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| best undefeated start in mlb history: 100 Things Mariners Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die Michael Emmerich, 2015-04-01 This fan book to the Mariners covers the team's history in Seattle since its enfranchisement in 1977, including the Ichiro Suzuki years, memories from the Kingdome, and the brief existence of the Seattle Pilots. Author Mike Emmerich has collected every essential piece of Mariners knowledge and trivia, including King's Court, Felix Hernandez's perfect game, the 116-win 2001 team, Randy Johnson, and having two Griffeys in the outfield, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist for fans, from the young to the young at heart. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Baseball Dynasties Rob Neyer, Eddie Epstein, 2000 Assesses the top fifteen baseball teams of the twentieth century, including such legendary squads as the 1927 Yankees and the 1970 Orioles, to determine which team was the greatest of the modern era. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Clubs Steven Riess, 2006-06-30 From exploits on the field, to machinations in the front office, to data on the cities where they play, the Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Clubs presents the team history of each of the 30 MLB teams. Intelligent, in-depth essays provide social and economic histories of each club that go beyond the recounting of team glories or failures year by year. Team origins, annual campaigns, and players and managers all figure into the story, but so do owners, financiers, politicians, neighborhoods and fans. Teams are also looked at as business enterprises, with special attention given to labor issues like the reserve clause and free agency, as well as stadium construction and financing. Social and political issues are covered as well, including racism and integration, ethnic makeup of fans and players, gambling, liquor sales, and Sunday play. National events, like World War I, World War II, the Great Depression and the Cold War, and their impact on the national pastime, are also brought into the picture where they are relevant. Media coverage and broadcasting rights are discussed, as is the great influence the flood of media money has had on the sport. As America's sport, baseball reflects not just our ideas and beliefs about competition, it also reflects our national and regional identities. Readers will be able to find useful information about: important players, managers, owners; community relations/charity work; business and labor issues (television income, free agency); race relations; baseball/sports economics (including stadium construction, team relocations; and teams in local and national culture (Fenway Park, Wrigley Field as local icons, Yankees as a national team). Every essay is signed, and concludes with suggested readings and a bibliography. The work is illustrated, has a comprehensive bibliography, and is thoroughly indexed. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: How Baseball Happened Thomas W. Gilbert, 2020-09-15 The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Michael Lewis, 2004-03-17 Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David? |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Baseball's Top 100 Kerry Banks, 2010 Provides a collection of achievements on the baseball diamond. From the most grand slams in a career to the most consecutive stolen bases, from the familiar to the unfamiliar record holders, the best of the best is all here. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Summer of '98 Mike Lupica, 1999 The tale of the season of competition between McGwire and Sosa to break the hitting record. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract Bill James, 1988 This volume provides historical statistics & commentary on baseball. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Steve Sheinkin, 2017-01-17 America's favorite sport and Native American history collide in this thrilling true story of the legendary Carlisle Indians football team and their rise from underdogs to champions. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Painting the Black Carl Deuker, 1997-04-28 In his senior year of high school, late bloomer Ryan Ward has just begun to feel the magic of baseball - the magic of catching a wicked slider, of throwing a runner out, of training hard and playing hard and pushing his limits. Giving up baseball would be like getting off the most exciting ride of his life. But when one of his teammates clearly pushes the limits too far, Ryan is faced with a heartbreaking dilemma: he must choose between his love for the game and his sense of integrity - two things that, in his mind, baseball should bring together. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: A False Spring Pat Jordan, 2016-04-19 “One of the best and truest books about baseball, and about coming to maturity in America.” —Time In the late 1950s, acclaimed sportswriter Pat Jordan was a young pitching phenom, blowing away opposing batters for his Fairfield, Connecticut, high school baseball team. Fifteen major league clubs offered him a contract, but it was the Milwaukee Braves who won out, signing Jordan to a $45,000 bonus—one of the largest paid to any new player by the organization—and shipping him off to McCook, Nebraska, to play for their Class D ball club. It did not take long, however, for Jordan to realize he was out of his depth in professional baseball’s backwoods. He battled with inconsistency and a lack of control for three dismal seasons in such far-flung locales as Keokuk, Iowa, and Palatka, Florida, before the Braves released him and he gave up his dreams of big league greatness. Declared “unforgettable” by the Los Angeles Times and “a major triumph” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, A False Spring is a powerful and deeply affecting memoir about the gift of athletic talent and the heartbreak of unfulfilled promise. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Comeback Season Cam Perron, Nick Chiles, 2021-03-30 In 2007, at the age of twelve, Perron bought a set of Topps baseball cards featuring several players from the Negro Leagues. He started writing letters to former Negro League players asking for their autographs and a few words about their careers. The players responded with detailed stories about their glory days on the field, and the racism they faced, including run-ins with the KKK. The letters turned into phone calls, and in these conversations many of the players revealed that they had fallen out of touch with their former teammates. Perron and a small group of fellow researchers organized the first annual Negro League Players Reunion in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010. This is the story of his mission to help many players get pension money that they were owed from Major League Baseball-- and to get a Negro League museum opened in Birmingham, stocked with memorabilia. -- adapted from jacket |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Brothers at Bat Audrey Vernick, 2012-04-03 The Acerra family had sixteen children, including twelve ball-playing boys. It was the 1930s, and many families had lots of kids. But only one had enough to field a baseball team . . . with three on the bench! The Acerras were the longest-playing all-brother team in baseball history. They loved the game, but more important, they cared for and supported each other and stayed together as a team. Nothing life threw their way could stop them. Full of action, drama, and excitement, this never-before-told true story is vividly brought to life by Audrey Vernick’s expert storytelling and Steven Salerno’s stunning vintage-style art. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Lefty O'Doul Dennis Snelling, 2017-05 From San Francisco to the Ginza in Tokyo, Lefty O'Doul relates the untold story of one of baseball's greatest hitters, most colorful characters, and the unofficial father of professional baseball in Japan. Lefty O'Doul (1897-1969) began his career on the sandlots of San Francisco and was drafted by the Yankees as a pitcher. Although an arm injury and his refusal to give up the mound clouded his first four years, he converted into an outfielder. After four Minor League seasons he returned to the Major Leagues to become one of the game's most prolific power hitters, retiring with the fourth-highest lifetime batting average in Major League history. A self-taught scientific hitter, O'Doul then became the game's preeminent hitting instructor, counting Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams among his top disciples. In 1931 O'Doul traveled to Japan with an All-Star team and later convinced Babe Ruth to headline a 1934 tour. By helping to establish the professional game in Japan, he paved the way for Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hideki Matsui to play in the American Major Leagues. O'Doul's finest moment came in 1949, when General Douglas MacArthur asked him to bring a baseball team to Japan, a tour that MacArthur later praised as one of the greatest diplomatic efforts in U.S. history. O'Doul became one the most successful managers in the Pacific Coast League and was instrumental in spreading baseball's growth and popularity in Japan. He is still beloved in Japan, where in 2002 he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Dust Bowl Girls Lydia Reeder, 2017-01-01 Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Baseball's Most Baffling MVP Ballots Jeremy Lehrman, 2016-10-04 From its colorful beginnings more than a century ago, baseball's annual Most Valuable Player Award has become the most prestigious (and contentious) individual honor in the sport. No accolade means more to players, fans or the media. No other award can claim a voting history so rich in alleged snubs, grudges, conspiracies and incompetence. Examining the most controversial ballots, this book attempts to settle some arguments and answer some compelling questions: Which of the so-called worst MVPs holds up to modern statistical analysis? Who cast the single worst vote in MVP history? Does racial bias influence the vote? Who really deserved the award in a given year? |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Ahead of the Curve Brian Kenny, 2016-07-05 “A delight for baseball lovers” (Kirkus Reviews) and “one of the most significant baseball books of the year” (Bob Costas) Ahead of the Curve uses stories from baseball’s present and past to examine why we sometimes choose ignorance over information, and how tradition can trump logic. Forget batting average. Kill the “Win.” Say goodbye to starting pitchers. And please, please stop bunting. MLB Network anchor and commentator Brian Kenny provides “an excellent, entertaining read for the all-around baseball fan” (Library Journal) and shows how baseball has been revolutionized—not destroyed—by analytical thinking. Most people who resist logical thought in baseball preach “tradition” and “respecting the game.” But many of baseball’s traditions go back to the nineteenth century, when the pitcher’s job was to provide the batter with a ball he could hit and fielders played without gloves. Instead of fearing change, Brian Kenny wants fans to think critically, reject outmoded groupthink, and embrace the changes that have come with the sabermetric era. In his entertaining and enlightening book, Kenny discusses why the pitching win-loss record, the Triple Crown, fielding errors, and so-called battling titles should be ignored. He also points out how fossilized sportswriters have been electing the wrong MVP’s and ignoring legitimate candidates for the Hall of Fame; why managers are hired based on their looks; and how the most important position in baseball may just be “Director of Decision Sciences.” “Prepare to have your brain and your assumptions challenged. Guided by data and a deep love of the game, Brian Kenny takes a cutting-edge look at where baseball is and where it is going” (Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated). Illustrated with unique anecdotes from those who have reshaped the game, Ahead of the Curve is “a great story about the game in the age of information and technology” (Billy Beane). |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Presidents and the Pastime Curt Smith, 2018-06 The Presidents and the Pastime draws on Curt Smith's extensive background as a former White House presidential speechwriter to chronicle the historic relationship between baseball, the most American sport, and the U.S. presidency. Smith, who USA TODAY calls America's voice of authority on baseball broadcasting, starts before America's birth, when would‑be presidents played baseball antecedents. He charts how baseball cemented its reputation as America's pastime in the nineteenth century, such presidents as Lincoln and Johnson playing town ball or giving employees time off to watch. Smith tracks every U.S. president from Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump, each chapter filled with anecdotes: Wilson buoyed by baseball after suffering disability; a heroic FDR saving baseball in World War II; Carter, taught the game by his mother, Lillian; Reagan, airing baseball on radio that he never saw--by re-creation. George H. W. Bush, for whom Smith wrote, explains, Baseball has everything. Smith, having interviewed a majority of presidents since Richard Nixon, shares personal stories on each. Throughout, The Presidents and the Pastime provides a riveting narrative of how America's leaders have treated baseball. From Taft as the first president to throw the first pitch on Opening Day in 1910 to Obama's Go Sox! scrawled in the guest register at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, our presidents have deemed it the quintessentially American sport, enriching both their office and the nation. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Big-Time Baseball Records Bruce Berglund, 2021-08 CRACK! Few things beat the drama of a player smacking a big homerun at the ballpark--except when that big homer sets a new record! Behind every big-time baseball record is a dramatic story of how a player or team achieved greatness on the field. With legendary players at the plate, on the mound, and in the field, here are the record-setting moments that will keep baseball fans turning the page for more. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Jim Thorpe Robert W. Wheeler, 2024-02-18 Born in 1888 in what would soon be Oklahoma Territory, Jim Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. After attending the Sac and Fox agency school and Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas, he transferred to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. At Carlisle he led the football team to victories over some of the nation’s best college teams—Army, Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska. In 1912 he participated in the Olympic Games in Stockholm, winning both the decathlon and pentathlon. It was then that King Gustav V of Sweden dubbed him “the world’s greatest athlete.” Between 1913 and 1919, Thorpe played professional baseball for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves. In 1915 he began playing professional football with the Canton (Ohio) Bulldogs. When the top teams were organized into the American Professional Football Association in 1920, Thorpe was named the first president of the organization, renamed the National Football League in 1922. Throughout his career he excelled in every sport he played, earning King Gustav’s accolade many times over. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Sports Data Mining Robert P. Schumaker, Osama K. Solieman, Hsinchun Chen, 2010-09-10 Data mining is the process of extracting hidden patterns from data, and it’s commonly used in business, bioinformatics, counter-terrorism, and, increasingly, in professional sports. First popularized in Michael Lewis’ best-selling Moneyball: The Art of Winning An Unfair Game, it is has become an intrinsic part of all professional sports the world over, from baseball to cricket to soccer. While an industry has developed based on statistical analysis services for any given sport, or even for betting behavior analysis on these sports, no research-level book has considered the subject in any detail until now. Sports Data Mining brings together in one place the state of the art as it concerns an international array of sports: baseball, football, basketball, soccer, greyhound racing are all covered, and the authors (including Hsinchun Chen, one of the most esteemed and well-known experts in data mining in the world) present the latest research, developments, software available, and applications for each sport. They even examine the hidden patterns in gaming and wagering, along with the most common systems for wager analysis. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Showtime Jeff Pearlman, 2014-03-04 The New York Times bestselling author of Sweetness delivers the first all-encompassing account of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of professional sports’ most-revered—and dominant—dynasties. The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s personified the flamboyance and excess of the decade over which they reigned. Beginning with the arrival of Earvin “Magic” Johnson as the number-one overall pick of the 1979 draft, the Lakers played basketball with gusto and pizzazz, unleashing their famed “Showtime” run-and-gun style on a league unprepared for their speed and ferocity—and became the most captivating show in sports and, arguably, in all-around American entertainment. The Lakers’ roster overflowed with exciting all-star-caliber players, including center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and they were led by the incomparable Pat Riley, known for his slicked-back hair, his Armani suits, and his arrogant strut. Hollywood’s biggest celebrities lined the court and gorgeous women flocked to the arena. Best of all, the team was a winner. Between 1980 and 1991, the Lakers played in an unmatched nine NBA championship series, capturing five of them. Bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost three hundred interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end—marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV—Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Blue Ribbon Football Yearbook Chris Dortch, 2005 |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Singled Out Andrew Maraniss, 2021-03-02 *[An] excellent exercise in narrative nonfiction. --Booklist (starred review) From New York Times bestselling author Andrew Maraniss comes the remarkable true story of Glenn Burke, a hidden figure in the history of sports: the inventor of the high five and the first openly gay MLB player. Perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin and Daniel James Brown. On October 2nd, 1977, Glenn Burke, outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, made history without even swinging a bat. When his teammate Dusty Baker hit a historic home run, Glenn enthusiastically congratulated him with the first ever high five. But Glenn also made history in another way--he was the first openly gay MLB player. While he did not come out publicly until after his playing days were over, Glenn's sexuality was known to his teammates, family, and friends. His MLB career would be cut short after only three years, but his legacy and impact on the athletic and LGBTQIA+ community would resonate for years to come. New York Times bestselling author Andrew Maraniss tells the story of Glenn Burke: from his childhood growing up in Oakland, his journey to the MLB and the World Series, the joy in discovering who he really was, to more difficult times: facing injury, addiction, and the AIDS epidemic. Packed with black-and-white photographs and thoroughly researched, never-before-seen details about Glenn's life, Singled Out is the fascinating story of a trailblazer in sports--and the history and culture that shaped the world around him. Praise for Singled Out: A compelling narrative . . . This is a meticulously researched history of the ways queer culture in the ’70s intersected with baseball, Blackness, and larger culture wars, with one man at their center. --Kirkus Reviews |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Sweetness Jeff Pearlman, 2012-08-28 The definitive biography of Chicago Bears and Hall of Fame superstar Walter Payton. Based on meticulous research and interviews with nearly 700 contacts, an unforgettable portrait that describes a man who lived his life just like he played the game: at full speed. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Greatest World Series Games Warren N. Wilbert, 2005 Author Warren N. Wilbert, with input from SABR members, singles out 26 World Series games worthy of being called one of the best--Provided by publisher. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Forever Blue Michael D'Antonio, 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning writer D'Antonio presents a richly detailed and engrossing portrait of Walter O'Malley--the enigmatic Dodgers' owner who changed Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and baseball forever. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Perfect Bet Adam Kucharski, 2016-02-23 An elegant and amusing account of how gambling has been reshaped by the application of science and revealed the truth behind a lucky bet (Wall Street Journal). For the past 500 years, gamblers-led by mathematicians and scientists-have been trying to figure out how to pull the rug out from under Lady Luck. In The Perfect Bet, mathematician and award-winning writer Adam Kucharski tells the astonishing story of how the experts have succeeded, revolutionizing mathematics and science in the process. The house can seem unbeatable. Kucharski shows us just why it isn't. Even better, he demonstrates how the search for the perfect bet has been crucial for the scientific pursuit of a better world. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Umpire Strikes Back Ron Luciano, David Fisher, 2022-04-26 Here is Ron Luciano, the funniest ump ever to call balls and strikes. A huge and awesome legend who leaps and spins and shoots players with an index finger while screaming OUTOUTOUT!!! Now baseball's flamboyant fan-on-the-field comes out from behind the mask to call the game as he really sees it. There’s the day the automatic umpire debuted at home plate—and struck out. The time Rod Carew stole home twice in one inning, and Earl Weaver stole second base—and took it back to the dugout. The pitch Tommy John dropped on the mound, which Luciano called a strike. And there’s the fantastic phantom double play, the impossible frozen ice-ball theory, and, another first, Luciano picking Harmon Killebrew off second base. From brawls to catcalls, from dugout jokes to on-the-field pratfalls to one-of-a-kind conversations with baseball’s greats, Ron Luciano, the only umpire who confessed to missing calls, takes a few grand slam swings of his own. It is baseball at its best. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Rock Say The Rock, 2000-11-07 A memoir in which World Wrestling Federation personality, The Rock, discusses his life in and out of the ring. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Alcalde , 2008-09 As the magazine of the Texas Exes, The Alcalde has united alumni and friends of The University of Texas at Austin for nearly 100 years. The Alcalde serves as an intellectual crossroads where UT's luminaries - artists, engineers, executives, musicians, attorneys, journalists, lawmakers, and professors among them - meet bimonthly to exchange ideas. Its pages also offer a place for Texas Exes to swap stories and share memories of Austin and their alma mater. The magazine's unique name is Spanish for mayor or chief magistrate; the nickname of the governor who signed UT into existence was The Old Alcalde. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: 100 Things Steelers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die Matt Loede, 2013-09-01 In this ultimate guide, true fans of Pittsburgh Steelers football will learn the origins of the team’s iconic logo, the best place to tailgate before kickoff, and how the legendary Steel Curtain defense got its nickname. Whether a die-hard booster from the days of Jack Ham or a new supporter of head coach Mike Tomlin, fans need to know these 100 essential pieces of Steelers knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities. This updated edition includes the Steelers’ 2010 AFC championship squad and key moments and personalities from the team’s past three seasons. From games at Heinz Field to highlights of a young Terry Bradshaw, this is a must-have resource for a true fan of the franchise. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Pitching to the Pennant Joseph Wancho, Rick Huhn, Leonard Levin, Bill Nowlin, Steve Johnson, 2014-04-01 The 1954 Cleveland Indians were one of the most remarkable baseball teams of all time. Their record for most wins (111) fell only when the baseball schedule expanded, and their winning percentage, an astounding .721, is still unsurpassed in the American League. Though the season ended with a heartbreaking loss to the New York Giants in the World Series, the 1954 team remains a favorite among Cleveland fans and beyond. Pitching to the Pennant commemorates the ’54 Indians with a biographical sketch of the entire team, from the “Big Three” pitching staff (Mike Garcia and future Hall of Famers Bob Lemon and Early Wynn), through notable players such as Bobby Avila, Bob Feller, Larry Doby, and Al Rosen, to manager Al Lopez, his coaches, and the Indians’ broadcast team. There are also stories about Cleveland Stadium and the 1954 All-Star Game (which the team hosted), as well as a season timeline and a firsthand account of Game One of the World Series at the Polo Grounds. Pitching to the Pennant features the superb writing and research of members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), making this book a must for all Indians fans and baseball aficionados. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Bullpen Gospels: Dirk Hayhurst, 2010-04-01 From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver the best pitch of his career--a raw, unflinching and surprisingly moving account of his life in the minors. I enjoyed the visualizations, maybe a little too much, and would stop only when I felt I'd centered myself. . .or after one of my teammates hit me in the nuts with the rosin bag while my eyes were closed. Hilariously self-effacing and brutally honest, Hayhurst captures the absurdities, the grim realities, and the occasional nuggets of hard-won wisdom culled from four seasons in the minors. Whether training tarantulas to protect his room from thieving employees in a backwater hotel, watching the raging battles fought between his partially paralyzed father and his alcoholic brother, or absorbing the gentle mockery of some not-quite-starstruck schoolchildren, Dirk reveals a side of baseball, and life, rarely seen on ESPN. My career has crash-landed on the floor of my grandma's old sewing room. If this is a dream come true, then dreams smell a lot like mothballs and Bengay. Somewhere between Bull Durham and The Rookie, The Bullpen Gospels takes an unforgettable trot around the inglorious base paths of minor league baseball, where an inch separates a ball from a strike, and a razor-thin margin can be the difference between The Show or a long trip home. It's not often that someone comes along who is a good pitcher and a good writer. --King Kaufman, Salon After many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years spent in the bullpen, I can verify that this is a true picture of baseball. --Tim McCarver There are great truths within, of the kind usually unspoken. And as he expresses them, Dirk Hayhurst describes himself as 'a real person who moonlights as a baseball player.' In much the same manner, while The Bullpen Gospels chronicles how all of us face the impact when we learn reality is both far meaner and far richer than our dreams--it also moonlights as one of the best baseball books ever written. --Keith Olbermann A bit of Jim Bouton, a bit of Jim Brosnan, a bit of Pat Jordan, a bit of crash Davis, and a whole lot of Dirk Hayhurst. Often hilarious, sometimes poignant. This is a really enjoyable baseball read. --Bob Costas Fascinating. . .a perspective that fans rarely see. --Trevor Hoffman, pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers The Bullpen Gospels is a rollicking good bus ride of a book. Hayhurst illuminates a baseball life not only with wit and humor, but also with thought-provoking introspection. --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated Dirk Hayhurst has written a fascinating, funny and honest account on life in the minor leagues. I loved it. Writers can't play baseball, but in this case, a player sure can write. --Tim Kurkjian, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine, analyst/reporter ESPN television Bull Durham meets Ball Four in Dirk Hayhurst's hilarious and moving account of life in baseball's glamour-free bush leagues. --Rob Neyer, ESPN.com If Holden Caulfield could dial up his fastball to 90 mph, he might have written this funny, touching memoir about a ballplayer at a career--and life--crossroads. He might have called it 'Pitcher in the Rye.' Instead, he left it to Dirk Hayhurst, the only writer in the business who can make you laugh, make you cry and strike out Ryan Howard. --King Kaufman, Salon The Bullpen Gospels is a funny bone-tickling, tear duct-stimulating, feel-good story that will leave die-hard baseball fans--and die-hard human beings, for that matter--well, feeling good. --Bob Mitchell, author of Once Upon a Fastball |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Drinking Coffee with a Fork Steve Bucci, David Wesley Brown, 2011 Bucci and Brown chronicle Carlton's extraordinary and improbable '72 season. Traded to the lowly, last- place Philadelphia Phillies, Carlton overcame insurmountable odds. For a Phillies team that won just 59 games, he posted 27 wins, a record 46 percent, and in so doing captured his first of four Cy Young Awards in a career that culminated in his induction into the Hall of Fame. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Best of The Show Bill Scheft, 2007-09-03 The Show is the second most widely-read column in Sports Illustrated, after Rick Reilly, who will write one of the book's introductions. Sports Illustrated has over three million subscribers, the third highest magazine circulation in the United States, and is read by 23 million adults each week. The Best Of The Show will appeal to fans of Rick Reilly's Life of Reilly and Bill Geist's Fore! Play, both of which were bestsellers. Scheft was the Emmy Award-nominated head monologue writer for David Letterman for 13 years and routinely appears on the air with him. He is a frequent guest on the talk show circuit and on sports radio programs all over the country. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: The Only Rule Is It Has to Work Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, 2016-05-03 The New York Times bestseller about what would happen if two statistics-minded outsiders were allowed to run a professional baseball team. It’s the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies -- with real players, in a real ballpark, in a real playoff race. That’s what baseball analysts Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when an independent minor-league team in California, the Sonoma Stompers, offered them the chance to run its baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics. Their story in The Only Rule is it Has to Work is unlike any other baseball tale you've ever read. We tag along as Lindbergh and Miller apply their number-crunching insights to all aspects of assembling and running a team, following one cardinal rule for judging each innovation they try: it has to work. We meet colorful figures like general manager Theo Fightmaster and boundary-breakers like the first openly gay player in professional baseball. Even José Canseco makes a cameo appearance. Will their knowledge of numbers help Lindbergh and Miller bring the Stompers a championship, or will they fall on their faces? Will the team have a competitive advantage or is the sport’s folk wisdom true after all? Will the players attract the attention of big-league scouts, or are they on a fast track to oblivion? It’s a wild ride, by turns provocative and absurd, as Lindbergh and Miller tell a story that will speak to numbers geeks and traditionalists alike. And they prove that you don’t need a bat or a glove to make a genuine contribution to the game. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: Elmet Fiona Mozley, 2017-07-27 SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 AND THE PFD/SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER OF A SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD AND THE POLARI PRIZE 'A quiet explosion of a book, exquisite and unforgettable' The Economist 'A cleverly constructed rural Gothic fable . . . Elmet is a marvellous achievement' TLS 'Pastoral idyll, political exposé, cosy family saga and horror tale, it reads like a traditional children's story that turns into a gangster film: Hansel and Gretel meets The Godfather' Sunday Times Daniel is heading north. He is looking for someone. The simplicity of his early life with Daddy and Cathy has turned menacing and fearful. They lived apart in the house that Daddy built for them in the woods with his bare hands. They foraged and hunted. Cathy was more like their father: fierce and full of simmering anger. Daniel was more like their mother: gentle and kind. Sometimes, their father disappeared, and would return with a rage in his eyes. But when he was at home, he was at peace. He told them that the little copse in Elmet was theirs alone. But that wasn't true. Local men, greedy and watchful, began to circle like vultures. All the while, the terrible violence in Daddy grew. Brutal and beautiful in equal measure, Elmet is a compelling portrayal of a family living on the fringes of contemporary society, as well as a gripping exploration of the disturbing actions people are capable of when pushed to their limits. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: CC Claus CC Sabathia, Ray Negron, 2014-10-21 For readers of all ages comes A sweet holiday story of how beloved New York Yankee star pitcher CC Sabathia, his son Carsten, and a few of baseball's most legendary players save Christmas! hile reading fan mail with his oldest son, Carsten, on Christmas Eve, CC Sabathia finds a letter addressed to Santa from a little girl whose family has lost everything in a flood. To help make the little girl's Christmas wishes come true, CC and Carsten head to the North Pole to deliver the letter to Santa. But Santa and his elves might be too overwhelmed to finish presents for another family this close to Christmas! Determined to help Santa make sure every child has a happy Christmas, CC calls his boss, Mr. Steinbrenner, who rallies a stellar lineup of helpers: Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and many more baseball legends. Together, CC, Mr. Steinbrenner, Carsten, and all the greats of baseball set to work making bats, gloves, train sets, dolls, and other toys. But even with their efforts, there may be no Christmas—Santa Claus is sick. To save the day, Carsten suggests that his dad, CC, become CC Claus. Donning a red-and-white Santa hat, CC and Carsten fire up the sleigh and take Santa's place, making children's special Christmas dreams come true. |
| best undefeated start in mlb history: WCDS History Essays, vol. 2: the Civil War Era Mr. Joseph J. Cook, Editor, 2015-07-17 A collection of essays by students at Wayne Country Day School about topics of their choosing from the Civil War Era. |
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