reynolds, who was obtained in a trade with Cleveland and was a nineteen-game winner, and Joe Page, who became baseball's top relief hurler that same year. Frank Strauss was a twelve-year-old fan in 1947; he kept meticulous scrapbooks and even met some of the players. In "Dawn of a Dynasty," he relives for readers how this team won nineteen straight games in midseason and later claimed the pennant-then capped the season with a memorable World Series win against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The unforgettable 1947 Yankee team launched a remarkable record of winning fifteen American League pennants and ten World Championships between 1947 and 1964 and truly marked the "Dawn of a Dynasty."

What if the world had never heard of Steve Bartman? What if Alex Gonzalez had fielded that ground ball cleanly, and turned the pair? What if Grady Little had listened when Pedro told him he was tired, and gone to the bullpen, which had, after all, been extremely effective throughout the post-season. This story is about how the world and the 2003 World Series would have been had those things happened. The stories in this book are a mixture of fact, fiction, fantasy, and fanaticism. Outside of New York and Florida, there was not a lot of sentiment for the Yankees and Marlins to get to the 2003 World Series. Even Fox Sports, Sports Business Journal, ESPN, and every other media in the country were pulling for a Cubs vs. Red Sox World Series.

The greatest relief pitcher of all time shares his extraordinary story of survival, love, and baseball.
Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. When first scouted by the Yankees, he didn't even own his own glove. He thought he might make a good mechanic. When discovered, he had never flown in an airplane, had never heard of Babe Ruth, spoke no English, and couldn't imagine Tampa, the city where he was headed to begin a career that would become one of baseball's most iconic. What he did know: that he loved his family and his then girlfriend, Clara, that he could trust in the Lord to guide him, and that he could throw a baseball exactly where he wanted to, every time.
With astonishing candor, Rivera tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics. The thirteen-time All-Star discusses his drive to win; the secrets behind his legendary composure; the story of how he discovered his cut fastball; the untold, pitch-by-pitch account of the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series; and why the lowest moment of his career became one of his greatest blessings.
In "The Closer, "Rivera takes readers into the Yankee clubhouse, where his teammates are his brothers. But he also takes us on that jog from the bullpen to the mound, where the game -- or the season -- rests squarely on his shoulders. We come to understand the laserlike focus that is his hallmark, and how his faith and his family kept his feet firmly on the pitching rubber. Many of the tools he used so consistently and gracefully came from what was inside him for a very long time -- his deep passion for life; his enduring commitment to Clara, whom he met in kindergarten; and his innate sense for getting out of a jam.
When Rivera retired, the whole world watched -- and cheered. In "The Closer, "we come to an even greater appreciation of a legend built from the ground up.

Originally published in 1999, Daniel Paisner's THE BALL: Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream was hailed as "one of the great quirky masterpieces of baseball journalism" by the editors of Sportsjones.com, and named an Amazon.com "Top Ten Sports Book of the Year." THE BALL is a wistful parable about our national pastime. It chronicles the distinctly American path of Mark McGwire's record-setting seventieth home run ball—from the moment it was stitched in a Rawlings factory in Costa Rica and shipped (eventually) to St. Louis; to the moment it left the hands of Montreal rookie hurler Carl Pavano and collided with McGwire's "Big Stick" bat; to the moment it was "caught" by a researcher working on the heralded Human Genome Research Project; to the moment it was won at auction for $3.08 million dollars by a comic-book maven. Shot through with colorful characters, high drama and rich baseball history, it is must-reading for anyone interested in what drove our various marketplaces—and collective fantasies—at the end of the twentieth century. As baseball fans commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the historic home run race of 1998, they look back as well to a more innocent time in the game—a time before the taint of steroids and the reliance on sabermetrics that has transformed the way the game is played and the way it is remembered.

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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 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 Boston Red Sox are one of the most iconic teams in all of professional sports, representing not just a city or a state, but an entire region--they're New England's sole entry into MLB. Baseball immortals Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth wore a Red Sox uniform early in their careers, and many other great players, including Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, and Pedro Martinez have played for New England's beloved ball club. Sports historian Robert W. Cohen has chosen the 50 best ever to play for the Sox and profiles their exploits. Chances are you'll find your favorite player here.

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.

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.

Told through profiles of the men who have made it a reality, this is the complex story of the triumphs achieved by—and challenges faced by—Latinos who have risen to the heights of Major League Baseball. Latino Baseball Legends: An Encyclopedia offers the most comprehensive, go-to source for everything relating to Latin American baseball stars, tracing the history of Latinos in baseball through the stories of those who have excelled at the game. Colorfully written 3,000-word entries explore the lives and careers of 25 dominant players, from legends such as Roberto Clemente to deserving, but comparatively unknown superstars such as Martin Dihigo. Shorter listings note another 75 Latinos who have figured prominently in the sport. The entries document the importance of baseball in Latin American culture and the way it has evolved in the players' home countries, but the encyclopedia does more than that. Its profiles also expose the difficulties faced by Latino players who are forced to overcome both a language barrier and the discrimination they face because of their skin color. And they demonstrate how proficiency with a bat and ball has become a great engine that can lift families out of poverty and provide hope for indigent youths.

Little Casey loves baseball. Even before the child was born, his father knew that the kid was going to be a baseball player and prepared a nursery theme of baby blue walls with baseball angels in the form of porcelain dolls, framed pictures, and the new Big Head poster of Cal Ripken Jr.; his Dad's favorite Major League player on the wall. Two years later, Casey loves baseball and everyone realizes it. He knows exactly what to do with that little plastic bat and ball his father so anxiously waited to get for him. Every night, when Casey's father comes home from work, it's "Game Time " They play ball in the living room, watch their favorite big league team on the big screen with surround sound for a better "learning experience," with a side order of Baseball Tonight on ESPN. Finally, the two finish the night talking about baseball and dad hopefully believing that his little Casey will dream of making the big play or hitting the big home run; Casey at the plate...right? Parents, do you know what to do next? In Pursuit of the College Baseball Scholarship is a book of wisdom and insight on how to pursue a college baseball scholarship from the perspective of a coach who has been there and done it well.