Ty Cobb Unleashed

Ty Cobb Unleashed
Author: Howard W. Rosenberg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 554
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9780972557443

Was or was not Ty Cobb a racist? For three years, there has been an unresolved standoff between two 2015 biographies of the Hall of Fame player. One of the two, as of March 2018, was in the top 25 of baseball bestsellers on Amazon.com: the paperback version of Charles Leerhsen's Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty (Simon & Schuster). That book has been publicized well. A five-minute video that Leerhsen commissioned for 2017, as an exclusive to the Web site of conservative commentator Dennis Prager (https://www.prageru.com/videos/calling-good-people-racist-isnt-new-case-ty-cobb), has had around 3.5 million views, according to the link above. Although the paperback edition was issued in early 2016, the conservative news Web site the Federalist named it one of its notable books of 2017 (http://thefederalist.com/2017/12/15/the-federalists-notable-books-of-2017/). The other 2015 Cobb biography is Tim Hornbaker's War on the Basepaths: The Definitive Biography of Ty Cobb (Sports Publishing). One major subsequent try has been made to weigh in on Cobb and his alleged racism: Steven Elliott Tripp's 2016 Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood: A Red-Blooded Sport for Red-Blooded Men (Rowman & Littlefield). Tripp's book, while a worthy scholarly work, did not explicitly try to reconcile Leerhsen and Hornbaker. Howard W. Rosenberg is the definitive biographer of 19th-century Hall of Famer Cap Anson. That includes being the horse's mouth on Anson's racism (https://howardwrosenberg.atavist.com/racism-bbhistory), especially its alleged impact on the drawing of the sport's "color line" in the 19th century. In Ty Cobb Unleashed, he applies a similar comprehensive approach to Cobb, who is considered among whites the most disliked star white player of pre-steroid times. For weighing in on the two 2015 books, an effort that also includes redoing big parts of the Cobb story, Ty Cobb Unleashed may be among the most impactful baseball books in recent memory. Most previous books are not worth revisiting with the closest of scrutiny. But the two Cobb ones no doubt are, especially because, in media coverage, Leerhsen's more revisionist one has so dominated the other.

Ty Cobb

Ty Cobb
Author: Charles Leerhsen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2015-05-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1451645767

"An biography of perhaps the most significant and controversial player in baseball history, Ty Cobb, drawing in part on newly discovered letters and documents"--

Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood

Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood
Author: Steven Elliott Tripp
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2016-07-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1442251921

Ty Cobb called baseball a “red-blooded game for red-blooded men,” warning that “molly coddles had better stay out.” By this, Cobb meant that baseball was the ultimate expression of the masculine ideal – a game of aggression, rivalry, physical and mental dexterity, self-reliance, and primal honor. For over twenty years, Cobb expressed his fierce brand of manhood in ballparks throughout the American Northeast, gaining for himself a level of celebrity that was unsurpassed in the early twentieth century. Fans idolized Cobb not only because he was the best player in the game, but because his boisterous and combative style of play satisfied their desire for exhibitions of visceral manhood. They found in Cobb an antidote for what they feared were the corrupting influences of over-civilization. With balance, precision, and empathy, Steven Elliott Tripp brings the era to life in a narrative Publisher’s Weekly has called “stunning.” In contrast to recent biographies of Cobb that have tried to minimize his more brutish behavior and minimize his racial antipathies, Tripp contextualizes Cobb, placing him squarely within the cultural milieu of both the rural South of his birth and the Northern sporting culture of his professional career. Moreover, Tripp’s reconstruction of early twentieth-century sporting culture isolates an important source of modern America’s culture of hyper-masculinity. Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood is both an important work of social and cultural history and an absorbing tale of ambition and the quest for dominance. Tripp has written the rare narrative that is as appealing to scholars as it is to general readers and sports enthusiasts.

Cobb

Cobb
Author: Al Stump
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 484
Release: 1996-01-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781565121447

A biography of the baseball legend explores the complexities of a man described as the meanest man in baseball, discussing Cobb's racism, violence toward family and other baseball players, win at any cost philosophy, and philandering

Baseball's Most Notorious Personalities

Baseball's Most Notorious Personalities
Author: Jonathan Weeks
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Baseball players
ISBN: 9780810890725

Of the 17,000-plus players who have donned major league uniforms over the years, not all were particularly nice or ethical. In fact, the actions of a handful were so heinous, they left an indelible mark on the sport. Spanning nearly three centuries of baseball, Baseball's Most Notorious Personalities: A Gallery of Rogues examines with detail this dark side of our National Pastime.

The Lords of the Realm

The Lords of the Realm
Author: John Helyar
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 641
Release: 2011-07-27
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 030780142X

"The ultimate chronicle of the games behind the game."—The New York Times Book Review Baseball has always inspired rhapsodic elegies on the glory of man and golden memories of wonderful times. But what you see on the field is only half the game. In this fascinating, colorful chronicle—based on hundreds of interviews and years of research and digging—John Helyar brings to vivid life the extraordinary people and dramatic events that shaped America's favorite pastime, from the dead-ball days at the turn of the century through the great strike of 1994. Witness zealous Judge Landis banish eight players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, after the infamous "Black Sox" scandal; the flamboyant A's owner Charlie Finley wheel and deal his star players, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers, like a deck of cards; the hysterical bidding war of coveted free agent Catfish Hunter; the chain-smoking romantic, A. Bartlett Giamatti, locking horns with Pete Rose during his gambling days of summer; and much more. Praise for The Lords of the Realm "A must-read for baseball fans . . . reads like a suspense novel."—Kirkus Reviews "Refreshingly hard-headed . . . the only book you'll need to read on the subject."—Newsday "Lots of stories . . . well told, amusing . . . edifying."—The Washington Post

My Life in Baseball

My Life in Baseball
Author: Ty Cobb
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780803263598

"Highly successful in knitting together this story of the life of a most remarkable and dedicated player--perhaps the most spirited baseball player ever to have graced the diamond."--Library Journal. "I find little comfort in the popular picture of Cobb as a spike-slashing demon of the diamond with a wide streak of cruelty in his nature. The fights and feuds I was in have been steadily slanted to put me in the wrong. . . . My critics have had their innings. I will have mine now."--Ty Cobb "Frank, bitter, trend-setting autobiography."--USA Today Baseball Weekly "One of the most remarkable sports books ever written."--Los Angeles Daily News "The old Tiger still spits and snarls off the pages."--Cooperstown Review "Of Ty Cobb let it be said simply that he was the world's greatest ballplayer."--New York Herald Tribune (1961 editorial on Cobb's death) This Bison Book edition of My Life in Baseball is introduced by Charles C. Alexander, a professor of history at Ohio University, Athens, and the author of a biogrpahy of Ty Cobb.

Mind Gym

Mind Gym
Author: Gary Mack
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2002-06-24
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0071504648

Praise for Mind Gym "Believing in yourself is paramount to success for any athlete. Gary's lessons and David's writing provide examples of the importance of the mental game." --Ben Crenshaw, two-time Masters champion and former Ryder Cup captain "Mind Gym hits a home run. If you want to build mental muscle for the major leagues, read this book." --Ken Griffey Jr., Major League Baseball MVP "I read Mind Gym on my way to the Sydney Olympics and really got a lot out of it. Gary has important lessons to teach, and you'll find the exercises fun and beneficial." --Jason Kidd, NBA All-Star and Olympic gold-medal winner In Mind Gym, noted sports psychology consultant Gary Mack explains how your mind influences your performance on the field or on the court as much as your physical skill does, if not more so. Through forty accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes from prominent athletes--many of whom he has worked with--you will learn the same techniques and exercises Mack uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." Mind Gym will give you the "head edge" over the competition.

The Mad Dog 100

The Mad Dog 100
Author: Chris Russo
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2004-05-04
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0767914627

The essential book for any sports fan, from one of the reigning kings ofsports talk radio, Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo Sports fans Which was the greater achievement, Ted Williams’s .406 season or Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak? Who would dominate the ultimate Pebble Beach showdown? Ben Hogan or Tiger Woods? Who was really the most important athlete of the twentieth century?If you love sports, there’s only one thing better than a good game—and that’s a good argument. Who’s the best ever? The worst ever? Underrated? Overpaid? Now, in his long-awaited and completely original book—updated for the 2003 sports season—Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo sets up and breaks down the hundred greatest sports arguments of all time. In classic Mad Dog style, each chapter tackles a classic sports debate and takes sides with the lively and authoritative opinions that have made him one of the top radio personalities in the country. Whether you agree with The Dog—or agree to disagree with the book’s often controversial conclusions—The Mad Dog 100 is the perfect companion for any sports fan.

Ironweed

Ironweed
Author: William Kennedy
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2011-12-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1849838364

The beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, basis of the film starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. Francis Phelan, ex-big-leaguer, part-time gravedigger, full-time bum with the gift of gab, is back in town. He left Albany twenty-two years earlier after he dropped his infant son accidentally, and the boy died. Now he's on the way back to the wife and home he abandoned, haunted at every corner by the ghosts of his violent life. Francis; his wino ladyfriend of nine years, Helen; and his stumblebum pal, Rudy, shuffle their ragtag way through the city's bleakest streets, surviving on gumption, muscatel, and black wit. estiny is not their business. 'The premise of Ironweed was so unpromising, that in marketing terms the writer still to this day finds it funny: the story of a bunch of itinerant alcoholics, knocking around Kennedy's hometown, falling out, having visions, trying to pass for sober to cadge a bed for the night in the homeless shelter.' Guardian 'But for all the rich variety of prose and event, from hallucination to bedrock realism to slapstick and to blessed quotidian peace, ''Ironweed'' is more austere than its predecessors. It is more fierce, but also more forgiving.' Quoted from the classic New York Times review of Ironweed, which made it an overnight sensation.