Carrying Jackie's Torch

Carrying Jackie's Torch PDF Author: Steve Jacobson
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1556527918
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The real and painful struggles of the black players who followed Jackie Robinson into major and minor league baseball from 1947 to 1968 are chronicled in this compelling volume. Players share their personal and often heart-wrenching stories of intense racism, both on and off the field, mixed with a sometimes begrudged appreciation for their tremendous talents. Stories include incidents of white players who gave up promising careers in baseball because they wouldn t play with a black teammate, the Georgia law that forbade a black player from dressing in the same clubhouse as the white players, the quotas for the number of blacks on a team, and how salary negotiations without agents or free agency were akin to a plantation system for both black and white players. The 20 players profiled include Ernie Banks, Alvin Jackson, Charlie Murray, Chuck Harmon, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron, Curt Flood, Lou Brock, and Bob Watson. "

Carrying Jackie's Torch

Carrying Jackie's Torch PDF Author: Steve Jacobson
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1556527918
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
The real and painful struggles of the black players who followed Jackie Robinson into major and minor league baseball from 1947 to 1968 are chronicled in this compelling volume. Players share their personal and often heart-wrenching stories of intense racism, both on and off the field, mixed with a sometimes begrudged appreciation for their tremendous talents. Stories include incidents of white players who gave up promising careers in baseball because they wouldn t play with a black teammate, the Georgia law that forbade a black player from dressing in the same clubhouse as the white players, the quotas for the number of blacks on a team, and how salary negotiations without agents or free agency were akin to a plantation system for both black and white players. The 20 players profiled include Ernie Banks, Alvin Jackson, Charlie Murray, Chuck Harmon, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron, Curt Flood, Lou Brock, and Bob Watson. "

Let's Play Two

Let's Play Two PDF Author: Ron Rapoport
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316318647
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
The definitive and revealing biography of Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks, one of America's most iconic, beloved, and misunderstood baseball players, by acclaimed journalist Ron Rapoport. Ernie Banks, the first-ballot Hall of Famer and All-Century Team shortstop, played in fourteen All-Star Games, won two MVPs, and twice led the Major Leagues in home runs and runs batted in. He outslugged Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Mickey Mantle when they were in their prime, but while they made repeated World Series appearances in the 1950s and 60s, Banks spent his entire career with the woebegone Chicago Cubs, who didn't win a pennant in his adult lifetime. Today, Banks is remembered best for his signature phrase, "Let's play two," which has entered the American lexicon and exemplifies the enthusiasm that endeared him to fans everywhere. But Banks's public display of good cheer was a mask that hid a deeply conflicted, melancholy, and often quite lonely man. Despite the poverty and racism he endured as a young man, he was among the star players of baseball's early days of integration who were reluctant to speak out about Civil Rights. Being known as one of the greatest players never to reach the World Series also took its toll. At one point, Banks even saw a psychiatrist to see if that would help. It didn't. Yet Banks smiled through it all, enduring the scorn of Cubs manager Leo Durocher as an aging superstar and never uttering a single complaint. Let's Play Two is based on numerous conversations with Banks and on interviews with more than a hundred of his family members, teammates, friends, and associates as well as oral histories, court records, and thousands of other documents and sources. Together, they explain how Banks was so different from the caricature he created for the public. The book tells of Banks's early life in segregated Dallas, his years in the Negro Leagues, and his difficult life after retirement; and features compelling portraits of Buck O'Neil, Philip K. Wrigley, the Bleacher Bums, the doomed pennant race of 1969, and much more from a long-lost baseball era.

501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die

501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die PDF Author: Ron Kaplan
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496209885
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
Propounding his "small ball theory" of sports literature, George Plimpton proposed that "the smaller the ball, the more formidable the literature." Of course he had the relatively small baseball in mind, because its literature is formidable--vast and varied, instructive, often wildly entertaining, and occasionally brilliant. From this bewildering array of baseball books, Ron Kaplan has chosen 501 of the best, making it easier for fans to find just the books to suit them (or to know what they're missing). From biography, history, fiction, and instruction to books about ballparks, business, and rules, anyone who loves to read about baseball will find in this book a companionable guide, far more fun than a reference work has any right to be.

Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players

Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players PDF Author: Pete Cava
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476622701
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Indiana boasts a rich baseball tradition, with 10 native sons enshrined in Cooperstown. This biographical dictionary provides a close look at the lives of all 364 Hoosier big leaguers, who include New York City's first baseball superstar; the first rookie pitcher to win three games in a World Series; the man who caught most of Cy Young's record 511 career wins; one of the game's first star relievers; the player who held the record for consecutive games played before Lou Gehrig; an obscure infielder mentioned in Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip; baseball's only one-legged pitcher; Indiana's first Mr. Basketball, who became one of baseball's greatest pinch-hitters; the first African American to play for the Cincinnati Reds; the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in the World Series; the skipper of the 1969 "Miracle Mets"; the pitcher for whom a ground-breaking surgical procedure is named; and the only two men to have played in both the World Series and the Final Four of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Gil Hodges

Gil Hodges PDF Author: Mort Zachter
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0803274351
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
In descriptions of athletes, the word “hero” is bandied about and liberally attached to players with outstanding statistics and championship rings. Gil Hodges: A Hall of Fame Life is the story of a man who epitomized heroism in its truest meaning, holding values and personal interactions to be of utmost importance throughout his life—on the diamond, as a marine in World War II, and in his personal and civic life. A New York City icon and, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, one of the finest first basemen of all time, Gil Hodges (1924–72) managed the Washington Senators and later the New York Mets, leading the 1969 “Miracle Mets” to a World Series championship. A beloved baseball star, Hodges was also an ethical figure whose sturdy values both on and off the field once prompted a Brooklyn priest to tell his congregation to “go home, and say a prayer for Gil Hodges” in order to snap him out of the worst batting slump of his career. Mort Zachter examines Hodges’s playing and managing days, but perhaps more important, he unearths his true heroism by emphasizing the impact that Hodges’s humanity had on those around him on a daily basis. Hodges was a witty man with a dry sense of humor, and his dignity and humble sacrifice sometimes masked a temper that made Joe Torre refer to him as the “Quiet Inferno.” The honesty and integrity that made him so popular to so many remained his defining elements. Firsthand interviews of the many soldiers, friends, family, former teammates, players, and managers who knew and respected Hodges bring the totality of his life into full view, providing a rounded appreciation for this great man and ballplayer.

Stan the Man

Stan the Man PDF Author: Wayne Stewart
Publisher: Triumph Books
ISBN: 1623688671
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Broad in scope and deep in analysis, this biography of Stan Musial details not only the personality and the accomplishments of the man, but artfully examines his life against the backdrop of the Great Depression, which the already-impoverished Musial family endured. It looks at Stan’s support racial integration in baseball, as well as the tragedy that struck his hometown of Donora, Pennsylvania, and claimed many lives, including his father’s. The slew of never-before-published material and revealing anecdotes gained through numerous exclusive interviews with former classmates, relatives, friends, teammates, and contemporaries allow this book to shed fresh light on the legendary Musial while making the book a must-read for all baseball fans. This updated, paperback edition includes a new, commemorative section written after Musial’s passing.

Baseball Rebels

Baseball Rebels PDF Author: Peter Dreier
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496231767
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
In Baseball Rebels Peter Dreier and Robert Elias examine the key social challenges--racism, sexism and homophobia--that shaped society and worked their way into baseball's culture, economics, and politics. Since baseball emerged in the mid-1800s to become America's pastime, the nation's battles over race, gender, and sexuality have been reflected on the playing field, in the executive suites, in the press box, and in the community. Some of baseball's rebels are widely recognized, but most of them are either little known or known primarily for their baseball achievements--not their political views and activism. Everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color line, but less known is Sam Nahem, who opposed the racial divide in the U.S. military and organized an integrated military team that won a championship in 1945. Or Toni Stone, the first of three women who played for the Indianapolis Clowns in the previously all-male Negro Leagues. Or Dave Pallone, MLB's first gay umpire. Many players, owners, reporters, and other activists challenged both the baseball establishment and society's status quo. Baseball Rebels tells stories of baseball's reformers and radicals who were influenced by, and in turn influenced, America's broader political and social protest movements, making the game--and society--better along the way.

Swinging '73

Swinging '73 PDF Author: Matthew Silverman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0762793236
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Interest and attendance were dropping, and football was ascending. Stuck in a rut, baseball was dying. Then Steinbrenner bought the Yankees, a second-division club with wife-swapping pitchers, leaving the House That Ruth Built not with a slam but a simper. He vowed not to interfere—before soon changing his mind. Across town, Tom Seaver led the Mets’ stellar pitching line-up, and iconic outfielder Willie Mays was preparing to say goodbye. For months, the Mets, under Yogi Berra, couldn’t get it right. Meanwhile, the A’s were breaking a ban on facial hair while maverick owner Charlie Finley was fighting to keep them underpaid. But beneath the muttonchops and mayhem, lay another world. Elvis commanded a larger audience than the Apollo landings. A Dodge Dart cost $2,800, gas was a quarter per gallon. A fiscal crisis loomed; Vietnam had ended, the vice president resigned, and Watergate had taken over. It was one of the most exciting years in the game’s history, the first with the designated hitter and the last before arbitration and free agency. The two World Series opponents went head-to-head above the baby steps of a dynasty that soon dwarfed both league champions. It was a turbulent time for the country and the game, neither of which would ever be the same again.

Finding the Left Arm of God

Finding the Left Arm of God PDF 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.

One Nation Under Baseball

One Nation Under Baseball PDF Author: John Florio
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496200829
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
One Nation Under Baseball highlights the intersection between American society and America’s pastime during the 1960s, when the hallmarks of the sport—fairness, competition, and mythology—came under scrutiny. John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro examine the events of the era that reshaped the game: the Koufax and Drysdale million-dollar holdout, the encroachment of television on newspaper coverage, the changing perception of ballplayers from mythic figures to overgrown boys, the arrival of the everyman Mets and their free-spirited fans, and the lawsuit brought against team owners by Curt Flood. One Nation Under Baseball brings to life the seminal figures of the era—including Bob Gibson, Marvin Miller, Tom Seaver, and Dick Young—richly portraying their roles during a decade of flux and uncertainty.