The League That Lasted

The League That Lasted PDF Author: Neil W. Macdonald
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786417551
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
In the early 1870s, baseball was chaos, mired in mismanagement and corruption. William Hulbert, the owner of Chicago's National Association team, believed that a league run efficiently with honest competition would survive and flourish. Hulbert, relying on his pragmatic philosophy of "molasses now, vinegar later" and working with his prize recruit Albert Spalding, founded the National League in 1876. That inaugural season of the National League is chronicled in this heavily documented work. The league fell far short of Hulbert's dreams in its first season, but he stuck to his belief that integrity would win out in the end. He not only prohibited Sunday baseball and the sale and consumption of alcohol within the league's ballparks, but ousted two teams--New York and Philadelphia--from the league because they failed to meet their obligation to finish out the season. Despite the setbacks, scandals, and considerable opposition, all of which are thoroughly covered here, the National League survived its first year.

The League That Lasted

The League That Lasted PDF Author: Neil W. Macdonald
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786417551
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book

Book Description
In the early 1870s, baseball was chaos, mired in mismanagement and corruption. William Hulbert, the owner of Chicago's National Association team, believed that a league run efficiently with honest competition would survive and flourish. Hulbert, relying on his pragmatic philosophy of "molasses now, vinegar later" and working with his prize recruit Albert Spalding, founded the National League in 1876. That inaugural season of the National League is chronicled in this heavily documented work. The league fell far short of Hulbert's dreams in its first season, but he stuck to his belief that integrity would win out in the end. He not only prohibited Sunday baseball and the sale and consumption of alcohol within the league's ballparks, but ousted two teams--New York and Philadelphia--from the league because they failed to meet their obligation to finish out the season. Despite the setbacks, scandals, and considerable opposition, all of which are thoroughly covered here, the National League survived its first year.

The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs

The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs PDF Author: Robert Peyton Wiggins
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786438355
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
The last independent major league ended its brief run in 1915, after only two seasons at the national pastime’s top level. But no competitor to establishment baseball ever exerted so much influence on its rival, with some of the most recognizable elements of the game today—including the commissioner system, competition for free agents, baseball’s antitrust exemption, and even the beloved Wrigley Field—traceable to the so-called outlaw organization known as the Federal League of Base Ball Clubs. This comprehensive history covers the league from its formation in 1913 through its buyout, dissolution, and legal battles with the National and American leagues. The day-to-day operation of the franchises, the pennant races and outstanding players, the two-year competitive battle for fans and players, and the short- and long-term impact on the game are covered in detail.

The Last Best League

The Last Best League PDF Author: Jim Collins
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
ISBN: 9780738209012
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
The compelling story of a single season in the world's finest amateur baseball league

The New England League

The New England League PDF Author: Charlie Bevis
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786431598
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
This book delves deep into the history of the New England League, whose years of operation spanned six decades during the pivotal early years of minor league baseball. Author Charlie Bevis, an expert on New England's baseball past, explores the complex ties to the regional economy, especially to the textile industry, and discusses the pioneering experiments with playoffs, night baseball, and integration.

The Origins and History of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

The Origins and History of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League PDF Author: Merrie A. Fidler
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078646089X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
This in-depth treatment of the organization and operation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League draws on primary documents from league owner Arthur Meyerhoff and others for a unique perspective inside the AAGPBL. The study begins with a brief history of women's softball, an important precursor to, and talent pool for, women's professional baseball. Next the book investigates league administration and organization as well as publicity and promotion. Later chapters cover team administrative structures, managers, chaperones, player backgrounds, and league policies. Finally, discussion focuses on the activities of the AAGPBL Players' Association from 1980 onward. Informed by many years of research and insights from former players, this exhaustive history contains 149 photographs.

The Negro Southern League

The Negro Southern League PDF Author: William J. Plott
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786475447
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
The Negro Southern League was a baseball minor league that operated off and on from 1920 to 1951. It served as a valuable feeder system to the Negro National League and the Negro American League. A number of NNL and NAL stars got their start in the NSL, among them five Hall of Famers including Satchel Paige and Willie Mays. During its history, more than 80 teams were members of the league, representing 40 cities in a dozen states. In the end only four teams remained, operating more as semipro than professional teams. This book is a narrative history of the league from its inception with eight teams in major Southern cities until its demise three decades later.

Last Time Out

Last Time Out PDF Author: John Nogowski
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493068474
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Most sports fans know that Ted Williams ended his major league career with style, swatting a home run in his final at bat. But what about Babe Ruth? Ty Cobb? Joe DiMaggio? Willie Mays? How did some of baseball's greatest players bow out of The Game? Last Time Out answers that question as it examines how the greatest players in baseball history left the game they once ruled. The stories of these men and how they finished their careers, never collected anywhere before now, show another side of the men whose achievements on the field made them legends. After hours and hours of research, through biographies, microfilm, magazines, and memories, award-winning sportswriter John Nogowski culled the stories of the final games of 25 of The Game's greatest athletes-Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Dizzy Dean, Satchel Paige, Carlton Fisk, Bob Feller, Joe Morgan, and Carl Yastrzemski are among those featured. This impressive work recounts the circumstances surrounding these final games and puts you in a box seat to witness and sense the moment as these glorious careers ceased, most often with little fanfare. Whether it be Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lou Gehrig, Pete Rose, or Cal Ripken, Jr., Last Time Out beautifully captures in words and photographs the essence of these players' last time in uniform and celebrates the magic of the game these famed players mastered and loved.

The League of Outsider Baseball

The League of Outsider Baseball PDF Author: Gary Cieradkowski
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476775257
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
From an award-winning graphic artist and baseball historian comes a strikingly original illustrated history of baseball’s forgotten heroes, including stars of the Negro Leagues, barnstorming teams, semi-pro leagues, foreign leagues, and famous players like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio before they achieved notoriety. From a young age, Gary Cieradkowski had a passion for baseball’s unheralded heroes. Inspired by his father and their shared love of the sport, Cieradkowski began creating “outsider” baseball cards, as a way to tell the little-known stories of baseball’s many unsung heroes—alongside some of baseball’s greatest players before they were famous. The League of Outsider Baseball is a tribute to all of those who’ve played the game, known and unknown. Shining a light into the dark corners of baseball history—from Mickey Mantle’s minor league days to Negro League greats like Josh Gibson and Leon Day; to people that most never knew played the game, such as Frank Sinatra, who had his own ball club in 1940s Hollywood; bank robber John Dillinger, who was a promising shortstop and took time out between robberies to attend Cubs games; and even a few US presidents—this book is a rich, visual tribute to America’s pastime. Meticulously researched, beautifully illustrated using a unique, vintage baseball-card-style, and filled with a colorful and rich cast of characters, this book is a prized collector’s item and will be cherished by fans of all ages.

The Blue Ridge League

The Blue Ridge League PDF Author: Robert P. Savitt
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738582399
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Between 1915 and 1930, nine towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia hosted teams in one of the most successful Class D minor leagues in professional baseball. The Blue Ridge League launched the careers of legendary Hall of Famers Lefty Grove and Hack Wilson and served as a training ground or final stop for over 100 major-league players. This feisty league challenged laws prohibiting Sabbath baseball games (resulting in mass arrests of players and management), pioneered night baseball, served as a laboratory for the establishment of baseball's farm system, and helped develop a postseason five-state championship series.

Wild and Outside

Wild and Outside PDF Author: Stefan Fatsis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802719511
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
At a time of despair about our national pastime, the Northern League of Professional Baseball is a beacon of hope - an independent league, unaffiliated with the majors, where the games are for the fans and not between the owners and players. In his memorable debut book, Stefan Fatsis takes you inside the Northern League, and in the process discovers how very much baseball still means to America. Commentator Peter Gammons calls the Northern League "the past and future of grassroots baseball in America." Revived in 1993 by a group of minor league executives fed up with the politics of their sport, it has restored baseball to six communities in the upper Midwest and Canada, which have embraced their teams with a fervor any major league team would envy. More than that, the league has breathed new life into a game that, at the major league level, has lost its way and abandoned its fans. The Northern League's startling success has inspired a movement that could, in time, change the face of baseball, as other independent leagues are forming rapidly in its wake. Wild and Outside tells the Northern League's story, from the events that created it through its tumultuous and triumphant second season. Fatsis writes with the authority of a trusted insider, having closely followed the league since its inception. The result is a book as rich in insights into baseball's problems as it is full of indelible portraits of the people who make the Northern League special; a book that blends the texture and history of grassroots baseball with the many dramas of the league's 1994 season.