The Independent Carolina Baseball League, 1936-1938

The Independent Carolina Baseball League, 1936-1938 PDF

Author: R.G. (Hank) Utley

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2005-05-02

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0786423188

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Shortly after the independent Carolina League was formed in 1936, officials of the National Association of Professional Baseball--which oversaw what was known as "organized baseball," including the major leagues--began a campaign to destroy the league. The NAPB declared the Carolina League "outlaw" and blacklisted its players because their teams were pirating professionally-contracted ballplayers with the lure of higher wages, small-town hero worship and a career off-season. Backed into a corner, the Carolina League wore its "outlaw" label with a defiant swagger, challenging the all-powerful monopoly of organized professional baseball and its standard player contract. This complete history of the league reveals how it persevered through three tumultuous seasons, fueled by the tight-knit community spirit of North Carolina Piedmont textile towns. Over its three seasons of existence, the Carolina League attracted professional baseball players from all over the country and it gave the players control over their careers, setting a standard that was resisted until free agency was adopted in 1973.

The Independent Carolina Baseball League, 1936-1938

The Independent Carolina Baseball League, 1936-1938 PDF

Author: R.G. (Hank) Utley

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-09-18

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0786482060

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Shortly after the independent Carolina League was formed in 1936, officials of the National Association of Professional Baseball--which oversaw what was known as "organized baseball," including the major leagues--began a campaign to destroy the league. The NAPB declared the Carolina League "outlaw" and blacklisted its players because their teams were pirating professionally-contracted ballplayers with the lure of higher wages, small-town hero worship and a career off-season. Backed into a corner, the Carolina League wore its "outlaw" label with a defiant swagger, challenging the all-powerful monopoly of organized professional baseball and its standard player contract. This complete history of the league reveals how it persevered through three tumultuous seasons, fueled by the tight-knit community spirit of North Carolina Piedmont textile towns. Over its three seasons of existence, the Carolina League attracted professional baseball players from all over the country and it gave the players control over their careers, setting a standard that was resisted until free agency was adopted in 1973.

Outlaw Ballplayers

Outlaw Ballplayers PDF

Author: R.G. (Hank) Utley

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-08-23

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0786482079

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The players of the independent Carolina League were outlaws. A diverse lot that included preachers and ex-cons, with many former and future Major Leaguers, they played ball during the desperate years of the Great Depression, when half of organized professional baseball's minor leagues went broke and ceased operations. Despite the number of defaulting leagues and teams, the players were held to their prior contracts, and many found themselves unemployed, unable to play without violating the reserve clause that bound them to their previous club. The threat of being blackballed by organized baseball notwithstanding, hundreds of players went to bat for the independent Carolina League, and their stories offer unique glimpses into the pastime's--and America's--most difficult years. This follow-up to the immensely popular and award-winning The Independent Carolina Baseball League, 1936-1938 (McFarland, 1999) takes the story of outlaw baseball into extra innings, offering a wealth of previously unpublished interviews with the key players and personnel associated with the league. With outstanding coverage of nearly 20 players, including the notorious Edwin Collins "Alabama" Pitts and well-known Lawrence Columbus "Crash" Davis, this book also offers the unique perspectives of umpires, journalists and players' wives. Appendices include a Pitts family history, the Kannapolis Towelers team record book, player records, and the history of the Carolina Victory League.

The Tobacco State League

The Tobacco State League PDF

Author: Chris Holaday

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-12-18

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1476626030

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The Tobacco State League played an important role in eastern North Carolina for five summers (1946-1950), giving small-town communities a chance to be a part of professional baseball and offering a return to normalcy after World War II. Years later, the players' names were spoken with reverence, their exploits the subject of impassioned discussion. This book tells the story of the short-lived league and the clubs who entertained fans on dusty ball fields under dim lights, including the Lumberton Auctioneers, Rockingham Eagles, Warsaw Red Sox, Sanford Spinners and Wilmington Pirates.

The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 1998

The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 1998 PDF

Author: Thomas L. Altherr

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2002-05-20

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9780786409549

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This is an anthology of 20 papers that were presented at the Tenth Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, held in June 1998, and co-sponsored by the State University of New York at Oneonta and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Commencing with a perceptive speech by keynote speaker G. Edward White, this Symposium examined such topics as whether a city can support two--not just one--major league team, how television broadcasters and their ball clubs interrelate and how masculine dominance in baseball mainly curtailed female advancement in the game and business. These essays, divided into sections titled "Baseball as a Business," "Baseball and Communication," "Baseball and Racial and Ethnic Perspectives," "Baseball and Gender Matters," "Baseball and Images" and "The 'Other' Leagues of Baseball," cut through the quick and easy judgments of the media and offer instead the longer, more informed view of scholars and researchers.

Professional Baseball in North Carolina

Professional Baseball in North Carolina PDF

Author: J. Chris Holaday

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-09-11

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1476608687

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Hundreds of major leaguers--including the Hall of Fame's Hank Greenburg, Johnny Mize, Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Morgan--got their starts in North Carolina, where baseball has been a fixture in the state for nearly 100 years--in Charlotte and Durham (whose Bulls were in the 1988 film Bull Durham) as well as Red Springs and Snow Hill. Following an historical statewide overview, year by year summaries and histories are provided for each of the 72 towns, from Albemarle to Zebulon. Notable players and club records are listed for each year, and the causes for the rise and fall of baseball in the different towns are discussed. Biographies of 20 prominent minor leaguers are included, as is an appendix of nearly 2,000 major leaguers who played for a North Carolina team. The state's Negro League and textile league histories are also related.

The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America

The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America PDF

Author: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2012-04-01

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 0803240252

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Of all the teams in the annals of baseball, only a select few can lay claim to historic significance. One of those teams is the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, the first racially integrated Major League team of the twentieth century. The addition of Jackie Robinson to its roster changed not only baseball but also the nation. Yet Robinson was just one member of that memorable club, which included Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, Duke Snider, Eddie Stanky, Arky Vaughan, and Dixie Walker. Also present was a quartet of baseball’s most unforgettable characters: co-owners Branch Rickey and Walter O’Malley, suspended manager Leo Durocher, and radio announcer Red Barber. This book is the first to offer biographies of everyone on that incomparable team as well as accounts of the moments and events that marked the Dodgers’ 1947 season: Commissioner Happy Chandler suspending Durocher, Rickey luring his old friend Burt Shotton out of retirement to replace Durocher, and brilliant outfielder Reiser being sidelined after running into a fence. In spite of all this, the Dodgers went on to win the National League pennant over the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals. And of course, there is the biggest story of the season, where history and biography coalesce: Jackie Robinson, who overcame widespread hostility to become Rookie of the Year—and to help the Dodgers set single-game attendance records in cities around the National League.

Base Ball 11

Base Ball 11 PDF

Author: Don Jensen

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2020-01-17

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1476623333

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Offering the best in original research and analysis, Base Ball is an annually published book series that promotes the study of baseball's early history, from its protoball roots to 1920, and its rise to prominence within American popular culture. This volume, number 11, includes a dozen articles on topics ranging from the uses and abuses of mascots and batboys, attempts to revive the major league American Association, and the meaning of early club names to the founding of the National League, the finances of the Union Association, and the early years of future Giants magnate John T. Brush. The volume also includes thoughtful reviews of recently published books on women's baseball, the 1887 Detroit Wolverines, and the American League pennant race in 1908.

Baseball in the Carolinas

Baseball in the Carolinas PDF

Author: Chris Holaday

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-10-05

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 0786480858

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It is not known exactly when base ball first made its way down to the Carolinas, but it was being played in North and South Carolina at least as early as the Civil War. By the early years of the twentieth century, the game had become a dominant form of entertainment in both states--and has remained a part of many communities across the Carolinas ever since. This work is a collection of 25 nonfiction stories about baseball as it has been played in the Carolinas from its early days to the present. Contributors to this work include Marshall Adesman writing about his love for the Durham Athletic Park, David Beal remembering the last bus trip the Winston-Salem Warthogs made to play the Durham Bulls in 1997 before the Bulls became a Triple A team, Robert Gaunt writing about the All-American Girls Baseball League and its players in South Carolina, Thomas Perry telling the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson's start in baseball in the textile leagues, Parker Chesson relating the 1947 Albemarle League playoff, and Bijan Bayne chronicling black professional baseball in North Carolina from World War I to the Depression, just to name a few.