St. Louis Sports Memories: Forgotten Teams and Moments from America's Best Sports Town

St. Louis Sports Memories: Forgotten Teams and Moments from America's Best Sports Town
Author: Ed Wheatley
Publisher: Reedy Press LLC
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2022-10-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1681064022

What city broke barriers by welcoming some of the first African American baseball players in addition to the first female owners of both an MLB and NFL team? Where have local colleges dominated a specific sport, winning dozens of national titles over as many years? The answer, of course, lies in St. Louis, a hotbed of professional and amateur sports with a diverse history and an evolving legacy of success. In St. Louis Sports Memories: Forgotten Teams and Moments from America’s Best Sports Town, relive the highlights from the championships to the crossroads of social change that have characterized St. Louis’s sports scene for more than a century. Learn about the tennis legend who found an accepting environment to master his game during the racial turmoil of the 1960s. Make sure you can recite both the four MLB teams and the four NFL teams that have called St. Louis home. Each moment or memory is accompanied by history and anecdotes to form an indelible vignette showcasing some of the most loved as well as the long forgotten stories of the names you know and the ones you should know. Local award-winning author Ed Wheatley brings his die-hard fan perspective to this unique and nostalgic look at St. Louis’s winning record. Root for the home teams and for the bygone heroes in this town that boasts one of the greatest histories in the annals of sports.

St. Louis Browns

St. Louis Browns
Author: Bill Rogers
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-09-15
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781681061177

As we all know, St. Louis is the best baseball town in America, but the city's major league history is not confined to the Cardinals. For several decades, until the middle of the twentieth century, St. Louis fielded a second professional team. True, it was mostly a losing team, but it once featured a first baseman who hit .400, a legendary Negro League star, and a pitcher who would go on to throw a perfect game in the World Series. They were the St. Louis Browns--the forerunners of the current Baltimore Orioles and a part of St. Louis's rich baseball history.

October 1964

October 1964
Author: David Halberstam
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2012-12-18
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1453286128

The “compelling” New York Times bestseller by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, capturing the 1964 World Series between the Yankees and Cardinals (Newsweek). David Halberstam, an avid sports writer with an investigative reporter’s tenacity, superbly details the end of the fifteen-year reign of the New York Yankees in October 1964. That October found the Yankees going head-to-head with the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series pennant. Expertly weaving the narrative threads of both teams’ seasons, Halberstam brings the major personalities on the field—from switch-hitter Mickey Mantle to pitcher Bob Gibson—to life. Using the teams’ subcultures, Halberstam also analyzes the cultural shifts of the sixties. The result is a unique blend of sports writing and cultural history as engrossing as it is insightful. This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.

Loserville

Loserville
Author:
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 1496230094

Baseball as a Road to God

Baseball as a Road to God
Author: John Sexton
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2013-03-07
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1101609737

The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.

Stan Musial

Stan Musial
Author: George Vecsey
Publisher: ESPN
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0345517075

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Veteran sports journalist George Vecsey finally gives this twenty-time All-Star and St. Louis Cardinals icon the biographical treatment he deserves. Stan Musial is the definitive portrait of one of the game’s best-loved but most unappreciated legends—told through the remembrances of those who played beside, worked with, and covered “Stan the Man” over the course of his nearly seventy years in the national spotlight. Away from the diamond, Musial proved a savvy businessman and a model of humility and graciousness toward his many fans in St. Louis and around the world. From Keith Hernandez’s boyhood memories of Musial leaving tickets for him when the Cardinals were in San Francisco to the little-known story of Musial’s friendship with novelist James Michener, Vecsey weaves an intimate oral history around one of the great gentlemen of baseball’s Greatest Generation.

Baseball in St. Louis

Baseball in St. Louis
Author: Ed Wheatley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-04
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781681062532

Everyone knows the rich tradition of the St. Louis Cardinals "¬‚¬"the winningest franchise in the National League. Cardinals fans grew up listening to the likes of France Laux, Dizzy, Dean, Harry Caray, and Jack Buck on radio and television. They've earned the appreciation and respect throughout the baseball world as the kind of fans that cheer their team's players, yet give a roar of applause for a great defensive play by the opposing team. In the end, it's simply the love of the game"¬‚¬"or is it more? Local author and baseball player Ed Wheatley lays out the unique role baseball has played in St. Louis and that which St. Louis has played in the world of baseball in Baseball in St Louis. Through the hardships of multiple World Wars, the poverty of the Great Depression, and times of civil and social disorder, baseball has been there, taking St. Louisans around the bases with hope and recreation. Discover the rich history of the Major League's Browns and Cardinals and the great teams of the Negro Leagues, but also find the ways baseball intertwined itself within the city's culture. St. Louis is a baseball town through and through, full of baseball lovers, and this is their story. From young children playing in farm fields and brick alleys, moving on to little leagues, high schools and colleges. Some made it to the major leagues from St. Louis, some played simply for the love of the game. This is the story of St. Louis baseball and its impact on the community, for those who played, and those who watched, and those of us still watching today.

Wrestling at the Chase

Wrestling at the Chase
Author: Ed Wheatley
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-10-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781681063447

When Sam Muchnick and Harold Koplar had a chance conversation on a plane in [need year here], they had no inclination that their unique idea would turn into the iconic program Wrestling at the Chase. Spanning multiple generations of fans, the premier of the show in 1959 would launch a phenomenon and the onset of professional wrestling's golden years. Today, the WWE rules television and arenas nationwide, but without the leadership and promotion of this show, it may never have reached the standing it enjoys today.Hundreds of men and women, dressed to the nines, would be drawn ringside every Saturday night in the Khorassan Room of the opulent Chase Park Plaza Hotel while hundreds of thousands more tuned in at the stroke of nine to enjoy the spectacle. They'd marvel at such heroes of the sport as Bruiser, the Fabulous Moolah, Gorgeous George, King Kong, and Nature Boy. Then the next morning, a brand new audience of thousands would tune in for the re-airing of the show. America couldn't come cheer on their idols in person, so Muchnick, the Vince McMahon of his day, brought wrestling to the living rooms of America.Emmy-award winning producer Ed Wheatley brings the story of professional wrestling's rise to prominence to life in this exciting, ride-of-a-lifetime book. With hundreds of photos and the stories behind the famous monikers, relive the decades and the countless memories that have thrilled wrestling lovers for generations. The three legs of the stool (the location, the delivery, and the product) came together in Wrestling at the Chase; now its story comes through on each page.

100 Things Brewers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

100 Things Brewers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
Author: Tom Haudricourt
Publisher: Triumph Books
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2018-04-15
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1633199711

Most Brewers fans have enjoyed a beer and a brat at Miller Park, proudly sported a hat with the iconic ball-in-glove logo, and listened to Bob Uecker call a game. Names like Pete Yuckovich and Gorman Thomas are just as familiar as Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. But even the most die-hard fans don't know everything about their beloved Brewers. In 100 Things Brewers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, Tom Haudricourt has assembled the facts, traditions, and achievements sure to educate and entertain true fans. Do you know which player regularly stopped by tailgates before games? Which pitcher worked as a garbageman before joining the Brewers? And why was Uecker's first scouting report covered in mashed potatoes and gravy? All of the key figures and events are here: Bud Selig's purchase of the Seattle Pilots in 1970; Harvey's Wallbangers of the early 1980s; the 2011 NL Central title, and even the team's recent development under manager Craig Counsell.

Best Seat in the House

Best Seat in the House
Author: Mark Rosen
Publisher: MVP Books
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2013-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1610589491

Mark Rosen was hired by WCCO television at the age of 17 and has been a part of the ’CCO team for more than four decades. During that time he has become one of the most popular and respected sports media celebrities in the Twin Cities, state, and region—a true icon on the Minnesota sports scene. In this first-person account, Rosen shares his experiences working with athletes, journalists, and a variety of local notables. He describes the most memorable moments from the playing fields and behind the scenes, and he offers insights gleaned from four decades in the business. Beyond being a major local TV and radio personality, Rosen is very active in the community and has established a reputation for his honesty, integrity, and credibility. The stories and anecdotes contained in this book offer a rare inside look into the worlds of sports, media, and even politics from the perspective of someone who is a legend in his field.