-PDF Download- Spitters Beanballs And The Incredible Shrinking Strike Zone EBOOK

Spitters, Beanballs, and the Incredible Shrinking Strike Zone

Author: Glen Waggoner

Publisher: Triumph Books

Published: 2013-07-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 162368479X

For everyone who has ever wondered about spitballs, pine tar, the size of the diamond—all of the fascinating stories behind the rules of America's pastime—this book provides all of the answers. The authors take readers on a unique trip around the bases, explaining the development of the existing rules and drawing on a vast amount of fascinating history, lore, and trivia. Anecdotes feature legendary figures and events such as Yogi Berra, who threw himself out at first while playing in the minors in order to win a bet for a steak dinner; Fred “Bonehead” Merkle, who famously cost the New York Giants the pennant when he failed to tag a base; Albert Belle and the corked bat controversy; and Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who appeared in disguise after having been ejected by umpires. Every rule is dissected in this appealing look at baseball history that supplements its stories with archival photographs from the Hall of Fame as well as photos of current heroes.

Orator O'Rourke

Author: Mike Roer

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2006-01-13

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0786423552

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As a player, manager, team captain, umpire, owner and league president, Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke (1851-1918) spoke for the players in the emerging game of baseball. O'Rourke's career paralleled the rise of the game from a regional sport with few strategies to the national pastime. Nicknamed "Orator" for his booming voice and his championing of the rights of professional athletes, he was a driving force in making the sport a profession, bringing respectability to the role of professional baseball player. From contemporary sources, O'Rourke's own correspondence, and player files available through the National Baseball Library, a rounded portrait of Jim O'Rourke emerges. Quick to speak his mind, the outfielder played on nine pennant-winning teams, but his playing career was overshadowed by his work in organizing baseball's first union. After his playing days ended, O'Rourke attempted to establish the Connecticut League, becoming the circuit's president, secretary, and treasury. Though the league failed to fully materialize, his Bridgeport Victors did play several games and were one of the few racially integrated teams--a fact emblematic of O'Rourke's efforts to change the national pastime. In those efforts, he attempted to wrest control of the game from the owners and empower the players. A carefully researched account of O'Rourke's life and career, this biography also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the growth of the national pastime from the Civil War through the deadball era.

A Game of Inches

Author: Peter Morris

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 663

ISBN-13: 1566636779

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"The scope of A Game of Inches is encyclopedic, with nearly a thousand entries that illuminate the origins of items ranging from catchers' masks to hook slides to intentional walks to cork-center baseballs. But this is much more than just a reference guide. Along the way, award-winning author Peter Morris has a sharp eye for the telling quote and the entertaining anecdote. He explains the context that led each new feature of the game to emerge when it did, and chronicles the often surprising responses to these innovations."--BOOK JACKET.

Eddie Collins

Author: Rick Huhn

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 078648571X

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In what is sure to be the definitive book on Eddie Collins's life and long career, author Rick Huhn covers the Hall of Fame player's experiences from childhood through his days at Columbia University, his tenure with the great Athletics clubs of 1906-1914, the highs and lows of a championship and scandal with the White Sox, and his return to the A's during their final run at greatness. By the time his 25-year playing career had ended, he was a pivotal performer on five all-time great clubs, dominating his position like no one before (or since), and earning a reputation for intelligent, selfless play that followed him to Cooperstown. Also covered in detail is his tenure with the Boston Red Sox, a team he served variously as part owner, vice-president and general manager until 1951, when after 45 years in major league baseball a stroke ended his career and, weeks later, his life.

The Chalmers Race

Author: Rick Huhn

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2021-09

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 149622938X

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The Chalmers Race is the story of Ty Cobb and Napoleon Lajoie and the controversial 1910 batting race.

Joe Quinn Among the Rowdies

Author: Rochelle Llewelyn Nicholls

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-10-27

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0786479809

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"A gentleman when the game was hard-bitten, played by rough-and-ready lads out to win whatever the cost...." Australia had few sporting heroes in the years preceding its federation in 1901. But before its 20th-century Olympic trailblazers, and Depression-era icons such as Phar Lap and Don Bradman, came an Australian sporting pioneer who was celebrated on the most glamorous stage in the world--American major league baseball. Joe Quinn's story has long been lost in the land of his birth. This tale gallops from the deprivation of famine-ravaged Ireland through colonial Australia to the raucous ballfields of 19th-century America, with their unruly players and owners, brawls and adulation and backroom betrayals. Through 17 seasons in the major leagues, "Undertaker" Joe Quinn earned his place among the colorful characters who pioneered the modern game of baseball, as much for his ability to stand apart from their bad behavior as for his steadfastness on the field. Meet Australia's first professional baseball player and manager, whose willingness to "have a go" in the grand Australian tradition will live long in the minds of sports fans on both sides of the Pacific.

Courting the Yankees

Author: Ettie Ward

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13:

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In a series of twenty-one original articles by legal scholars, editor Ettie Ward and the contributors examine both baseball law and baseball lore. By focusing on the famous New York Yankees, and incidents involving the team and the Yankee franchise, the book explores a wide range of legal issues as they relate to baseball. The chapters are organized so that the sports fan (even if neither a lawyer nor a Yankees' fan) is invited to read about sports and learn about the law. Baseball aficionados will enjoy the added insights provided by the discussion of various legal concepts, and lawyer sports fans will gain greater insight as to the application of familiar legal principles on and off the baseball diamond. The chapters cover some topics that would ordinarily be covered in a sports law course, as well as others that would not.