History

Bismarck once said that God looked after drunkards, children and the U.S. of A. Some say that baseball should be added to the list. It must have been divine intervention that led the sport through a series of transformative challenges from the end of...

It was a novel experiment as baseball's leading men formed the National Association, bringing order to the hodgepodge of professional and amateur clubs that made up the sport from the end of the Civil War through 1870. It was an imperfect beginning to...

The small and midsized cities of western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia reached their peaks of population and prosperity in the second quarter of the 20th century. The baseball teams from these towns formed the Middle Atlantic League, the strongest...

Ty Cobb was considered the greatest baseball player of his time. Some still call him the greatest in history. He cast a shadow over the entire game of baseball with his violence, both on the field and off. The shadow was never darker than when it was...

Homer-by-homer, this heavily researched work recounts the inimitable Babe Ruth's finest season. In that magical 1927 season, Ruth blasted homers off 33 different pitchers and hit at least one against every American League opponent. Two hurlers yielded...

The stolen base is one of the most fascinating plays in all of sports. In no other sport is the opportunity present for the offence to literally take away what belongs to the defence. In other sports it is the ball (or puck) that must do the scoring; in...

Ron Necciai once struck out 27 hitters in a nine-inning minor league game. Floyd Giebell beat Bob Feller to clinch the 1940 American League pennant for the Detroit Tigers. John Paciorek had three hits in three at bats in his big league debut-and never...

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...

Described as ""the Greatest Batsman in the Country"" by sports writers of his era, Dennis ""Big Dan"" Brouthers compiled a .342 batting average, tying with Babe Ruth for ninth place all-time, and slugged 205...

On the average major league roster, Hispanic or Latin-born players today account for at least 25 percent of the team. In 1900 there were none; in 1911 the number had crept to two; and after World War II when American GI's returned to the playing fields,...

This is the first book-length biography of Ed McKean, one of the nineteenth-century's premier shortstops. It is also the story of the so-called Emerald Age of baseball and leading Irish figures including Patsy Tebeau, Jimmy McAleer, John MGraw, and...

In 1939, baseball's past ran headlong into its future. As the game celebrated its 100th anniversary with the opening of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, it learned that the legend of the sport's origins was purely a myth. On the field, the...

George Altman grew up in the segregated South but through a mix of timing and opportunity was able to participate in the sport at more levels of competition than perhaps anyone else who has ever played the game, starting in the 1940s and concluding in...

With more losses and last-place finishes than any other club in Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies have earned a reputation as one of the most unsuccessful teams ever to take the field. Even so, the Phillies have boasted many unforgettable...

The book follows the colorful career of Frank Lane, who as baseball's busiest general manager during the 1950s made the deals that turned the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians from losers into pennant contenders almost...

Billy Southworth was the most successful major league baseball manager of the 1940s including the three straight years in which his St. Louis Cardinal teams won more than 100 games. He won three National League pennants with the Cardinals and one with...

In 1972, the Philadelphia Phillies experienced one of their worst seasons in franchise history, finishing with an abysmal 59-97 record. Yet throughout this disastrous season, Steve ""Lefty"" Carlton proved to be a diamond in the rough...

The 1957 PCL season faced uncertainty about the pending ""invasion of major league baseball"" in 1958. While the meetings, wheeling and dealing and politics took place off the diamond, the historic San Francisco Seals, a charter...

One of early baseball's most popular celebrities, Arlie Latham played for the St. Louis Browns in the 1880s. A brainy hitter and base-runner, he was also the sport's brashest, funniest player, his ""fresh"" personality bringing him as...

Roger Conner, the Babe Ruth of the 1880s and inventor of the pop-up slide, ranks number one for 19th century players in home runs and was an expert bunter. Called ""The Gentleman of the Diamond,"" and played well into his fifties...

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...

What grandstand collapsed during a game, killing twelve? How high is the Green monster in Fenway? In what park was the outfield fence only 187 feet from home plate? ""Ballparks of North America"" is a comprehensive encyclopedia of the...

The 1923 Yankees started the dynasty - with stars like Babe Ruth, Wally Pipp, Joe Dugan and Bob Meusel, they won the pennant by 16 games before claiming the franchise's first World Series title. Five Yankees pitchers won 16 games that year, led by Sam...

This volume examines early black baseball as it was represented in the artwork and written accounts of the popular press. From contemporary postbellum articles, illustrations, photographs and woodcuts, a unique image of the black athlete emerges, one...

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...

With the rise of stars such as Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and now Daisuke Matsuzaka, fans today can easily name players from the island country of Japan. Less widely known is that baseball has long been played on other Pacific islands, in pre-statehood...

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...

Though very few teams can accurately be called dynasties, the 1940s Cardinals certainly made a strong case. Detractors argue that World War II made the 40s an asterisk decade, with a huge loss of talent and significant changes to the ball and to the game...

Are today's major league baseball pitchers better than ever? Or do they pale in comparison to the great hurlers of 20, 30 or 40 years ago? This book tackles a debate that has been traveling baseball circles for the past decade or so. With changes in...

For a dozen years in the 1940s and 1950s, more than 700 women played professional baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Though some saw their brand of ball as a sideshow or wartime diversion, the women were all tough...

In March 1871, ten of the United States' most powerful professional baseball clubs met in Brooklyn, New York. Out of that meeting came the sport's first major league: the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. The Philadelphia Athletics,...

For over 100 years, the Texas League has been one of the top five minor leagues in the Southwest. This work is a statistical history of the Texas League from its inception in 1888 through 1958, when Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas left for higher...

The Giants-Dodgers rivalry began in the 1840s, was considered to be the best in baseball by 1890, and continues to be the game's oldest and most storied rivalry today. Three reasons it has been the best are how often both teams have been good, how rarely...

Armando Marsans joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1911, the first Cuban to play Major League baseball. Events in baseball have often mirrored the social development of the United States; Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier is one such example...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781449551360Author Black Mesa PublishingFormat PaperbackPage Count 134Imprint Createspace Independent Publishing PlatformPublisher Createspace Independent...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781440462313Author Brian MerrillFormat PaperbackPage Count 126Imprint Createspace Independent Publishing PlatformPublisher Createspace Independent...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781439234440Author Chuck HildebrandFormat PaperbackPage Count 388Imprint Booksurge PublishingPublisher Booksurge PublishingWeight(grams) 671g

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781419645471Author Will PascoeFormat PaperbackPage Count 178Imprint Booksurge PublishingPublisher Booksurge PublishingWeight(grams) 191g

Around 1863, William "Candy" Cummings discovered he could make clamshells curve when thrown-a skill he transferred to baseball as a pitcher for the New York Excelsiors. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first team in baseball to...

Although very few baseball games end with a final score of one to zero, and such a score line might suggest a contest devoid of drama, nothing could be further from the truth. Since the 1876 inaugural season of professional baseball, many 1-0 games have...