The Louisville Grays and the Myth of Baseball's First Great Scandal

The Louisville Grays and the Myth of Baseball's First Great Scandal PDF Author: Wendell Lloyd Jones
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476651841
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
The National League was in its second season of existence in 1877. In mid-season, the Louisville Grays suddenly took the league by storm and by mid-August were considered a lock to win the pennant. Then, disaster struck. The Grays fell out of first place, and the pennant was lost. Suspicions were high that the club had sold out to gamblers. Three players were tricked into confessing to the selling of exhibition games and were blacklisted from the sport along with a fourth player who refused to cooperate with the investigation. Since then, historians have presented a simple narrative about how the Grays sold the pennant to gamblers, how that treachery was discovered, and the steps that followed. However, none of this is true. For nearly 150 years the story of the Louisville Grays has been told, and the story has been wrong. For the first time, the objective evidence that was there all along is examined in comparison to the narrative that has been told about the Grays. The evidence shows the Grays did not sell the pennant; they simply lost it. This is the story of how Major League Baseball's first great scandal never truly happened.

The Louisville Grays and the Myth of Baseball's First Great Scandal

The Louisville Grays and the Myth of Baseball's First Great Scandal PDF Author: Wendell Lloyd Jones
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476651841
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
The National League was in its second season of existence in 1877. In mid-season, the Louisville Grays suddenly took the league by storm and by mid-August were considered a lock to win the pennant. Then, disaster struck. The Grays fell out of first place, and the pennant was lost. Suspicions were high that the club had sold out to gamblers. Three players were tricked into confessing to the selling of exhibition games and were blacklisted from the sport along with a fourth player who refused to cooperate with the investigation. Since then, historians have presented a simple narrative about how the Grays sold the pennant to gamblers, how that treachery was discovered, and the steps that followed. However, none of this is true. For nearly 150 years the story of the Louisville Grays has been told, and the story has been wrong. For the first time, the objective evidence that was there all along is examined in comparison to the narrative that has been told about the Grays. The evidence shows the Grays did not sell the pennant; they simply lost it. This is the story of how Major League Baseball's first great scandal never truly happened.

The Louisville Grays and the Myth of Baseball's First Great Scandal

The Louisville Grays and the Myth of Baseball's First Great Scandal PDF Author: Wendell Lloyd Jones
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476694389
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
The National League was in its second season of existence in 1877. In mid-season, the Louisville Grays suddenly took the league by storm and by mid-August were considered a lock to win the pennant. Then, disaster struck. The Grays fell out of first place, and the pennant was lost. Suspicions were high that the club had sold out to gamblers. Three players were tricked into confessing to the selling of exhibition games and were blacklisted from the sport along with a fourth player who refused to cooperate with the investigation. Since then, historians have presented a simple narrative about how the Grays sold the pennant to gamblers, how that treachery was discovered, and the steps that followed. However, none of this is true. For nearly 150 years the story of the Louisville Grays has been told, and the story has been wrong. For the first time, the objective evidence that was there all along is examined in comparison to the narrative that has been told about the Grays. The evidence shows the Grays did not sell the pennant; they simply lost it. This is the story of how Major League Baseball's first great scandal never truly happened.

The Louisville Grays Scandal of 1877

The Louisville Grays Scandal of 1877 PDF Author: William A. Cook
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476616396
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
By the mid-1870s, gambling in baseball threatened the public's confidence in the sport and its very existence as a professional enterprise. Recognizing this, Chicago owner William A. Hulbert and seven of his colleagues formed the National League, dedicating it to such high-minded ideals as preventing contract jumping and, most importantly, eliminating gambling from the sport. Hulbert's new league was severely threatened in 1877 by a gambling scandal that rocked its foundation. In mid-season, the Louisville Grays were the league's hottest team, but a disastrous eastern road trip caused vice president Charles Chase to question the efforts of some of his players. Sure-handed infielders were making inexplicable errors, and pitcher Jim Devlin was suddenly not as sharp as he had been previously. Chase's investigation found Devlin, A.H. Nichols, W.H. Carver, and George Hall had "sold" games, and the four were banned from the league. This work focuses first on the formation of the National League and the changing nature of professional baseball in the 1870s. The early seasons of the league are covered, and the author gives a detailed account of the Grays' 1877 season and the evidence against the four players. Also fully explored are the impact of the Grays scandal and its lasting influence on the governance of the sport.

Barney Dreyfuss

Barney Dreyfuss PDF Author: Brian Martin
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476679614
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A young German immigrant, Barney Dreyfuss was an American success story in business and in baseball. He fell in love with the game after settling in Paducah, Kentucky, where he discovered he had a knack for assembling good players on the diamond. Relocating to Louisville, he became involved in the professional game with the Colonels. Faced with ouster from the National League, he took his players to Pittsburgh, where he became owner of the Pirates and forged a winning tradition, leading the club to six pennants and two World Series. This first biography of Dreyfuss chronicles the innovative career of the Hall of Famer executive who built Forbes Field--the National League's first concrete-and-steel ballpark, into which he put $1 million of his own money--pushed for creation of the office of commissioner to govern the game and helped initiate the modern World Series.

Crack of the Bat

Crack of the Bat PDF Author: Bob Hill
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1613212690
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Crack of the Bat is a comprehensive and entertaining look at the most famous icon in the history of baseball, the "Louisville Slugger" bat. It includes the evolution of bats from pioneer wagon tongues to the sleek aluminum models of today. It examines the amazing physics involved in hitting a baseball, where .003 seconds means the difference between a home run and a foul ball. It tells the fascinating history of the still family-owned Hillerich & Bradsby Company, which in just 80 years went from making butter churns to making seven million bats a year. Reinforcing this are dozens of stories about the bats themselves, and the personal idiosyncracies of the most famous hitters in baseball history, including Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr. and Derek Jeter. The book explains why the players picked the bats they did, the amazing lengths they would go to to protect them, and how valuable these bats have now become in the hands of collectors. Illustrated with hundreds of archival photographs, baseball decals, and icons, many in color, this book will become as much a cherished keepsake as some of the bats it describes.

Legendary Locals of Burlington, Vermont

Legendary Locals of Burlington, Vermont PDF Author: Robert J. Resnik
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467100668
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
A bustling lumber and trading port on the shores of Lake Champlain founded by Ethan and Ira Allen in the 1780s became the city of Burlington in 1865. With a current population of almost 43,000 residents, Burlington is still Vermont's "Queen City," consistently nationally ranked for quality of life and as a great place to both raise a family and to retire. It is not just the beautiful scenery and endlessly interesting weather that makes Burlington desirable but also the amazing people and businesses of Burlington that make it unique. Burlington is the hometown of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream; Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first man to drive an automobile across the continental United States; the Lake Champlain Chocolate Company; first lady Grace Coolidge; the Vermont Pub & Brewery, one of the nation's first brewpubs; philosopher and educator John Dewey; the world-renowned jam band Phish; a small army of accomplished and eclectic artists; and more interesting coffee and tea shops than almost any other small city in the country.

Cholera in Detroit

Cholera in Detroit PDF Author: Richard Adler
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476612129
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
During the mid- to late 19th century, Detroit and the American Midwest were the sites of five major cholera epidemics. The first of these, the 1832 outbreak, was of particular significance--an unexpected consequence of the Black Hawk War. In order to suppress the Native American uprising then taking place in regions around present-day Illinois, General Winfield Scott had been ordered by President Andrew Jackson to transport his troops from Virginia to the Midwest. While passing through New York State the men were exposed to cholera, transmitting the disease to the population of Detroit once they reached that city. As a result, cholera was established as an endemic disease in the upper Midwest. Further outbreaks took place in 1834, 1849, 1854 and 1866, ultimately resulting in the deaths of hundreds of individuals. This book is the story of those outbreaks and the efforts to control them.

The City, Not Long After

The City, Not Long After PDF Author: Pat Murphy
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1480483184
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
A chilling postapocalyptic novel of hope, despair, art, and war from the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Award–winning author of The Falling Woman. A plague wiped out most of the population, but some have been spared. In San Francisco, those who were left—painters, writers, dreamers—began rebuilding the city in their image: a society based on art, community, and peace. But not everyone has the same pacifist ideals. When a mysterious young woman, Jax, appears in San Francisco, she brings disturbing news. There’s a power-hungry man, a general, moving across California, annexing cities and rebuilding his own version of America, willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way. His sights are set on the Golden Gate Bridge, and his army will soon descend, bringing guns, determination, and violence. If Jax and her allies are to survive, they’ll have to defend themselves with nothing more than their creativity—and the soul of a city that refuses to be dominated. Drawing comparisons to the mind-bending work of Gabriel García Márquez, this lush and thought-provoking dystopian novel is an examination of human spirit, for better or worse, and a magical journey into what it means to survive.

Kansas Tycoon Emerson Carey

Kansas Tycoon Emerson Carey PDF Author: Lynn Ledeboer
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439666954
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
"I've seen a fly make a bull switch his tail" is a homespun quip attributed to Emerson Carey, the powerful salt magnate of Hutchinson, Kansas. True or not, the quote epitomizes the fearless and tenacious character of the legend who became Reno County's benefactor. Young, awestruck Carey arrived in boomtown 1880s Hutchinson and went on to create an immense empire. Coal, ice, salt, strawboard, egg cases, bags, soda ash and streetcars--he presided over it all. From Carey's sleeping in a coal yard with a quarter in his pocket to the founding of the exclusive Willowbrook community and attaining a net worth of more than $15 million, authors Lynn Ledeboer and Myron Marcotte relate the epic story.

Pickle It!

Pickle It! PDF Author: John Bell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780971220416
Category : Minor league baseball
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
PICKLE IT! is a history of minor league baseball of Carrollton, Georgia from 1920 to 1950. Complete with statistics, photographs, illustrations, team records, and more, PICKLE IT! summarizes each year the city of Carrollton, Georgia fielded a team in organized baseball in either the Georgia State League or the Georgia-Alabama League.