For many fans in the 1940s and 1950s, it wasn't the exploits of major leagues that made baseball so popular. It was the local minor league heroes-often lacking the talent or luck to make it to the majors-who dominated their thoughts of baseball. One of these players was Eddie Neville. A gutsy, left-handed pitcher from the sandlots of Baltimore, Neville made his mark on the minor league towns he played in, particularly Durham, North Carolina, where he is still the winningest pitcher in the history of the Durham Bulls. His story is one of Class D pennant races and winters spent in the Canal Zone of Panama, all the time chasing the elusive dream to play in the big leagues. Blended in are looks at minor league personalities such as ""Muscle"" Shoals and ""Turkey"" Tyson and future major leaguers such as Tom Lasorda and Dick Groat.

The Giants' accomplishments took place against an historical backdrop of a change in the African-American experience. The original players from Jacksonville, Florida, joined the northward black migration during World War I. The team was named after Harry Bacharach - an Atlantic City politician running for mayor - as a way to keep his name before the city's black community. The Giants were immediately successful, and soon played the best semi-professional teams in their region, as well as the top black teams from the East and Midwest. They entered the first Negro league on the East Coast in 1923, and won the league championship twice before the decade ended. This book chronicles the Giants' pivotal role in the development of black baseball in Prohibition-era Atlantic City, and the careers of the men who made it possible.

Born out of expansion in 1962, the New York Mets have more than filled the void left by the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. They have provided baseball fans in New York and around the baseball world with close to 40 years of memories including Casey Stengel's loveable losers, the improbable 1969 miracle, another world championship in 1986 and National League pennants in 1973 and 2000 with many unforgettable moments in between. Amazing Mets Trivia tests the memories of Met fans of all ages with hundreds of questions and facts about players including: Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Willie Mays, Rusty Staub, Dave Kingman, Lee Mazzili, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco and many others.

Ford Frick is best known as the baseball commissioner who put the ""asterisk"" next to Roger Maris's record. But his tenure as commissioner carried the game through its most pivotal changes - television, continued integration, West Coast expansion and labor unrest. During those 14 years - and his 17 prior years as National League president - he witnessed baseball history from the perspective of a man who started his career as a sportswriter. This biography of Frick, whose approach to his work sparked lively debate about the commissioner's role, provides a detailed narrative of his career and the events and characters of mid-20th century baseball.

A "New York Times "Notable Book of the Year
Scheduled for release in July 2007 as an ESPN original miniseries, starring John Turturro as Billy Martin, Oliver Platt as George Steinbrenner, and Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson.
A kaleidoscopic portrait of New York City in 1977, "The Bronx Is Burning "is the story of two epic battles: the fight between Yankee Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin, and the battle between Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch for the city's mayorship. Buried beneath these parallel conflicts--one for the soul of baseball, the other for the soul of the city--was the subtext of race.
Deftly intertwined by journalist Jonathan Mahler, these braided Big Apple narratives reverberate to reveal a year that also saw the opening of Studio 54, the acquisition of the "New York Post" by Rupert Murdoch, a murderer dubbed the "Son of Sam," the infamous blackout, and the evolution of punk rock. As Koch defeated Cuomo, and as Reggie Jackson rescued a team racked with dissension, 1977 became a year of survival--and also of hope.

In the early 1870s, baseball was chaos, mired in mismanagement and corruption. William Hulbert, the owner of Chicago's National Association team, believed that a league run efficiently with honest competition would survive and flourish. Hulbert, relying on his pragmatic philosophy of ""molasses now, vinegar later"" and working with his prize recruit Albert Spalding, founded the National League in 1876. That inaugural season of the National League is chronicled in this heavily documented work. The league fell far short of Hulbert's dreams in its first season, but he stuck to his belief that integrity would win out in the end. He not only prohibited Sunday baseball and the sale and consumption of alcohol within the league's ballparks, but ousted two teams - New York and Philadelphia - from the league because they failed to meet their obligation to finish out the season. Despite the setbacks, scandals, and considerable opposition, all of which are thoroughly covered here, the National League survived its first year.

Among the great pitchers in baseball history, Charles ""Deacon"" Phillippe and Samuel ""The Schoolmaster"" Leever hardly stand out as household names. But during the first decade of the twentieth century, these two Pittsburgh Pirates were among the most celebrated pitchers in the major leagues. From 1900 through 1906, these models of consistency posted a combined record of 261 victories against 131 losses for a win-loss percentage of .666. During the years Deacon and the Schoolmaster toiled on the mound, the Pirates never finished out of the first division, won four National League pennants, and came in second four times. With little flamboyance or controversy to color their legacy, their fame faded quickly after their workman-like playing days. This narrative chronicles the thriving careers of these unassuming aces and returns them to their rightful place among the most important players in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club.

This is the previously untold story of the London Tecumsehs, an 1870s baseball team that rose to the top ranks of pro ball. The Tecumsehs of London, Ontario, were among the founding members of the International Association in 1877, the first league established to challenge the struggling National League, formed a year earlier. The team played against the top competition of the day and defeated nines from Chicago, St. Louis and elsewhere. They became the first champions of the International Association when they defeated Pittsburgh with the help of Fred Goldsmith, one of the first curveball pitchers. This is also the story of the International Association, the only one of the six leagues challenging the primacy of the National League that has never been accorded major league status. To this day it has been relegated to minor league status to the detriment of some of the pioneer players in the game.

Is it bedtime for America's pastime? In recent years, action on and off the diamond has left some fans predicting baseball's imminent death - or claiming to have already attended the funeral. This book refutes those claims with an in-depth look at baseball then and now. Comparing the baseball of the 1950s to the game of today, this author examines the widespread dissatisfaction with major league baseball, considers how modern teams differ from those of the past, and reflects on whether professional baseball remains a truly competitive sport. Excessive salaries, player movement and the evolution of the draft are all up for discussion, as is the Wild Card playoff format and how it has affected the overall competition. Tables show statistics on salaries, league attendance and the correlation between winning percentages and payroll. Appendices offer details on market size and attendance regressions. The facts and figures add up to a win for the long-lasting appeal of baseball.

Pedro Gomez of ESPN was a beloved figure in baseball. His death from sudden cardiac arrest on Feb. 7, 2021, unleashed an outpouring of heartfelt tributes. He was 58, both a hard-nosed reporter and a smiling ambassador of the sport. These 62 personal essays soar beyond sports to delve into life lessons. Pedro, a proud Cuban American, was known for his dramatic reporting from Havana. Fully and fluidly bilingual, he did as much as anyone to bridge the wide gap that had existed between U.S.-born players and the Latin Americans now so important to the game's vitality and future growth. He was also a family man who loved to talk about his three children, Sierra, Dante and Rio, a Boston Red Sox prospect. Pedro was universally known as a smiling presence who brought out the best in people. His humanity and generosity of spirit shaped countless lives, including one of his ESPN bosses, Rob King, who was so moved by Pedro's advice to him--"Remember who you are"--that he printed up the words and posted them on the wall of his office in Bristol. King is one of a diverse collection of contributors whose personal essays turn Pedro's shocking death into an occasion to reflect on the deeper truths of life we too often overlook. Part The Pride of Havana and part Tuesdays With Morrie, part The Tender Bar and part Ball Four, this is the rare essay collection that reads like a novel, full of achingly honest emotion and painful insights, a book about friendship, a book about standing for something, a book about joy and love. Former New York Times writer Jack Curry writes about Pedro's passion for live music, and former Sports Illustrated writer Tim Kurkjian brings alive spring-training basketball games with executives like Sandy Anderson and Billy Beane and Pedro right in the mix. Detroit manager AJ Hinch and formers Texas manager Ron Washington both reveal that in their darkest hours Pedro gave them some of the best advice of their lives. Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Tony La Russa, Peter Gammons, Ross Newhan, Tracy Ringolsby and Dan Shaughnessy are among the contributors. So are likely future Hall of Famers Max Scherzer and Dusty Baker. Pulitzer-Prize-winning Washington Post war correspondent Steve Fainaru, award-winning writers from Howard Bryant and Mike Barnicle to Tim Keown, Ken Rosenthal and Dave Sheinin also contribute. Rounding out the mix are current and former ESPN stars including Rachel Nichols, Shelley M. Smith, Peter Gammons, Bob Ley and Keith Olbermann. This is a book to rekindle in any lapsed fan a love of going to the ballpark, but it's also a wakeup call that transcends sports. To any journalist, worn down by the demands of a punishing job, to anyone anywhere, pummeled by pandemic times and the dark mood of the country in recent years, these essays will light a spark to seize every opportunity to make a difference, in your work and in the lives of people who matter to you.

Go to the Head of the Class with a Baseball Legend Baseball legend Casey Stengel is considered by many to be the greatest manager in baseball history. He was certainly one of the most successful. He managed the fabled New York Yankees from 1949 to 1960 and compiled ten American League pennants and seven world championships during that time. He was also without question one of the game's all-time characters, best known for conversing in a mangled form of English that came to be known as Stengelese."" Beyond the comedy and the world championships, however, his baseball life spanned the ages, from the dead-ball era to Astro Turf. He began his big league career by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1912 and ended it by managing the hapless New York Mets in 1965. Between the first and last stop, Stengel was a World Series hero; a failed manager with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves; a washed-up, aging manager in the minors; and the wacky interloper who took over the stuffy, staid Yankees in 1949 and reformed them into a dynasty. In Casey Stengel: Baseball's ""Old Perfessor, "" dozens of former players, friends, and associates recall the Stengel myth and the Stengel reality. They explore his managing style with great teams and with horrible teams; his pioneering, controversial techniques; his humor, his edginess, and his weaknesses; why some players hated him while others loved him; why some think he was a genius and others think he was merely the right man in the right place at the right time. What emerges is a fascinating ride through baseball history and a thoughtful look at the life of a man who was counted out, mocked, and underestimated--and yet he never gave up, finally findingsuccess in his later years.""

I can remember a reporter asking me for a quote, and I didn't know what a quote was. I thought it was some kind of soft drink.--Joe DiMaggio, Hall of Fame outfielder. Back again, for a third edition, this compendium of the greatest baseball quotes of all time brings both the wisdom of the world and the bull of the bullpen. From the equally absurd and profound ""Yogi-isms"" of Yogi Berra (""If you come to a fork in the road, take it"") to some of the greatest put-downs of all time (""He's good, but I don't think there's anyone in the world who's as good as he thinks he is""), this dictionary of baseball quotations will remind every reader that there is plenty of time for conversation while the game goes on. Organized by theme, the more than 5,800 quotations include the date, team, position and historical background when available.

The history of baseball is filled with players whose careers were defined by one bad play. Mike Torrez is remembered as the pitcher who gave up the infamous three-run homer to Bucky ""Bleeping"" Dent in the 1978 playoffs tie-breaker between the Red Sox and Yankees. Yet Torrez's life added up to much more than his worst moment on the mound. Coming from a vibrant Mexican American community that settled in Topeka, Kansas, in the early 1900s, he made it to the Majors by his own talent and efforts, with the help of an athletic program for Mexican youth that spread through the Midwest, Texas and Mexico during the 20th century. He was in the middle of many transformative events of the 1970s-such as the rise of free agency-and was an ethnic role model in the years before the ""Fernandomania"" of 1981. This book covers Torrez's life and career as the winningest Mexican American pitcher in Major League history.

During the 19th century, baseball was a game with few rules, many rowdy players and just one umpire. Dirty tricks were simply part of a winning strategy-spiking, body-blocking, cutting bases short or hiding an extra ball to be used when needed were all OK. Deliberately failing to catch a fly in order to have the game called due to darkness was also acceptable. And drinking before a game was perhaps expected. Providing brief bios of dozens of players, managers, umpires and owners, this book chronicles some of the flamboyant, unruly and occasionally criminal behavior of the baseball's early years.

*Finalist for the 2007 Seymour Medal of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).*

*Winner of the 2007 Robert Peterson Book Award of the Negro Leagues Committee of the Society for American Baseball*

When to Stop the Cheering? documents the close and often conflicted relationship between the black press and black baseball beginning with the first Negro professional league of substance, the Negro National League, which started in 1920, and finishing with the dissolution of the Negro American League in 1957. When to Stop the Cheering? examines the multidimensional relationship the black newspapers had with baseball, including their treatment of and relationships with baseball officials, team owners, players and fans. Over time, these relationships changed, resulting in shifts in coverage that could be described as moving from brotherhood to paternalism, then from paternalism to nostalgic tribute and even regret.

Pop Flies and Line Drives recounts highlights of the author's personal visits with former professional baseball players who played in the 1940s and '50s when he was growing up.

This collection of fresh essays seeks to examine the intersection of baseball and social class, pointing to the conclusion that America's game, infused from its origins with a democratic mythos and founded on high-minded principles of meritocracy, is nonetheless fraught with problematic class contradictions. Each essayist has explored how class standing has influenced some aspect of the game as experienced by those who play it, those who watch it, those who write about it, and those who market it. The topic of class is an amorphous one and in tying it to baseball the contributors have considered matters of race, education, locality, integration, assimilation, and cultural standing. These elements are crucial to understanding how baseball creates, preserves, reinforces and occasionally assails class divisions among those who watch, play, and own the game.

Fred Hutchinson, the popular manager of the Cincinnati Reds, was at the top of his profession when he was suddenly diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in December 1963. This is the story of Fred Hutchinson and his players as they completed his inspirational final season. In 1964, the Reds battled themselves, their opponents and their emotions to mount a late winning streak which, coupled with the historic collapse of the Phillies, allowed the team to enter the final day with a chance to win the pennant for their stricken manager.

Since 1995, the Indiana State University Conference on Baseball and Literature in American Culture has provided a venue for scholars to present their research on baseball as literary subject matter and cultural institution. Nineteen essays presented at the 2002 and 2003 ISU conferences are published in this work. The essays demonstrate that baseball continues to engage scholars like no other sports, despite the game's supposed loss of stature as the national game. ""A Field of Questions: W.P. Kinsella comes to Ithaca,"" reveals Kinsella as baseball fan and baseball writer. "" 'You don't play the angles, you're a sap': John Sayles, Eliot Asinof, Baseball Labor, and Chicago in 1919"" examines Sayles' Eight Men Out in the context of both Asinof's historical account of the fix and Sayles' earlier and openly labor-oriented film Maetwan. ""Is Baseball an American Religion?"" considers three codified, sociological definitions of religion and demonstrates that to claim baseball is an American religion requires more than just a strong attraction to the game. ""Baseball Immortals: Character and Performance On and Off the Field"" analyzes how character and performance impact fan and media perceptions.

This is the first book-length biography of Ed McKean, one of the nineteenth-century's premier shortstops. It is also the story of the so-called Emerald Age of baseball and leading Irish figures including Patsy Tebeau, Jimmy McAleer, John MGraw, and Hughie Jennings.

One of early baseball's most popular celebrities, Arlie Latham played for the St. Louis Browns in the 1880s. A brainy hitter and base-runner, he was also the sport's brashest, funniest player, his ""fresh"" personality bringing him as much trouble as reward. He played with the 19th century's greatest names, and was friends with everyone from King Kelly to King George V. He parlayed his stardom into a vaudeville career and the first official major league coaching job. In his fifties he carried the game he loved into world war to cheer Allied troops and in his seventies went to work for the Yankees. Arlie Latham's baseball odyssey is made more compelling by the parade of players, gamblers, boxers, actors, women and mascots that passes through it, providing a unique glimpse into America's game and the people who loved it.

When award-winning journalist Dave Jamieson rediscovered his childhood baseball card collection he figured that now was the time to cash in on his "investments." But when he tried the card shops, they were nearly all gone, closed forever. eBay was no help, either. Baseball cards were selling for next to nothing. What had happened? In Mint Condition, the first comprehensive history of this American icon, Jamieson finds the answers and much more. In the years after the Civil War, tobacco companies started slipping baseball cards into cigarette packs as collector's items, launching a massive advertising war. Before long, the cards were wagging the cigarettes. In the 1930s, baseball cards helped gum and candy makers survive the Great Depression, and kept children in touch with the game. After World War II, Topps Chewing Gum Inc. built itself into an American icon, hooking a generation of baby boomers on bubble gum and baseball cards. In the 1960s, royalties from cards helped to transform the players' union into one of the country's most powerful, dramatically altering the business of the game. And in the '80s and '90s, cards went through a spectacular bubble, becoming a billion-dollar-a-year industry before all but disappearing. Brimming with colorful characters, this is a rollicking, century-spanning, and extremely entertaining history.