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Since the early 1930s "MacPhail" has been a big name in baseball.
Three generations of this one family have provided leadership,
innovation and vision for the sport. Larry, Lee and Andy MacPhail,
representing very different eras of American life, have each
addressed baseball's needs and opportunities in his own way. During
the 1930s and 1940s Larry MacPhail served as general manager and
vice president of the Cincinnati Reds, executive vice president and
president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and part owner and president of
the New York Yankees. He was posthumously inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978. Larry's son, Lee, worked for 13
years in the Yankee organization before serving as general manager
and president of the Baltimore Orioles. Lee later served two
five-year terms as president of the American League and two years
as president of the Player Relations Committee. Lee was inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1998, becoming the only son ever to join
his father in the Hall. Lee's son, Andy, worked in management
positions for the Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and the
Minnesota Twins before becoming president and CEO of the Cubs.
Baseball players, like teams, have their ups and downs. Pitchers
inexplicably lose their command of the strike zone, batters think
themselves into deep slumps, and injuries, addiction, and poor
decision-making can radically change the fortunes of either. It's
in the response to such adversity that memorable stories are made.
This book focuses both on players whose determination in the face
of injury or private demons landed them back in the big leagues and
stars who never recovered from their dramatic, unexpected falls.
Profiled here are 14 players whose stories are among the most
stirring in baseball history: Tony Conigliaro, Monte Stratton, Pete
Rose, Bert Shepard, Eddie Waitkus, Mark Wohlers, Red Barney, Lou
Brissie, Tommy John, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Steve Blass, Dave
Dravecky, and Joe Jackson.
In 1946, American baseball was a shadow of its former self. The
country had come through a devastating depression and then a world
war. Attendance had spiralled down, stars had gone off to war and
come home, and management was at odds with players. Though
organized baseball had set about recovering its former strength and
popularity, the stage was set for recruiters to steal away
dissatisfied players. That's just what the five Pasquel brothers
from Mexico did. Armed with promises of wealth and stardom, the
Pasquels recruited 23 players away from American teams. For most of
them, it was the beginning of the end of their careers. Mexican
baseball wasn't the picture the Pasquels painted and the players
were not given a cheerful welcome home. This book tells the story
of the 1946 exodus to Mexican baseball, setting the stage with
chapters on change and war in the U.S., player-management issues
that clouded baseball's recovery, and a history of the Mexican
""outlaw"" league. It describes the Pasquels' move on organized
baseball, including details of those who did not take the offer to
play for them. The author reveals what life was like for defectors
who played in substandard ballparks, suffered from gastric
disturbances and were targets of retribution from home. Chapters
then delve into the stories of 23 players who took their bats and
gloves south of the border in 1946. The author unravels lawsuits
that followed the players' five-year ban from American baseball,
and concludes with the career outcomes for players after they
returned home.
Many assume incorrectly that confrontations between baseballs
players and management began in the 1960s when the Major League
Baseball Players Association started showing signs of becoming a
union to be reckoned with. (The tensions of the 1960s prompted the
owners to form the Player Relations Committee to deal with them and
in February 1968, the two groups negotiated the games first Basic
Agreement.) The struggles between players and management to gain
the upper hand did not, however, start there--the two groups have
had numerous clashes since baseball began (as well as since the
1968 agreement). There have been various periods of conflict and
peace throughout the century and before. This work traces the
history of the relationship between players and management from
baseball's early years to the new challenges and developing
tensions that led to spring training lockouts instigated by the
owners and to player strikes in 1972, 1981, 1985, and 1994. An
important agreement in 1996 brought labor peace once again. The
future of player-management relations is also covered.
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