The 1909 World Series featured Hall of Fame players Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner and was the first championship to extend to Game Seven, the final and deciding game. This work examines the entire regular season of both the Tigers and the Pirates but pays special attention to the seven games of that World Series. Each player is given his due, with a complete biographical sketch. Includes 60 photographs, complete club statistics, box scores for each game, and tables on the acquisition of each player as well as information on how they departed.

Let's say you're the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, deciding which players should start in Game 7 of the World Series against the American League champs. But instead of choosing from the current roster, you have every player in the team's 131-year history in your clubhouse. Who's your starting pitcher: lefty John Candelaria, steady Bert Blyleven, Cy Young winner Doug Drabek, or crafty Rip Sewell? Who bats cleanup-hitting-machine Honus Wagner, home-run champ Ralph Kiner, Willie "Pops" Stargell, or the hugely talented Barry Bonds? Combining career stats, common sense, and a host of intangibles, veteran sportswriter Dave Finoli imagines an embarrassment of riches and sets the all-time All-Star Pirates lineup for the ages.

Like virtually every other aspect of American life, baseball was affected by World War II. Many of its players left the playing field for the battlefield, but the game continued, played by those who stayed behind. Wartime baseball entertained a nation in desperate need of a diversion and a morale boost in a time of crisis. This book studies baseball during World War II, with both a statistical analysis of the game and stories of its players--those who went to war and those who did not. It provides recaps for each season between 1942 and 1945, and season-by-season recaps and highlights for each team. Starting lineups of the war years are compared to the starting lineups of 1941 (the last year of peacetime baseball) to show how dramatically the war changed the game. A list of players who went to war is provided, along with a list of players who replaced them on the roster if they were starters or starting pitchers. Brief statistical sketches of players who went to the war discuss their play before and after and how they were replaced. Other lists include wartime players who lost their starting jobs in 1946; minor league players who died in the war; and Negro League players who were drafted.

When it came to football in the 1930s, the college sport was king. But in 1933, former boxer and minor league baseball player Art Rooney, who had quarterbacked the squad at Duquesne University, purchased a team for Pittsburgh for $2,500. Thus began the legacy we know as "Steeler Nation." At the time, no one could have imagined that the Pirates, as they were originally named, would become a treasured possession for Pittsburghers. For the first 40 years, the franchise was a national joke. With only one playoff performance-a 21-0 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles for the eastern division title in 1947-highlights were minimal for a team that regularly found itself at the bottom of the standings. Then in 1969, Art Rooney's son Dan hired Chuck Noll from the Baltimore Colts to coach his team. Noll replaced undisciplined players with future hall of famers. By 1974 the team won its first world championship and went on to capture four Super Bowl titles in six years. Noll's legacy for excellence continued with four more Super Bowl appearances and two championships in 2005 and 2008, garnering the franchise a league record of six Super Bowl wins. Classic Steelers includes these six championship tilts and takes citizens of the Steeler Nation on a play-by-play tour of the most memorable games in the team's history. Author David Finoli recounts in vivid detail the thrilling gridiron performances that have made the Steelers so special to their legions of fans.

We're gathered here: To select and celebrate the Steel City 500, the greatest athletes in Western Pennsylvania history. A few notes of explanation as you're getting your beer and preparing to argue with the choices. First, in the case of team sports, we're limiting our picks to those who competed here at either the collegiate or professional level. That same rule doesn't hold true for individual sports (more on that in a minute). Therefore, of our great legacy of NFL quarterbacks like Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Dan Marino, only Marino qualifies for inclusion on the Steel City 500 list (No. 20), based upon his exploits at the University of Pittsburgh. Likewise, Donora's Stan "The Man" Musial doesn't crack the list, despite being one of the 20 greatest baseball players of all time, because he unfortunately never played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. For us, high-school athletics paled in comparison, so we chose to identify those who competed at a higher level. (However, we'e not nuts, so we included a separate listing of great athletes who hailed from but never played here.) How did we choose the 500, you may ask, and was there beer involved? Carefully and yes. We cast a wide net in determining what athletes and indeed what sports to include. Among the 500 you'l find the expected football, baseball, hockey and basketball players. But you'll also find boxers, swimmers, jockeys, wrestlers, sprinters, long jumpers, golfers and tennis players' and a whole host of others who competed in individual sports. We have a number of Hall of Famers. Some from Cooperstown and Canton, but also others from Danai Beach, Florida, home of the Fishing Hall of Fame as well as the Basketball, Hockey, College Football, Track, Soccer, Bowling and Tennis halls of fame just to name a few. We don't have any figure skaters because we don't consider it a sport but rather an activity. But who in their right mind can come up with rankings when you're comparing and contrasting across different sports? How do you determine that a great running back ranks higher than a power-hitting first baseman? Good question. There were a number of factors weighed: Records held and other awards/achievements, longevity/number of great seasons in Pittsburgh, championships, inclusion into halls of fame and impact. That's why Louise Fulton comes in at No. 194. As the first African-American woman to win a title on the Women's Professional Bowlers Association Tour in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, she had impact at a turbulent time. And yes, we'll probably hear it for ranking a horse, Adios, at No. 32. But before you say nay (or is it neigh?), take a look at our reasoning. Chances are you might not agree with where some of our competitors fall in the list. Barry Bonds outside the top 20? You'll see why. That's the beauty of this project, the discussions that are sure to ensue. The other highlight for us is to be able to showcase many of the top athletes you may not have heard of or have been overlooked. Western Pennsylvania has a great sporting heritage. Join us in celebrating it.

The 1970s were both successful and tragic for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won five NL Eastern Division crowns and the 1971 World Championship, but lost the great Roberto Clemente in a plane crash and pitcher Bob Mosse in a car accident during this time. By the end of the 1970s, the Pirates were a good team, but no longer were considered favorites to win a World Series. Thanks to a fantastic finish in 1978, the Pittsburghers gained new hope for the 1979 season. As intriguing as the season was, it wasn't until the evening of August 25th that the Pirate fans really started to believe ""it"" could truly happen. The history of that magical ball club is covered here, from how the 1979 world champion team was built, to a thorough look at the season and post season, to how ""The Family"" finally fell. Also included are biographical sketches of each player who appeared on the team's roster that year and a section of complete statistics.

In the first edition of Classic Pens readers were reminded of the franchise's most memorable contests, from its beginnings in the 1960s through the 2010s. is new edition brings the team's standout games up to date, including their triumphant 2016 Stanley Cup victory. During the Penguins' early years, it wasn't uncommon to buy a $5 ticket for a seat at the top of the Civic Arena (the "Igloo") and at the end of the first period move to a seat in the first row behind the glass. Except for a few winning moments scattered through their first three decades, the idea of a full-season sold-out arena was too farfetched, never mind the thought of a Stanley Cup. The only constant was that the Penguins were always in financial trouble and often threatening to move out of the Steel City. The 1983-84 campaign proved to be the season that turned everything around. e Penguins' prize was Mario Lemieux, an 18-year-old center from Montreal, Quebec, who would lift the Pens out of the canyon of last-place finishes to the lofty heights of backto-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992. Lemieux went on to become one of the greatest players the game had ever seen. He and teammates such as Jaromir Jagr, Tom Barrasso, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Kevin Stevens, Larry Murphy, and Paul Coffey soon made the Civic Arena the place to be. In 1999 Mario Lemieux, now in his 30s, headed a group that purchased the club. e new ownership began a renaissance in which players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Kris Letang, and Jordan Staal again made the Pens a powerhouse on the ice, led them to a third Stanley Cup championship in 2009, and secured one of the best new buildings in the NHL: the Consol Energy Center. In 2016 the Penguins qualified for the playoffs for the tenth consecutive season, winning their fourth Stanley Cup by defeating the San Jose Sharks in a 4-2 series. In Classic Pens, author David Finoli's tour of the best moments in the Penguins' long history will evoke special memories from longtime fans and delight those who currently follow the team.