When Rod Carew retired in 1985, following twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins and seven with the California Angels, he had amassed seven batting titles, more than three thousand hits, and eighteen All-Star selections and was considered one of the best pure hitters to ever play the game. While his baseball career is well documented--Rookie of the Year in 1967 and a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 1991--this compelling chronicle of Carew's life extends far beyond the baseball diamond. "Carew" is the candid autobiography of a baseball legend--from his years growing up in a segregated barrio in Panama to his move to Harlem at the age of fourteen, from the sandlots of the Bronx to the highest ranks of major league stardom. Working with noted "New York Times" sportswriter Ira Berkow, Carew writes memorably of his baseball career and his philosophy and approach to hitting--including his historic quest as a Minnesota Twin in 1977 for the first .400 season since 1941--but he also deals frankly with his early poverty, an unhappy relationship with an abusive father, and the racial discrimination that became more pronounced due to fame and an interracial marriage. First published in 1979, this new edition has a foreword by All-Star center fielder Torii Hunter and a new afterword by Carew covering the end of his baseball career and his post-baseball life--notably his induction into the Hall of Fame, his years as a hitting instructor, and the tragic loss of his daughter Michelle to leukemia. "Carew" is a forthright and fascinating account, revealing the public and private stories that illuminate one of baseball's greatest and most respected players.

A Memoir of Life on the Edge

Taking us back to the early nineteenth century, when baseball was played in the meadows and streets of Rochester, New York, ""Silver Seasons and a New Frontier"" retraces the careers of the players and managers who honed their skills at Silver Stadium and later at Frontier Field. The many greats who played for the Rochester Red Wings - Stan Musial, Cal Ripken, Jr., Bob Gibson, Boog Powell, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, and Juslin Morneau - are among those brought to life in this story rich with quirky performances and poignant moments. This updated version of ""Silver Seasons: The Story of the Rochester Red Wings"", published in 1996, includes three new chapters covering the team's record-setting tenth International League championship, being named top minor league franchise by Baseball America, and their new affiliation with the Minnesota Twins. In this title, read about the longest game in pro baseball history, a thirty-three-inning affair between the Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox that stretched from April to June; learn about one of the greatest teams in minor league history, the 1971 Junior World Series champion Red Wings; take a trip back in time and relive the miracle homers hit by Estel Crabtree in 1939 and Jim Finigan in 1961; and, reminisce about the closing of fabled Silver Stadium and the opening of glorious Frontier Field in downtown Rochester, which was capped by an unlikely championship in the Red Wings' first season at their new park in 1997.

From its modest beginnings in rural America to its current status as an entertainment industry in postindustrial America enjoyed worldwide by millions each season, the linkages between baseball's evolution and our nation's history are undeniable. Through war, depression, times of tumultuous upheaval and of great prosperity - baseball has been held up as our national pastime: the single greatest expression of America's values and ideals. Combining a comprehensive history of the game with broader analyses of America's historical and cultural developments, National Pastime encapsulates the values that have allowed it to endure: hope, tradition, escape, revolution. While nostalgia, scandal, malaise and triumph are contained within the study of any American historical moment, we see in this book that the tensions and developments within the game of baseball afford the best window into a deeper understanding of America's past, its purpose, and its principles.

In the spring of 1964, the Nankai Hawks of Japan's Pacific League sent nineteen-year-old Masanori Murakami to the Class A Fresno Giants to improve his skills. To nearly everyone's surprise, Murakami, known as Mashi, dominated the American hitters. With the San Francisco Giants caught in a close pennant race and desperate for a left-handed reliever, Masanori was called up to join the big league club, becoming the first Japanese player in the Major Leagues. Featuring pinpoint control, a devastating curveball, and a friendly smile, Mashi became the Giants' top lefty reliever and one of the team's most popular players-as well as a national hero in Japan. Not surprisingly, the Giants offered him a contract for the 1965 season. Murakami signed, announcing that he would be thrilled to stay in San Francisco. There was just one problem: the Nankai Hawks still owned his contract. The dispute over Murakami's contract would ignite an international incident that ultimately prevented other Japanese players from joining the Majors for thirty years. Mashi is the story of an unlikely hero caught up in an American and Japanese baseball dispute and forced to choose between his dreams in the United States and his duty in Japan.

Growing up in a tiny shack in the Dominican Republic, Felipe Alou never dreamed he would be the first man born and raised in his country to play and manage in Major League Baseball-and also the first to play in the World Series. In this extraordinary autobiography, Alou tells of his real dream to become a doctor, and an improbable turn of events that led to the pro contract. Battling racism in the United States and political turmoil in his home country, Alou persevered, paving the way for his brothers and scores of other Dominicans, including his son Moises. Alou played seventeen years in the Major Leagues, accumulating more than two thousand hits and two hundred home runs, and then managed for another fourteen years-four with the San Francisco Giants and ten with the Montreal Expos, where he became the winningest manager in franchise history. Alou's pioneering journey is embedded in the history of baseball, the Dominican Republic, and a remarkable family.