Author: Don Drysdale
Publisher: St Martins Press
ISBN: 9780312924621
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
From the early days in Brooklyn to the champion Los Angeles Dodgers teams of the Sixties, Hall-of-Fame pitcher Don Drysdale's memoir recalls the great moments and players of Dodgers history
Author: Don Drysdale
Publisher: St Martins Press
ISBN: 9780312039028
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278
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Book Description
From the early days in Brooklyn to the champion Los Angeles Dodgers teams of the Sixties, Hall-of-Fame pitcher Don Drysdale's memoir recalls the great moments and players of Dodgers history
Author: Michael D'Antonio
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781594488566
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer D'Antonio presents a richly detailed and engrossing portrait of Walter O'Malley--the enigmatic Dodgers' owner who changed Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and baseball forever.
Author: Danny Peary
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1624142443
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 435
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Book Description
This book uses quotes to narrate the life and career of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball and one of the most famous players of all time, just in time for Father's Day and the 70th anniversary celebration of Robinson's first MLB début.Jackie Robinson was a Hall-of-Fame second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was most famous for breaking the baseball color line with the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, though he was also known for his strong character and political activism that contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. Every year on April 15, all players in the MLB recognize Jackie Robinson Day by wearing Jackie's number, 42. He was an inspiration to players, fans and underdogs around the world. With Baseball Immortal: Jackie Robinson, Danny Peary takes you on an incredible, unique journey to a time of great progress in America and some really good baseball. Get a first-hand, 360-degree look at one of America's greatest and most important athletes through his words and the words of those around him - from his outspoken wife, Rachel Robinson, his childhood influencers, fans, other baseball greats and more. This book is perfect for baseball fans and historians across the country, especially since the book will publish in time for Father's Day gifts. Baseball fans will get an advantage reading about Robinson's life just in time to celebrate major anniversaries of the great player. In 2016 and 2017, the MLB will commemorate the 70th anniversaries of Robinson's first debuts in the minor leagues and in the major leagues with the Dodgers, along with other anniversaries like the 35th anniversary of his induction into the Hall of Fame.
Author: Brian M. Endsley
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786474157
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 297
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Book Description
This is the story of the L.A. Dodgers' volatile fortunes during Sandy Koufax's transformation from a wild left-hander with a losing record on the verge of quitting the game, to an artist with exquisite control of the baseball--a veritable Mozart on the mound. From the Dodgers' sudden plunge into the baseball wilderness in 1960, to their return to pennant contention in Koufax's breakout year of 1961, through their catastrophic 1962 season--precipitated by Koufax's freak midseason finger injury--to their redemption in 1963 with their second World Championship on the West Coast, the narrative is set against the backdrop of John F. Kennedy's fleeting New Frontier presidency.
Author: David Vaught
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1648430651
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 602
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Book Description
Finalist for the 2023 CASEY Award Gaylord Jackson Perry was born in 1938 as the younger son of a tobacco sharecropper in Martin County, North Carolina. He and his older brother Jim grew up against a background of backbreaking work six days a week in a community that boasted not a single paved road until the 1950s. Their only relaxation was playing baseball, first with their father and later at school. While both brothers would go on to succeed as pitchers in major league baseball, for Gaylord, success would require a lot of perseverance and an almost equal amount of subterfuge. After a couple of lackluster seasons with the San Francisco Giants, he learned from bullpen-mate Bob Shaw how to throw the illegal spitball. More importantly, he learned to control the tricky pitch and to conceal it from suspicious umpires, opposing managers, and baffled batters. When he finally broke out the spitter in a victory by attrition in a marathon, 32-inning, nine-hour doubleheader against the Mets in May 1964, his destiny was set. The Hall of Famer would go on to a 314–265 win-loss record, with a 3.11 earned-run average and 3,534 career strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. Sports historian David Vaught has mined archival and public records, game statistics, media accounts, and previously published works—including Perry’s 1974 autobiography—to compile the first critical biography of a player as famous for his wry humor and downhome banter as for his trademark illegal pitch. Written for baseball fans and American sports historians, Spitter: Baseball’s Notorious Gaylord Perry provides new insights and genuine enjoyment of the game for a wide range of readers.
Author: Tom Clavin
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0451239946
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 415
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Book Description
A legend during the Golden Era of the 1950s, Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player and New York Mets manager Gil Hodges is at the center of this masterful sports biography, which delves into the life, achievements, and sterling character of one of baseball’s most overlooked stars. Gil Hodges was the Brooklyn Dodgers’ powerful first baseman who, alongside Jackie Robinson, helped drive his team to six pennants and a thrilling World Series victory in 1955. Dutifully following the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958, Hodges longed to return to New York City, and in 1962, joined the original Mets. He took over the manager’s spot on their bench in 1968 and transformed the team from a joke to World Champions in 1969—thus creating the Miracle Mets. Yet behind his stoic demeanor lay a man prone to anxiety and scarred by combat during World War II. His sudden death in 1972 shocked his friends and family and left a void in the hearts of baseball fans everywhere. Acclaimed authors Tom Clavin and Danny Peary deliver a thoroughly researched and poignant view of one of baseball’s hidden treasures, shedding light on a fascinating life and career that even his most ardent fans never knew.
Author: G. Scott Thomas
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476686564
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 335
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Book Description
America grew rapidly after World War II, and the national pastime followed suit. Baseball dramatically changed from a 19th century pastoral relic to a continental modern sport. Six Major League clubs relocated to new cities, capped by the coast-to-coast moves of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. Four expansion teams were created from thin air. Dozens of black stars emerged after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. The players formed a union--higher salaries materialized. This book tells the story of baseball's metamorphosis 1945-1962, driven by larger-than-life personalities like the bombastic Larry MacPhail, the sage Branch Rickey, the kindly Connie Mack, the quick-witted Bill Veeck and the wily Walter O'Malley--Hall of Famers all. The upheaval they sparked--and sometimes failed to control--would broaden the sport's appeal, setting the stage for tremendous growth in the half-century to come.
Author: Jim Alexander
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476645779
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 413
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Book Description
In the 1880s, a Brooklyn baseball manager plotted to steal pitching signs and alert batters with a hidden electrical wire. In 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers were robbed of a pennant via a sign-stealing scheme involving a center field office, a telescope and a button connected to the bullpen phone. In 2017, the Los Angeles Dodgers were robbed of a World Series championship via a sign-stealing system involving a TV camera, a monitor, a trash can and a bat. History has often repeated itself around the Dodgers franchise. From their beginnings as the Brooklyn Atlantics to their move from Flatbush to L.A. and into the 21st Century, the Dodgers have seen heartbreaking losses and stirring triumphs, broken the color barrier, turned the game into a true coast-to-coast sport and produced many Hall of Famers, This is their story.
Author: Glen Sparks
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476644381
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
Harold "Pee Wee" Reese may have been the most beloved Brooklyn Dodgers player of all time. During a 16-year career in the 1940s and 1950s, he delivered timely hits, made countless acrobatic defensive plays at shortstop, and stole hundreds of bases for clubs that won seven pennants and, in 1955, finally overcame the Yankees to win the World Series. Reese may be best remembered, however, for a gesture of solidarity. The year and the location vary with the telling, but witnesses agree on this crucial detail: During one of Jackie Robinson's early tours of the National League, as catcalls and racial taunts rained down on him, the Southern-born Reese draped an arm across the infielder's shoulder and stood alongside him, facing the crowd. In this first full-length biography of Reese, author Glen Sparks digs into Hall of Famer's life and career, his leadership both on and off the field, and the reasons that Brooklyn fans fell in love with the Boys of Summer.
