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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games > Baseball
The previously untold legacy of Ty Cobb Ty Cobb is a baseball
immortal, considered by many the greatest player who ever lived. In
an age when the game was young and tough, he cultivated a
reputation as the fiercest competitor of them all. Yet after he
retired, he realized that the very qualities that helped him reach
the pinnacle of his profession also undermined his relationship
with his own children. He was deeply depressed when two of his sons
died at a very young age. Cobb never had the chance to bridge the
emotional distance between them. Herschel Cobb grew up in a
chaotic, destructive household. His father was cruel and abusive,
and his mother was an adulterous alcoholic. After his father died,
when Herschel was eight, he began to spend a portion of each summer
with his grandfather. Along with his sister and brother, Herschel
visited Ty Cobb at his home in Atherton, California, or at his
cabin at Lake Tahoe. These days were filled with adventures,
memorable incidents, and discoveries as "Granddaddy" warmed to
having his "three redheads" with him. Heart of a Tiger is Herschel
Cobb's moving account of how a retired sports star seized a second
chance at having a close family, with his grandchildren the lucky
recipients of his change of heart. He provided wisdom, laughter,
and a consistent affection that left an indelible mark. He proved
the enormous power of a grandparent to provide stability, love, and
guidance. As he developed this new, wholly different legacy, in
turn he would finally come to peace with himself.
From picking coffee in the Dominican Republic to reaching icon
status as a Major League pitcher in America, here is the story of
baseball’s most colorful player told in his own words Â
Bartolo Colón—also known as Big Sexy—is a baseball icon and
one of the most beloved players to ever play the game. In a career
spanning 21 years, Colón has won the Cy Young Award and won more
games than any other Latin American–born pitcher. But more
importantly, throughout his career, Big Sexy has captured the
hearts of fans of the game as well as the stars he has played
against. Colón plays the game the way it was meant to be. Â
In Big Sexy: The Life and Times of Bartolo Colón, he opens up as
never before. The result is a touching and deeply personal story of
a truly unique baseball life.
Road to Nowhere is the story of New York City baseball from 1990 to
1996, describing in intimate detail the collapse of both the Mets
and the Yankees in the early nineties, the Yankees' then reclaiming
of the city and the Mets attempts to rebuild from the ashes. After
the chaos of the 1980s, the New York Yankees finally bottomed out
in 1990. The team finished in last place, enduring one of their
worst seasons ever. Their best player, Don Mattingly, was suffering
from a debilitating back injury. Manager after manager had been
fired. The clubhouse was a miserable place to be, with moody,
egocentric players making life difficult for up-and-coming talent.
It looked like New York would remain a Mets town well into the
twenty-first century. Then Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was
banished from baseball. Without their manic, meddling owner, the
Yankees fell into the hands of Gene Michael. Setting out to rebuild
the franchise, Michael made shrewd trades and free agent signings,
and he allowed the team's prospects to develop in the Minor Leagues
before getting to the Bronx. Meanwhile, the Mets, beloved for their
intensity and hard-partying ways in the 1980s, became everything
that had driven fans away from the Yankees. They made bad trades
and questionable signings, fired managers seemingly every year, and
were a powder keg of never-ending controversy. The Mets bottomed
out in 1993, perhaps their worst season ever, when they not only
lost 103 games but officially lost the heart of the city to the
Yankees. But by 1996, despite their record, the Mets were already
making moves that would return them to relevance and set them on a
path to the ultimate showdown with the Yankees. Road to Nowhere
tells the story of how two teams that had swapped roles in the
1980s swapped them right back in the early 1990s. While playing
through several difficult seasons, both teams were making moves
that would return them to prominence in just a few years.
Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball. Managers pore over
batting averages to determine game day lineups and batting orders;
high number of runs batted in and low earned run averages receive
praise from the press, higher salaries from the front office, and
love from fans; and the fate of fantasy baseball players rises and
falls with each statistical change. The prominence of the RC/27 and
other more complex, formula-driven stats has made numbers even more
important to understanding and appreciating the game. For all these
baseball buffs and more, Frederick E. Taylor provides a new measure
of hitting prowess that just might be a game changer.
Taylor's potential runs per game (PRG) measure accounts for
batters getting on base, advancing runners, and driving in runs,
and it separates leadoff and second batters from those in the
middle of the order. Taylor introduces the measure, explains how it
works, and applies it to players past and present. He breaks the
history of major league baseball into eight eras based on
differences in runs scored per game. He
systematically--player-by-player and position-by-position--compares
the results of the PRG measure to those drawn from other
statistics, such as on-base percentage and slugging average. Taylor
shows that PRG is more accurate and that career clutch hitting is a
myth.
Sabermetricians, baseball fans of all stripes, and anyone who
earns a living from the sport will find a wealth of information and
a whole new set of stats to obsess over in "The Runmakers."
Measuring baseball will never be the same.
Beginning with the Cleveland Indians' hard luck during World War
II, this thrilling history follows the team through its historic
role in racial integration and its legendary postwar comeback. Rich
with player photographs and stories, this book is sure to excite
American history buffs and baseball fans alike. In early 1942,
baseball team owners across the country scrambled to assemble
makeshift rosters from the remaining ballplayers who had not left
the sport for the armed forces. The Cleveland Indians suffered a
tremendous loss when star pitcher Bob Feller became the first Major
Leaguer to enlist, taking his twenty-plus wins per year with him.
To make matters worse, the Indians' new player-manager, Lou
Boudreau, had no coaching or managing experience. The resulting
team was mediocre, and players struggled to keep up morale.
Feller's return in late 1945 sparked a spectacular comeback. A year
later Bill Veeck bought the franchise and, over the next two years,
signed the first American League players to break the color
barrier: Larry Doby and Satchel Paige. The 1948 season ended with
the Indians and Boston Red Sox tied, resulting in the American
League's first playoff game. Thanks in part to rookie Gene
Bearden's outstanding pitching, the Indians went on to beat the
National League's Boston Braves for their second World Series
title.
As the companion volume to Black Baseball
Entrepreneurs,1860–1901: Operating by Any Means Necessary,
Lomax’s new book continues to chronicle the history of black
baseball in the United States. The first volume traced the
development of baseball from an exercise in community building
among African Americans in the pre–Civil War era into a
commercialized amusement and a rare and lucrative opportunity for
entrepreneurship within the black community. In this book, Lomax
takes a closer look at the marketing and promotion of the Negro
Leagues by black baseball magnates. He explores how race influenced
black baseball’s institutional development and how it shaped the
business relationship with white clubs and managers. Lomax explains
how the decisions that black baseball magnates made to insulate
themselves from outside influences may have distorted their
perceptions and ultimately led to the Negro Leagues’ demise. The
collapse of the Negro Leagues by 1931 was, Lomax argues, ""a dream
deferred in the overall African American pursuit for freedom and
self-determination.
The Yankees and New York baseball entered a golden age between 1949
and 1964, a period during which the city was represented in all but
one World Series. While the Yankees dominated, however, the years
were not so golden for the rest of baseball.
In "The Postwar Yankees" David George Surdam deconstructs this
idyllic period to show that while the Yankees piled on pennants and
World Series titles through the 1950s, overall Major League
Baseball attendance consistently declined and gate-revenue
disparity widened through the mid-1950s. Contrary to popular
belief, the era was already experiencing many problems that fans of
today's game bemoan, including competitive imbalance and callous
owners who ran the league like a cartel. Fans also found aging,
decrepit stadiums ill equipped for the burgeoning automobile
culture, while television and new forms of leisure competed for
their attention.
Through an economist's lens, Surdam brings together historical
documents and off-the-field numbers to reconstruct the period and
analyze the roots of the age's enduring mythology, examining why
the Yankees and other New York teams were consistently among
baseball's elite and how economic and social forces set in motion
during this golden age shaped the sport into its modern
incarnation.
Millionaires complaining to billionaires about more millions - too
often that's how the general public perceives baseball players.
When discussions of strikes don't involve a box from the knees to
the shoulders, the game has strayed too far from its
roots."Throwbacks: Old-School Baseball Players in Today's Game"
celebrates those roots and highlights those players today who play
the game the same way our parents and grandparents watched it
played. It's an ode to those who play hurt, who play smart, who go
all out, who get blood and sweat and dirt on their uniforms and
still treat their teammates and fans-and the game-with respect. To
the hurlers, the hitters, the scrappers, and even the role players,
you don't have to be a star to be "old-school"; you just have to
know how to play the game right.George Castle focuses on a dozen
current players who best personify the spirit of baseball's past.
These players take their original talent-be it smarts, hustle,
firepower, or muscle-and give it all for their team. While Kerry
Wood blows people away with his fastball, Mike Morgan does whatever
he's asked to stay in the game he loves. As Jim Thome muscles balls
over the fence, Ellis Burks happily contributes the little things
that can mean the difference between winning and losing.In addition
to talking to the throwbacks themselves, Castle interviewed past
and current teammates, opponents, and even announcers to get an
insider's view of what drives them. It's one thing for Castle to
call them old-school and quite another when the compliment comes
from contemporaries. Come read about some of the best of what
baseball has to offer-both on and off the field.
2019 SABR Baseball Research Award Few people have influenced a team
as much as did Tom Yawkey (1903-76) as owner of the Boston Red Sox.
After purchasing the Red Sox for $1.2 million in 1932, Yawkey
poured millions into building a better team and making the
franchise relevant again. Although the Red Sox never won a World
Series under Yawkey's ownership, there were still many highlights.
Lefty Grove won his three hundredth game; Jimmie Foxx hit fifty
home runs; Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941, and both Williams and
Carl Yastrzemski won Triple Crowns. Yawkey was viewed by fans as a
genial autocrat who ran his ball club like a hobby more than a
business and who spoiled his players. He was perhaps too trusting,
relying on flawed cronies rather than the most competent executives
to run his ballclub. One of his more unfortunate legacies was the
accusation that he was a racist, since the Red Sox were the last
Major League team to integrate, and his inaction in this regard
haunted both him and the team for decades. As one of the last great
patriarchal owners in baseball, he was the first person elected to
the Baseball Hall of Fame who hadn't been a player, manager, or
general manager. Bill Nowlin takes a close look at Yawkey's life as
a sportsman and as one of the leading philanthropists in New
England and South Carolina. He also addresses Yawkey's leadership
style and issues of racism during his tenure with the Red Sox.
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