Showing posts with label baseball history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball history. Show all posts

Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story Review

Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story
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Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story ReviewVince Scully the legendary Hall Of Fame announcer for the Brooklyn and now Los Angeles Dodgers... is nearing his sixtieth complete year of broadcasting. I happen to have been blessed to listen to Vinnie as a young boy in New York... and then miraculously... our family moved to Los Angeles the same exact year as the Dodgers... so I have never missed a single year of Vinnie's poetic... magical... announcing of our families beloved Dodgers from the time I was old enough to know the difference between a ball and a strike... till today... when as a Grandfather I listen to Vinnie with my grandchild. This is a book that is long over do... but unfortunately... I'm sad to say it is disappointing for a number of reasons.
Since Vinnie did not participate in the development of this book the author depends entirely on historical quotes... and on countless occasions many sentences and paragraphs include numerous quotes from multiple individuals... and many times the same section has more than one quote from the same individual... IN NO LOGICAL SEQUENCE... and the reader becomes dumbfounded as to which quotes came from which individuals. At times such as these the flow of the story comes to a standstill as the reader literally scratches his head and tries to figure out who said what.
There are also numerous typos and/or sentences that just don't make sense. Such as page forty-eight when the author writes: "IT WOULDN'T HAVE GONE THROUGH THE (BROOKLYN) FENCE." "MUSED CAMPANELLA. MIGHT HAVE GONE THROUGH IT, THOUGH." Huh?? Or on page ninety-nine "THE KID YOU'D LIKE TO SEE RINGING YOUR DOORBELL WHEN YOU DAUGHTER STARTS DATING." There are also important historical mistakes such as the stating that in 1966 Koufax won his third straight Cy Young award. That is incorrect. Koufax didn't win three straight awards... though he did win the Cy Young in 1963,1965 and 1966. The reader is also let down when the most famous baseball fight in modern history involving the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers when Giant Juan Marichal hit Dodger catcher Johnnie Roseboro over the head with a bat is discussed, and none of the prior game detail that culminated in this horrendous event is covered.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles Vinnie and the transistor radio is what fueled the Dodgers growth in popularity as much as the team itself. Every member of the family from Grandma and Grandpa... to Mom and Dad... and the kids... all knew Vince Scully simply... and lovingly... by one word "VINNIE". He was a one name superstar way before Madonna... Britney... Magic and Michael. Vinnie was voted *THE MOST MEMORABLE PERSONALITY IN THE HISTORY OF THE LOS ANGELES DODGER FRANCHISE!* This book chronologically covers all the bases in Scully's career... but it is not an easy read due to the sloppiness mentioned earlier. What may or may not be an interesting coincidence... is that this book and the last shoddy baseball book I read... were both mysteriously delivered a couple of weeks "earlier" than the original release dates that had been posted on Amazon for months. Perhaps the publishers cut down on quality control to simply get the books out quicker than originally scheduled for some unknown marketing reasons. If so... I hope they learned their lesson.
Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story OverviewIn 1950, Vin Scully broadcast his first major league baseball game for the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. Nearly sixty years later he still invites a listener to 'pull up a chair," completing a record fifty-ninth consecutive year of play-by-play. Recruited and mentored by the legendary Red Barber, the New York-born Scully moved with the Dodgers to Los Angeles in early 1958. His instantly recognizable voice has described players from Duke Snider to Orel Hershiser to Manny Ramirez, with hundreds in between.At one time or another, Scully has aired NBC Television's Game of the Week, twelve All-Star Games, eighteen no-hitters, twenty-five World Series, and network football, golf, and tennis. He has made every sportscasting Hall of Fame; received a Lifetime Emmy Achievement award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and been voted 'most memorable [L.A. Dodgers] franchise personality." In 2000, the American Sportscasters Association named Scully the Sportscaster of the 20th Century.The first biography of Vin Scully is long overdue. Curt Smith-to USA Today, 'The voice of authority on baseball broadcasting"-is the ideal man to write it. Scully opens each broadcast by wishing listeners, 'A very pleasant good afternoon." Pull Up a Chair will provide a reader with the same.

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The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) Review

The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition)
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The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) ReviewThe new and revised Dickson Baseball Dictionary is a must have for every baseball scholar or casual fan of the game. This third edition is revised with more than 10,000 entries, 18,000 definitions, and more than 250 photos - a masterpiece! This third edition is the definitive and authoritative guide to all baseball terminology. If I had to choose just ten baseball books for my library, the Dickson Baseball Dictionary would be one of them.
It is often an over-used phase "this is a must have book." But in this case, the phrase aptly fits. So many interesting phrases and terms in this new edition, it boggles the mind that one sport has so many distinct terms. Where to start? I spent two hours just flipping the pages when it first arrived, and I barely got past the first couple hundred pages. Some of my favorite terms include: a bowling ball pitch, Bud Black market, a Six-o'clock hitter, a Bugs Bunny change up, the ever familiar ducks on the pond, a Linda Ronstadt pitch, and the place I often sit at games - the Uecker seats. Since I have an interest in the Athletics and their irascible former owner Charlie Finley, I was please to see orange baseballs and the Kansas City pennant porch in the book as well.
The book provides not only multiple definitions to many, many terms, but provides incredible details on the phrase or term's history and origins. There is no other baseball book like this one on the market today. Author Paul Dickson has done a truly masterful job of searching for new and interesting terms over the past ten years including many new words and phrases from Latin-American players, fantasy baseball expressions, and terminology from the shameful steroid era.
You can hear a very compelling interview with author Paul Dickson on NPR's All Things Considered at this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101356924.The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) Overview

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Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain Review

Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain
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Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain ReviewWhen I was a youngster, I was a huge fan of Thurman Munson.
To this day, if I close my eyes, I can quickly remember the feeling of sitting in Yankee Stadium, as a 13-year old, with my father, watching the Yankees play with Munson at bat and runners on base.
During these moments, my heart would race - where it felt like it was about to jump out of my chest (because it was beating so hard and fast). Why? Because I wanted Thurman to come through...as he was "my guy."
And, more times than not, Munson did the job.
It's been so many years, but, in this memory, I can still see Munson slapping a line drive into right field, as if he was picking the ball out of opposing catcher's mitt with his bat, waiting until the last minute to go the other way with the pitch, with Yankees runners rounding third and coming home to score...man, talk about pure exhilaration...that was it.
Being such a Munson fan, I was (and still am) very interested in learning more about him. And, for the last three decades or so, I've been waiting for the ultimate book covering the entire story of Thurman Munson.
Now, thanks to Marty Appel, with his new book "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain," we have what I have been waiting for...all these years. With this book Appel provides us with the complete account of Thurman Munson's life and untimely passing...with no holds barred.
With this work, we get to see the many facets of Munson's life: Thurman as a ball player, a friend, the family man and a real estate entrepreneur. And, we get to see the good and the bad sides of the man. This includes getting to see Thurman as the everyday likeable guy who eats Oreos and milk for breakfast, watches the Three Stooges, sings commercial jingles to himself, has a terrible sense of fashion, and who would go out of his way to help people (with no fanfare whatsoever). But, we also get to see Thurman as someone who was somewhat insecure at times, cursed at sportswriters, gave the fans "the finger" during a game, cut many of the dysfunctional family members out of his life, and who once fired a gun in the Yankee Stadium parking lot.
Also, with this biography, Appel provides a superior account of the complete Thurman Munson timeline - bringing us from Munson's youth, through his time with the Yankees, to covering his tragic death in terms of the event itself and the impact it had on many (both inside and outside the Munson circle).
But, what I enjoyed most about "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain" is how the story is told. In the book, Appel uses his own voice as well as those of many others who knew Thurman - including his teammates and friends. And, many of these sources are people who most were never aware (until now) as being a big part of Munson's life or parties that you would not expect to have some insight on the Munson story.
In summary, I would offer that "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain" is a must read for any Yankees fan over the age of forty, a highly recommended read for Yankees fans of any age, and a recommended read for anyone interested in baseball and a very well-done story about one of more notable players from the last half-century of the game's history.
This book will engross, entertain, enlighten and "touch" you all at the same time. It's too bad that we had to wait 30 years for a book like this on Thurman Munson. But, now that its here, I cannot imagine a better one ever being done compared to the job Marty Appel did with "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain."Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain Overview

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Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series Review

Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series
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Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series ReviewFrom the first paragraph to the last sentence of this gripping book, Asinof grabs your interest and doesn't let go. The story he is telling is fascinating - a tale of talented but clueless ballplayers, manipulating gamblers, money-hungry owners, and corrupt politicians, all coming together to create the greatest scandal the world of baseball has known. He tells it with clear, clean prose that keeps the story moving through every detail to its tragic conclusion.
The eight disgraced ballplayers who threw the 1919 World Series have been dubbed the Black Sox for posterity, yet with two exceptions, they are the most sympathetic characters in the whole sordid story. Chick Gandil, the tough first baseman who hatched the scheme, and his friend Swede Risberg, nasty tempered shortstop, who needed no prodding to join in, don't come off well. The rest of the crew, however, seem to have joined in a half-hearted, hapless manner. Particularly tragic are Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of baseball's greatest all-time hitters, whose talent was only exceeded by his naivete, and Buck Weaver, the outstanding thirdbaseman whose only real fault was his loyalty to his friends in not reporting the scheme, as he took no part in throwing the games, and accepted no money. These clueless, grossly underpaid ballplayers, most of who profited little or nothing from the fix, were the only ones punished for the scandal that rocked the nation.
The tale of the gamblers involved is as fascinating as it is telling. Three distinct levels of gamblers were present in the fix. Sleepy Bill Burns was an ex-ballplayer and small time gambler who did the legwork, consulting with the players. He went bust and was double-crossed by both the gamblers above him and Chick Gandil. Abe Attell and Sport Sullivan were a level up on the gambler's food chain - they had some access to the big time boys, but were not part of that exclusive club. Through constant maneuvering and double-dealing, and calculated risk taking, they were able to walk away from the scheme with a tidy profit. Arnold Rothstein was the big time. His money backed the fix, yet he took almost no personal risk, and emerged completely unscathed from the whole nasty affair while turning a huge profit. Big fish eat little fish, no matter what the ocean.
Finally, the least likeable characters of this tragic, real life morality play were Charles Comiskey, owner of the White Sox, and the rest of the baseball owners. For years they had turned a blind eye to the corruption of gambling in the game rather than expose it and risk the popularity of their sport and the profits in their ticket sales. When the fix of the World Series exploded across newspaper headlines, and they could no longer hide their dirty secrets, they used all their wealth and connections, buying off elected officials, and even colluding with the gamblers behind the fix, to protect their reputations and profits. It was their power, their lawyers, their money, that presented eight ballplayers as the scapegoats for national outrage, while willingly sacrificing true justice and exposure of their own hypocrisy. After reading this book, you may be left shaking your head that Charles Comiskey is in the Hall of Fame, and Shoeless Joe Jackson is forever banned from that hallowed hall.
Eight Men Out is a story of baseball, crime, and legal maneuvering. It is a window into the workings of power, and a cautionary tale of the corruption of the American dream and the twisting of justice by powerful interest. Most of all, it is an American tragedy of lives and reputations ruined, dreams shattered, and potential unfulfilled, that is as fascinating as it is sad.
If you are interested in baseball, American history, or the sociology of American society, you should read this book. You will not be disappointed.
Theo LogosEight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series OverviewThe headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties.

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Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball Review

Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball
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Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball ReviewThis year's revelations about rampant steroid use in Major League Baseball has escalated to the point that virtually every professional who played during the past decade automatically comes under suspicion (especially the power sluggers). As a longtime baseball fan, I've found this perpetual witch hunt irritating and have rapidly grown tired of the media obsession and with the subsequent inevitable and often irrational rants by politicians and sports fans. Even more galling is MLB Commissioner Bud Selig posing before Congress about his "strong" efforts to clean up the game, and his hypocritical tough posturing proposed through the media after the hearings. These are tough times for hardcore fans, and many of us would like to bury our heads in the sand and just enjoy the current pennant races.
But that has become impossible. Jose Canseco's "tell all" book, the February Congressional hearings, and media coverage have all put baseball's steroid scandal on the front page of the nation's sports section.
Steroids headlines another landmark moment in baseball history-akin to the gambling scandals (personified by the 1919 Chicago Black Sox) as well as the demarcation of an era when power hitting proliferated beyond reason (radically opposite the "dead ball era" of the early 20th century and the "pitchers' era" of the 1960's). But to follow the complicated story through ESPN and print journals only leads to confusion and misperceptions. Thus, Boston Herald sports columnist Howard Bryant comes to the rescue with his remarkably perceptive Juicing the Game that provides the necessary background and historical perspective to understand the issue-making this the most timely baseball book of 2005.
Bryant primarily frames his narrative around the decade that follows Major League Baseball's unfortunate 1994 strike that canceled the World Series that season, but to create an accurate picture requires a great deal of background. Bryant paints this in concisely (covering MLB's recent commissioners, influential owners and executives, major figures in the player's union and umpire's union, and the issues of that strike) before moving on to what Selig referred to as "Baseball's Renaissance" but will more certainly go down as "Baseball's Steroids Era."
Recently most of the fan talk has centered around Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, and other power sluggers who have admitted steroids use whether inadvertently or intentionally. Bryant delineates pertinent details on these players and others to give a much clearer visual picture of the issue, but he also astutely selects earlier indications of baseball's changing climate. Just how does a relatively light hitting Brady Anderson all of a sudden slug 50 homers in 1996? While MLB tried to pass this off as evidence of a livelier ball, smaller ballparks, improved nutrition, and weight training, the clarion call had been sounded all around MLB and its minor leagues.
Using his journalistic skills and wide-ranging contacts, Bryant offers irrefutable statistics and anecdotal evidence that clearly demonstrates just how such a huge change and development could lie "hidden" by baseball officials for so long. Few escape blame, for a wide ranging array of people benefited from baseball's sudden surge in home run power, and the boundaries go far beyond baseball-from Congressional laws concerning supplements, to baseball's beat writers who looked the other way to retain their team access, to society's faddish interest in health and weight training. Some teams (like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland A's, and St. Louis Cardinals) even supplied free creatine to their players.
Despite the wide ranging forces that all converged to allow baseball to fall into complicity with steroid use, Bryant levels the most pointed criticism at the MLB Commissioner: "Bud Selig is out of control. His renaissance is in a shambles. He is flailing, grasping, angry. He is lost, swallowed whole by a phenomenon he never took the time to understand until after the fatal damage had been inflicted. If the notion of a tainted era and its full implications had not penetrated him fully before despite his jousts with McCain and the BALCO debacle, the devastation following the Canseco book shatters his calm . . . For nearly ten years, Bud Selig had referred to the decade as a renaissance, and now he is telling the public not to look back at the past. The thing to do is move forward, he says. The talk of a cover-up during his administration grows louder."
A thoroughly compelling read, Bryant has penned the definitive text about steroid use in our national pastime. Certainly the San Francisco Chronicle deserves accolades for breaking the BALCO story with its deep sources, but Bryant's work is also Pulitzer Prize worthy for taking an extremely complex issue and providing the historical and societal context to put this into proper perspective-an amazing accomplishment for a story that continues to unfold. Readers will find that they won't have to enhance their brain cells with ginkgo biloba to decipher Juicing the Game: Drugs Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball. All that is necessary is an interest in the game, its history, and its integrity.Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball Overview

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Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) Review

Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series)
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Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) ReviewWhat a find! This is without a doubt required reading for anyone who longs for baseball "the way it used to be." Funny and entertaining, sometimes mysterious and dramatic.Baseball's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) Overview

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Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World Review

Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World
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Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World ReviewI bought this book after hearing an interview with Maraniss on NPR. Normally, this isn't my kind of book. I'm not an athlete. I'm not a fanatic about the Olympics. I'd rather knit or read a cozy mystery that I can breeze through in a night. And yet, I love this book.
Each chapter is like a short essay on some facet of the 1960 Olympics: the controverial decision in the men's swimming event, the Tigerbelles' encounters with racisim on their road the Olympics, the political controvery between China and Taiwan, and more. Maraniss paints a picture of the world's political and social climate to show how those factors affected the 1960 Olympics and how the 1960 Olympics affected the world.
Each story is compelling--48 years later, I feel minor outrage that Lance Larson wasn't awarded the gold for men's swimming. I understand the terror Rafer Johnson must have felt outside of Lenin Stadium when the Russian crowd surged toward him after his defeat of Kuznetsov. Maraniss deftly captures the human stories and makes this reader care. I'm only 5 chapters into the book, but I wish I could skip work today to finish the rest of the book.
Before reading this book, I hadn't watched the Olympics in over 20 years. Now, I'm psyched for 2008 Summer Olympics!
Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World Overview

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The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card Review

The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card
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The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card ReviewI didn't have very high hopes for this book, since the subject matter (baseball card collectibles) isn't an area of interest for me, but an associate gave it to me to read on the train. I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only was it highly informative, it was extremely entertaining. I learned a ton about the history of baseball, how baseball cards got started, about Honus Wagner's life and the current, highly corrupted state of collectibles -- baseball cards in particular. This is a must for baseball fans and card collectors, or anyone who is interested in learning something about our national game.The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card Overview
Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist, having been released in limited numbers just after the turn of the twentieth century. Most, with their creases and stains, look like they've been around for nearly one hundred years. But one—The Card—appears to have defied the travails of time. Its sharp corners and still-crisp portrait make it the single-most famous—and most desired—baseball card on the planet, valued today at more than two million dollars. It has transformed a simple hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. Everything about The Card, which has made men wealthy as well as poisoned lifelong relationships, is fraught with controversy—from its uncertain origins to the nagging possibility that it might not be exactly as it seems.

In this intriguing, eye-opening, and groundbreaking look at a uniquely American obsession, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow The Card's trail from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. The Card sheds a fascinating new light on a world of counterfeiters, con men, and the people who profit from what used to be a pastime for kids.


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The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary Review

The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary
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The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary ReviewIn baseball, what is a crackerjack? A cradle? A drawing Card? Feel the apple means what? What happens when you go to the pump? Who made up Murderers' Row? Open the New Dickson Baseball Dictionary and you'll find out.
This A to Z complete listing of baseball term is about the best book on the subject there is. Paul Dickson has put together over 570 pages of facts, terms, definitions and trivia that are sure to please every baseball fan.
Filled with over 100 photos and illustrations you are sure to find just about every baseball word you can think of. Also included are a thesaurus, a section of abbreviations and a fully annotated bibliography.
The baseball purest is sure to love this book as a gift, and it is priced to meet most budgets. Overall this book is great reading and makes the perfect handy reference book!The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary Overview

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Pete Rose: A Biography (Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters) Review

Pete Rose: A Biography (Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters)
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Pete Rose: A Biography (Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters) ReviewPete Rose was one of baseball's greatest hitters, but his off-field actions cast a dark light on his achievements, leading to investigations into his gambling and a lifetime banishment from the game which even barred him from induction into the Hall of Fame. His story is told in Pete Rose: A Biography, a hard-hitting sports biography which presents the nature of his lasting legacy and his post-baseball life.
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The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903 Review

The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903
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The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903 ReviewHighly entertaining and informative book about the 1903 series includes historical backgrounds of early baseball.However American history fans will also enjoy stories of the people of Boston and Pittsburgh of that era.Well researched.Only quibble is the lack of footnotes,though a bibliography is included.The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903 Overview

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Big and Little Poison: Paul and Lloyd Waner, Baseball Brothers Review

Big and Little Poison: Paul and Lloyd Waner, Baseball Brothers
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Big and Little Poison: Paul and Lloyd Waner, Baseball Brothers ReviewClifton Blue Parker hits a homerun with this book on the Waners. Parker does a great job telling the story of the Waner brothers and has a wonderful use of quotes from both brothers throughout the text. He frequently uses unpublished materials from Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times interview with Paul Waner.
Much like one of the other reviewers, I read through this book quickly. An absolute must for Pittsburgh Pirate fans!!!
P.S. - The only historical error of significance is that Parker is not familiar with the 1934 Goudey baseball card set.Big and Little Poison: Paul and Lloyd Waner, Baseball Brothers OverviewThe Waner brothers, Paul and Lloyd—also known as "Big Poison" and "Little Poison"—played together for fourteen seasons in the same Pittsburgh outfield in the 1920s and 1930s. More than half a century after retiring, they still rank as the best-hitting brothers in major league history with a combined 5,611 hits—517 more than the three Alou brothers, 758 more than the three DiMaggio brothers, and 1,400 more than the five Delahanty brothers. And both Waners are in the Hall of Fame, the only playing brothers so honored.This work tells the story of the Waner brothers from their early lives in Oklahoma through their playing days, which included a World Series against the legendary 1927 New York Yankees. It is also the story of two American eras: the Roaring Twenties and the Depression years. Both put up impressive numbers individually: Paul amassed 3,152 hits, and his .333 lifetime average ranks among the highest ever in the game. Lloyd, a lifetime .316 hitter, collected 2,459 hits, and had it not been for health problems, he might have cleared the 3,000 hit milestone as well. Together, they were baseball heroes.

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Christy Mathewson Review

Christy Mathewson
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Christy Mathewson ReviewI recently purchased a few modern biographies of baseball players, and this was the best of the lot by a wide margin. It's not the most exciting biography I've ever read, but it covers Mathewson's career without a lot of extraneous personal life fluff or other modern biography madness. Short, easy, enjoyable read which manages to stick to baseball; it probably helps that Mathewson never got involved with any movie stars and wasn't able to sell autographs for seven kazillion dollars each.
But quite frankly, the publisher's proofreader needs to be beaten with a cluestick. (I strongly suspect Word was the sole proofreader.) Far too many spelling errors (rather, "correctly" spelled but incorrect words), partially-duplicated sentences, cut-up sentences which don't make any sense at all, and several other minor nits. This sort of mess is difficult to excuse, as it looks as if the book were published straight from the writer's final manuscript with little or no editing. It's certainly not unreadable, but the errors are a surprise.Christy Mathewson OverviewChristy Mathewson made headlines in the summer of 1905 for his amazing pitching exploits for the New York Giants, but the 25 year old already had an exalted place in public opinion because of his classic handsomeness, his reputation as a college man, and his moral stance in refusing to pitch on Sundays. Mathewson benefited from a strict Baptist upbringing, natural intelligence, and superb athletic ability. He excelled in tense situations—"pitching in a pinch" he called it—and won 373 games in 17 seasons, all but one of those victories for the Giants. After his playing career, he was a manager, army officer and baseball executive, played a role in the unraveling of the Black Sox, and fought a courageous battle against tuberculosis. He did not have a flawed personality like Ty Cobb, nor was he larger-than-life like Babe Ruth; rather, he was a man with a keen sense of honor and responsibility for both private and public obligations. This biography documents in great depth his life on and off the baseball field, and draws from sources, old and new, to let Mathewson's life speak for itself. Not many sports figures can withstand such scrutiny.

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Sliding Billy Hamilton: The Life and Times of Baseball's First Great Leadoff Hitter Review

Sliding Billy Hamilton: The Life and Times of Baseball's First Great Leadoff Hitter
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Sliding Billy Hamilton: The Life and Times of Baseball's First Great Leadoff Hitter ReviewWith the precision of an ace runner on the base paths, Society for America Baseball Research member Roy Kerr uncovers the life and times of a forgotten superstar through the exclusive use of primary resources in Sliding Billy Hamilton: The Life and Times of Baseball's First Great Leadoff Hitter. The recent publication is part of an ongoing series of dusting off the history of professional baseball by McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
Hamilton patrolled the outfield in the pro game from 1888 to 1901 and still has a number of all-time records, including runs scored in a season (196 in 129 games in 1894), number of consecutive games scoring a run (24 in 1894), most consecutive games stealing a base (13 in 1891) and career steals per game average (1.74). He is one of only five batters to hit a leadoff and walk-off home run in one game and is tied with Ted Williams for sixth place in career batting average (.344).
Credited with either 912 or 937 career stolen bases, Hamilton was essentially a footnote in baseball history prior to his 1961 posthumous induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. And even the date of his death in December 1940 at age 74 in Worcester, Massachusetts, had been reported differently in media accounts, though it was on the fifteenth.
"I suggest that Hamilton's `invisibility' in baseball lore stems not from any aspect of his playing record," writes Kerr. "Rather, it derives at least partially from the fact that the `stories, anecdotes, and legends' that he did indeed leave behind simply would not have been considered newsworthy by most sportswriters of his era, who tended to focus more on the adventures of the game's showmen and scalawags in their columns.
"His aggressive, daring running and hitting style exhibited none of the `hoodlum' tactics that tended to make headlines. Off the field, he was a religious family man who abstained from alcohol. Notoriously thrifty, he saved money and invested in real estate."
Born on February 15, 1866, in Newark, New Jersey - which has been erroneously reported over the years as one day later - the legend of Hamilton before turning pro with the Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association may not have been greater than his real life. He did not have time to be the incredible young athlete that was often chronicled by scribes.
"Somewhere along the winding corridors of baseball history, a legend developed that Billy Hamilton attended Newark High School, and while there, ran a 10¾-second one-hundred-yard dash," Kerr writes. "The 1880 U.S. census lists Hamilton, age 14, as a cotton mill worker in Clinton (Massachusetts).
"Sliding Billy's journey from the cotton mill to the Baseball Hall of Fame is one that few could imagine, and one that fewer could realize."
Though there are no records of his earliest teams, Kerr does examine comments made by Hamilton during and after his playing days - along with the views of sportswriters and players - on how he learned the game. From playing minor league ball for Waterbury in 1887 and Worcester in 1888 (61 games), to his 35 games with Kansas City to close out the 1888 season - his contract was purchased by the Cowboys for $300 - and 1889 season with the AA club, Hamilton saw first-hand how the dollars and cents drive the sports marketplace.
"In three years of professional baseball, Billy had seen the first two leagues he played in collapse and disappear, and the first major league team he played for resign from its league and disband," writes Kerr.
In December 1889, Hamilton's contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies for $3,000. In a controversial deal in November 1895, Hamilton was traded to the Boston Beaneaters for third baseman Billy Nash. It is regarded as one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history, according to Kerr.
"Years later, in an unusual admission of `trader's remorse,' Philadelphia co-owner Al Reach conceded that his team's decision to trade Sliding Billy had been a mistake," he writes. "`We should never have allowed him to go, had it not been for some bad advice that we got...we made a great mistake. Hamilton is without doubt one of the best players in the country.'"
Upon his retirement from the Beaneaters after the 1901 season, Hamilton stayed in the game as a minor league player-manager, bench-manager and team owner-manager. He also was hired for spring coaching stints at Dartmouth College, was a major league scout and - from 1917 to 1935 - held a variety of jobs with the Graton & Knight Company of Worcester.
"Could the life of a `straight arrow' player, an abstemious family man, be of any interest to today's baseball fan? Perhaps so. Perhaps such a life, deemed `old-fashioned' in Hamilton's day is it would be in ours, has acquired a certain resonance in the post-steroid era of the game, when fans, disheartened by deceit and scandal, may be looking for different heroes, different models of conduct," writes Kerr. "His critics accused him of being a `record player,' more interested in his own statistics than his team's success. However, in most of his life choices, he opted for a road less-traveled - a road, consequently, less noted by the press."Sliding Billy Hamilton: The Life and Times of Baseball's First Great Leadoff Hitter OverviewBilly Hamilton, whose major league career spanned 1888-1901, holds the all-time record for runs scored in a season (196 in 129 games), number of consecutive games scoring a run (24), and career runs scored per game (1.06); he shares records for most triples in a game (4) and sacrifices in a game (4); and his average of one steal every 1.74 games bests Ricky Henderson's. Despite these records, and his 1961 induction into the Hall of Fame, little has been written about him. This biography covers Hamilton's entire life, including his major league career with the Kansas City Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Nationals, as well as his later career as a minor league player-manager and bench-manager, team owner, major league scout, and plant foreman. The author exclusively uses primary sources for all information dealing with Hamilton's career and personal life.

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After the Black Sox: The Swede Risberg Story Review

After the Black Sox: The Swede Risberg Story
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After the Black Sox: The Swede Risberg Story ReviewAfter the Black Sox: The Swede Risberg StoryI HAVE READ AND RE-READ THE SWEDE RISBERG STORY. I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE AMOUNT AND THE THOROUGHNESS OF THE INFORMATION THE AUTHOR WAS ABLE TO FIND. UPON READING THE BOOK I WAS ENGULFED IN THE NOSTALGIA OF THE TIME. BASEBALL WAS INDEED A PART OF THIS NATIONS GROWTH, ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AMERICA. MY FAMILY WAS A PART OF THAT TIME AND INTEREST IN THE GAME STILL PERSISTS. THIS BOOK WAS JUST EXACTLY THE KIND OF INFORMATION I NEED.After the Black Sox: The Swede Risberg Story OverviewIn 1919 eight Chicago White Sox ballplayers teamed up with gamblers to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The eight players were banned for life from organized baseball for their involvement in or knowledge of the fix, and because of the scandal the players came to be known as the "Black Sox". One of the "Black Sox" was Charles "Swede" Risberg. Swede Risberg came to Minnesota in 1922 with a team called the Mesaba Range Black Sox and he went on to play for Rochester Minnesota in 1923, 1924 and 1926. Swede also played for Scobey Montana in 1925, Watertown South Dakota in 1926 and 1927, Virden Manitoba Canada in 1929, Jamestown North Dakota in 1929 and 1930, and Sioux Falls South Dakota in 1931 and 1932. This book documents the career of Swede Risberg in semi-professional baseball from June 1922 through the 1932 season with the Sioux Falls Canaries. Although this book presents detailed statistical information on Swede's post White Sox career in semi-professional baseball, the book goes beyond a dry accounting of innings pitched, at bats, and hits. Swede played against many different teams and many different individuals. Some of these teams and individuals are themselves interesting stories. Swede would never have played in games against teams with only African-American players or against integrated teams if he had remained in professional baseball, and Swede would not have played on integrated teams if he had remained in the major leagues. Unfortunately, some of the detail about Swede's career in semi-professional baseball is lost forever as newspaper summaries were sometimes not complete, negatives of pictures have been destroyed, and the people that played the games are gone. Even with these limitations, I hope that you enjoy the story of Swede Risberg's life in semi-professional baseball.

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Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines: The Many Lives and Outrageous Times of George and Alfred Lawson Review

Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines: The Many Lives and Outrageous Times of George and Alfred Lawson
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Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines: The Many Lives and Outrageous Times of George and Alfred Lawson ReviewThis fascinating book tells the story of two very strange lives that intertwined so many of the popular culture and scientific trends of their times. It's so meticulously researched that you feel as though you are following the Lawson brothers around with a notebook and video camera! They are the kind of intense characters that if you met them, you would either be completely converted or would run from them. The book is a great read -- whether you are a baseball or aviation fan, enjoy learning about alternative religions and cults, or just like to read about people who didn't follow the beaten path.Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines: The Many Lives and Outrageous Times of George and Alfred Lawson OverviewIt's hard to imagine a wilder pair of brothers than Alfred and George Lawson. Best known as early promoters of professional baseball, they were intense rivals whose shared narcissism led them from one grand scheme to another, both in and away from the game, generating headlines as they went. Alfred had a long career as a player, manager, and minor league organizer before gaining notoriety as a utopian novelist, philosopher, economic reformer, cult leader, and early aviation promoter. George was a soldier, vaudeville troupe manager, performing hypnotist, medical quack, evangelist, and anti-KKK crusader who sought to break baseball's color line by founding integrated leagues.

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Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck Review

Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck
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Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck ReviewThe book takes you through the career of Bill Veeck, owner and operator of many baseball teams over a fifty-year period. If you truly love baseball, you want to read it.
Why? Easy enough--Bill loved baseball, so much so that he never sat in fancy box seats at games but preferred to join the fans in the bleachers. He is hilarious, as in sidesplitting; he has many stories to tell about the funnier incidents he's been involved in. And when you run a team Veeck style, you have a lot of funny incidents.
But the book is not just a compilation of Veeck buffoonery; he has strong feelings on many topics and expresses them with clarity and frankness. There are tributes to magnificent performances and courageous actions throughout the book. When you finish it, if you love the game, you wish only that you could have been an office staff person or groundskeeper following Bill through his career. You could never possibly have been bored (or made much money).
This book is in the class of _Ball Four_--a defining work that gives real insight into real baseball. To read it is to delight in the game.
As a partner, enough credit is not given Ed Linn. I don't know how Ed does it, but any book written with him will be entertaining, well written, and will above all preserve the main figure's personal style. I believe it is Ed's talent that takes the reminisces of sports figures and makes them a good read, and this deserves your appreciation and respect.Veeck--As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck OverviewBill Veeck was an inspired team builder, a consummate showman, and one of the greatest baseball men ever involved in the game. His classic autobiography, written with the talented sportswriter Ed Linn, is an uproarious book packed with information about the history of baseball and tales of players and owners, including some of the most entertaining stories in all of sports literature.

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Baseball America Review

Baseball America
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Baseball America ReviewBaseball fans who have a sense of history for the game will want to add "Baseball America" to their list of baseball books to read. Author Donald Honig has written a number of books about the sport's history - many devoted to just certain eras. 20s' to the 40's, etc. This book covers as much of the history of the game as it can in 300+ pages. I really enjoyed Honig's writing style. He's descriptive, opinionated, literate, and has a great way of drawing the reader into place with the book's characters.
As far as the "characters" are concerned, all the greats are here. Starting with baseball's pioneers: McGraw, Wagner, Big Train Johnson, Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Teddy Baseball, and all the way to the eighties with Mr. October, Reggie Jackson. Honig pays respect to the game's giants without genuflecting to them. Pretty refreshing, actually.
As fun to read as it is informative, "Baseball America" is a treat that shouldn't be missed by fans of the game.Baseball America Overview

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Joy In Mudville: The Big Book of Baseball Humor Review

Joy In Mudville:  The Big Book of Baseball Humor
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Joy In Mudville: The Big Book of Baseball Humor ReviewJoy in Mudville is an excellent book that takes humorous articles from varioius authors and joins them to create one book. The selections are hilarious(especially one using Abbot and Costello's classic Who's on First routine with real names and players) and include comic strips, poems, magazine articles and excerpts from books all joined together by comments from editor Dick Schaap. The book is an easy read that can be enjoyed by sports fans of all ages, it should be in any sports fans collection.Joy In Mudville: The Big Book of Baseball Humor OverviewA comic lineup of stories, essays, cartoons, and more, from Lardner and Runyon to Philip Roth, Charles Addams to Charles Schulz, plus dozens of other funny fans. "The best baseball book of the season." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review.B & W photographs and illustrations throughout.

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Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) Review

Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives)
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Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) ReviewThe wonderful "Penguin Lives" series has hit another home run with Breslin's insightful, entertaining and revealing treatment of the man who, as GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940's, had the courage and foresight to facilitate Jackie Robinson's extraordinary breaking of the sport's color bar.
These "Lives" books are not meant to be exhaustive biographies. Generally, there are no indices, source notes. Rather, the author provides a quite selective bibliography for readers wanting fuller treatment. The mission of the "Lives" books, rather, is to sketch the full life, and home in on significant, inspiring acts of the subject that truly made a positive difference in the world. The several I have read, including this one, have the sense of a masterful story-teller chatting knowingly with me across a kitchen table.
Enter Breslin, an icon himself, who for more than 55 years has moved us to tears and laughter and greater understanding. His selection to treat Rickey really is "beautiful." By story's end, Penguin's choice of Rickey as the inaugural sports figure in the series--ahead of Robinson, Ruth, Thorpe--also seems totally appropriate. As Breslin shows, without Rickey doggedly pursuing his vision of integration against many foes, a decade (or more) might have passed unchanged.
What led Rickey to dissent from all 15 other baseball owners (Breslin provides their ridiculously pious and hypocritical "Statement on Race") and dedicate himself and his team to integration? Breslin reveals Rickey as a dedicated Methodist, a proponent of fairness for all, with an eye for talent (he champions a lanky young freshman named George Sisler; years later, Rickey and super scout Clyde Sukeforth seize on Robinson, but only after subjecting him to a four-hour grilling, "Will you have the guts to turn away?"; the recounting of that meeting is riveting). As do a number of others in the Penguin series, Rickey radiates as a true visionary. Not only was breaking the color bar the right thing to do morally; it also was great business. Rickey's every act in that direction was purposeful, as Breslin shows us a man who never relied on luck. "Luck," Rickey said, "is the residue of design."
So before Robinson could take the field in a Dodgers uniform and triumph over so much hostility, Rickey carefully built a new infrastructure. He steadfastly courted politicians to pass first a fair employment law and then to mobilize their constituencies; he spoke to African-American groups; he courageously ignored the racist sports writers of the time; he reasoned with some of his own racist players. "Proximity" was part of his vision for success--by being proximate to a player of Robinson's immense talent and focus, the rightness of integration would manifest itself. He was in his late 60's by then, had a long and successful career in baseball, but was determined to make this happen. And in Robinson he had a great chance.
With his unique style, wry humor and grace, gift for incisive anecdotes and riffs, and flair for embellishing dialogue without taking undue liberties, Breslin succeeds in letting his remarkable subject's life achievement show and tell itself. In so doing, Breslin's gem takes a rightful place among Penguin's other lives who really mattered.Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) Overview

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