I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat

I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat PDF Author: David W. Zang
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252097424
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
David W. Zang played junior high school basketball in a drained swimming pool. He wore a rubber suit to bed to make weight for a wrestling meet. He kept a log as an obsessive runner (not a jogger). In short, he soldiered through the life of an ordinary athlete. Whether pondering his long-unbuilt replica of Connie Mack Stadium or his eye-opening turn as the Baltimore Ravens' mascot, Zang offers tales at turns poignant and hilarious as he engages with the passions that shaped his life. Yet his meditations also probe the tragedy of a modern athletic culture that substitutes hyped spectatorship for participation. As he laments, American society's increasing scorn for taking part in play robs adults of the life-affirming virtues of games that challenge us to accomplish the impossible for the most transcendent of reasons: to see if it can be done. From teammates named Lop to tracing Joe Paterno's long shadow over Happy Valley, I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat reports from the everyman's Elysium where games and life intersect.

I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat

I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat PDF Author: David W. Zang
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252097424
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
David W. Zang played junior high school basketball in a drained swimming pool. He wore a rubber suit to bed to make weight for a wrestling meet. He kept a log as an obsessive runner (not a jogger). In short, he soldiered through the life of an ordinary athlete. Whether pondering his long-unbuilt replica of Connie Mack Stadium or his eye-opening turn as the Baltimore Ravens' mascot, Zang offers tales at turns poignant and hilarious as he engages with the passions that shaped his life. Yet his meditations also probe the tragedy of a modern athletic culture that substitutes hyped spectatorship for participation. As he laments, American society's increasing scorn for taking part in play robs adults of the life-affirming virtues of games that challenge us to accomplish the impossible for the most transcendent of reasons: to see if it can be done. From teammates named Lop to tracing Joe Paterno's long shadow over Happy Valley, I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat reports from the everyman's Elysium where games and life intersect.

Baseball as a Road to God

Baseball as a Road to God PDF Author: John Sexton
Publisher: Avery
ISBN: 1592408648
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Applying to the secular activity of baseball a form of inquiry usually reserved for the study of religion, Sexton explores common ground between the game and what we all recognize as religion: sacred places and time, faith and doubt, blessings and curses, and more.

Philly Sports

Philly Sports PDF Author: Ryan Swanson
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 1557281874
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
Not distributed; available at Arkansas State Library.

Baltimore Sports

Baltimore Sports PDF Author: Daniel A. Nathan
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 1682260054
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
To read a sample chapter, visit www.uapress.com. Baltimore is the birthplace of Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the incomparable Babe Ruth, and the gold medalist Michael Phelps. It’s a one-of-a-kind town with singular stories, well-publicized challenges, and also a rich sporting history. Baltimore Sports: Stories from Charm City chronicles the many ways that sports are an integral part of Baltimore’s history and identity and part of what makes the city unique, interesting, and, for some people, loveable. Wide ranging and eclectic, the essays included here cover not only the Orioles and the Ravens, but also lesser-known Baltimore athletes and teams. Toots Barger, known as the “Queen of the Duckpins,” makes an appearance. So do the Dunbar Poets, considered by some to be the greatest high-school basketball team ever. Bringing together the work of both historians and journalists, including Michael Olesker, former Baltimore Sun columnist, and Rafael Alvarez, who was named Baltimore’s Best Writer by Baltimore Magazine in 2014, Baltimore Sports illuminates Charm City through this fascinating exploration of its teams, fans, and athletes.

Game Faces

Game Faces PDF Author: Sarah K. Fields
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252098544
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Sports figures cope with a level of celebrity once reserved for the stars of stage and screen. In Game Faces , Sarah K. Fields looks at the legal ramifications of the cases brought by six of them--golfer Tiger Woods, quarterback Joe Montana, college football coach Wally Butts, baseball pitchers Warren Spahn and Don Newcombe, and hockey enforcer Tony Twist--when faced with what they considered attacks on their privacy and image. Placing each case in its historical and legal context, Fields examines how sports figures in the U.S. have used the law to regain control of their image. As she shows, decisions in the cases significantly affected the evolution of laws related to privacy, defamation, and publicity--areas pertinent to the lives of the famous sports figure and the non-famous consumer alike. She also tells the stories of why the plaintiffs sought relief in the courts, uncovering motives that delved into the heart of issues separating individual rights from the public's perceived right to know. A fascinating exploration of a still-evolving phenomenon, Game Faces is an essential look at the legal playing fields that influence our enjoyment of sports.

Replays, Rivalries, and Rumbles

Replays, Rivalries, and Rumbles PDF Author: Steven Gietschier
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252050142
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
What were the iconic sports moments of the last century? In Replays, Rivalries, and Rumbles , a team of sports aficionados climb onto their bar stools to address that never-solved but essential question. Triumphs and turning points, rivalries and record-setters ”each chapter tracks down the real story behind the epic moments and legendary careers sports fans love to debate. Topics include Abner Doubleday and the origins of baseball; the era-defining 1979 duel between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson; how Denver and Cleveland relive The Drive; the myths surrounding the Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle; Billie Jean King's schooling of Bobby Riggs; the Miracle on Ice; and ESPN's conquest of the sports world. Filled with eye-opening lore and analysis, Replays, Rivalries, and Rumbles is an entertaining look at what we think we know about sports.

Team Chemistry

Team Chemistry PDF Author: Nathan Michael Corzine
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252097890
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
In 2007, the Mitchell Report shocked traditionalists who were appalled that drugs had corrupted the "pure" game of baseball. Nathan Corzine rescues the story of baseball's relationship with drugs from the sepia-toned tyranny of such myths. In Team Chemistry , he reveals a game splashed with spilled whiskey and tobacco stains from the day the first pitch was thrown. Indeed, throughout the game's history, stars and scrubs alike partook of a pharmacopeia that helped them stay on the field and cope off of it: In 1889, Pud Galvin tried a testosterone-derived "elixir" to help him pile up some of his 646 complete games. Sandy Koufax needed Codeine and an anti-inflammatory used on horses to pitch through his late-career elbow woes. Players returning from World War II mainstreamed the use of the amphetamines they had used as servicemen. Vida Blue invited teammates to cocaine parties, Tim Raines used it to stay awake on the bench, and Will McEnaney snorted it between innings. Corzine also ventures outside the lines to show how authorities handled--or failed to handle--drug and alcohol problems, and how those problems both shaped and scarred the game. The result is an eye-opening look at what baseball's relationship with substances legal and otherwise tells us about culture, society, and masculinity in America.

The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, 2d ed.

The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, 2d ed. PDF Author: Jonathan Fraser Light
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476617449
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 1112

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Book Description
More than any other sport, baseball has developed its own niche in America's culture and psyche. Some researchers spend years on detailed statistical analyses of minute parts of the game, while others wax poetic about its players and plays. Many trace the beginnings of the civil rights movement in part to the Major Leagues' decision to integrate, and the words and phrases of the game (for example, pinch-hitter and out in left field) have become common in our everyday language. From AARON, HENRY onward, this book covers all of what might be called the cultural aspects of baseball (as opposed to the number-rich statistical information so widely available elsewhere). Biographical sketches of all Hall of Fame players, owners, executives and umpires, as well as many of the sportswriters and broadcasters who have won the Spink and Frick awards, join entries for teams, owners, commissioners and league presidents. Advertising, agents, drafts, illegal substances, minor leagues, oldest players, perfect games, retired uniform numbers, superstitions, tripleheaders, and youngest players are among the thousands of entries herein. Most entries open with a topical quote and conclude with a brief bibliography of sources for further research. The whole work is exhaustively indexed and includes 119 photographs.

Fashion 101

Fashion 101 PDF Author: Erika Stalder
Publisher: Zest Books
ISBN: 0979017343
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Book Description
Each year, we spend hours shopping and getting dressed, but do we ever think about what we’re wearing? What’s the name of the style of your shirt? Who invented your favorite jeans cut? Who made your baby-doll nightie famous? There is a story behind every piece of clothing and with Fashion 101 you’ll learn those stories and more: Where did the miniskirt come from? Why has the military had a stronger influence on fashion than Audrey Hepburn? How do denim makers work those perfect "whiskers" into your "worn-out" jeans? Filled with tons of intriguing factoids about designers and celebrities, and more than 300 illustrations, Fashion 101 offers the total scoop on underwear, outerwear, accessories, and everything in between. With this crash course, you’ll learn not only how to put together smarter looks, but also how to become a fashion expert in the process.

Babe Ruth and the Creation of the Celebrity Athlete

Babe Ruth and the Creation of the Celebrity Athlete PDF Author: Thomas Barthel
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147666532X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
From his first year in the majors, George Herman "Babe" Ruth knew he could profit from celebrity. Babe Ruth Cigars in 1915 marked his first attempt to cash in. Traded to the Yankees in 1920, he soon signed with Christy Walsh, baseball's first publicity agent. Walsh realized that stories of great deeds in sports were a commodity, and in 1921 sold Ruth's ghostwritten byline to a newspaper syndicate for $15,000 ($187,000 today). Ruth hit home runs while Walsh's writers made him a hero, crafting his public image as a lovable scalawag. Were the stories true? It didn't matter--they sold. Many survive but have never been scrutinized until now. Drawing on primary sources, this book examines the stories, separating exaggerated facts from clear falsehoods. This book traces Ruth's ascendance as the first great media-created superstar and celebrity product endorser.