The Best Little Baseball Town in the World

The Best Little Baseball Town in the World PDF Author: Gaylon H. White
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538141167
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The Crowley Millers were the talk of minor league baseball in the 1950s, with crowds totaling nearly 10 times Crowley’s population and earning Crowley the nickname of “The Best Little Baseball Town in the World.” The Best Little Baseball Town in the World: The Crowley Millers and Minor League Baseball in the 1950s tells the fun, quirky story of Crowley, Louisiana, in the fifties, a story that reads more like fiction than nonfiction. The Crowley Millers’ biggest star was Conklyn Meriwether, a slugger who became infamous after he retired when he killed his in-laws with an axe. Their former manager turned out to be a con man, dying in jail while awaiting trial on embezzlement charges. The 1951 team was torn to pieces after their young centerfielder was struck and killed by lightning during a game. But aside from the tragedy and turmoil, the Crowley Millers also played some great baseball and were the springboard to stardom for George Brunet and Dan Pfister, two Crowley pitchers who made it to the majors. Interviews with players from the team bring to light never-before-heard stories and inside perspectives on minor league baseball in the fifties, including insight into the social and racial climate of the era, and the inability of baseball in the fifties to help players deal with off-the-field problems. Written by respected minor-league baseball historian Gaylon H. White, The Best Little Baseball Town in the World is a fascinating tale for baseball fans and historians alike.

The Best Little Baseball Town in the World

The Best Little Baseball Town in the World PDF Author: Gaylon H. White
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538141167
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Crowley Millers were the talk of minor league baseball in the 1950s, with crowds totaling nearly 10 times Crowley’s population and earning Crowley the nickname of “The Best Little Baseball Town in the World.” The Best Little Baseball Town in the World: The Crowley Millers and Minor League Baseball in the 1950s tells the fun, quirky story of Crowley, Louisiana, in the fifties, a story that reads more like fiction than nonfiction. The Crowley Millers’ biggest star was Conklyn Meriwether, a slugger who became infamous after he retired when he killed his in-laws with an axe. Their former manager turned out to be a con man, dying in jail while awaiting trial on embezzlement charges. The 1951 team was torn to pieces after their young centerfielder was struck and killed by lightning during a game. But aside from the tragedy and turmoil, the Crowley Millers also played some great baseball and were the springboard to stardom for George Brunet and Dan Pfister, two Crowley pitchers who made it to the majors. Interviews with players from the team bring to light never-before-heard stories and inside perspectives on minor league baseball in the fifties, including insight into the social and racial climate of the era, and the inability of baseball in the fifties to help players deal with off-the-field problems. Written by respected minor-league baseball historian Gaylon H. White, The Best Little Baseball Town in the World is a fascinating tale for baseball fans and historians alike.

Coach of a Lifetime

Coach of a Lifetime PDF Author: Gaylon H. White
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538181029
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
The inspirational true story of a high school football coach who motivates and encourages ordinary kids to do extraordinary things on and off the field He’s called simply “Coach.” But Louie Cook of Notre Dame High School in Crowley, Louisiana, is much more than that. He’s a father figure to his players, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion; the mentor players can turn to for discerning advice; the man students and parents go to for comfort in challenging times; and most of all, a caring leader with a servant’s heart. Coach of a Lifetime: The Story of Lewis Cook Jr., Legendary High School Football Coach recounts the inspiring, selfless path Cook has traveled as a football coach and, more importantly, as a leader in a small Louisiana town. While other high school coaches have won more games and sent more players to the NFL, none have proven better at developing the raw talents of high school kids from a handful of farming communities and turning them into champions on the football field and in life. The story of Louie Cook is about much more than football. It’s about developing and motivating young people, about putting faith and family ahead of wins and losses, and about building relationships that will last a lifetime. Cook may be one of the winningest high school coaches in the nation, but he will be the first to tell you, “Winning isn’t everything; winning the right way is.”

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball

The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball PDF Author: Lloyd Johnson
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476647690
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 1064

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Book Description
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, baseball's minor leagues cancelled their seasons. A few independent leagues tried abbreviated schedules, but all Major League affiliates shut down--for the first time in more than 120 years. Since then, Major League Baseball has taken over governance of the minors, and leagues and teams have been eliminated. In its fourth and final edition, this book gives a complete accounting of the minor leagues as they were known from the late 19th century through 2019.

Play Ball!: The Story of Little League Baseball¨

Play Ball!: The Story of Little League Baseball¨ PDF Author:
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271038711
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
With more than 4 million people participating in Little League games every year, Little League is the rite of passage into the quintessential American pastime. "Play Ball!" charts Little League's history from its earliest days and shows how, in many respects, its history parallels America's history. 140 illustrations.

The Baseball Whisperer

The Baseball Whisperer PDF Author: Michael Tackett
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544386396
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
“Field of Dreams was only superficially about baseball. It was really about life. So is The Baseball Whisperer . . . with the added advantage of being all true.” —MLB.com From an award-winning journalist, this is the story of a legendary coach and the professional-caliber baseball program he built in America's heartland, where boys would come summer after summer to be molded into ballplayers—and men. Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,000, sits two hours from anything. There, between the cornfields and hog yards, is a ball field with a bronze bust of a man named Merl Eberly, who specialized in second chances and lost causes. The statue was a gift from one of Merl’s original long-shot projects, a skinny kid from the Los Angeles ghetto who would one day become a beloved Hall-of-Fame shortstop: Ozzie Smith. The Baseball Whisperer traces the “deeply engrossing” story (Booklist, starred review) of Merl Eberly and his Clarinda A’s baseball team, which he tended over the course of five decades, transforming them from a town team to a collegiate summer league powerhouse. Along with Ozzie Smith, future manager Bud Black, and star player Von Hayes, Merl developed scores of major league players. In the process, he taught them to be men, insisting on hard work, integrity, and responsibility. More than a book about ballplayers in the nation’s agricultural heartland, The Baseball Whisperer is the story of a coach who put character and dedication first, reminding us of the best, purest form of baseball excellence. “Mike Tackett, talented journalist and baseball lover, has hit the sweet spot of the bat with his first book. The Baseball Whisperer takes one coach and one small Iowa town and illuminates both a sport and the human spirit.” —David Maraniss, New York Times-bestselling author of Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered

Stolen Season

Stolen Season PDF Author: David Lamb
Publisher: Diversion Books
ISBN: 1626812772
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
"A pennant-winning look at baseball at its purest." —Atlanta Journal & Constitution On the field with baseball classics like Men at Work and The Boys of Summer, David Lamb travels the backroads of America to draw a stirring portrait of minor league baseball that will enchant every fan who has ever sat in the bleachers and waited for the crack of the bat. A sixteen-thousand mile journey across America…. A travelogue of minor league teams and the towns that support them… A chronicle of hopes and dreams… Correspondent David Lamb embarks on a trek that captures the triumphs and defeats as thousands of players do all they can to reach the big leagues. In watching the games and riding the roads, Lamb also discovers a nation that breathes baseball, and towns that wrap their own dreams around their teams. Stolen Season is full of unforgettable characters, none more so than Lamb himself, a journalist who has written about and lived baseball his entire life, telling tales with humor and with warmth of a sport that reveals as much about Americans as it does about long summer days and nine glorious innings. "Part love letter, part snapshot, part history, and all-American...this book should be read by anyone who has yet to savor the sounds and delights of a minor-league baseball game." —New York Times Book Review "Thoroughly engaging." —Sporting News "An absorbing, delightful chronicle...at once nostaglic, sharp-eyed, and beautifully crafted." —San Francisco Chronicle

Handsome Ransom Jackson

Handsome Ransom Jackson PDF Author: Ransom Jackson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442261552
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Millions of America’s youth dream of playing major league baseball or in a college bowl game on New Year’s Day. Growing up in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Ransom Jackson had no idea that one day he would not only play in back-to-back Cotton Bowls for two different colleges—the first and only player to do so—but that he would also become known as “Handsome Ransom,” all-star third baseman for the Chicago Cubs. He was in Chicago in 1953 when Ernie Banks became the first African American to play for the Cubs. He was in Brooklyn in 1956, the year Jackie Robinson retired. In 1957, Jackson was the last Brooklyn player to hit a home run before the team moved to LA. Jackson’s major league career spanned the entire decade of the 1950s, a time when the landscape of baseball changed dramatically as teams moved to new cities, built new stadiums, and integrated their rosters. Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer is an autobiographical account of Jackson’s fascinating journey from his boyhood days in Arkansas to playing in the major leagues, where many of his teammates were future Hall of Famers. It’s a fun and nostalgic visit to the past, with Jackson sharing such memories as spring training with the Cubs on Catalina Island, befriending a Mafia boss in Massachusetts, batting behind Hank Sauer and getting knocked down by pitchers retaliating for Sauer’s home runs, rooming with Don Drysdale on an historic baseball tour of Japan, and sitting in the dugout in LA with Dodger teammates looking for movie stars in the stands. In addition, Jackson remembers being brought to Brooklyn to take over third base for the aging Jackie Robinson, and quickly discovering that nobody replaces a legend like Jackie. While many of the players from the 1950s are no longer with us, Jackson’s invaluable and timeless stories celebrate the greatness of the game and preserve a sliver of history from the heart of the golden age of baseball. Featuring many never-before-published photographs from Ransom Jackson’s personal collection, including photos of Dodger and Cub greats Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Carl Erskine, Ralph Kiner, and Ernie Banks, Handsome Ransom Jackson will take the reader back to an era when baseball was truly the national pastime.

The 1903 World Series

The 1903 World Series PDF Author: Andy Dabilis
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078648327X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
The first World Series was a best-of-nine series between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburg Pirates, with the first three games to be played in Boston starting at the Huntington Avenue Grounds on October 1, 1903. The series started with baseball's winningest pitcher, Cy Young, throwing the first pitch, and ended with baseball's greatest hitter, Honus Wagner, striking out on the last pitch. Boston won the series, five games to three. Each game of the 1903 World Series and its key plays and players are thoroughly covered here, and the authors also pay special attention to the great significance that first World Series held for the future of baseball. Not only was the survival of the American League at stake, but baseball's place as the preeminent sport in America. The 1903 World Series drew more than 100,000 people to the ballparks, and there was no doubt about the popularity of the game. It was, as the authors point out, played by men, who, had they not been baseball players, would have been among the working class that made up most of the audience.

The Bilko Athletic Club

The Bilko Athletic Club PDF Author: Gaylon H. White
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0810892901
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
During the 1956 baseball season in the city of Los Angeles, Mickey Mantle’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record was matched only by the day-to-day drama of Steve Bilko’s exploits in the Pacific Coast League. While Mantle was winning the Triple Crown in the American League, Bilko was doing the same in the highest of all the minor leagues with the Los Angeles Angels. He led the league hitters in eight categories, and the Angels romped to the pennant. Bilko hit one mighty home run after another to earn Minor League Player of the Year honors and inspire the team’s nickname, “The Bilko Athletic Club.” The Bilko Athletic Club tells the story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels, a team of castoffs and kids built around Steve Bilko, a bulky, beer-loving basher of home runs.Author Gaylon H. White provides an intimate portrait of life in minor league baseball in the 1950s and gives readers a glimpse inside the heads and hearts of the players as they experience the same doubts and frustrations many face in the pursuit of a dream. The Angels’ unforgettable season unfolds through stories told by the players themselves, as they racked up runs and rolled to a 107-61 won-loss record, finishing sixteen games ahead of their closest competitor. Featuring in-depth interviews with Steve Bilko and twenty-five of his ’56 Angels teammates, The Bilko Athletic Club also includes several photos and is highlighted by never-before-told anecdotes. A fascinating account of a season to remember, The Bilko Athletic Club will take fans and historians of the national pastime back to the golden era of baseball.

When Towns Had Teams

When Towns Had Teams PDF Author: Jim Baumer
Publisher: RSM Press
ISBN: 9780977205233
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
When Towns Had Teams is a comprehensive history of town team and semi-pro baseball in Maine, from post-WWII, until the present day.While the professional game is all that is talked about today, there was a time when town team baseball was the centerpiece of communities across the state, particularly the smaller towns.While certainly a record of the towns, teams and players that competed on diamonds all across the state, it also reflects the small-town values and sense of community that was a big part of rural America.