Ruth, Maris, McGwire and Sosa

Ruth, Maris, McGwire and Sosa PDF

Author: William McNeil

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13:

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The magical 1998 baseball season made celebrities of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as they chased the legendary single season major league home run record. Fittingly, their success also refocused the spotlight on the men they were chasing (and eventually overtook): Yankee sluggers Babe Ruth and Roger Maris. This work reviews the life and careers of these four record-breaking longballers, with special emphasis placed on each of their record-breaking seasons. Appropriate mention is made of the record challengers such as Mantle and Foxx in order that the analyses may be seen in context. The four combatants are also studied side by side, comparing the various cultural and social conditions and changes in the game that may have affected each player's home run totals. Numerous unique and interesting facts and statistics are included: e.g., Ruth set the single-season home run record not once but four times and held the record longer than Maris did (despite the common misconception); Sosa held the record for 45 minutes after hitting number 66; Ruth outhomered every other team in 1927, but in 1998 Big Mac didn't come close to outslugging even one team.

The Single-Season Home Run Kings

The Single-Season Home Run Kings PDF

Author: William F. McNeil

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-10-03

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0786481285

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After Babe Ruth erased Buck Freeman's record in 1919, the new mark stood for 34 years before Maris bettered it, defying as he did an incredulous sporting public. And just as fans' anger grew old and Maris was grudgingly credited--or discredited--with an unrepeatable hot streak, along came Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, two goliaths who in 1998 and the years just after proved fans wrong again. But when in 2001, only three years after McGwire seemed to put the record beyond reach, Barry Bonds topped him by three. This time fans were staunch in their disbelief, and while many celebrated Bonds' achievement, others questioned its significance. This revised edition of Bill McNeil's Ruth, Maris, McGwire, and Sosa ("libraries especially will want this"--Library Journal) reviews the careers of each home run titan, with special attention to the record-breaking seasons. The cultural and social changes that may have affected both the players' season totals and fan reception are also considered.

Sport in American Culture

Sport in American Culture PDF

Author: Joyce D. Duncan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2004-11-19

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1851095594

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A unique and timely exploration of the cultural impact of sport on American society, including lifestyles, language, and thinking. Sport in American Culture is the first and only reference work to provide an in-depth and up-to-date exploration of sport and its impact on American culture. Essays from more than 200 scholars, professionals, and sports enthusiasts address how sport has changed our lifestyles, language, and thinking. Arranged alphabetically, the work introduces key sport figures and national icons, with a focus on their cultural impact, examines individual sports and how they have influenced society, and discusses such phenomena as the billion-dollar athletic apparel industry, sport as big business, and the effect of sport on gender, racial views, pride, and nationalism. In addition to expected topics, the work also includes less studied areas such as myths, audience rituals, Wheaties, comic books, the hula hoop, and religion.

Summer of '98

Summer of '98 PDF

Author: Mike Lupica

Publisher: Putnam Adult

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

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The tale of the season of competition between McGwire and Sosa to break the hitting record.

Roger Maris

Roger Maris PDF

Author: Tom Clavin

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-03-16

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 9781416596820

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Tom Clavin and Danny Peary chronicle the life and career of baseball’s “natural home run king” in the first definitive biography of Roger Maris—including a brand-new chapter to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of his record breaking season. Roger Maris may be the greatest ballplayer no one really knows. In 1961, the soft-spoken man from the frozen plains of North Dakota enjoyed one of the most amazing seasons in baseball history, when he outslugged his teammate Mickey Mantle to become the game’s natural home-run king. It was Mantle himself who said, "Roger was as good a man and as good a ballplayer as there ever was." Yet Maris was vilified by fans and the press and has never received his due from biographers—until now. Tom Clavin and Danny Peary trace the dramatic arc of Maris’s life, from his boyhood in Fargo through his early pro career in the Cleveland Indians farm program, to his World Series championship years in New York and beyond. At the center is the exciting story of the 1961 season and the ordeal Maris endured as an outsider in Yankee pinstripes, unloved by fans who compared him unfavorably to their heroes Ruth and Mantle, relentlessly attacked by an aggressive press corps who found him cold and inaccessible, and treated miserably by the organization. After the tremendous challenge of breaking Ruth’s record was behind him, Maris ultimately regained his love of baseball as a member of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. And over time, he gained redemption in the eyes of the Yankee faithful. With research drawn from more than 130 interviews with Maris’s teammates, opponents, family, and friends, as well as 16 pages of photos, some of which have never before been seen, this timely and poignant biography sheds light on an iconic figure from baseball’s golden era—and establishes the importance of his role in the game’s history.

The New York Yankees in Popular Culture

The New York Yankees in Popular Culture PDF

Author: David Krell

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2019-05-20

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1476674647

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How did Reggie Jackson go from superstar to icon? Why did Joe DiMaggio's nickname change from "Deadpan Joe" to "Joltin' Joe"? How did Seinfeld affect public perception of George Steinbrenner? The New York Yankees' dominance on the baseball diamond has been lauded, analyzed and chronicled. Yet the team's broader impact on popular culture has been largely overlooked--until now. From Ruth's called shot to the Reggie! candy bar, this collection of new essays offers untold histories, new interpretations and fresh analyses of baseball's most successful franchise. Contributors explore the Yankee mystique in film, television, theater, music and advertising.

Slugger Season

Slugger Season PDF

Author: Laura Driscoll

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9780448420394

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Discusses great home run hitters in the history of baseball and focuses on the significant accomplishments of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in the 1998 season.

The Rise of Mike Tyson, Heavyweight

The Rise of Mike Tyson, Heavyweight PDF

Author: William F. McNeil

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-09-17

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 147661802X

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Covering Mike Tyson's rise through the amateur and professional boxing ranks, this book follows the Brooklyn native from his early years as a young criminal in Brownsville to his 1988 heavyweight unification match with Michael Spinks. The book focuses on the Catskill Boxing Club--where boxing guru Cus D'Amato trained the 210-pound teenager in the finer points of the sport and developed his impregnable defense--and on his home life with D'Amato and surrogate mother Camille Ewald and the other young fighters who lived with them. Tyson's boxing education began in the unauthorized "smokers" held every week in the Bronx, matching his skills against older, more experienced fighters. He won the 1981 Amateur Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Colorado Springs at the age of 14 and repeated the amazing feat the following year. By 1985, finding no other challenging amateur competition, he was forced to join the professional ranks where, in November 1986, he became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history. Less than two years later, he unified the crown, establishing himself as one of the most dominant heavyweight fighters the sport had ever seen.

Gabby Hartnett

Gabby Hartnett PDF

Author: William F. McNeil

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-02-18

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0786481293

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Gabby Harnett is believed by many to be the greatest catcher of all time. This work chronicles Hartnett's life from his early years in Millville, Massachusetts, through his twenty-year career with the Chicago Cubs as player and manager, his time in various capacities in the minor leagues and with the New York Giants and Kansas City Athletics, to his post-major league career as a businessman in Chicago. His childhood, early baseball experiences with the local team and with a nearby prep school, and his first professional baseball season with the Worcester Boosters of the Eastern League are covered in detail. Hartnett's major league career as the catcher for the Cubs is well-documented, including his near career-ending arm injury in 1929, the 1932 World Series that featured Babe Ruth's legendary "called shot," and Hartnett's famous "homer in the gloamin" against the Pittsburgh Pirates that propelled Chicago to the 1938 National League pennant. The author also compares Hartnett's statistics to those of his famous contemporaries, Mickey Cochrane and Bill Dickey, on a year-by-year basis.