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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Sporting events, tours & organisations > Sports teams & clubs
This book chronicles the history of the Philadelphia Athletics, the
first real dynasty in Major League Baseball. The focus of the book
is the 1931 season, where Philadelphia, led by is superstar
pitcher, Lefty Grove, had the best season in franchise history,
leading to a third consecutive trip to the World Series. With a
roster full of future Hall of Fame players like Al Simmons, Mickey
Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Connie Mack, and Lefty Grove, the Athletics
were one of the best baseball teams of all time, and the 1931
season served as the apex of their success, as the financial
restrictions of the Great Depression caused team ownership to break
up the team.
How much do you really know about Arsenal? Put your Gunners
knowledge to the test with this bumper book of brainteaser quizzes
and fascinating facts, beautifully illustrated by one of the
world's leading sports artists. It's packed with trivia on all the
great Arsenal sides and players - from Chapman's champions to Mee's
double winners and Wenger's 'invincibles', from Adams, Wright,
Bergkamp and Henry to Pepe and Partey - providing hours of highly
dippable fun and entertainment. Which player was nicknamed 'The
Little Mozart'? Which England international appeared with Diana
Dors and Thora Hird in a 1953 film? Who is the only World Cup
Golden Shoe-winner to have played for Arsenal? Who was the only
Arsenal player in the GB football squad at the 2012 Olympics? Which
player fronted a worldwide ad campaign as a Calvin Klein underwear
model? Trivquiz Arsenal holds the answers to all these questions
and hundreds more.
By the summer of 1996, Newcastle were officially the second best
club in England following a dramatic race for the Premier League
title, with the ambition to become even bigger. They would break
the transfer world record by signing the England captain Alan
Shearer, ahead of rivals Manchester United, for GBP15 million from
Blackburn Rovers and had the talismanic figure of Kevin Keegan as
their manager. It was expected a golden period to match the start
of the 1900s would follow, when Newcastle had been champions of
England three times and had reached five FA Cup finals. Instead, by
the start of 1997, Keegan had left following a boardroom row. Sir
Bobby Robson had accepted and then turned down the chance to
replace Keegan as manager and Newcastle had turned to Kenny
Dalglish to maintain their assault as a genuine, emerging force in
European football. Dalglish himself would be sacked within 18
months and Newcastle would embark on a breathless and reckless
period in their history. Tunnel of Love reflects the dramatic highs
and gut wrenching lows that covered the 13 year period which
followed the failed agony of falling so close to becoming champions
of England in 1996, when Keegan's Entertainers were in their pomp.
It takes in unforgettable nights at St James' Park - the beating of
Barcelona, the apparent taming of Manchester United and the
breathtaking tribute to Shearer - for 10 years' service that saw
him become the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Yet by its close
Newcastle are fighting for their Premier League lives as they head
to Villa Park on the final day of the 2008/09 season. Tunnel of
Love takes you back on the rollercoaster that got them there.
With a line-up that included future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench,
Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Pete Rose, the "Big Red Machine" powered
its way to six division titles, four pennants, and two World
Series, all in the 1970s. Three other times in that decade they
finished second in their division to the eventual pennant winner.
While much has been written about the players and manager
Sparky Anderson, no book until now has given adequate attention to
the man behind the Machine, general manager Bob Howsam. From his
hire in 1967 through the end of his first stint with the Reds in
1978, Howsam brought about a remarkable change in fortune for the
Reds, who had claimed only one pennant in the 26 years before his
arrival. This detailed history of baseball's last dynasty shows not
only how the team performed but why, delving into the off-field
strategy and moves behind the Reds' success.
More than 300 ballplayers have spent time with both the Boston Red
Sox and the New York Yankees, opposing teams in one of the most
intense rivalries in sports. This book examines the century long
antagonism between the two clubs, chronicling their storied pasts
and their evolution during the 20th century. Several what-ifs are
considered: what if Babe Ruth had never been traded from the Red
Sox to the Yankees? What if the clubs had swapped Joe DiMaggio for
Ted Williams, as was proposed by the owners of both teams? What if
Alex Rodriguez had gone to Boston, as was originally intended,
rather than to New York? The debate as to which team has made out
better with shared players is explored.
As Marcelo Bielsa's interpreter, Salim Lamrani was his right-hand
man throughout his first season in charge of Leeds United. As a
privileged witness to that remarkable 2018/19 campaign, Lamrani
tells the inside story of how the club came within a hair's breadth
of returning to the Premier League before winning promotion in the
very next season to end a 16-year exile. Lamrani lays bare the
secrets behind Bielsa's methods, starting with the demands he makes
in an intense pre-season, through to the Argentinian tactician's
unwavering loyalty to a highly effective style of play - a style
based on possession, collective coverage, rapid transitions,
changes of tempo and constant attack. For him, beauty is
non-negotiable. Thanks to Bielsa, the players of Leeds United were
the actors in an unforgettable epic, which made an indelible mark
on millions of supporters. Taking us match by match through
Bielsa's first year in English football, Lamrani weaves a
fascinating narrative and paints an intimate portrait of a unique
football genius.
A Financial Times Sports book of the Year 2018 pick Who's better:
Ronaldo or Messi? Ask any football fan and they'll have an opinion.
For the best part of the last decade football has seen a personal
rivalry unlike any seen before. Cristiano and Leo. This is their
definitive story, from children kicking a ball halfway around the
world from each other to their era-defining battle to be number
one. One the preening adonis, a precision physical machine who
blows teams away with his pace and power. The other a shuffling
genius, able to do things with a football that seem other-worldly.
Their differences seem to tap into something fundamental about
football and indeed life. Between them they have scored over a
thousand goals, won the Ballon d'Or nine times and redefined modern
football. For the past eight seasons they have shared the accolade
of best footballer in the world and arguments rage over which one
deserves the title of greatest player of all time. Cristiano and
Leo by Spanish and South American football expert and journalist
Jimmy Burns is the essential book to understand the defining
players of a generation. 'Burns is incapable of writing a boring
sentence.' - Irish Times
Hearts Heart of Midlothian Football Club 2018 Annual Yearbook - official licensed product
Nothing evokes the glory days of Negro Leagues baseball like the
name of star pitcher Satchel Paige. This collection of essays and
papers based on the 9th Annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
focuses on Paige and on the Kansas City Monarchs, the team he led
to the Negro Leagues World Series in 1942 and 1946. Essays discuss
such topics as the people Paige encountered in his career; Paige's
effect on the Jim Crow era; and Paige in myth and reality - do we
gain or lose by separating the two? Also considered is how the
image of the Negro League was shaped in its day by newspaper
coverage, and later in the popular film ""Bingo Long and the
Traveling All-Stars"". A biography of Paige, highlights of his
career, and a history of the Monarchs are all included, along with
Kansas City rosters and other team information.
Hal Trosky played first base for the Cleveland Indians during the
Great Depression, a time when the American League included perhaps
the greatest trio of first basemen ever: Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx,
and Hank Greenberg. Because of the phenomenal feats of those
players, Trosky's story was consigned to the figurative back page
of history. He led the American League in Runs Batted In in 1936,
was elected to the Indians' All-Time team in 1969, and at his peak
played at a level comparable to anyone in the game. His career was
tragically cut short due to an onset of severe migraine headaches,
and he was out of baseball by the age of 34, but his playing days
spanned the time from Babe Ruth through the end of World War II.
Until now, his story has never been entirely told. This book
combines access to Trosky family archives with exhaustive research
in order to craft a narrative of Trosky's life. From his early
years in Iowa, through his entire major league career and
throughout his life after baseball, this book looks at the man on
and off the diamond, and on the legacy that remains.
Brazil 1970 is the fascinating and dramatic inside story of the
greatest football team of all time. Predicted to be drab and dull,
the 1970 World Cup became the greatest show on Earth, with the
mesmerising Brazilians at the heart of a dramatic and delirious
three weeks. After their demise at the 1966 World Cup, the South
Americans were no longer the masters of the game. The
defenestration rattled Brazil, and left them in purgatory before
they swept through the qualifiers with coach Joao Saldanha. Even
so, the team left their home country discredited against the
backdrop of a military dictatorship and the proliferation of
science in the game. At the World Cup finals, Mario Zagallo and his
cast of balletic players - including lodestar Pele, the cerebral
Gerson and the ingenious Tostao - ensured Brazil would forever be
synonymous with the global game and a byword for style and craft.
Their triumph was also the end of Brazil's golden era. The
technocrats had invaded the terrain and Brazil would never again
reach those heights.
The book is the day by day story of the 1954 Indians, whose .721
winning percentage is still the highest in American League history.
It tells how down the city of Cleveland was on the team following
three straight second place finishes, how little was expected of it
by its fans, and even some of its players, and how it exceeded all
expectations by winning a league-record 111 games and a pennant,
before flopping in the World Series.
What happens when a 6' 9" kid from Lobelville, Tennessee is
recruited by legendary basketball coach Bob Knight? Kirk Haston's
life was changed forever with just a two-minute phone call.
Containing previously unknown Knight stories, anecdotes, and choice
quotes, fans will gain an inside look at the notoriously private
man and his no-nonsense coaching style. Which past Hoosier
basketball greats returned to talk to and practice with current
teams? How did Knight mentally challenge his players in practices?
How did the players feel when Knight was fired? In this touching
and humorous book, Haston shares these answers and more, including
his own Hoosier highs-shooting a famous three-point winning shot
against number one ranked Michigan State-and lows-losing his mom in
a heartbreaking tornado accident. Days of Knight is a book every
die-hard IU basketball fan will treasure.
After coming close to winning the pennant on more than one occasion
during the early 1920s, the Pittsburgh Pirates finally shed the
stigma of being underachievers and claimed the National League flag
in 1925, ending the New York Giants' four-year reign at the top of
the league. Manager Bill McKechnie's brigade of young guns moved on
to oppose the defending world champion Washington Senators in the
World Series. After falling behind three games to one, Pittsburgh
pulled off the greatest comeback in World Series history when they
rallied to win in a thrilling seventh game. This detailed history
recounts the entire 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates season, paying special
attention to the team's construction and the World Series.
Appendices provide complete statistics for the 1925 Pittsburgh
Pirates, box scores for all seven games of that year's World
Series, and World Series statistics for both teams.
Swansea City Miscellany collects together all the vital information
you never knew you needed to know about the Swans. In these pages
you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats
and facts. Heard the one about the Swans striker who was sent off
after zero seconds? How about the keeper who played a full game up
front? Or why Swansea City have a strange link with a bustling New
York neighbourhood? Did you know that the Swans broke the record
for the longest Premier League match ever? Which legendary manager
penned his own book of sports-influenced poetry? And what a great
fantasy team you can make up from all the Joneses that have played
for the club? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a
brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any
Swans fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their
heart.
In 1953, August A. Busch purchased the St. Louis Cardinals for
nearly four million dollars. His dream included not only the best
players money could buy but a brand new Busch Stadium in downtown
St. Louis. The early sixties found Busch working on both, and by
May 1966, when the new Busch Stadium was opened, the St. Louis
Cardinals were on the cusp of greatness. A world championship would
follow in 1967, and in 1968 the Cardinals battled the Tigers in a
classic seven-game series, narrowly losing their bid for
back-to-back titles. This volume looks back at the outstanding
Cardinal teams of the 1967 and 1968 seasons. Beginning with the
ownership shift in the early 1950s, it examines the events leading
up to the opening of the new stadium and tracks the various player
trades, policy changes and inside dealings of baseball that
produced one of the era's great teams. The effects of Branch
Rickey's farm system on both the franchise's success and the sport
of baseball are discussed, as are the rumblings of labor trouble
that would directly involve one of the Cardinals' own. An appendix
contains detailed statistics from the 1967 and 1968 seasons. An
index and period photographs are also included.
Please Don't Take Me Home is the emotional tale of Italian
immigrant Simone Abitante's 20-year love affair with Fulham
Football Club. After leaving his native country, Simone falls in
love with London and its oldest club, embarking on a personal
mission to spread the word and get Fulham recognised beyond Britain
by as many people as possible. Following the Cottagers through the
most successful spell in their modern history, Simone takes his
nephews to Craven Cottage where - together with new friends and
Whites addicts Jeff, Mark and Ben - they experience unforgettable
wins, exhilarating highs and devastating lows, amid rivers of beer,
true friendship and an unquenchable passion for the beautiful game.
Even after leaving London for Mallorca, Simone keeps following his
beloved Fulham, with that famous white jersey serving as a second
skin. Played out against a backdrop of heartbreaks, departures and
life-changing decisions, Please Don't Take Me Home is a footballing
story every fan can relate to.
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