Bill Clinton at the Church of Baseball

Bill Clinton at the Church of Baseball PDF Author: Chris Birkett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780881469127
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
Drawing on newly released documents from the Clinton archive and original interviews with former White House staffers, author Chris Birkett reveals how the President of the United States deployed the mythology of America's national pastime to shape some of the most fiercely contested debates of the 1990s. This is a story of the game's connections with national identity, heroism, race, and traditional American values, and how they were used by Clinton in his battles over affirmative action, welfare reform, and ethics in public life. It climaxes in the summer of 1998, when an epic home run chase between two baseball "gods," Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, acted as the cultural counterpoint to the constitutional crisis and national moral spasm induced by a sex scandal involving the President and a White House intern. Clinton diverted attention from his own moral failings by invoking an idealistic vision of a game, which itself was being corrupted by the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Bill Clinton at the Church of Baseball

Bill Clinton at the Church of Baseball PDF Author: Chris Birkett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780881469127
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
Drawing on newly released documents from the Clinton archive and original interviews with former White House staffers, author Chris Birkett reveals how the President of the United States deployed the mythology of America's national pastime to shape some of the most fiercely contested debates of the 1990s. This is a story of the game's connections with national identity, heroism, race, and traditional American values, and how they were used by Clinton in his battles over affirmative action, welfare reform, and ethics in public life. It climaxes in the summer of 1998, when an epic home run chase between two baseball "gods," Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, acted as the cultural counterpoint to the constitutional crisis and national moral spasm induced by a sex scandal involving the President and a White House intern. Clinton diverted attention from his own moral failings by invoking an idealistic vision of a game, which itself was being corrupted by the use of performance enhancing drugs.

The Church of Baseball

The Church of Baseball PDF Author: Ron Shelton
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0593313968
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book

Book Description
LA TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking. "This book tells you how to make a movie—the whole nine innings of it—out of nothing but sheer will.” —Tony Gilroy, writer/director of Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy "The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball."—Annie in Bull Durham Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball—especially a story set in the minors. The jury was still out on Kevin Costner’s leading-man potential, while Susan Sarandon was already a has-been. There were doubts. But something miraculous happened, and The Church of Baseball attempts to capture why. From organizing a baseball camp for the actors and rewriting key scenes while on set, to dealing with a short production schedule and overcoming the challenge of filming the sport, Shelton brings to life the making of this beloved American movie. Shelton explains the rarely revealed ins and outs of moviemaking, from a film’s inception and financing, screenwriting, casting, the nuts and bolts of directing, the postproduction process, and even through its release. But this is also a book about baseball and its singular romance in the world of sports. Shelton spent six years in the minor leagues before making this film, and his experiences resonate throughout this book. Full of wry humor and insight, The Church of Baseball tells the remarkable story behind an iconic film.

First In His Class

First In His Class PDF Author: David Maraniss
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439128359
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 975

Get Book

Book Description
Who exactly is Bill Clinton, and why was he, of all the brilliant and ambitious men in his generation, the first in his class to reach the White House? Drawing on hundreds of letters, documents, and interviews, David Maraniss explores the evolution of the personality of our forty-second president from his youth in Arkansas to his 1991 announcement that he would run for the nation's highest office. In this richly textured and balanced biography, Maraniss reveals a complex man full of great flaws and great talents. First in His Class is the definitive book on Bill Clinton.

Class A

Class A PDF Author: Lucas Mann
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307907554
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Get Book

Book Description
An unforgettable chronicle of a year of minor-league baseball in a small Iowa town that follows not only the travails of the players of the Clinton LumberKings but also the lives of their dedicated fans and of the town itself. Award-winning essayist Lucas Mann delivers a powerful debut in his telling of the story of the 2010 season of the Clinton LumberKings. Along the Mississippi River, in a Depression-era stadium, young prospects from all over the world compete for a chance to move up through the baseball ranks to the major leagues. Their coaches, some of whom have spent nearly half a century in the game, watch from the dugout. In the bleachers, local fans call out from the same seats they’ve occupied year after year. And in the distance, smoke rises from the largest remaining factory in a town that once had more millionaires per capita than any other in America. Mann turns his eye on the players, the coaches, the fans, the radio announcer, the town, and finally on himself, a young man raised on baseball, driven to know what still draws him to the stadium. His voice is as fresh and funny as it is poignant, illuminating both the small triumphs and the harsh realities of minor-league ball. Part sports story, part cultural exploration, part memoir, Class A is a moving and unique study of why we play, why we watch, and why we remember.

The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition)

The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third Edition) PDF Author: Paul Dickson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393073491
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 1001

Get Book

Book Description
The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.

Rounding the Bases

Rounding the Bases PDF Author: Joseph L. Price
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865549999
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Get Book

Book Description
After identifying early conflicts between churches and baseball in the late-nineteenth century, Price examines the appropriation of baseball by the House of David, an early twentieth-century millennial Protestant community in southern Michigan. Turning then from historic intersections between baseball and religion, two chapters focus on the ways that baseball reelects religious myths. First, the omphalos myth about the origin and ordering of the world is reflected in the rituals and rules of the game. Then the myth of curses is explored in the culture of superstition that underlies the game. At the heart of the book is a sustained argument about how baseball functions as an American civil religion, affirming and sanctifying American identity, especially during periods of national crises such as wars and terrorist attacks. Building on this analysis of baseball as an America's civil religion, two chapters draw upon novels by W. P. Kinsella and David James Duncan to explore the sacramental potential of baseball and to align baseball with apocalyptic possibilities. The final chapter serves as a full confession, interpreting baseball affiliation stories as conversion narratives. In various ways

Voices of the Game

Voices of the Game PDF Author: Curt Smith
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
ISBN: 9780912083216
Category : Baseball
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
No descriptive material is available for this title.

The Church of Baseball

The Church of Baseball PDF Author: Jim Cryns
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781979853255
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
This is the story behind the making of the most popular sports movie of all time. Released in 1988, Bull Durham was rejected by every studio in Hollywood--twice. The film defied odds as it became a sports movie that actually made money--a lot of money. It has also been credited with breathing new life into the minor leagues of baseball. Writer and director Ron Shelton played professional baseball at the AAA level for five years. He voluntarily left baseball to pursue a Master's degree. Later, he began writing articles, then covered scripts for legendary producer Ed Pressman. It was this experience that encouraged a young Shelton to write screenplays, including Under Fire starring Gene Hackman and Best of Times, starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell. Shelton had an idea for a film that took place in the Carolina Leagues in the minors. It was a love story set in the decaying tobacco town of Durham, North Carolina. Bull Durham Producer Thom Mount, formerly head Universal Pictures, was from Durham. He instantly became enamored with the script and the story, which appeared destined to be told. The book includes interviews with Ron Shelton, Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Bob Costas, Robert Wuhl, George F. Will, Brian Anderson, William O'Leary and many others.

Play Ball, Mr. President

Play Ball, Mr. President PDF Author: Dan Cohen
Publisher: Advantage Media Group
ISBN: 1601940203
Category : Baseballs
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Get Book

Book Description


The Missing Cub

The Missing Cub PDF Author: Darcy Fast
Publisher: Xulon Press
ISBN: 1604775149
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book

Book Description
THE MISSING CUB Darcy Fast had a left arm like a bolt of lightning and a calm, confident demeanor. He was built for baseball. He played with Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, and Billy Williams in 1968, and many thought he would be the pitcher to put the Cubs over the top in 1969. But Darcy Fast was not around to see one of the most famous collapses in baseball history. Was he the missing piece, the lefty out of the bullpen that would have propelled the Cubs to the pennant? Perhaps. But on the way to fulfilling his childhood dream, this missing Cub came to realize there was more to life than sport. "Darcy's story is the stuff of dreams. Dreams once realized, and then lost, and then found again. It is, in many ways, a narrative of what every boy growing up dreams, but cannot achieve. More importantly, though, his is a story that could be ours as well. And that's what makes this book a must read. Maybe, just maybe, by reading Darcy's story, you will find your own." Jim Lyon, Senior Pastor-Madison Park Church of God "Darcy Fast is a man of integrity, strength, and is an inspiration to us all. He has fulfilled every young boy's dream, and yet he has ultimately followed a more divine plan: God's plan. His journey is universal to all men." Lyle Overbay, First Baseman-Toronto Blue Jays Darcy Fast has been the senior pastor of Centralia Community Church of God in Centralia, Washington for nearly thirty years. He played professional baseball for the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres and is a lifetime member of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association and the Association of Professional Ball Players of America.