Baseball Books

Book SynopsisAuster''s novel of love and forgiveness from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian) Sunset Park is set in the sprawling flatlands of Florida, where twenty-eight-year-old Miles is photographing the last lingering traces of families who have abandoned their houses due to debt or foreclosure. Miles is haunted by guilt for having inadvertently caused the death of his step-brother, a situation that caused him to flee his father and step-mother in New York seven years ago.What keeps him in Florida is his relationship with a teenage high-school girl, Pilar, but when her family threatens to expose their relationship, Miles decides to protect Pilar by going back to Brooklyn, where he settles in a squat to prepare himself to face the inevitable confrontation with his father - a confrontation he has been avoiding for years.Set against the backdrop of the devastating global rece

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Book SynopsisThe book that inspired the movie Field of Dreams.The voice of a baseball announcer tells the Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella: If you build it, he will come.He is Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ray''s hero.It is a baseball stadium which Ray carves out of his cornfield.Like the movie FIELD OF DREAMS that was made from this novel, SHOELESS JOE is about baseball. But it''s also about love and the power of dreams to make people come alive.Trade Review‘The movie only captured half the magic of the book. This is a masterpiece.’ Andrew Kaufman ‘Not so much about baseball as it is about dreams, magic, life and what is quintessentially American.’ The Philadelphia Enquirer.

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Book SynopsisNamed the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1972, this richly illustrated biography explores the star’s personal life as well as his playing career.

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Book SynopsisA loving look at the old ball game, from the cartoonists at The New Yorker America's national pastime engages fans and fanatics across the country and around the world.Table of ContentsIndex of Artists. Marisa Acocella.Charles Addams.Peter Arno.Perry Barlow.Charles Barsotti.Harry Bliss.Michael Crawford.Whitney Darrow Jr.Chon Day.Robert J. Day.Richard Decker.Dana Fradon.Edward Frascino.Herbert Goldberg.Alex Gregory.John Groth.Sidney Hoff.David Langdon.Arnie Levin.Lee Lorenz.Robert Mankoff.Charles E. Martin.Henry Martin.Joseph Mirachi.Frank Modell.William O’Brian.Garrett Price.George Price.Gardner Rea.Donald Reilly.Mischa Richter.Carl Rose.Al Ross.Charles Saxon.Bernard Schoenbaum.Danny Shanahan.David Sipress.Otto Soglow.William Steig.Peter Steiner.Mick Stevens.James Stevenson.Barney Tobey.Mike Twohy.Robert Weber.Bill Woodman.Jack Ziegler.

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Book SynopsisJeff Pearlman has captured the swagger of the ''86 Mets. You don''t have to be a Mets fan to enjoy this book—it''s a great read for all baseball enthusiasts.—Philadelphia Daily NewsAward-winning Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jeff Pearlman returns to an innocent time when a city worshipped a man named Mookie and the Yankees were the second-best team in New York.It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin’s left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake—hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Re

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive trivia book that enables readers to compete as they answer questions!In The New Book of Baseball Trivia, experienced baseball author Wayne Stewart includes 500 fun and engaging questions and answers on everyone's favorite former and active players and coaches. Readers are awarded a single, double, triple, or homer based on the difficulty level of the question, with the goal to score as many runs as possible by the end of the book. They are kept on their toes by answers head-scratchers such as: Which team became the first one ever to have three of its players hit 40+ homers in a season? Who was the shortest man ever to appear in a big-league game? Which two brothers combined for more lifetime home runs than any other brother act? When Shane Bieber won the 2020 Cy Young Award, he became the fifth Cleveland Indian to capture that honor. Name three of the other four men to accomplish this. Which two men bashed more home runs while teammates than any other teammate combo? And many more! This book makes the perfect gift for the baseball-loving fan!

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Book SynopsisAdmit it: Even if you’re a die-hard baseball, sometimes an umpire's call can be baffling. And for newer fans, Major League Baseball's nuanced rules - developed and revised over many decades - can be downright perplexing. Now updated throughout with the latest changes, including specifications about the universal designated hitter and limits on defensive shifts, the Baseball Field Guide lays out every rule in plain English. You’ll learn to answer all these questions and more: Do you know the twenty-two ways a pitcher can be charged with a balk? Can you list all seven ways a batter can safely get to first base? Obstruction or interference - who’s at fault when things get rough? What are the rules that apply before and after a game? What happens when spectators are the ones who misbehave? How well do you understand the infamous Infield Fly Rule (and why does it exist)? This is the clearest explanation anywhere of the rules of baseball. Designed for quick and intuitive searches, this entertaining reference will help you understand every aspect of the game and add to your enjoyment of the sport.

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year “An instant sports classic.” —New York Post * “Stellar.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” —BookPage (starred review) * “This is a remarkable achievement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will.Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,​The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski that tells the story of the sport through the remarkable lives of its 100 greatest players. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than 200 years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?” Baseball’s legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the twenty-first- century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history? No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor, and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more. The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Chapter by chapter, Posnanski invites readers to examine common lore with brand-new eyes and learn stories that have long gone unheard. The epic and often emotional reading experience mirrors Posnanski’s personal odyssey to capture the history and glory of baseball like no one else, fueled by his boundless love for the sport. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, The Baseball 100 is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.Trade ReviewPraise for The Baseball 100 and Joe Posnanski “I love baseball, I know baseball, and this book is baseball. It’s the whole story of baseball told through the 100 greatest players of all time . . . But what really makes me say, 'Give this to the baseball people in your life,' is that it’s a book that, when you read it, you fall in love with the game all over again. . . . Every sport needs great players, but it also needs great writers, and Joe Posnanski has done something great for the game of baseball with this book.” —Tony Dokoupil, CBS This Morning “Stellar . . . Always fun . . . A book for the moment but also for the bookshelf of the future, an old friend that will bring back old times and old arguments again and again. . . . The rankings were all made by Mr. Posnanski, who is contemporary sports writing’s biggest star. He writes with grace and wit, combining an old-time sense of style with the mountains of numbers and factoids and observations that can be found on the internet.” —Leigh Montville, The Wall Street Journal “Posnanski knocks it out of the park with this fascinating deep dive into the careers of those he considers baseball’s 100 greatest players. . . . Will surprise even devoted followers of the sport . . . This is a remarkable achievement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Major League Baseball fans, you just won the lottery. . . . Posnanski presents 880 pages of sheer baseball bliss . . . It’s a true masterwork, and his writing is so good that it’s likely to engross even those who know nothing about the sport.” —BookPage (starred review) “Posnanski skillfully weaves statistics into the narrative without spilling into geekdom, and he searches baseball history for his candidate pool while combing the records for just the right datum or quote. . . . Red meat, and mighty tasty at that, for baseball fans with an appreciation for the past and power of the game.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Posnanski offers manna for baseball geeks with his selection of the 100 all-time greatest baseball players, melding the sabermetrics chops of a Bill James with the eloquence and droll humor of a Roger Angell. . . . . Posnanski also nobly, and rightly, casts a wide net, embracing Japanese legends Ichiro Suzuki and Sadaharu Oh, and, more important, long-neglected Negro leagues players, such as Oscar Charleston. . . . Most important, these selections will bring to the mind’s eye of any baseball fan a vision of how singularly great each of these athletes have played—or, in the case of the old-timers, might have played—the game. Recommended.” —Booklist “You can quibble with some of Joe Posnanski's judgements. And so what? That's always been part of the fun for baseball fans. And Posnanski on Baseball has always been fun. . . . This book is a baseball feast that can be consumed in small bites or large gulps. Either way, it's a book we fans will return to often. To spark or settle debates, sure. But especially for the endless pleasure of the history of our greatest game as delivered by one of its finest chroniclers.” —Bob Costas "Posnanski is an outstanding journalist, arguably the best pure long-form sportswriter in the land." —Chicago Sun-Times "Joe Posnanski is a terrific writer." —Entertainment Weekly "One of the best sportswriters in America." —Washington Times

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Book SynopsisFrom beanballs to basebrawls, the most important rules governing the game of baseball have never been officially written down—until now.They have no sanction from the Commissioner, appear nowhere in any official publication, and are generally not posted on any clubhouse wall. They represent a set of time-honored customs, rituals, and good manners that show a respect for the game, one''s teammates, and one''s opponents. Sometimes they contradict the official rulebook. The fans generally only hear about them when one is bent or broken, and it becomes news for a few days. Now, for the first time ever, Paul Dickson has put these unwritten rules down on paper, covering every situation, whether on the field or in the clubhouse, press box, or stands. Along with entertaining baseball axioms, quotations, and rules of thumb, this essential volume contains the collected wisdom of dozens of players, managers, and reporters on the secret rules that yo

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Book SynopsisThe Hitting Coach for the New York Yankees, Kevin Long trains power-hitters in the fine art of hitting a baseball well—a talent the legendary Ted Williams once called, “the most difficult skill in sport.” In Cage Rat, the man who helps sharpen the mechanics of such superstars as Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez shares the expertise he honed over his more than two decades in the game as both player and coach. With an introduction by Alex Rodriguez and an Afterword by Robinson Cano, Cage Rat is an indispensable guide to hitting, filled with practical advice, fascinating behind-the-scenes action, and an enduring, inspiring love for the Great American Pastime.

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Book SynopsisWinners of twenty-seven World Series titles, the New York Yankees are the quintessential sports dynasty. Love them or hate them, they cannot be ignored by anyone who professes to be a fan of the great game of baseball.With Damn Yankees, Rob Fleder, former Executive Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, offers a timeless collection of original essays by some of the most prominent contemporary writers in America—from Pete Dexter to Jane Leavy, from Roy Blount Jr. to Colum McCann—each piece focusing on one uniquely colorful subject: the fanatically adored/resoundingly despised “Bronx Bombers.”Funny, moving, provocative, insightful appreciations and detractions—from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Derek Jeter—Damn Yankees offers twenty-four fascinating takes on the most storied franchise of baseball’s Major Leagues.

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Jane Leavy, the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax, comes the definitive biography of Babe Ruth—the man Roger Angell dubbed the model for modern celebrity.A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:The Boston Globe Publishers Weekly Kirkus  Newsweek The Philadelphia Inquirer The ProgressiveWinner of the 2019 SABR Seymour Medal Finalist for the PEN/ESPN Literary Sports Writing Award Longlisted for Spitball Magazine’s Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year Finalist for the NBCC Award for Biography“Leavy’s newest masterpiece…. A major work of American history by an author with a flair for mesmerizing story-telling.” —ForbesHe lived in the present tense—in the camera’s lens. There was no frame he couldn’t or wouldn’t fill. He swung the heaviest bat, earned the most money, and incurred the biggest fines. Like all the new-fangled gadgets then flooding the marketplace—radios, automatic clothes washers, Brownie cameras, microphones and loudspeakers—Babe Ruth made impossible events happen. Aided by his crucial partnership with Christy Walsh—business manager, spin doctor, damage control wizard, and surrogate father, all stuffed into one tightly buttoned double-breasted suit—Ruth drafted the blueprint for modern athletic stardom.His was a life of journeys and itineraries—from uncouth to couth, spartan to spendthrift, abandoned to abandon; from Baltimore to Boston to New York, and back to Boston at the end of his career for a finale with the only team that would have him. There were road trips and hunting trips; grand tours of foreign capitals and post-season promotional tours, not to mention those 714 trips around the bases.After hitting his 60th home run in September 1927—a total that would not be exceeded until 1961, when Roger Maris did it with the aid of the extended modern season—he embarked on the mother of all barnstorming tours, a three-week victory lap across America, accompanied by Yankee teammate Lou Gehrig. Walsh called the tour a Symphony of Swat. The Omaha World Herald called it the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and seven other associated circuses offered their entire performance under one tent. In The Big Fella, acclaimed biographer Jane Leavy recreates that 21-day circus and in so doing captures the romp and the pathos that defined Ruth’s life and times. Drawing from more than 250 interviews, a trove of previously untapped documents, and Ruth family records, Leavy breaks through the mythology that has obscured the legend and delivers the man.

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Book SynopsisIn this candid, revealing, and entertaining memoir, the beloved New York Yankee legend looks back over his nearly fifty-year career as a player and a manager, sharing insights and stories about some of his most memorable moments and some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball.For nearly five decades, Lou Piniella has been a fixture in Major League Baseball, as an outfielder with the legendary New York Yankees of the 1970s, and as a manager for five teams in both the American and National leagues. With respected veteran sportswriter Bill Madden, Piniella now reflects on his storied career, offering fans a glimpse of life on the field, in the dugout, and inside the clubhouse.Piniella speaks from the heart about his teams and his players, offering a detailed, up-close portrait of the Bronx Zoo’s raucous personalities such as Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter, as well as his close friendship with Thurman Munson and his unusual relationship with George Steinbrenner. He also delves deep into his post-Yankee experiences, from winning a World Series for the controversial owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, to transforming the perennial cellar-dwelling Seattle Mariners into one of the league’s best teams. Some of the game’s brightest stars are here: Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez, Piniella’s supremely talented and controversial protégé. Throughout his time in the majors, Piniella has witnessed MLB grow into a multi-billion-dollar business. Piniella reflects on those changes, voicing his highly critical opinions on a range of controversial subjects, including steroids. Hilarious and uproarious, filled with eight pages of photos, Lou brings into focus a man whose deeply rooted passion for baseball has defined his life.

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Book Synopsis“Winner of the 2018 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year.”The former ESPN columnist and analytics pioneer dramatically recreates an action-packed 2017 game between the Oakland A’s and eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros to reveal the myriad ways in which Major League Baseball has changed over the last few decades.On September 8, 2017, the Oakland A’s faced off against the Houston Astros in a game that would signal the passing of the Moneyball mantle. Though this was only one regular season game, the match-up of these two teams demonstrated how Major League Baseball has changed since the early days of Athletics general manager Billy Beane and the publication of Michael Lewis’ classic book.Over the past twenty years, power and analytics have taken over the game, driving carefully calibrated teams like the Astros to victory. Seemingly every pitcher now throws mid-90s heat and studiously compares their mecha

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Book Synopsis“This is a weird, wonderful, and essential book about both America and its pastime. It’s about a place as vast as New York City and as intimate as the human heart. Fred Exley meets Richard Ben Cramer—a funny, wild, heartfelt, and keenly observed portrait of yearning itself.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams“Mr. Gordon’s ability to explain the Sisyphean plight of all Mets fans is truly remarkable. Bravo!”—Ron Darling, New York Times bestselling author of Game 7, 1986The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets. In So Many Ways to Lose, author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Alex Speier is one of the few writers I’d read on any topic, and he’s written a fascinating book about a historic season. The jaw-dropping anecdotes and juicy behind-the-scenes details will make this a must-read for Red Sox fans; the powerful, nuanced description of why team building is so important -- not just in baseball or sports, but life in general--will make it a classic for everyone else.” — Seth Mnookin, bestselling author of Feeding the Monster “I get to read Alex Speier almost daily in the Boston Globe and have anxiously been waiting for his first book. It does not disappoint. If you love the Red Sox or just like baseball, this is the book for you. A deep dive into how the 119-win champion Red Sox were built.” — Dan Shaughnessy, New York Times bestselling author of The Curse of the Bambino “A tight, tense, and quite enjoyable story, almost like an adventure novel.... Well worth the read.” — Bookreporter.com “Speier tracks the development of the [Red Sox] core from 2011 to their 2018 championship. ... The narrative of a team in the making delivers compelling reading. A must for Red Sox fans.” — Booklist “A fascinating look at the building of an elite baseball club.” — Library Journal “Alex Speier spins a compelling narrative about how great scouting and player development created a perennial contender in baseball’s toughest division, without losing sight of the people at the heart of his story.” — Keith Law, author of Smart Baseball "[Speier is] a talented and surprisingly non-biased observer of exactly how the juggernaut Red Sox... had been assembled. ... A welcome companion to help any baseball fan pass the cold winter months." — Lincoln Journal Star “With Homegrown, it is clear Alex Speier has put his time in, both in the clubhouse and in learning about this special core of young players that delivered another championship to Boston. This is a good book, merging the pressures of the field and the dealmaking of the front offices without shortchanging either one.” — HOWARD BRYANT, senior writer, ESPN the Magazine “Describes how the succession of Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington and [Dave] Dombrowski built the 2018 champions. ... Well-written.” — New York Post "A must read." — Pittsburgh Tribune Review

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Book Synopsis“Seldom does a sports biography—especially a page-turner—so comprehensively explain the forces that made an icon the way they are.” - Sports IllustratedFrom the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron comes the definitive biography of Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, baseball’s epic leadoff hitter and base-stealer who also stole America’s heart over nearly five electric decades in the game.Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said.But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave

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Book SynopsisBernard Malamud, one of America's most important novelists and short-story writers, was born in Brooklyn in 1914. He took his B.A. degree at the City College of New York and his M.A. at Colombia University. From 1940 to 1949 he taught in various New York schools, and then joined the staff of Oregon State University, where he stayed until 1961. Thereafter, he taught at Bennington State College, Vermont. His remarkable, and uncharacteristic first novel, The Natural, appeared in 1952. Malamud received international acclaim with the publication of The Assistant (1957, winner of the Rosenthal Award and the Daroff Memorial Award). His other works include The Magic Barrel (1958, winner of the National Book Award), Idiots First (1963, short stories), The Fixer (1966, winner of a second National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize), Pictures of Fidelman (1969), The Tenants (1971), Rembrandt's Hat (1973, short stories), Dubin's LivesTrade ReviewA rich original of the first rank -- Saul BellowOne of the best writers in the English language... His work embeds itself into one's consciousness and refuses to be dislodged * Sunday Times *The Natural by Bernard Malamud shows the agony, destruction and pathos that come often with great sports talent -- Sid Waddell, sports commentator * Independent *This book established that we could have a serious adult baseball novel by playing with the parallels between mythical elements in the game and mythical elements in literature * Chicago Tribune *Bernard Malamud's The Natural that still leads the field [for novels about baseball]. It is one of the landmarks of a period in US fiction when Jewish novelists dominated the scene with work of the highest ambition * Metro *

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Book SynopsisTable of Contents1. An appreciation of baseball and its mathematics 2. Is baseball still the national pastime? 3. Baseball before steroids 4. Bill James and the genesis of sabermetrics 5. Rattling the sabermetrics 6. The annihilation of records: Where have you gone, Babe Ruth? 7. Steroids, etc. 8. Scandal scarred: A discussion of our national pastime’s controversial history 9. The last inning 10. Epilogue: Where have we been? Where do we go from here? A final word from the editor

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Book SynopsisThe definitive and dramatic story of the Alex Rodriguez and Biogenesis scandal, written by the reporters who broke and covered the story.“Blood Sport is riveting...a tragicomedy filled with characters straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel.”—The Washington PostThe effects of the Biogenesis case—the biggest drug scandal in the history of American sports—are still being felt today. Fifteen Major League Baseball players were suspended, including Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez. Ten men were indicted in federal court. And a new MLB commissioner was elected based on his role leading the response to the case. Now, Tim Elfrink—who broke that first story in the Miami New Times—joins forces with Pulitzer Prize finalist investigative reporter Gus Garcia-Roberts to tell the shocking full story behind the headlines. Blood Sport blows the lid off the most expensive scandal in the history of th

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Book SynopsisIn this first volume of two, Harold Seymour traces the growth of baseball from early English children''s games to the formation in 1903 of the two present-day professional major leagues. By investigating previously unexamined sources, he uncovers the real story of baseball''s evolution in the United States from a gentleman''s amateur sport of well-bred play followed by well-laden banquet tables into a professional sport where big leagues operate under their own rules. Offering countless colourful anecdotes and a wealth of new information, Seymour explodes many cherished myths. He unveils the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions and show business and sketches revealing portraits of the men who became the first professional players, club owners, and managers.Trade ReviewPraise for Volume I: "An important reference, very readable."--The New York Public Library "Indispensable."--Dr. Daniel Boorstin, Director, Library of Congress "Will remain the basic reference for baseball history."--New York Historical Review "First-rate history....[Seymour] gives a full picture of player salaries, of owner deceits, of public frenzy."--The Baltimore Sun "Half of what will be the most comprehensive, serious, authoritative, and sociological study of baseball ever put to paper."--San Francisco Chronicle "It puts baseball...firmly in the American picture....[An] admirable book."--The Times Literary Supplement (London) "[Seymour] has the intellectual's passion for facts, but he writes with the light touch of a sports writer."--New York Daily News "Stands in a class by itself."--St. Petersburg Times "Right off the bat, let me say that this history of baseball stands in a class by itself."--John Barkham, Saturday Review Syndicate "With great care the book tells how the game was born, struggled, survived, and prospered, despite bird-brained direction at the top, chicanery at all levels, bullying of players, player revolts, monopolistic and power tactics, scandals, rowdyism and even violence."--Providence Journal

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Book SynopsisFollowing the story begun in Baseball: The Early Years, Harold Seymour explores the glorious and grevious era when the game truly captured the American imagination with legendary figures like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, but also appalled fans with startling scandals. The Golden Age begins with the formation of the two major leagues in 1903, and describes how the organization of the professional game improved from an unwieldy three-man commission to the strong rule of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Seymour depicts the ways in which play on the field developed from the low-scoring, pitcher-dominated game of the `dead ball'' era before the First World War to the high scores of the `lively ball'' era of the 1920s.Trade Review"Seymour's books remain the most entertaining and informative histories about baseball's position in American culture."--H. Gehrig Coleman, University of Texas Praise for Volume II: "Will grip every American who has invested part of his youth and dreams in the sport, and it will inform everyone else who is interested in an American phenomenon as native as apple pie."--The New York Times "Noteworthy for its thoroughness and for the way its author relates the sport to American life....Seymour has an eye for humorous detail."--Publishers Weekly "[A] splendidly researched baseball history."--Business Week "Sports historians will welcome [this volume] as a contribution to our growing knowledge of American baseball."--Journal of American History "With devastating documentation [Seymour] portrays the contrast between the beauty of the game on the field and widespread dishonesty off it."--The New Republic

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Book SynopsisFrom the first amateur leagues of the 1860s to the exploits of Livan and Orlando El Duque Hernandez, here is the definitive history of baseball in Cuba. Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria expertly traces the arc of the game, intertwining its heroes and their stories with the politics, music, dance, and literature of the Cuban people. What emerges is more than a story of balls and strikes, but a richly detailed history of Cuba told from the unique cultural perch of the baseball diamond. Filling a void created by Cuba''s rejection of bullfighting and Spanish hegemony, baseball quickly became a crucial stitch in the complex social fabric of the island. By the early 1940s Cuba had become major conduit in spreading the game throughout Latin America, and a proving ground for some of the greatest talent in all of baseball, where white major leaguers and Negro League players from the U.S. all competed on the same fields with the cream of Latin talent. Indeed, readers will be introduced to several blTrade ReviewCuba's love affair with the American bat and ball is given encyclopedic treatment in The Pride of Havana ... the prose is as smooth and powerful as a good pitch delivery ... Best of all is the backdrop of history - political, social and popular - against which the baseball stars perform ... For students of old Cuba, Echevarría's book hits a home run. * John Lantigua, Times Literary Supplement *The Pride of Havana is an absorbing history of Cuban baseball and the impact so many Cuban players have had on the game in the United States. It sparkles like El Duque in October. * Bob Costas, NBC Sports *

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Book SynopsisThe Baseball Trust is about the origins and persistence of baseball''s exemption from antitrust law, which is one of the most curious features of our legal system and also one of the most well known to sports fans. Every other sport, like virtually every other kind of business, is governed by the antitrust laws, but baseball has been exempt for nearly a century. No one thinks this state of affairs makes any sense. The conventional explanation of this oddity emphasizes baseball''s unique cultural status as the national pastime, and assumes that judges and legislators have expressed their love for the game by insulating it from antitrust attack. A serious baseball fan, Stuart Banner provides a thoroughly entertaining history of the game through the prism of the antitrust exemption. But he also narrates a very different kind of baseball history, one in which a sophisticated business organization successfully worked the levers of the legal system to achieve a result enjoyed by no other indTrade ReviewThe Baseball Trust is impeccably researched and a valuable history of the politics, law and business of professional sports * Peter Catapano, City University of New York *This well-researched, well-written book merits a diverse audience, whether baseball fan, historian, public official, or legal scholar ... Highly recommended. * A.R. Sanderson, CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Reserve Clause ; 2. The Baseball Trust ; 3. The Supreme Court Steps In ; 4. The Birth of the Antitrust Exemption ; 5. Baseball Becomes Unique ; 6. A Political Football ; 7. Three Months of State Antitrust Law ; 8. The Curt Flood Case ; 9. The End of the Reserve Clause ; 10. A Shrunken Exemption

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Book SynopsisThe history of baseball is rife with colorful characters. But for sheer cantankerousness and will to win, very few have come close to Leo 'the Lip' Durocher. This work tells the story of his life in the game. It is baseball at its best, brimming with personality and the fights and feuds, triumphs and tricks that made Durocher such a success.Trade Review"The delight of the book is its exuberance, its sense of a life lived at full tilt.... Durocher is a first-class raconteur." - New York Times Book Review "Mr. Durocher has somehow managed to be involved with more than his fair share of baseball's mythic moments and situations.... This is Leo Durocher talking straight as a low line drive." - New York Times"

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Book SynopsisA revealing look at the history of women's exclusion from America's national pastimeTrade ReviewA Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2010. "Sharp, thoroughly researched examination of gender discrimination in [baseball].--Los Angeles Times"Throwing 'like a girl' is an age-old taunt, and Jennifer Ring has had enough of it."--Washington Post“An extraordinary account of the rejection of female players from baseball. . . . [Ring] searches for ways to reclaim baseball’s nickname, 'the people’s game,' and encourage females who want to play a game they are passionate about. Highly recommended.”--Choice"The story Ring tells is outrageous. Her title is accurate: baseball has been stolen from girls."--Women's Review of Books“An important work. . . . Ring traces over a 100 years of issues arising from individuals, cultural biases, legal arguments, and the like to develop a full picture.”--Cave 17.com"By examining the systematic exclusion of women from baseball, this compelling book goes into depth about a topic that most historians do not even question. With a gripping storyline and strong, clear prose, Stolen Bases contains some of the best sportswriting I have seen."--Susan K. Cahn, coeditor of Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader"This book blends history, political economy, sociology, and biography to form an engaging narrative about the place of women in baseball. Jennifer Ring offers fresh insights, focusing on the game's maternity and the development of efforts to preclude women from playing baseball or acknowledging their place in the game's past."--Adrian Burgos Jr., author of Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color LineTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Prologue: Entitlement and Its Absence 1 1. Introduction: A Quick and Dirty History of Baseball 15 2. The Girls' Game 31 3. A. G. Spalding and America's Needs 47 4. Enter Softball 59 5. How Baseball Became Manly and White 73 6. American Womanhood and Athletics 91 7. Cricket 102 8. Stolen Bases 116 9. Collegiate Women's Baseball 134 10. The Invisibility of Bias 151 Epilogue: What Does Equality Look Like? 169 Notes 183 Index 197

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Book SynopsisDefies conventional wisdom to explain why the unanimous Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, which gave rise to Major League Baseball's exemption from antitrust law, was correct given the circumstances of the time.Trade ReviewLarry Ritter Book Award, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 2015. Finalist, Seymour Medal, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 2015. David J. Langum Sr. Prize for American Legal History/Biography, Langum Charitable Trust, 2014. "Grow explains that the afterlife of Federal Baseball is more remarkable than the conclusions in the case itself. With careful and measured scholarship, Grow urges later reader of Federal Baseball to recognize that the case was heard before widespread interstate radio coverage, and before the broad interpretation of 'commerce' in the New Deal decisions."--Western Legal History"Using newly released attorney correspondence, court records, and newspaper accounts of the time, Grow presents in stunning detail the background, characters, arguments, events, tactics, (and mistakes) leading to the Federal Baseball decision. showing that 'many of the common criticisms. . . are unjust, as the decision was consistent with the prevailing judicial precedents of the day'. . . . Recommended.'"--Choice"Federal Baseball, the shorthand name of the case, is still the law of land. Here is a baseball book in which the major on-field action is the serving of various contract-jumping players with court orders. But if a reader is interested in how the business of baseball developed, the case is crucial; and Baseball on Trial can explain how and why."--Nine "Grow's book is impressively comprehensive and exhaustive. . . . for the reader interested in a comprehensive account of a seminal moment in baseball's legal history, Grow's Baseball on Trial is an excellent choice."--Law and History Review"Grow undoubtedly succeeds in shining a light on the buildup to and background of the Federal Baseball decision."--Sport in American History"[A] thoughtful and provocative analysis of one of the most controversial topics in sports law: Baseball's antitrust exemption. Grow adroitly connects recent disclosures from the Baseball Hall of Fame to advance his argument that the Federal Baseball holding made much more sense ninety years ago than contemporary commentators tend to regard it. As baseball's antitrust exemption continues to face legal challenges--including whether the Oakland A's can move to San Jose--Grow's book will undoubtedly play an influential role."--Michael McCann, Sports Illustrated legal analyst"The lawsuits arising from the Federal League's challenge to Major League Baseball and their aftermath defined much of the way baseball has evolved over the past century. Bolstered by original research, Grow explains both the broader picture and the intriguing behind-the-scenes machinations, and he does so in a clear and entertaining fashion."-- Daniel R. Levitt, author of The Battle that Forged Modern Baseball: The Federal League Challenge and Its Legacy"An outstanding book based on previously unused materials, Baseball on Trial makes a truly significant contribution to the fields of baseball and the law, sports law, antitrust law, and legal history. Anyone discussing the trilogy of Supreme Court cases that created baseball's antitrust exemption needs to read this book."--Edmund P. Edmonds, co-editor of Baseball and Antitrust: The Legislative History

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