Northsiders

Northsiders
Author: Gerald C. Wood
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2008-08-21
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0786436239

This collection of 19 essays examine the role of baseball's Cubs in the history and politics of Chicago. They focus on topics such as the rise of a nationwide fan base through the long reach of superstation WGN; the local uses and views of icons Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, and Ryne Sandberg; historical divides along lines of race (on the field) and class (in the stands); Wrigley Field as a public space both sacred and cursed; the importance of local and nationwide media coverage; and the Cubs' impact on Chicago music and literature.

The Glory of Their Times

The Glory of Their Times
Author: Lawrence S. Ritter
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2013-07-02
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0062309617

“Easily the best baseball book ever produced by anyone.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer “This was the best baseball book published in 1966, it is the best baseball book of its kind now, and, if it is reissued in 10 years, it will be the best baseball book.” — People From Lawrence Ritter, co-author of The Image of Their Greatness and The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, comes one of the bestselling, most acclaimed sports books of all time. Baseball was different in earlier days—tougher, more raw, more intimate—when giants like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb ran the bases. In the monumental classic The Glory of Their Times, the golden era of our national pastime comes alive through the vibrant words of those who played and lived the game. It is a book every baseball fan should read!

108 Stitches

108 Stitches
Author: Ron Darling
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2019-04-02
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 125018438X

This is New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Ron Darling's 108 baseball anecdotes that connect America’s game to the men who played it. In 108 Stitches, New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Ron Darling offers his own take on the "six degrees of separation" game and knits together wild, wise, and wistful stories reflecting the full arc of a life in and around our national pastime. Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Through relationships with baseball legends on and off the field, like Yale coach Smoky Joe Wood, Willie Mays, Bart Giamatti, Tom Seaver and Mickey Mantle, Darling's reminiscences reach all the way back to Babe Ruth and other early twentieth-century greats. Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager who ever sat in a dugout, and every fan who ever played hooky from work or school to sit in the bleachers for a day game. Darling's anecdotes come together to tell the story of his time in the game, and the story of the game itself.

Tris Speaker

Tris Speaker
Author: Timothy M. Gay
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2023-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 149623474X

This biography of Tris Speaker is the first to tell the full story of Speaker's turbulent life and to document in sharp detail the grit and glory of his pivotal role in baseball's dead-ball era.

Baseball in New Haven

Baseball in New Haven
Author: Sam Rubin
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2003-04-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738511788

Baseball in New Haven uncovers the rich history of the national pastime in the greater New Haven area with images that highlight the sport on many levels. Numerous professional, semiprofessional, and college teams have played here, starting with Yale teams of the Civil War era and early attempts to form an "Elm City nine." In the early 1900s, George Weiss, later the general manager of the New York Yankees, helped establish New Haven as a baseball town by drawing stars such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb for exhibition games. The semiprofessional West Haven Sailors kept that tradition alive in the 1930s and 1940s. That same era was a heyday for Yale, as Yale Field saw legends such as Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams take on the Elis. Ruth returned in 1948 to present a copy of his biography to the Bulldog captain, future president George H.W. Bush. Baseball in New Haven details the return of professional baseball in 1972 with the Eastern League's West Haven Yankees and finishes with the New Haven Ravens, an Eastern League expansion team in 1994.

The Victory Season

The Victory Season
Author: Robert Weintraub
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 494
Release: 2013-04-02
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0316205907

The triumphant story of baseball and America after World War II. In 1945 Major League Baseball had become a ghost of itself. Parks were half empty, the balls were made with fake rubber, and mediocre replacements roamed the fields, as hundreds of players, including the game's biggest stars, were serving abroad, devoted to unconditional Allied victory in World War II. But by the spring of 1946, the country was ready to heal. The war was finally over, and as America's fathers and brothers were coming home, so too were the sport's greats. Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and Joe DiMaggio returned with bats blazing, making the season a true classic that ended in a thrilling seven-game World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. America also witnessed the beginning of a new era in baseball: it was a year of attendance records, the first year Yankee Stadium held night games, the last year the Green Monster wasn't green, and, most significant, Jackie Robinson's first year playing in the Brooklyn Dodgers' system. The Victory Season brings to vivid life these years of baseball and war, including the littleknown "World Series" that servicemen played in a captured Hitler Youth stadium in the fall of 1945. Robert Weintraub's extensive research and vibrant storytelling enliven the legendary season that embodies what we now think of as the game's golden era.

If God Invented Baseball

If God Invented Baseball
Author: E. Ethelbert Miller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 74
Release: 2018-02-13
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1947951017

Here are poems that celebrate and interpret the game by one of America's finest poets. They are for everyone who has experienced the magic released when three holy things come together: bat, ball and glove. "Ethelbert Miller is one of the most significant and influential poets of our time." --Gwendolyn Brooks If God Invented Baseball is a complete game of baseball poems, a full nine innings pitched by a “master twirler,” whose complete arsenal includes fastballs, curves and change-ups, and the occasional knuckler, to keep readers swinging for the fences, his full artistry on display. Ethelbert Miller's work captures the enjoyment of the game from childhood to old age. Baseball fans will place this book next to their scorecards, peanuts and beer. Poetry readers will equally be delighted. If God Invented Baseball is a book for the ballpark and the home. “Ethelbert's replay of baseball joys and sorrows is a must read. He brings us THE GAME with skill and grace. It is an inside the park home run” -- Clifford Alexander

The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time

The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
Author: Lawrence S. Ritter
Publisher: Random House Value Pub
Total Pages: 273
Release: 1981
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780517543009

An illustrated history of baseball provides the selected top players' records and statistics, makes an evaluation of each player and his era, and includes short player biographies

Smoky Joe Wood

Smoky Joe Wood
Author: Gerald C. Wood
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 487
Release: 2021-08-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1496211421

WINNER OF THE 2014 SEYMOUR MEDAL sponsored by the Society for American Baseball Research and finalist for 2014 SABR Larry Ritter Award Though his pitching career lasted only a few seasons, Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood was one of the most dominating figures in baseball history--a man many consider the best baseball player who is not in the Hall of Fame. About his fastball, Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson once said: "Listen, mister, no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood." Smoky Joe Wood chronicles the singular life befitting such a baseball legend. Wood got his start impersonating a female on the National Bloomer Girls team. A natural athlete, he pitched for the Boston Red Sox at eighteen, won twenty-one games and threw a no-hitter at twenty-one, and had a 34-5 record plus three wins in the 1912 World Series, for a 1.91 ERA, when he was just twenty-two. Then in 1913 Wood suffered devastating injuries to his right hand and shoulder that forced him to pitch in pain for two more years. After sitting out the 1916 season, he came back as a converted outfielder and played another five years for the Cleveland Indians before retiring to coach the Yale University baseball team. With details culled from interviews and family archives, this biography, the first of this rugged player of the Deadball Era, brings to life one of the genuine characters of baseball history.

Fenway 1912

Fenway 1912
Author: Glenn Stout
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 0547195621

A narrative of the first Red Sox season at Fenway Park, this book for fans coincides with the 100-year anniversary of the park.