Most baseball fans know of the amazing accomplishments Hall of Fame members achieved on the field, from Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak to Cy Young's 511 career wins. But few are as familiar with the ballplayers' lives away from the diamond-especially those icons who played before the Internet and 24/7 media coverage. Beyond their baseball statistics, what kind of individuals were they? How did they conduct themselves out of the spotlight? What made them tick? In Beyond the Ballpark: The Honorable, Immoral, and Eccentric Lives of Baseball Legends, John A. Wood looks at the personal lives of fifty members of the Hall of Fame, examining their childhoods, families, influences, life-changing events, defining moments, and more. The players range from the really good guys to bizarre characters and even the downright immoral. The author considers how tragedies may have impacted players, such as the shooting of Ty Cobb's beloved father by his own mother, and seeks to explain the dispositions of others, such as why the great Rogers Hornsby couldn't seem to get along with anybody. By taking a closer look at who the players were as men, Beyond the Ballpark captures the essence of these fifty Hall of Famers. Including such names as Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, this book is for all fans who are interested in more than just a ballplayer's statistics.

While major league baseball gained popularity in large American cities at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was still relatively unseen by small town inhabitants who could only read about it in the newspaper or catch an exhibition game as major league teams traveled through the United States. What was popular was "town baseball," fierce competitions between local teams to best the other in all aspects of baseball, particularly power hitting. It was from this environment that Jimmie Foxx, one of major league baseball's most talented players, began his journey toward the majors. Jimmie Foxx: The Pride of Sudlersville, is the story of one of baseball's most ferocious hitters. Growing up in small town Maryland, Jimmie seemed destined to play major-league baseball. By age 16 he was already playing professionally and wowing fans with his ability to smash homers. During his major-league career he appeared in three straight World Series, played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox, and spent the 1932 baseball season closely pursuing Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. The comparison to Babe Ruth has not been lost on many baseball scholars, but goes relatively unknown by the general public and many baseball fans. The most inclusive biography of Jimmie Foxx to date, Millikin's book provides a complete picture of his subject.

The Second World War was in the bottom of the ninth inning in Germany and Japan, but back at home the bases were loaded with baseball players, many of them new to the big leagues. While the game's stars traded their stockings and gloves for khaki and rifles, America's leaders believed baseball would boost morale at home.

Teams filled out their rosters with retired stars such as Jimmie Foxx and Babe Herman; with players like Pete Gray and Dick Sipek, whose disabilities had kept them out of the majors; and with teenagers like 17-year-olds Putsy Caballero and Tommy Brown. But while the level of major league talent had reached its nadir, war-weary fans packed the ballparks, eagerly following pennant races as intense as any that preceded the war.

On a sunny Fourth of July during World War I, King George V went out to a ball game. Along with Queen Mary and other royalty, Winston Churchill, dozens of VIPs, thousands of troops and ordinary Londoners, the monarch cheered an extraordinary “baseball match� between American soldiers and sailors. This historic event helped solidify the transatlantic alliance that was vital to winning the war. The game itself was a thriller, reported throughout the English-speaking world. The players ranged from kids fresh off the sandlots to a handful of major and minor leaguers and a future Hall of Famer. The two veteran pitchers went the distance, the outcome in doubt until the last batter. Drawing on American and British sources and game-day coverage, this first-ever full account of the “King's game� records every play and explores the lives of several players. The author provides a brief history of the Anglo-American Baseball League and armed forces baseball played in England, France and the United States during the Great War.

The Santurce Crabbers are one of the most storied franchises in the Caribbean. Their first owner, Pedrin Zorrilla, was a visionary, with many Negro League and big league contacts. Zorrilla signed up such eventual Hall of Famers as Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Ray Dandridge and Leon Day during the team's first decade. Santurce was the most successful winter league team of the 1950s, with three Caribbean Series titles. Roberto Clemente, Ruben Gomez, Willie Mays, Willard Brown and Bob Thurman played for the Crabbers during those glory years. Tom Lasorda used to pitch for them.Santurce set up working agreements with the Giants, Orioles, Dodgers and Astros, among other teams. Earl Weaver and Frank Robinson were team managers and Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Jim Palmer, Reggie Jackson and Robin Yount were early-career Crabbers. Orlando Cepeda and Tony (Tany) Perez played their entire winter league careers with Santurce. Lee Smith, the major leagues' all-time saves leader, pitched for them. Juan Gonzalez and Jose Cruz, Jr., are two of the team's Puerto Rican stars in the 1990s.

Major League Baseball today would be unrecognizable without the large number of Latin American players and managers filling its ranks. Their strong influence on the sport can trace its beginnings to professional leagues established south of the border over six decades ago. This narrative history of Latin American baseball leagues during the 1940s and 1950s provides an in-depth, year-by-year chronicle of seasonal leagues in the seven primary baseball-playing areas in the region: Mexico, the Caribbean, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Panama. The success of these leagues, and their often acrimonious competition with U. S. Organized Baseball, eventually ushered in a new era of contract concessions from owners and general labor advancements for players that forever changed the game.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Montreal Expos provided their fans with spectacular play produced by spectacular players. The team was able to reach the pinnacle of its lifetime popularity during that period. They were in fact even more popular than the beloved hockey-playing Canadians in Montreal and the most popular sports team in Canada. The book depicts how the team reached that level of support from the whole country and also why they were not able to sustain that excellence.

This is a history of the New York Yankees over a decade which saw them at the top of the American League and at the bottom. Based upon thorough background research and interviews with over 100 former players, the book covers the major stories of the period as well as some not seen elsewhere. The seventh games of the 1960 and 1962 World Series are described in detail, replete with the remembrances of many of the participants. The infamous Phil Linz harmonica incident, the fruitless search for another Mickey Mantle and the surprising emergence of Mel Stottlemyre are some of the stories that make the early ?60s such a fascinating era in Yankee lore.

For more than five decades, pioneering researcher Dorothy Seymour Mills has studied and written about baseball's past. With this groundbreaking book, she turns her attention to the historians, stat hounds, and many thousands of not-so-casual fans whose fascination with the game and its history, like her own, defies easy explanation. As Mills demonstrates, baseball elicits a passion--and inspires a slightly off-kilter, obsessive behavior--that is only slightly less interesting than the people who indulge it.

In the last two decades, innovation, data analysis and technology have driven a tectonic shift in the sports business. Game of Edges is the story of how sports franchises evolved, on and off the field, from raggedly run small businesses into some of the most systematically productive companies around. In today’s game, everyone from the owners to the marketing staff are using information—data—to give their team an edge. For analysts, an edge is their currency. Figuring out that bunting hurts your offence? That’s an edge. So is discovering metrics that can predict the career arc of your free agent shooting guard. Or combing through a decade of ticket-buying data to target persuadable fans. These small, incremental steps move a sports franchise from merely ordinary to the leading edge. Franchises today are more than just sports; they integrate a whole suite of other businesses—television and digital content, gambling and real estate, fashion and clothing, entertainment, catering and concessions and much more. But an optimised franchise has no room for error. Teams must do what the numbers say, reducing the element of chance, limiting those random moments of athletic heroism that make sports thrilling to watch. Optimisation also means the franchise’s main goal isn’t championships anymore; it’s keeping you, the viewer, engaged with the product. Drawing on extensive interviews with franchise owners, managers, executives and players, Bruce Schoenfeld introduces dynamic leaders who are radically reimagining the operations of these decades-old teams—and producing mind-boggling valuations. He joins the architects of the Golden State Warriors dynasty for an exclusive reception before tip-off. He stands among the faithful at Anfield, watching Liverpool’s analytics guru size up a prized midfielder. And he watches the president of the Chicago Cubs break ground on a new DraftKings gambling parlour at Wrigley Field, not ten miles from the site of the original Black Sox betting scandal. Essential reading for anyone interested in sports, business or technology Game of Edges explores a world where winning the game is only the beginning.

Although very few baseball games end with a final score of one to zero, and such a score line might suggest a contest devoid of drama, nothing could be further from the truth. Since the 1876 inaugural season of professional baseball, many 1-0 games have proved as compelling as those featuring a parade of pitchers and a plethora of home runs. In Baseball's Iconic 1-0 Games Warren Wilbert has chronicled the tensest 1-0 nail-biters that have occurred since baseball's first professional season. Organized thematically, Baseball's Iconic 1-0 Games starts by examining 1-0 games achieved on Opening Day, with the finest selected from the more than 50 that have occurred since 1876. Regular season games, in which less than three percent result in a 1-0 score, are then detailed, including those games pitched by such greats as John "Jocko" Flynn and Randy Johnson. Championship play, from the first inning of playoffs to the final out of the World Series, has its own share of 1-0 drama, and this, too, is covered extensively. These chapters are then followed by a look at the elusive perfect 1-0 game, of which only eight have been pitched since 1871-seven with a single pitcher. Pitching titans such as Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Bert Blyleven, Christy Mathewson, Dean Chance, Ed Walsh, Guy White, and Cy Young have had more than their fair share of 1-0 victories, and an additional chapter examines these pitchers and their 1-0 games. Appendixes include a full list of pitchers to have thrown a no-hit 1-0 game, pitching greats who have amassed ten or more career 1-0 victories, and 1-0 games in both the Negro Leagues and the Japanese Major Leagues. Featuring more than 30 photographs, Baseball's Iconic 1-0 Games is sure to fascinate all baseball fans, players, and historians.

The Big Red Machine dominated major league baseball in the 1970s, but the Cincinnati franchise began its climb to that pinnacle in 1961, when an unlikely collection of cast-offs and wannabes stunned the baseball world by winning the National League pennant. Led by revered manager Fred Hutchinson, the team featured rising stars like Frank Robinson, Jim O'Toole, and Vada Pinson, fading stars like Gus Bell and Wally Post, and a few castoffs who suddenly came into their own, like Gene Freese and 20-game-winner Joey Jay. In time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their pennant-winning season, the amazing story of the "Ragamuffin Reds" is told from start to finish in Before the Machine. Written by long-time Reds Report editor Mark J. Schmetzer and featuring dozens of photos by award-winning photographer Jerry Klumpe of the Cincinnati Post & Times Star, this book surely will be a winner with every fan in Reds country and coincides with an anniversary exhibit at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Through interviews and research, Before the Machine captures the excitement of a pennant race for a team that had suffered losing seasons in 14 of the past 16 years. Schmetzer also beautifully evokes the time and place--a muggy Midwestern summer during which, as the new song of the season boasts, "the whole town's batty for that team in Cincinnati." Led by regional talk-show star Ruth Lyons (the Midwest's "Oprah") fans rallied around the Reds as never before. The year didn't begin well for the team. Budding superstar Frank Robinson was arrested right before spring training for carrying a concealed weapon, and long-time owner Powel Crosley Jr., died suddenly just days before the start of the season. Few experts--or fans--gave the Reds much of a chance at first place anyway. With powerhouse teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Milwaukee, the National League pennant was unlikely to fly over Cincinnati's Crosley Field. But manager Hutchinson somehow galvanized his motley crew and led them to victory after victory. Joey Jay, who had languished with the Braves, mowed down hitters while his rotation mates O'Toole and knuckleballer Bob Purkey did the same. The team also featured a dynamic duo in the bullpen in Bill Henry and Jim Brosnan, whose book about the season, Pennant Race, became a national bestseller the following year. As the rest of the league kept waiting for the Reds to fade, Hutch's boys kept winning--and finally grabbed the pennant. Though they couldn't continue their magic in the World Series against the Yankees, the previously moribund Reds franchise did continue to their success throughout the decade, winning 98 games in 1962 and falling just short of another pennant in 1964. They established a recipe for success that would lead, a few years later, to the emergence of the Big Red Machine.

Comparing major league players has always been a popular topic among baseball fans. Debating the strengths and weaknesses of such greats as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, or Tom Seaver and Greg Maddux continues to stir up controversy among fans eager to champion their heroes. In Baseball's Top 10, Bob Kuenster has compiled a ranking of the game's best players by position, highlighting the achievements of nearly 300 individuals. In addition to the top 10, Kuenster includes Honorable Mentions-players who were considered but didn't make the final list-and Dishonorable Mentions-players who were left off the rankings due to alleged steroid and performance enhancing drug use. Drawing upon original interviews conducted by the author, this ranking reveals the best players in major league history as seen through the eyes of former players, managers, and announcers. Player entries include biographical information, individual achievements, stats, and quotes. Organized by position-first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, right field, catcher, designated hitters, multi-position players, right-handed starting pitchers, left-handed starting pitchers, and closers-280 outstanding players made the cut as the most elite pitchers, hitters, and fielders in MLB history. Baseball's Top 10 features interviews with some of baseball's greatest personalities-including players who have since passed, such as Al Lopez, Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Lou Boudreau, Andy Pafko, Ron Santo, Harry Caray and Harry Kalas. With over 50 photographs and a comprehensive list of suggested titles for further reading, this book is sure to interest baseball fans and historians who love to debate the many outstanding players who have appeared in the major leagues.

Who comprised the most productive pairs in the history of professional team sports? Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers? Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls? What about the prolific hockey tandem of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier? And that all-time great New York Yankees twosome of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig can certainly not be excluded. Using various selection criteria-including longevity, level of statistical compilation, impact on one's team, and overall place in history-The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History attempts to ascertain which twosome truly established itself as the most dominant tandem in the history of the four major professional team sports: baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. Arranged and ranked by sport, this work takes an in-depth look at the careers of these 100 men, including statistics, quotes from opposing players and former teammates, and career highlights. Finally, all 50 duos are placed in an overall ranking. Covering every decade since the 1890s, this book will find widespread appeal among sports fans of all generations.And with photographs of many of the tandems, The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History is a wonderful addition to any sports historian's collection.

Recognized in his prime as one of baseball's best, Alan Trammell was a World Series hero and a central figure in one of the greatest pennant races in the American League. For nearly two decades he played an all-around game as a fielder, hitter, and baserunner-rare for shortstops of his era. From his early days as a multi-sport prep star in the talent-rich San Diego area to an impressive through the minor leagues, he won over doubters and overcame setbacks to become one of the top players in Detroit Tigers history. With second baseman Lou Whitaker, Trammell formed perhaps the greatest ever double-play combination. In retirement, he joined Ty Cobb and Al Kaline as the only players to have spent 20 seasons in Detroit, and later served an ill-fated managerial stint with the franchise. This exhaustively researched biography provides the first book-length account of the life and career of one of the most well-known figures in Detroit sports history.

The small and midsized cities of western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia reached their peaks of population and prosperity in the second quarter of the 20th century. The baseball teams from these towns formed the Middle Atlantic League, the strongest circuit in the low minors and the one with the most alumni to advance to the majors. The MAL played from 1925 through 1951 and went through three distinct phases. In the pre-Depression years, communities rallied around the home team, which always stood one step from financial disaster. During the Great Depression, the league flourished as president Elmer Daily magically found investors and night baseball boosted attendance working class. Middle Atlantic League clubs enjoyed a modicum of financial stability and an infusion of outstanding young players and became talent farms for major league teams. During this period Akron, Dayton, Canton, Springfield, Portsmouth and Zanesville, Ohio became the core cities of the league's strongest era. Following World War II, America and baseball experienced seismic cultural and economic shifts with television, the baby boom, suburban growth and changing family values, which overwhelmed the league and its cities.

Honus Wagner's spectacular baseball career spanned 21 seasons from 1897 through 1917. Widely considered the greatest shortstop in baseball history, Wagner won eight National League batting titles and helped win the pennant four times for his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. This book assembles the many stories about Wagner that circulated among his teammates, opposing players, writers and fans - reminiscences that define both his career and his life as a citizen in the Pittsburgh suburb of Carnegie.

Baseball is back! And the focus of many fans is almost always on hitting. All of which makes it a great time forLau's Laws on Hitting. The Art of Hitting .300 (Dutton) by Charley Lau and Alfred Glossbrenner was published in 1980. It is still in print and, as of early 1999, has sold over 85,000 copies. Lau's Laws on Hitting will both build on that success and pick up where the earlier title left off. Written by a man who is not only the son of the most famous batting coach of all time, but who is also a professional hitting instructor with an impressive track record of his own, this book incorporates two decades of new information, observations, teaching techniques, player analysis, and refinements to the Lau System. And, in response to numerous reader requests, it includes sections specifically designed to help coaches at all levels teach the Lau System most effectively.

With the rise of stars such as Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and now Daisuke Matsuzaka, fans today can easily name players from the island country of Japan. Less widely known is that baseball has long been played on other Pacific islands, in pre-statehood Hawaii, for instance, and in Guam, Samoa and the Philippines. For the multiethnic peoples of these U.S. possessions, the learning of baseball was actively encouraged, some would argue as a means to an unabashedly colonialist end.As early as the deadball era, Pacific Islanders competed against each other and against mainlanders on the diamond, with teams like the Hawaiian Travelers barnstorming the States, winning more than they lost against college, semi-pro, and even professional nines. For those who moved to the mainland, baseball eased the transition, helping Asian Pacific Americans create a sense of community and purpose, cross cultural borders, and - for a few - achieve fame.

Baseball is much more than a game. As the American national pastime, it has reflected the political and cultural concerns of US society for over 200 years, and generates passions and loyalties unique in American society. This Companion examines baseball in culture, baseball as culture, and the game's global identity. Contributors contrast baseball's massive, big-business present with its romanticized origins and its evolution against the backdrop of American and world history. The chapters cover topics such as baseball in the movies, baseball and mass media, and baseball in Japan and Latin America. Between the chapters are vivid profiles of iconic characters including Babe Ruth, Ichiro and Walter O'Malley. Crucial moments in baseball history are revisited, ranging from the 1919 Black Sox gambling scandal to recent controversies over steroid use. A unique book for fans and scholars alike, this Companion explains the enduring importance of baseball in America and beyond. Read Leonard Cassuto's article 'Baseball and the Business of American Innocence' in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

This first biography of four-time all-star Al Rosen covers the career of perhaps the best player on the fabulous Cleveland Indians' teams of the 1950s. From 1951 to 1956, the Tribe won one American League pennant (1954) and finished second to New York the other five seasons. Rosen was selected as the League's Most Valuable Player in 1953, the last Indians' player to be so honored. He led the League in home runs (43) and RBI (145). Washington's Mickey Vernon edged Rosen by a single percentage point (.337 to .336) for the league batting championship. His play between the white lines was not the only place where Rosen left his mark on the game. He spent 14 seasons as a President/General Manager for the New York Yankees (1978-1979), Houston Astros (1981-1985) and the San Francisco Giants (1986-1992). Under his guidance, those teams won two pennants and one world championship. Rosen is the only person in Major League Baseball history (since 2020) to win an MVP award as a player and to be recognized as Executive of the Year by The Sporting News (1987).

Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948, Pie Traynor was the face of Pittsburgh baseball during the twenties and thirties, a time when the Pirates were a perennial pennant contender. (They would win the Series in 1925.) Traynor was a line-drive hitter who drove in runs as effectively with doubles and triples as most of his peers did launching balls over the fence, and by all accounts he was a dazzling defender. After his playing days ended, Traynor stayed in Pittsburgh, managing the Pirates for five years and working as a popular broadcaster for decades, cementing his place as one of the most popular athletes ever to play in the Steel City.

Named a Best Baseball Book of 2020 by Sports Collectors Digest New York Times 2020 Summer Reading List From the day he first stepped into the Yankee clubhouse, Jim Bouton (1939-2019) was the sports world's deceptive revolutionary. Underneath the crew cut and behind the all-American boy-next-door good looks lurked a maverick with a signature style. Whether it was his frank talk about player salaries and mistreatment by management, his passionate advocacy of progressive politics, or his efforts to convince the United States to boycott the 1968 Olympics, Bouton confronted the conservative sports world and compelled it to catch up with a rapidly changing American society. In Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, Mitchell Nathanson gives readers a look at Bouton's remarkable life. He tells the unlikely story of how Bouton's Ball Four, perhaps the greatest baseball book of all time, came into being, how it was received, and how it forever changed the way we view not only sports books but professional sports as a whole. Based on wide-ranging interviews Nathanson conducted with Bouton, family, friends, and others, he provides an intimate, inside account of Bouton's life. Nathanson provides insight as to why Bouton saw the world the way he did, why he was so different from the thousands of players who came before him, and how, in the cliquey, cold, bottom-line world of professional baseball, Bouton managed to be both an insider and an outsider all at once.

When African American first baseman George "Boomer" Scott made his debut in the major leagues in 1966, he took the field for the Boston Red Sox--the last major league team to field a black ballplayer, only seven years before. An eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, a three-time All-Star, and an important member of the Red Sox 1967 Impossible Dream American League Champions, Scott stroked 271 "taters"--a term he coined for home runs that has been memorialized in baseball lexicon. Yet throughout his career, the outspoken player faced an ongoing struggle to gain racial acceptance. This detailed biography chronicles Scott's youth in violently racist Mississippi, his impressive 14-year professional career, and the challenges he faced off the field. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with the former slugger, this work celebrates one of Boston's legends and reveals the barriers that still existed for black ball players years after Jackie Robinson paved the way.