Description
Book Synopsis One of the greatest pitchers of his era, William Arthur Candy Cummings was born in 1848, when baseball was in its infancy. In the 1870s, Candy''s invention, the curveball, played a transformative role and earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Drawing on extensive research, this first full-length biography traces Candy''s New England heritage and chronicles his rise to the top, from pitching for amateur teams in mid-1860s Brooklyn to playing in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players--the first major league--and then the newly-formed National League. A critical examination of the evidence and competing claims reveals that Cummings was, indeed, the originator of the curveball.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Author's Notes
- 1. Origins
- 2. Brooklyn
- 3. The Crucible of Baseball and the Birth of the Curveball
- 4. The Seminarian and the Silver Ball
- 5. From the Stars to the Excelsiors
- 6. Candy Debuts the Curveball
- 7. The Ins and Outs of the Curveball
- 8. Curveball Claimants
- 9. Hop-Scotching to the Stars
- 10. A Star with the Stars
- 11. Candy Goes Professional
- 12. Candy Becomes a Lord
- 13. Candy's a Pearl
- 14. Hose of a Different Color
- 15. In a Whole New League
- 16. A Tale of Two Cities
- 17. After the Big Leagues
- 18. The Skipper
- 19. (Semi-)Retirement from Baseball
- 20. Ninth Inning
- 21. Monuments
- 22. Candy's Legacy
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography: Books, Scholarly Papers, Articles, Monographs
- Index
