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biggest loss in mlb history: SABR 50 at 50 Bill Nowlin, Mark Armour, Scott Bush, Leslie Heaphy, Jacob Pomrenke, Cecilia Tan, John Thorn, 2020-09-01 SABR 50 at 50 celebrates and highlights the Society for American Baseball Research’s wide-ranging contributions to baseball history. Established in 1971 in Cooperstown, New York, SABR has sought to foster and disseminate the research of baseball—with groundbreaking work from statisticians, historians, and independent researchers—and has published dozens of articles with far-reaching and long-lasting impact on the game. Among its current membership are many Major and Minor League Baseball officials, broadcasters, and writers as well as numerous former players. The diversity of SABR members’ interests is reflected in this fiftieth-anniversary volume—from baseball and the arts to statistical analysis to the Deadball Era to women in baseball. SABR 50 at 50 includes the most important and influential research published by members across a multitude of topics, including the sabermetric work of Dick Cramer, Pete Palmer, and Bill James, along with Jerry Malloy on the Negro Leagues, Keith Olbermann on why the shortstop position is number 6, John Thorn and Jules Tygiel on the untold story behind Jackie Robinson’s signing with the Dodgers, and Gai Berlage on the Colorado Silver Bullets women’s team in the 1990s. To provide history and context, each notable research article is accompanied by a short introduction. As SABR celebrates fifty years this collection gathers the organization’s most notable research and baseball history for the serious baseball reader. |
biggest loss 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. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The SABR Baseball List & Record Book Society for American Baseball Research, 2007-03-20 From the authority on baseball research and statistics comes a vast and fascinating compendium of unique baseball lists and records. The SABR Baseball List & Record Book is an expansive collection of pitching, hitting, fielding, home run, team, and rookie records not available online or in any other book. This is a treasure trove of baseball history for statistically minded baseball fans that's also packed with intriguing marginalia. For instance, on July 25, 1967, Chicago's Ken Berry ended Game Two of a doubleheader against Cleveland with a home run in the bottom of the sixteenth inning -- Chicago's second game-winning homer of the day. The comprehensive lists include Most Career Home Runs by Two Brothers (Tommie and Hank Aaron have 768), Most Seasons with 15 or More Wins (Cy Young and Greg Maddux each have 18), and Highest On Base Percentage in a Season by a Rookie (listing every rookie above .400). Unlike other record books that only list the record holders -- say, most RBI by a rookie, held by Ted Williams with 145 -- SABR details every rookie to reach 100 RBI. Other record books might note the last pitcher in each league to steal home; here SABR has included every pitcher to do it. The book also includes a number of idiosyncratic features, such as a rundown of every player who has hit a triple and then stolen home, or every reliever who has won two games in one day. Many of the lists include a comments column for key historical notes and entertaining trivia (Bob Horner hit four home runs in a 1986 game, but his team lost). This is a must-have for every fan's library. Edited by Lyle Spatz, Chairman of the Baseball Records Committee for SABR |
biggest loss in mlb history: Player Win Averages Eldon G. Mills, Harlan Duncan Mills, 1970 |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Stupidest Sports Book of All Time Kathryn Petras, Ross Petras, 2017-10-17 The thrill of victory, the agony of a tight jockstrap. It’s the reason we love sports—you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes everything clicks, with the best athlete in the world competing at their peak, and the result is a thing of breathtaking beauty. But sometimes the opposite happens, resulting in moments of breathtaking hilarity, or astonishing inanity, or just plain head-scratching puzzlement. Welcome to The Stupidest Sports Book of All Time. Featuring: The most boring games in sports history Wise(ish) words on winning Stupid mascot antics The strangest things coaches have done to motivate teams And much, much more! |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Way of Baseball Shawn Green, 2012-06-05 Major League All-Star Green shares how his baseball career has taught him to live life being fully present in every moment. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Mustache Gang Battles the Big Red Machine John G. Robertson, Carl T. Madden, 2022-08-04 The 1972 World Series was a terrific clash between two rising Major League franchises, the Oakland A's and the Cincinnati Reds. Neither had won the pennant in decades. Twice removed from their original home in Philadelphia and unappreciated in Oakland, the A's quietly played excellent ball, their long hair and mustaches symbols of rebellion. Led by manager Sparky Anderson, the clean-cut Reds--baseball's most conservative club--were becoming a powerhouse and were the favorites entering the Series. This book chronicles both the A's and the Reds' journeys to the memorable '72 Fall Classic--where six of seven games were won by a single run--with batter-by-batter coverage of the diamond exploits of Bench, Perez, Rose, Rudi, Odom, Tenace, and others. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Me and the Spitter Gaylord Perry, 1974 |
biggest loss in mlb history: Incredible Baseball Stats Kevin Reavy, Ryan Spaeder, 2019-04-16 As America's pastime since the mid-1800s, baseball offers the sights, sounds, and even smells that are deeply entrenched in our culture. But for some, the experience can be less sensory. Some, such as Ryan Spaeder and Kevin Reavy, live for baseball statistics. Stats give the game historical context and measurables for past, present, and predictive analysis. Incredible Baseball Stats, newly updated, helps tell unique baseball stories, showcasing extraordinary stats and facts in baseball history, through the 2018 season. For example, in 2015, the Nationals’ Bryce Harper broke out in a major way. He batted .330/.460/.649 with 42 home runs en route to his first MVP Award. It was his fourth MLB season, but he was still younger than NL Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant. He became the youngest player to lead the league in both on-base percentage and homers in the same season since Ty Cobb in 1909. The authors have scoured the records for untold tales and looked at familiar ones with new statistical insights, to create Incredible Baseball Stats, a perfect book for baseball fans from coast to coast. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. |
biggest loss 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. |
biggest loss 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? |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Greatest Teams Never Tony Del Prete, 2021-11-02 The Greatest Teams Never: Sports Memories of Near Misses, Total Messes, and Not-so-magical Moments chronicles the despair and disappointment of 40 remarkable teams that are remembered more for what they didn’t accomplish than their successes. The book revisits some of the most memorable and unbelievable events in the annals of sports, while at the same time recognizing those deemed second-best as unofficially great, even if history may never remember them that way. Each chapter comprises teams with similar notoriety and highlights a particular nuance of their ultimate demise. There is the 2007 New England Patriots stunning Super Bowl loss to the NY Giants headlining You Can't Win em All. Among other oddities in sports, the chapter Better Lucky than Good examines the Immaculate Reception and divergent outcomes for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders after their historic playoff game. Once long-suffering Red Sox and Cubs fans will appreciate the chapter, Wait til Near. Even international teams such as Brazil futbol and the USSR hockey are showcased in C'est La Vie. Using hundreds of quotes from players and coaches, statistics, and “distant” replay the book explores both the promise and improbable ending for some truly great teams. Hear in their own words how several Golden State Warriors blamed themselves for blowing the 2016 NBA finals; that Mickey Mantle and other Yankees greats wouldn’t admit the 1960 world champion Pirates were the better team; heartbroken college athletes who try to make sense of one-loss seasons; and more. From Baby Boomers to Millennials, avid sports fans to casual observers, there is something for anyone who follows sports, played sports, or simply roots for their hometown team. Each chapter is filled with reasons to consider the “losers” as still great and ends with a Claim to Fame providing some level of vindication for players and their fans. After all, everyone deserves a second chance — even the greatest teams never. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Detroit Tigers Joanne Gerstner, 2015-01-01 Inside MLB profiles each of the 30 franchises in Major League Baseball. Detroit Tigers is a beginner's history of the Tigers, covering the beginnings of the franchise, the greatest and lowest moments of the team, and the best players and managers. Fun facts, anecdotes, and sidebars round out the story of each club, allowing your readers to get Inside MLB! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. SportsZone is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Baseball in America and America in Baseball Robert Bruce Fairbanks, 2008 Presenting views from a variety of sport and history experts, Baseball in America and America in Baseball captures the breadth and unsuspected variety of our national fascination and identification with America's Game. Chapters cover such well-known figures as Ty Cobb and lesser-known topics like the invisible baseball played by Japanese Americans during the 1930s and 1940s. A study of baseball in rural California from the Gold Rush to the turn of the twentieth century provides an interesting glimpse at how the game evolved from its earliest beginnings to something most modern observers would find familiar. Chapters on the Negro League's Baltimore Black Sox, financial profits of major league teams from 1900 to 1956, and American aspirations to a baseball-led cultural hegemony during the first half of the twentieth century round out this superb collection of sport history scholarship. Baseball in America and America in Baseball belongs on the bookshelf of any avid student of the game and its history. It also provides interesting glimpses into the sociology of sport in America. |
biggest loss 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. |
biggest loss in mlb history: A Coaching Life Gary Blair, Rusty Burson, 2017-01-27 “It’s still difficult to describe the scene after the final buzzer sounded, because the moment was just so damned surreal,” writes head coach Gary Blair following the conclusion of the title game of the 2011 NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament. “So many things happened that I will never forget . . . kissing my wife on the floor of Conseco Fieldhouse . . . looking toward the stands, where my grandson was . . . flashbulbs popping as the Aggie Band played triumphantly . . . our players and coaches wildly celebrating the biggest win in women’s basketball history at Texas A&M . . . tears streaming down the faces of former players . . . I remember thinking that I wished I could somehow stop time.” This memory and countless others form the greatest treasure of Coach Blair’s life, as he makes clear in this engaging, inspiring memoir, written with veteran sports journalist and author Rusty Burson. Indeed, as Blair says, “What I cherish the most are the memories of these players and coaches.” Beyond the trophies, beyond the impressive won-lost record compiled over more than four decades of coaching, beyond even the ungrudging professional respect he has achieved among his peers in a fiercely competitive occupation, Gary Blair values the images, moments, and memories collected during a life spent doing what he loves most: coaching and mentoring young women on the basketball court. In A Coaching Life, Coach Blair offers readers a “freeze-frame” view of a storied career. He serves up more than a few of his favorite memories with wit, grace, and humility. In the process, he invites readers to reflect on life’s wins and losses and, most importantly, what both have to teach us. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract Bill James, 1988 This volume provides historical statistics & commentary on baseball. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Built to Win John Schuerholz, Larry Guest, 2008-12-14 Lost two Cy Young winners in two years, signed a forty-seven-year-old to be his starting first baseman, played seventeen rookies in 2005, and still took his team to the playoffs: baseball is John Schuerholz's world, and everyone else is just playing in it. In Built to Win, the legendary general manager takes you behind the scenes of the Braves' front office—the most successful in baseball since 1990—and shows how his unique philosophies and leadership techniques have helped Atlanta achieve something no team in sports has ever come close to accomplishing. He candidly peels back the curtain, taking you to his first World Series with the Kansas City Royals and the other moments that defined his career, including his eventual departure to the league doormat Atlanta Braves. No sooner did Schuerholz arrive than they won their first title in 1991—and the rest is history. You'll be there on the incredible night in 1992 when Schuerholz improbably traded for Barry Bonds-only to have the deal nixed at the eleventh hour. You'll see how through shrewd negotiation he swooped in to sign reigning Cy Young-winner Greg Maddux out from under the free-spending Yankees. You'll hear how he dealt with the horrific comments made by John Rocker, helping the Braves overcome the biggest PR nightmare in team history to win yet another division crown. Through the eyes of one of the game's sharpest executives, you'll see why Moneyball only scrapes the tip of Schuerholz's time-tested theories, as well as how he developed the premier scouting system in the majors and a free agent strategy that led the Braves to the top of the heap-fourteen years running. And in the end, you'll see what the rest of the baseball world has known for the better part of two decades: that through the brilliance of John Schuerholz, the Braves have lived with one motto, and one motto alone: All We Do Is Win. |
biggest loss in mlb history: G.O.A.T. Baseball Teams Matt Doeden, 2021-01-01 With more than 100 seasons in the history books, Major League Baseball has seen its share of winners. But how do you compare legendary players like those on the 1927 New York Yankees to the incredible season stats of the 2001 Seattle Mariners? Find out about baseball's fantastic seasons, thrilling championships, and biggest Hall-of-Famers. Plus, take history into your hands to rank your own G.O.A.T.! |
biggest loss in mlb history: Baseball Goes to War William B. Mead, 1998 The bumbling St. Louis Browns won their only pennant during World War II, while Williams, DiMaggio, Feller and other stars were in uniform fighting--or playing ball--for Uncle Sam. This is the hilarious history of that era. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Phillies Experience Tyler Kepner, 2013-03-22 Highlights the stories, athletes, and memorable moments that have defined the Philadelphia Phillies since the franchise's founding in 1883. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Games That Changed Baseball John G. Robertson, Andy Saunders, 2016-06-28 The national pastime's rich history and vast cache of statistics have provided fans and researchers a gold mine of narrative and data since the late 19th century. Many books have been written about Major League Baseball's most famous games. This one takes a different approach, focusing on MLB's most historically significant games. Some will be familiar to baseball scholars, such as the October afternoon in 1961 when Roger Maris eclipsed Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, or the compelling sixth game of the 1975 World Series. Other fascinating games are less well known: the day at the Polo Grounds in 1921, when a fan named Reuben Berman filed a lawsuit against the New York Giants, winning fans the right to keep balls hit into the stands; the first televised broadcast of an MLB game in 1939; opening night of the Houston Astrodome in 1965, when spectators no longer had to be taken out to the ballgame; or the spectator-less April 2015 Orioles-White Sox game, played in an empty stadium in the wake of the Baltimore riots. Each game is listed in chronological order, with detailed historical background and a box score. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Life from the Press Box Jim Street, 2014-10-06 Jim Street learned early in his career that fairness and accuracy were two of the most important words of his profession. From the beginning to the end of his forty-year career as a sportswriter covering major league baseball and professional football on the West Coast, Street strived to listen to both sides of each story and print the truth. Street chronicles his intriguing sportswriting career beginning in high school when he discovered his passion for writing while covering beats for the local newspaper, the Butte Valley Star. As he moves through his career, Street details his experiences working alongside iconic athletes and coaches that included O.J. Simpson, Randy Johnson, Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, John Madden, and Ichiro Suzuki while sharing fascinating insight into what it was like to cover the Oakland Athletics? famed Mustache Gang in 1972 featuring future Hall of Fame legends Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and Rollie Fingers, several World Series and All-Star games, the first World Baseball Classic, two Super Bowls, four Rose Bowls, the Kentucky Derby, and the men's and women's US Open golf tournaments. Life from the Press Box shares memories from the forty-year career of a former MLB.com beat reporter and long-time baseball writer who played a significant role during a bygone era. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Luckiest Man Jonathan Eig, 2010-05-11 The definitive account of the life and tragic death of baseball legend Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig was a baseball legend—the Iron Horse, the stoic New York Yankee who was the greatest first baseman in history, a man whose consecutive-games streak was ended by a horrible disease that now bears his name. But as this definitive new biography makes clear, Gehrig’s life was more complicated—and, perhaps, even more heroic—than anyone really knew. Drawing on new interviews and more than two hundred pages of previously unpublished letters to and from Gehrig, Luckiest Man gives us an intimate portrait of the man who became an American hero: his life as a shy and awkward youth growing up in New York City, his unlikely friendship with Babe Ruth (a friendship that allegedly ended over rumors that Ruth had had an affair with Gehrig’s wife), and his stellar career with the Yankees, where his consecutive-games streak stood for more than half a century. What was not previously known, however, is that symptoms of Gehrig’s affliction began appearing in 1938, earlier than is commonly acknowledged. Later, aware that he was dying, Gehrig exhibited a perseverance that was truly inspiring; he lived the last two years of his short life with the same grace and dignity with which he gave his now-famous “luckiest man” speech. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, Jonathan Eig’s Luckiest Man shows us one of the greatest baseball players of all time as we’ve never seen him before. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Baseball State by State Chris Jensen, 2012-08-09 Offering a fresh approach to the familiar concept of all-time baseball teams, this exhaustive work ranks more than 2,500 players by state of birth and includes both major league and Negro League athletes. Each chapter covers one state and opens with the all-time team, naming a top selection for each position followed by honorable mentions. Also included are all-time stat leaders in nine categories--games, hits, average, RBI, home runs, stolen bases, pitching wins, strikeouts and saves--a brief overview of the state's baseball history, notable player achievements, historic baseball places to see, potential future stars, a comprehensive list of player nicknames, and the state's all-time best player. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The New York Mets Encyclopedia Peter C. Bjarkman, 2002-04 The New York Mets Encyclopedia provides the full and exciting story of modern-era baseball's most popular expansion-age franchise. From those lovable losers of 1962 and 1963, to the Miracle Mets of 1969 and 1973, and on to year-in and year-out contenders of the 1980s and 1990s, including the exciting 1999 squad, New York's National League Mets have written some of the most exciting and colorful pages in Major League history. This is the team that captured the hearts of New Yorkers and fans everywhere with their often-laughable antics under colorful and celebrated manager Casey Stengel, then only a half-dozen years later climbed to baseball's pinnacle under gifted yet tragic manager Gil Hodges. This colorful volume combines detailed and highly readable narrative history with archive photographs, rich statistical data, and intimate portraits of the teams most memorable personalities. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005 , 2005 The World Almanac is the most useful reference book known to modern man.--Internet. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Bottom of the 33rd Dan Barry, 2011-04-12 In “a worthy companion to . . . Boys of Summer,” a Pulitzer prize winning journalist “exploits the power of memory and nostalgia with literary grace” (New York Times). From award-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history—a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor leagues. On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys—the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves—two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game. With Bottom of the 33rd, Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, Bottom of the 33rd is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America’s pastime—and America’s past. “Destined to take its place among the classics of baseball literature.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Bottom of the 33rd is chaw-chewing, sunflower-spitting, pine tar proof that too much baseball is never enough.” —Jane Leavy, author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Voices of Baseball Kirk McKnight, 2023-04-12 An in-depth look at each of Major League Baseball’s thirty ballparks from the perspectives of the game’s longest-tenured storytellers—the broadcasters. With decades of broadcasting between them, 50 broadcasters share their fondest memories from the booth, encapsulating some of baseball’s greatest moments. |
biggest loss in mlb history: American Jews and America's Game Larry Ruttman, 2018-08-01 Most fans don’t know how far the Jewish presence in baseball extends beyond a few famous players such as Greenberg, Rosen, Koufax, Holtzman, Green, Ausmus, Youkilis, Braun, and Kinsler. In fact, that presence extends to the baseball commissioner Bud Selig, labor leaders Marvin Miller and Don Fehr, owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Stuart Sternberg, officials Theo Epstein and Mark Shapiro, sportswriters Murray Chass, Ross Newhan, Ira Berkow, and Roger Kahn, and even famous Jewish baseball fans like Alan Dershowitz and Barney Frank. The life stories of these and many others, on and off the field, have been compiled from nearly fifty in-depth interviews and arranged by decade in this edifying and entertaining work of oral and cultural history. In American Jews and America’s Game each person talks about growing up Jewish and dealing with Jewish identity, assimilation, intermarriage, future viability, religious observance, anti-Semitism, and Israel. Each tells about being in the midst of the colorful pantheon of players who, over the past seventy-five years or more, have made baseball what it is. Their stories tell, as no previous book has, the history of the larger-than-life role of Jews in America’s pastime. |
biggest loss in mlb history: It Takes More Than Balls Diedre Silva, Jackie Koney, 2008-04 For years, Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney figured that men simply knew more about baseball than they did. They tried to reconcile their love of baseball with their second-class fan status, but they finally realized that not getting in a tizzy over the 1952 World Series didn't mean that they weren't real fans. As loyal—but not insane or stat-obsessed—spectators, they simply had a different perspective. In It Takes More Than Balls they share their brand of baseball passion with lifelong fans and the baseball curious of either gender. Offering anecdotes and gossip from the ballpark, the book also explains the nuances of today's game that will help readers enjoy their next (or first) baseball outing. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The Baseball Codes Jason Turbow, Michael Duca, 2011-03-22 An insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments. Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining. At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field. With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan. |
biggest loss in mlb history: A People's History of Baseball Mitchell Nathanson, 2012-03-30 Baseball is much more than the national pastime. It has become an emblem of America itself. From its initial popularity in the mid-nineteenth century, the game has reflected national values and beliefs and promoted what it means to be an American. Stories abound that illustrate baseball's significance in eradicating racial barriers, bringing neighborhoods together, building civic pride, and creating on the field of play an instructive civics lesson for immigrants on the national character. In A People's History of Baseball, Mitchell Nathanson probes the less well-known but no less meaningful other side of baseball: episodes not involving equality, patriotism, heroism, and virtuous capitalism, but power--how it is obtained, and how it perpetuates itself. Through the growth and development of baseball Nathanson shows that, if only we choose to look for it, we can see the petty power struggles as well as the large and consequential ones that have likewise defined our nation. By offering a fresh perspective on the firmly embedded tales of baseball as America, a new and unexpected story emerges of both the game and what it represents. Exploring the founding of the National League, Nathanson focuses on the newer Americans who sought club ownership to promote their own social status in the increasingly closed caste of nineteenth-century America. His perspective on the rise and public rebuke of the Players Association shows that these baseball events reflect both the collective spirit of working and middle-class America in the mid-twentieth century as well as the countervailing forces that sought to beat back this emerging movement that threatened the status quo. And his take on baseball’s racial integration that began with Branch Rickey’s “Great Experiment” reveals the debilitating effects of the harsh double standard that resulted, requiring a black player to have unimpeachable character merely to take the field in a Major League game, a standard no white player was required to meet. Told with passion and occasional outrage, A People's History of Baseball challenges the perspective of the well-known, deeply entrenched, hyper-patriotic stories of baseball and offers an incisive alternative history of America's much-loved national pastime. |
biggest loss in mlb history: On a Clear Day They Could See Seventh Place , 2010-04-01 The only one of its kind, this book deals solely with the worst teams in the major leagues. These two sports writers have decided that it is time to give baseball's lousiest teams some recognition. The franchise that lost 40 of its last 41 games, the team that pitched so badly that their pictures were not allowed on baseball cards, and definitely the funniest team in baseball, the 1962New York Mets, are among the area covered in this unforgettable account of thebumbling boys of summer. 12 pages of photographs. Radio giveaways. |
biggest loss in mlb history: I'm Keith Hernandez Keith Hernandez, 2017-04-04 Legendary first baseman Keith Hernandez tells all in this gripping literary memoir and New York Times bestseller. Keith Hernandez revolutionized the role of first baseman. During his illustrious career with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, he was a perennial fan favorite, earning eleven consecutive Gold Gloves, a National League co-MVP Award, and a batting title. But it was his unique blend of intelligence, humor, and talent -- not to mention his unflappable leadership, playful antics, and competitive temperament -- that transcended the sport and propelled him to a level of renown that few other athletes have achieved, including his memorable appearances on the television show Seinfeld. Now, with a striking mix of candor and self-reflection, Hernandez takes us along on his journey to baseball immortality. There are the hellacious bus rides and south-of-the-border escapades of his minor league years. His major league benchings, unending plate adjustments, and role in one of the most exciting batting races in history against Pete Rose. Indeed, from the Little League fields of Northern California to the dusty proving grounds of triple-A ball to the grand stages of Busch Stadium and beyond, I'm Keith Hernandez reveals as much about America's favorite pastime as it does about the man himself. What emerges is an honest and compelling assessment of the game's past, present, and future: a memoir that showcases one of baseball's most unique and experienced minds at his very best. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Finding Baseball's Next Clemente Roger Bruns, 2015-07-14 This book examines what it takes for Latino youngsters to beat the odds, overcoming cultural and racial barriers—and a corrupt recruitment system—to play professional baseball in the United States. Latin Americans now comprise nearly 30 percent of the players in Major League Baseball (MLB). This provocative work looks at how young Latinos are recruited—and often exploited—and at the cultural, linguistic, and racial challenges faced by those who do make it. There are exposés of baseball camps where teens are encouraged to sacrifice education in favor of hitting and fielding drills and descriptions of fraud cases in which youngsters claim to be older than they are in order to sign contracts. The book also documents the increasing use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by kids desperately trying to gain an edge. In addition to discussing the hard road many Latinos follow to MLB, the work also traces the fascinating history of baseball's introduction in Latin American countries—in some cases, more than a century ago. Finally, there are the stories of great Latino players, of men like Roberto Clemente and Carlos Beltran who made it to the majors, but also of men who were not so lucky. Through their tales, readers can share the dreams and expectations of young men who, for better or worse, believe in America's pastime as their gateway out of poverty. |
biggest loss in mlb history: BallHyped. com Presents ... the Best Sports Blogs Of 2010 Brian Milne, 2011-01-29 A compilation of the best sportswriting from the top sports bloggers in the BallHyped.com community. Topics include the best sports bloggers on the: NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, Tennis, Golf. Athletes and teams include: Favre, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Roy Halladay, Saints, Steelers, Packers, Giants, Patriots, Blackhawks, Michael Vick, Miami Heat, Sports Blogs 2010. |
biggest loss in mlb history: APPALACHIAN LEAGUE BASEBALL Allen LaMountain, 2014-07-03 Baseball. The very word brings to mind summer days, a feeling of youthful exuberance, and rebirth. Baseball is nostalgic in its essence, and I hope that I have captured that feeling in this book. The stories of the rise of many young hopeful ballplayers who had the talent and drive to make it to the big leagues and in some cases rise to the very pinnacle of success is what prompted me to write their stories. Over the years of my stint covering the Appalachian League, I witnessed a great many players make it to “The Show.” If you are a fan of baseball, as I am, you will enjoy discovering the history of this talent-rich league as well as the biographies of the players and managers who passed through the Appy League on their way up the ladder. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did writing it. |
biggest loss in mlb history: The William Hoy Story Nancy Churnin, 2016-03-01 New York Public Library Best Books for Kids 2016 2017 Storytelling World Resource Award Honor Book 2017 Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College [Churnin] tells William's story patiently and clearly, with a wonderfully matter-of-fact tone about the ways a deaf person navigates life.—New York Times Book Review A rewarding read-aloud choice for baseball fans.—Booklist A moving tribute to a hero.—Kirkus Reviews William Hoy's love for baseball changed the sport forever. All William Ellsworth Hoy wanted to do was play baseball. After losing out on a spot on the local deaf team, William practiced even harder―eventually earning a position on a professional team. But his struggle was far from over. In addition to the prejudice Hoy faced, he could not hear the umpires' calls. One day he asked the umpire to use hand signals: strike, ball, out. That day he not only got on base but also changed the way the game was played forever. William Dummy Hoy became one of the greatest and most beloved players of his time. |
biggest loss in mlb history: Detroit Tigers 1984 Mark Pattison, David Raglin, 2012-12 The 1984 Detroit tigers roared out of the gate, winning their first nine games of the season and compiling an eye-popping 35-5 record after the campaign’s first 40 games--still the best start ever for any team in major league history. The tigers led wire-to-wire in 1984, becoming only the third team in the modern era of the majors to have done so. And Detroit’s determination and tenacity resulted in a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in the AL playoffs and a five-game triumph over the San Diego Padres in the World Series. And Tigers fans will tell you that the bottom of the eighth inning in Game Five was the first time Kirk Gibson hit an iconic home run in the Fall Classic. Detroit Tigers 1984: What a Start! What a Finish!, an effort by the society of American Baseball research’s BioProject Committee, brings together biographical profiles of every Tiger from that magical season, plus those of field management, top executives, the broadcasters--even venerable Tiger Stadium and the city itself. |
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