Author: Ken Kaiser
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429976063
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 293
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Book Description
For twenty-five years, Ken Kaiser was the most colorful umpire in the major leagues. Planet of the Umps is his sidesplitting tale of life behind the plate. "Two things nobody wants to grow up to be are an umpire and broke. Thanks to my career in baseball, I got both." After calling balls, strikes, and outs for thirty-six baseball seasons and more than three thousand major-league games, umpire Ken Kaiser finally called it a career. From the first day he hit a minor-league catcher with a pool table to the fateful day baseball called him out on a strike, Kaiser was one of the game's most popular and colorful characters. And in this autobiography--written with the coauthor of Ron Luciano's classic bestseller The Umpire Strikes Back--Kaiser brings to life his wild adventures from the pro-wrestling arena to the baseball diamond. This is the hysterically true story of four decades of baseball as lived and loved on the playing field, from Ted Williams and Billy Martin to Derek Jeter and Mark McGwire, from one-eyed umpires to space-age technology. As he did throughout his long and sometimes controversial career, the larger-than-his-chest-protector Kaiser calls 'em as he saw 'em.
Author: Ken Kaiser
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312997106
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
In this hysterical autobiography, Major League Baseball umpire Ken Kaiser brings to life his twenty-five years on the baseball diamond.
Author: Bruce Weber
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416545387
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 355
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Book Description
Named One of the Best Baseball Books Ever Written by Esquire An insider’s look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America’s favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true. Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. Bruce Weber, a New York Times reporter, not only interviewed dozens of professional umpires but entered their world, trained to become an umpire, then spent a season working games from Little League to big league spring training. As They See ’Em is Weber’s entertaining account of this experience as well as a lively exploration of what amounts to an eccentric secret society, with its own customs, its own rituals, its own colorful vocabulary. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn’t every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn’t a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really? Packed with fascinating reportage that reveals the game as never before and answers the kinds of questions that fans, exasperated by the clichés of conventional sports commentary, pose to themselves around the television set, Bruce Weber’s As They See ’Em is a towering grand slam.
Author: Ronald E. Kates
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786472391
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 207
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Book Description
This collection of fresh essays examines the intersection of baseball and social class, pointing to the conclusion that America's game, infused from its origins with a democratic mythos and founded on high-minded principles of meritocracy, is nonetheless fraught with problematic class contradictions. Each essayist has explored how class standing has influenced some aspect of the game as experienced by those who play it, those who watch it, those who write about it, and those who market it. The topic of class is an amorphous one and in tying it to baseball the contributors have considered matters of race, education, locality, integration, assimilation, and cultural standing. These elements are crucial to understanding how baseball creates, preserves, reinforces and occasionally assails class divisions among those who watch, play, and own the game.
Author: Julie Keppen
Publisher: Contemporary Authors
ISBN: 9780787667061
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 468
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Book Description
A biographical and bibliographical guide to current writers in all fields including poetry, fiction and nonfiction, journalism, drama, television and movies. Information is provided by the authors themselves or drawn from published interviews, feature stories, book reviews and other materials provided by the authors/publishers.
Author: Shelly Field
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438110855
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 335
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Book Description
Praise for the previous edition:"This comprehensive updated edition...is a necessary reference book for all interested in a career in sports."-ChoiceWith America's continued quest for health and fitness, sports have become
Author: Charles F. Faber
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786479515
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 213
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Book Description
In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first all-professional baseball club. The history, geography, demography and economy of the area made Cincinnati a baseball town par excellence. During pro ball's early years, the city was almost always represented by a club called the Reds. In 1903 Reds owner Garry Hermann helped broker peace between the National and American leagues and became known as the "Father of the World Series." The Reds won the Series in 1919, 1940, 1975, 1976 and 1990. Under the ownership of the controversial Marge Schott and managed by the mercurial Lou Piniella, the 1990 Reds led the National League West, defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Championship Series and swept the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Stars such as Barry Larkin and Eric Davis--along with pitcher Jose Rijo and the trio of relievers known as the Nasty Boys--deserve much of the credit that year but lesser knowns like Billy Hatcher and Glenn Braggs made significant contributions. They have come close but the Reds have not won another pennant since.
Author: Jerry M. Gutlon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 162636737X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 339
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Book Description
For years, Red Sox fans were told that their team was cursed because the Sox sold Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees. But as Jerry Gutlon reveals in It Was Never About the Babe, there is much more drama to Red Sox history than the “Curse of the Bambino.” The truth is more shocking than any myth. With the thorough research of a seasoned journalist and the zeal of a lifelong Red Sox fan, Gutlon explains why the Sox came up short season after season: ownership chose managers and players not based on their talent, but on whom they drank with; before and after baseball integrated, personal and institutional racism affected their decision-making; and their teams consistently lacked the talent, leadership, chemistry, and luck needed to win championships. Most fans don’t know that Babe Ruth was sold not just to produce a Broadway play, bust also because commissioner Ban Johnson was trying to run Sox owner Harry Frazee out of baseball and because Ruth was a major disruption in the Sox clubhouse. They will be surprised to learn that Jackie Robinson tried out at Fenway Park and shocked to learn that much-admired Tom Yawkey, along with owning the Red Sox, also owned a brothel for decades. Covering the early Red Sox championship dynasty of Ruth, the never-good-enough teams of Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Carlton Fisk and Curt Schilling, It Was Never About the Babe is an eye-opening read for every baseball fan, and a must-own book for every fan in Boston.
Author: Kate Angell
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 0758291310
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
Helping a baseball pro take care of his dogs leads to something more than puppy love in this beach town romance by the USA Today bestselling author. The Florida beach town of Barefoot William may be home to Rylan Cates, but the pro baseball player needs to focus on spring training. To keep himself and his four dogs organized for the next eight weeks, he decides to hire a personal assistant—and Beth Avery turns out to be the perfect pinch hitter. Beth is still looking for her place in the world, and a couple months caring for Rylan's two dachshunds, his golden retriever, and a Great Dane named Atlas should shore up her finances before she moves on. Except it's Atlas appears to have other plans. Beth swears the dog is pushing her toward tanned, scruffy, sexy Rylan every chance he gets. One more strike and she's calling the dog out—unless she and Rylan admit that the attraction they're feeling is a game-winning grand slam.
Author: Rob Neyer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416564918
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 825
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Book Description
The latest and greatest in ESPN.com baseball guru Rob Neyer's Big Book series, Legends is a highly entertaining guide to baseball fables that have been handed down through generations. The well-told baseball story has long been a staple for baseball fans. In Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends, Neyer breathes new life into both classic and obscure stories throughout twentieth-century baseball -- stories that, while engaging on their own, also tell us fascinating things about their main characters and about the sport's incredibly rich history. With his signature style, Rob gets to the heart of every anecdote, working through the particulars with careful research drawn from a variety of primary sources. For each story, he asks: Did this really happen? Did it happen, sort of? Or was the story simply the wild invention of someone's imagination? Among the scores of legends Neyer questions and investigates... Did an errant Bob Feller pitch really destroy the career of a National League All-Star? Did Greg Maddux mean to give up a long blast to Jeff Bagwell? Was Fred Lynn the clutch player he thinks he was? Did Tommy Lasorda have a direct line to God? Did Negro Leaguer Gene Benson really knock Indians second baseman Johnny Berardino out of baseball and into General Hospital? Did Billy Martin really outplay Jackie Robinson every time they met? Oh, and what about Babe Ruth's "Called Shot"? Rob checks each story, separates the truths from the myths, and places their fascinating characters into the larger historical context. Filled with insider lore and Neyer's sharp wit and insights, this is an exciting addition to a superb series and an essential read for true fans of our national pastime.
