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Baseball on Trial: The Origin of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption
by Nathaniel GrowThe controversial 1922 Federal Baseball Supreme Court ruling held that the "business of base ball" was not subject to the Sherman Antitrust Act because it did not constitute interstate commerce. In Baseball on Trial, legal scholar Nathaniel Grow defies 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. Currently a billion dollar enterprise, professional baseball teams crisscross the country while the games are broadcast via radio, television, and internet coast to coast. The sheer scope of this activity would seem to embody the phrase "interstate commerce." Yet baseball is the only professional sport--indeed the sole industry--in the United States that currently benefits from a judicially constructed antitrust immunity. How could this be? Drawing upon recently released documents from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Grow analyzes how the Supreme Court reached this seemingly peculiar result by tracing the Federal Baseball litigation from its roots in 1914 to its resolution in 1922, in the process uncovering significant new details about the proceedings. Grow observes that while interstate commerce was measured at the time by the exchange of tangible goods, baseball teams in the 1910s merely provided live entertainment to their fans, while radio was a fledgling technology that had little impact on the sport. The book ultimately concludes that, despite the frequent criticism of the opinion, the Supreme Court's decision was consistent with the conditions and legal climate of the early twentieth century.
Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters
by Michael J. SchellTony Gwynn is the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. That's the conclusion of this engaging and provocative analysis of baseball's all-time best hitters. Michael Schell challenges the traditional list of all-time hitters, which places Ty Cobb first, Gwynn 16th, and includes just 8 players whose prime came after 1960. Schell argues that the raw batting averages used as the list's basis should be adjusted to take into account that hitters played in different eras, with different rules, and in different ballparks. He makes those adjustments and produces a new list of the best 100 hitters that will spark debate among baseball fans and statisticians everywhere. Schell combines the two qualifications essential for a book like this. He is a professional statistician--applying his skills to cancer research--and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball. He has wondered how to rank hitters since he was a boy growing up as a passionate Cincinnati Reds fan. Over the years, he has analyzed the most important factors, including the relative difficulty of hitting in different ballparks, the length of hitters' careers, the talent pool that players are drawn from, and changes in the game that raised or lowered major-league batting averages (the introduction of the designated hitter and changes in the height and location of the pitcher's mound, for example). Schell's study finally levels the playing field, giving new credit to hitters who played in adverse conditions and downgrading others who faced fewer obstacles. His final ranking of players differs dramatically from the traditional list. Gwynn, for example, bumps Cobb to 2nd place, Rod Carew rises from 28th to 3rd, Babe Ruth drops from 9th to 16th, and Willie Mays comes from off the list to rank 13th. Schell's list also gives relatively more credit to modern players, containing 39 whose best days were after 1960. Using a fun, conversational style, the book presents a feast of stories and statistics about players, ballparks, and teams--all arranged so that calculations can be skipped by general readers but consulted by statisticians eager to follow Schell's methods or introduce their students to such basic concepts as mean, histogram, standard deviation, p-value, and regression. Baseball's All-Time Best Hitters will shake up how baseball fans view the greatest heroes of America's national pastime.
Baseball's Best 1,000: Rankings of the Greatest Players of All Time
by Derek GentileA revised and up-to-date edition of Baseball's Best 1,000, a must-have book for baseball fans obsessed with stats, quick facts, and the age-old debate of who is the best player in history and why. Using various (and completely subjective) criteria including lifetime statistics, personal and professional contributions to the game at large, sportsmanship, character, popularity with the fans, and more, sports writer Derek Gentile ranks the best players of all time. Along with a ranking, information on each player is presented, including the teams on which he has played throughout his career, positions played, lifetime statistics, and a brief biography--as well as a photograph. Baseball's Best 1,000 is sure to spark controversy and debate among fans.
Baseball's Best 1000 -- Revised and Updated
by Derek GentileThis thoroughly revised edition of "Baseball's Best 1,000" includes updated listings plus new players, rankings, and photographs, all in a handier format that makes it a terrific pocket reference. A must-have book for baseball fans obsessed with stats, quick facts, and the age-old debates over who the best players are and why, "Baseball's Best 1,000" showcases the lives, legends, and lore of the game's top players, ranked in order. Sportswriter Derek Gentile has pared down the total list of players--tens of thousands of them--to an elite ranking of the thousand greatest, based on criteria including lifetime stats; player durability and consistency; All-Star participation; MVP, Gold Glove, and Cy Young awards; individual statistical championships; personal and professional contributions to the game; sportsmanship; and election to the Hall of Fame.Each entry includes positions played, teams played for, years played, lifetime stats, and a biography of the player featuring his great moments and little-known facts.*New players include Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, and Manny Ramirez.*Barry Bonds has moved up from Number 19 to Number 6.*Roger Clemens has moved from Number 33 into the top 20.*Dozens of Negro League players are here, as well as rankings of the best Japanese players, women players, and "prehistoric" players (from the time before stats were formally recorded).
Baseball's Best Excuses: Hilarious Excuses Every Baseball Player Should Know
by Joshua ShifrinExplain away your bad at-bats and imperfect pitches—and have your friends laugh at the same time! In Baseball's Best Excuses, author Joshua Shifrin takes a witty approach in helping baseball players make sense of their worst days on the diamond. The next time a player leads his or her team in defeat, he or she can always explain the woeful performance with &“The guy batting after me is terrible.&” Or after a bad pitching outing, players might try to explain the mishap with, &“I couldn&’t control my fastball." Shifrin has crafted loads of funny—but all-too-real—excuses for pros and amateurs alike. Examples include: The pitcher was taking too much time between pitches. The fans behind home plate were distracting. I&’m not used to the dimensions in this park. The manager had me playing out of position. And many more! Whether you want to motivate the amateur in your life or laugh away embarrassing mistakes in your own game, Baseball's Best Excuses is a must-read. Complete with laugh-out-loud full-color cartoons, this book makes for the perfect gift.
Baseball's Craziest Catches! (Sports Illustrated Kids Prime Time Plays)
by Shawn PryorCrack! When the bat meets the ball, the gloves are up and it’s prime time on the diamond. From sliding snags in the outfield to body-battering grabs at the wall, experience the craziest clutch catches from pro baseball’s biggest superstars. These spectacular snatches will leave you spell-bound!
Baseball's Endangered Species: Inside the Craft of Scouting by Those Who Lived It
by Lee LowenfishScouting has been called pro baseball&’s personalized way of renewing itself from year to year and a pathway to the game&’s past. It takes a very special person to be a baseball scout: normal family life is out of the question because travel is a constant companion. Yet for those with the genuine calling for it, there could be no other life. Hearing the special thwack off the bat that indicates a raw prospect may be the real deal is the dream that keeps true scouts going. Scouts have the difficult task of not only discovering and signing new players but envisioning the trajectory of raw talent into the future. But the place of the traditional scout has become increasingly dire. In 2016 Major League Baseball eliminated the MLB Scouting Bureau that had been created in the 1970s to augment the regular scouting staffs of individual teams. On the eve of the 2017 playoffs that saw the Houston Astros crowned as World Series champions, the team dismissed ten professional scouts and by 2019 halved the number of all their scouts to less than twenty. More and more teams are replacing their experienced talent hunters with people versed in digital video and analytics but who have limited field knowledge of the game, driven by the Moneyball-inspired trend to favor analytics, data, and algorithms over instinct and observation. In Baseball&’s Endangered Species Lee Lowenfish explores in-depth how scouting has been affected by the surging use of metrics along with other changes in modern baseball business history: expansion of the Major Leagues in 1961 and 1962, the introduction of the amateur free agent draft in 1965, and the coming of Major League free agency after the 1976 season. With an approach that is part historical, biographical, and oral history, Baseball&’s Endangered Species is a comprehensive look at the scouting profession and the tradition of hands-on evaluation. At a time when baseball is drenched with statistics, many of them redundant or of questionable value, Lowenfish explores through the eyes and ears of scouts the vital question of &“makeup&”: how a player copes with failure, baseball&’s essential, painful truth.
Baseball's Even Greater Insults
by Kevin NelsonThere are no lyrical passages here, no fond reminiscences about childhood games, no tributes to "inspiring" players. Too much real stuff has happened since Kevin Nelson collected Baseball's Greatest Insults in 1984. This hilarious all-star review reveals how the players, managers, umpires, owners, and the sports media really feel about one another.
Baseball's First Superstar: The Lost Life Story of Christy Mathewson
by Alan D. GaffIf there was a first face of baseball, it was arguably Christopher &“Christy&” Mathewson. At the opening of the twentieth century, baseball was considered an undignified game played by ruffians for gamblers&’ benefit. Mathewson changed all that. When he signed with the Giants in 1900, his contract stated he wouldn&’t pitch on Sundays, and he was known for his honesty, integrity, and good looks. In his first fourteen seasons, as a pitcher for the Giants, Mathewson never won fewer than twenty games in a season, and he almost single-handedly won the 1905 World Series. In 1918, though age thirty-eight and exempt from military service, he enlisted for World War I, where he exposed himself to nearly lethal amounts of mustard gas as he taught soldiers how to put on gas masks. When he returned home, he was diagnosed with lung problems and tuberculosis, which led to his untimely death at the age of forty-five. After Mathewson&’s death, his eulogies were many, but it was impossible to catch the essence of his life in a single newspaper column. Jane Mathewson, his widow, was determined to provide the reading public with a more intimate portrait of her husband and approached prominent sportswriter Bozeman Bulger, who had known Mathewson for twenty years. Bulger wrote a series of articles titled &“The Life Story of Christy Mathewson.&” His portraits about the player were amplified by original accounts from Jane, and several unpublished chapters from Mathewson himself, which had been discovered among his papers. These combined accounts allow readers to hear from Mathewson and those who knew him best. A superstar long before that term was coined, Mathewson became an icon of sportsmanship. He was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at its first induction ceremony in 1936. In Baseball&’s First Superstar Alan D. Gaff brings Mathewson to life through Mathewson&’s own writings and those of others, largely lost to history until now.
Baseball's Good Guys: The Real Heroes of the Game
by Marshall J. Cook Jack WalshFrom Lou Gehrig to Derek Jeter, here are 26 players, including one woman, fans will want to get to know better because of their courage, determination, charity, and sacrifice.
Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
by Jules TygielIn this gripping account of one of the most important steps in the history of American desegregation, Jules Tygiel tells the story of Jackie Robinson's crossing of baseball's color line. Examining the social and historical context of Robinson's introduction into white organized baseball, both on and off the field, Tygiel also tells the often neglected stories of other African-American players--such as Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron—who helped transform our national pastime into an integrated game. <p><p>Drawing on dozens of interviews with players and front office executives, contemporary newspaper accounts, and personal papers, Tygiel provides the most telling and insightful account of Jackie Robinson's influence on American baseball and society. The anniversary issue features a new foreword by the author.
Baseball's Great Tragedy: The Story Of Carl Mays, Submarine Pitcher
by Bob McGarigleBiography of Carl Mays, the New York Yankees pitcher who fatally struck Cleveland Indians batter Ray Chapman with a pitch in 1920.
Baseball's Greatest Hitters
by S. A. KramerThe book contains brief profiles of such hard-hitting baseball players as Barry Bonds, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron.
Baseball's Greatest Players: 10 Baseball Biographies for New Readers
by Andrew MartinIntroduce kids ages 6 to 9 to a century of baseball's biggest stars From legendary sluggers to civil rights heroes, the game of baseball has seen a lot of amazing players—and this book features 10 of the very best. Perfect for new fans or those who already know a thing or two about baseball, this kid-friendly guide is packed full of fun facts and essential stats that will teach them all about the incredible careers of these sports superstars.What sets this collection of baseball biographies apart:10 decades, 10 players—Starting in the 1920s, this book shows the ways players like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and Mike Trout have made history.Runners up—Each decade also includes a brief look at some of the other greats, including Bob Gibson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Ichiro Suzuki.A helpful glossary—All of the terms kids need to know are highlighted and defined in the back of the book.Super stats—Kids will see exactly how outstanding each player was with a quick breakdown of their career stats.Delight young fans and get them interested in the history of the game with this standout among baseball books.
Baseball's Greatest Quotations: An Illustrated Treasury of Baseball Quotations and Historical Lore
by Paul DicksonBaseball has always had its share of colorful characters, and over the years they have expressed themselves in eminently quotable ways. In this treasury of more than 5,000 quotations, noted baseball writer and observer Paul Dickson has captured the flavor of the game, in the words of its most important participants and onlookers.They are all here—from Aaron (Estella, Hank's mother) to Zoldack ("Sad Sack" Sam), and everyone in between. From the players, sportswriters, and politicians, to noted personalities in other fields (a very diverse group), everyone has his or her say on our nation's pastime. Dickson skillfully selects and annotates each remark, presenting the good, the bad, and the ugly of baseball lore. Included are extended lessons in Stengelese, Reggiespeak, Earl Weaverisms, and famous announcers' home run calls (who can forget Mel Allen's classic "Going, going, gone!"?).These and thousands of other cheerful, pithy, and memorable voices from the past through the present day are all captured in Baseball's Greatest Quotations.
Baseball's Greatest Walk-Offs and Other Crunch-Time Heroics (Sports Illustrated Kids Crunch Time)
by Matt ChandlerWhen the stakes are high, some players seize the moment and make themselves legends. From pitching heroics in Game 7 of the World Series to pennant-clinching home runs, some of baseball's greatest moments are chronicled in vivid fashion here. You've got a front-row seat to the action.
Baseball's Last Great Scout: The Life of Hugh Alexander
by Dan AustinLate in 1937 Hugh Alexander, a kid fresh out of small-town Oklahoma, had just finished his second year playing outfield for the Cleveland Indians when an oil rig accident ripped off his left hand. Within three months he was back with the Indians, but this time as a scout—the youngest ever in Major League history. In the next six decades he signed more players who made it to the Majors than any other scout. His story, Baseball’s Last Great Scout, reads like a backroom, bleacher-seat history of twentieth-century baseball—and a primer on what it takes to find a winner. It gives a gritty picture of learning the business on the road, from American Legion field to try-out camp to beer joint, and making the fine distinctions between “performance” and “tools of the trade” when checking out prospects. Over the years Alexander worked for the Indians, the White Sox, the LA Dodgers, the Phillies, and the Cubs—and signed the likes of Allie Reynolds, Don Sutton, and Marty Bystrom. This book, based on extensive interviews and Alexander’s journals, is filled with memorable characters, pithy lessons, snapshots of American life, and a big picture of America’s pastime from one of its great off-the-field players.
Baseball's Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro Leagues
by Andrea WilliamsFor fans of Hidden Figures and Steve Sheinkin's Undefeated, Andrea Williams's Baseball's Leading Lady is the powerful true story of Effa Manley, the first and only woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, Black athletes played in the Negro Leagues--on teams coached by Black managers, cheered on by Black fans, and often run by Black owners. Here is the riveting true story of the woman at the center of the Black baseball world: Effa Manley, co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles. Elegant yet gutsy, she cultivated a powerhouse team. Yet just as her Eagles reached their pinnacle, so did calls to integrate baseball, a move that would all but extinguish the Negro Leagues. On and off the field, Effa hated to lose. She had devoted her life to Black empowerment--but in the battle for Black baseball, was the game rigged against her?
Baseball's Memorable Misses: An Unabashed Look at the Game's Craziest Zeroes
by Dan SchlossbergBaseball books span the spectrum from the All-Stars to the has-beens but invariably overlook the endless string of things that could have happened but didn't. Baseball&’s Memorable Misses fills that void, pointing out little-known facts perfect for both rabid and casual fans. Who knew that Willie Mays never won an RBI crown or that Stan Musial hit the most home runs in one day but never led his league in a season? Nolan Ryan had zero Cy Young Awards despite owning records for strikeouts and no-hitters. Roger Clemens, on the other hand, had a record seven Cy Youngs and two 20-strikeout games but zero no-hitters.There were also zero no-hitters by Greg Maddux, who has more wins than any living pitcher. Players took zeroes and sometimes double-zeroes as uniform numbers. Veteran baseball writer Dan Schlossberg delves into the previously-unknown world of baseball zeroes, exploring everything from Christy Mathewson's zero runs allowed in the 1905 World Series to the three perfect games pitched in Yankee Stadium. This book also reveals that there were zero no-hitters pitched by Pirates at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field even though visiting pitchers did not fall victim to that hex. There have been zero players who hit five home runs in one game but two who have hit five in one day. This is a book of Almost But Not Quite (ABNQ for short) but also a book that suggests baseball's second century can be almost as intriguing as its first. With the help of author Doug Lyons, who wrote the foreword, and celebrated baseball cartoonist Ronnie Joyner, this is also a utilitarian volume, perfect for the living room coffee table or even the bathroom. Like the game itself, Baseball&’s Memorable Misses is fun--and perfect for rain delays in season or off-season enjoyment.
Baseball's New Frontier: A History of Expansion, 1961-1998
by Fran Zimniuch Branch Rickey IIIWhen Major League Baseball first expanded in 1961 with the addition of the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, it started a trend that saw the number of franchises almost double, from sixteen to thirty, while baseball attendance grew by 44 percent. The story behind this staggering growth, told for the first time in Baseball’s New Frontier, is full of twists and unexpected turns, intrigue, and, in some instances, treachery. From the desertion of New York by the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants to the ever-present threat of antitrust legislation, from the backroom deals and the political posturing to the impact of the upstart Continental League, the book takes readers behind the scenes and into baseball’s decision-making process. Fran Zimniuch gives a lively team-by-team chronicle of how the franchises were awarded, how existing teams protected their players, and what the new teams’ winning (or losing) strategies were. With its account of great players, notable characters, and the changing fortunes of teams over the years, the book supplies a vital chapter in the history of Major League Baseball.
Baseball's No-Hit Wonders: More Than a Century of Pitching's Greatest Feats
by Fay Vincent Dirk LammersBaseball's No-Hit Wonders honors such legendary pitchers as Cy Young, Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax, while introducing readers to other eccentrics and one-shot wonders who have thrown no-hitters. The book, the first of its kind in more than fifteen years, fleshes out the colorful characters, compelling narratives and statistical oddities from baseball's 289 no-hit efforts-as well as the many near misses that are also part of the national pastime's storied history.Painstaking research and personal interviews have allowed the author to pack great detail into a fun, fast-paced take on the game, revealing the stories of the no-hitter thrown by a pitcher on acid, the hitters most adept at breaking up no-hitters and other gems thrown by guys with nicknames of Bumpus, Bobo, Cannonball and Nixey. Even the game's greatest slugger is credited with a partial no-hitter, and all he did was throw a punch.?? Chapters detailing the best no-hitters of all time are interspersed with "Did You Know?" lists that include no-hitters by team, city and day of the week, no-hitters of the Negro Leagues, catchers who caught the most no-nos and the best pitchers NOT to throw a no-hitter.Updated continuously at: NoNoHitters.com
Baseball's Power Shift: How the Players Union, the Fans, and the Media Changed American Sports Culture
by Krister SwansonFrom Major League Baseball’s inception in the 1880s through World War II, team owners enjoyed monopolistic control of the industry. Despite the players’ desire to form a viable union, every attempt to do so failed. The labor consciousness of baseball players lagged behind that of workers in other industries, and the public was largely in the dark about labor practices in baseball. In the mid-1960s, star players Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale staged a joint holdout for multiyear contracts and much higher salaries. Their holdout quickly drew support from the public; for the first time, owners realized they could ill afford to alienate fans, their primary source of revenue. Baseball’s Power Shift chronicles the growth and development of the union movement in Major League Baseball and the key role of the press and public opinion in the players’ successes and failures in labor-management relations. Swanson focuses on the most turbulent years, 1966 to 1981, which saw the birth of the Major League Baseball Players Association as well as three strikes, two lockouts, Curt Flood’s challenge to the reserve clause in the Supreme Court, and the emergence of full free agency. To defeat the owners, the players’ union needed support from the press, and perhaps more importantly, the public. With the public on their side, the players ushered in a new era in professional sports when salaries skyrocketed and fans began to care as much about the business dealings of their favorite team as they do about wins and losses. Swanson shows how fans and the media became key players in baseball's labor wars and paved the way for the explosive growth in the American sports economy.
Baseball, Boys, and Bad Words: A True Story of Little League, Laughter, and Life
by Andy AndrewsBaseball, Boys, and Bad Words reveals the hilarity and magic of Little League baseball.Often called “the funniest tale ever told,” this story will have you laughing until you cry, while warming your soul, reminding you of childhood and a simpler time.In 1970, eleven-year-old Andy Andrews and a group of friends began a Little League season they would never forget. All the usual ingredients were there—well-worn gloves, freshly cut grass, and new uniforms. But the addition of a coach who was “new to the area” is what made this season truly unforgettable for young Andy.Baseball fans and both current and former Little Leaguers will love the funny story, the age-old baseball wisdom quoted from some of the game’s greatest players, and the vintage baseball photography.
Baseball: A Big Day for Baseball
by Carlo Molinari Mary Osborne Natalie BoyceTrack the facts about baseball—with Jack and Annie! When Jack and Annie came back from their adventure in Magic Tree House #29: A Big Day for Baseball, they had lots of questions. When was baseball invented? What are the rules? Who was Jackie Robinson? Who are some other baseball greats? Find out the answers to these questions and more as Jack and Annie track the facts about America’s national pastime. <p><p> Filled with up-to-date information, photographs, illustrations, and fun tidbits from Jack and Annie, the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers are the perfect way for kids to find out more about the topics they discover in their favorite Magic Tree House adventures. And teachers can use the Fact Trackers alongside their Magic Tree House fiction companions to meet Common Core text pairing needs. <p> Have more fun with Jack and Annie on the Magic Tree House website at MagicTreeHouse.com!
Baseball: A HIstory of America's Game (Sport and Society)
by Benjamin G. RaderAnalytics, technology, and the most ambitious rewrite of the rulebook in fifty years have reshaped baseball. Benjamin G. Rader’s account of the American pastime moves from diamonds scratched out of commons and corn fields to the multimedia theme parks doubling as today’s baseball stadiums. The fifth edition follows the long arc of the game’s history into the third decade of the twenty-first century, an era rich in innovation but even richer from revenue streams undreamt-of by the plutocrats of old. Rader brings readers up to date with looks at the Astros cheating scandal, on-the-field changes from power pitchers to ghost runners, data-driven player development and career rebirth, and the one-of-a-kind Shohei Ohtani. Engrossing and complete, Baseball, Fifth Edition, offers a comprehensive tour of the game and its place within American society and culture.