All
Century Team
Mark Vancil (Editor)
In the summer of 1999, baseball fans pitched their votes for Major
League Baseball's All Century Team. Celebrated here with hundreds of photographs
and deep statistical analysis, the 30-player squad spans the century, representing
big leaguers from the golden age to the modern era. Prodigy Ken Griffey
Jr. roams the outfield with legends Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle,
among others. Relative newcomers Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan are named
to a pitching staff that includes Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, and Warren
Spahn. Even the oft-injured slugger Mark McGwire makes the cut, riding
his late 1990s home run bonanza to join Iron Man Lou Gehrig at first base.
No best-of compilation satisfies every criterion, but the All Century
Team comes close, even recognizing omitted players who, statistically-speaking,
merit inclusion. Editors Mark Vancil and Peter Hirdt devote a full-page
spread to one such player, Greg Maddux, regarded as possibly the best pitcher
ever:
Maddux's greatness has all the other trimmings
one would expect: four Cy Young awards, four ERA titles, and seven All-Star
nominations. He also has one you wouldn't expect: nine Gold Gloves. Still,
history doesn't always reveal itself in real time. It's often left to later
generations to identify greatness in hindsight.
In fact, it's All Century Team's commitment to identifying greatness that's
most admirable. A wealth of statistics, crammed into every available margin
space, ranks each player's performance against other 20th-century standouts.
Decades of brilliant photography help quantify intangibles like glory and
grit. And a series of evocative anecdotes reveals how a player's worth
is measured in many ways. Satchel Paige remembers the lightning-quick James
"Cool Papa" Bell: "One time he hit a line drive right past my ear. I turned
around and saw the ball hit his ass sliding into second." Reggie Jackson
calls pitcher Tom Seaver "so good that blind people come to the park just
to hear him pitch." Notable for both its style and its substance, All Century
Team is an all-century baseball book. --Rob McDonald - Amazon.com
Hardcover / Published 1999
The
Annotated Baseball Stories of Ring W. Lardner, 1914-1919
George W. Hilton(Editor), Ring W. Lardner
Paperback / Published 1997
Also in Hardcover
The
Ashes of Lou Gehrig and Other Baseball Essays
by Sean Peter Kirst, Harold Holzer
The parents and widow of Lou Gehrig were so concerned about the potential
desecration of his grave that they considered moving his ashes to the Hall
of Fame in Cooperstown. Officials embraced the idea of creating an elaborate
mausoleum for baseball greats, but the idea was killed by Gehrig's wife
- whose cryptic remarks leave us wondering to this day about the disposition
of his remains. Kirst's piece on Gehrig's ashes and numerous other essays
are put together from dozens of personal interviews with baseball characters,
both famous and obscure:
Babe Dahlgren claims he was blacklisted for rumors of marijuana use;
Babe Ruth sends a note to a child stricken with polio - a note nearly lost
when the family moved, and the first physical confirmation obtained by
the Hall of Fame of the slugger's legendary kindness to children; a black
cat is brought to the ballpark as a gesture of contempt when Jackie Robinson
plays against Syracuse, a team he felt treated him as badly as any in the
International League. The collection contains new information about the
father of baseball card collecting, about a bat company whose accomplishments
were lost in baseball lore, and about the dramatic murder trial of the
first African American to play in the Major Leagues. Beautifully written,
filled with fresh facts and revelations, these essays will appeal.
Sean Peter Kirst, a columnist and writer, lives in Syracuse, New York.
He is the winner of the national 2003 Clarion Award for opinion writing
for his work in the Syracuse Post-Standard. The Publisher
Paperback from McFarland & Company
Book Published: August, 2003
American
Baseball : From Gentleman's Sport to Commissioner System
David Voight, et al
Paperback / Published 1983
The Babe : The Game That Ruth Built
Listed under Babe Ruth Books
Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan
by Peter Morris
Listeed under Detroit Tigers
The
Baseball Timeline : In Association With Major League Baseball
by Burt Solomon
(Hardcover - March 2001)
The Baltimore Orioles : Four Decades of Magic from 33rd Street to
Camden Yards
by Ted Patterson, Brooks Robinson
Listed under Baltimore Orioles
Batter
Up!: Celebrating a Century of Minnesota Baseball
by Ross Bernstein, Genny Zak Kieley
(Paperback - January 2003)
Cal: Celebrating the Career of a Baseball Legend
by Sporting News (Editor), The Sporting News
Listed under Baseball Legends
The Complete New York Yankees: The Total Encyclopedia of the Team
by Derek Gentile
Listed under New York Yankees
Confessions
of a Baseball Purist: What's Right, and Wrong, With Baseball, As Seen from
the Best Seat in the House
by Jon Miller, Mark Hyman (Contributor)
Broadcaster Jon Miller didn't know he was a baseball "purist" until
acting commissioner Bud Selig accosted him with the moniker on national
TV in 1993. "At one time," writes Miller in retrospect, "the label 'baseball
purist' could've been worn as a badge of honor. Any legitimate fan would've
been pleased to be thought of as a purist. But I suppose that to Mr. Selig,
a purist was a lonely old man hunched over a windup Victrola, thumbing
through a 1929 Who's Who in Baseball, fretting that the game just hasn't
been the same since the Babe retired." In Confessions Miller admits to
being a purist--loosely defined by him not as a forlorn fan stuck in a
period-piece movie but as a fan knowledgeable enough to realize that baseball
evolves for the good of the game--despite what myopic owners might try
to perpetrate in the short term. In a chapter titled "The Good Old Days
Are Now," Miller reminds die-hards of the old adage about things changing
and staying the same. To wit, here's Ty Cobb in 1925: "The great trouble
with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the
money." Miller goes on to suggest that the 1990s will be remembered in
20 years as a "golden age" of hitting and that accusations of juiced balls,
watered-down pitching, smaller ballparks, and expansion still cannot account
for this decade's abundance of outstanding batters. The voice of the San
Francisco Giants (and formerly the Baltimore Orioles) holds forth on everything
from interleague play (it's good for the game but messy) to traveling with
Cal Ripken (a game of Strat-O-Matic baseball reveals just how competitive
the Iron Man really is). Occasionally he whiffs--as when he suggests that
ballparks install 20-second time clocks to keep pitchers hurling at a reasonable
pace. But ultimately what comes through the anecdotes and arguments is
his tremendous love for the game and a generous capacity for recognizing
the quality of the present and not just the past. --Langdon Cook - Amazon.com
Paperback: 272 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.75 x
8.41 x 5.43
Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; ISBN: 0801863163; Updated edition
(April 2000)
Cool Papas and Double Duties : The All-Time Greats of the Negro Leagues
by William F. McNeil
Listed under Negro Baseball League
The Dodgers Encyclopedia
by William F. McNeil, Bill McNeil
Listed under Brooklyn Dodgers
Ernie
Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball
by Tom Keegan, Al Kaline, Ernie Harwell
Hardcover from Triumph Books
Book Published: 01 April, 2002
The 500 Home Run Club: From Aaron to Williams
Bob Allen, Bill Gilbert
Listed under Baseball Legends
Glove
Affairs: The Romance, History, and Tradition of the Baseball Glove
by Noah Liberman, Yogi Berra
Hardcover from Triumph Books
Book Published: March, 2003
The
Golden Voices of Baseball
by Ted Patterson
Book Description: The Golden Voices of Baseball is a book that's been
in the making for some 80 years. In addition to the fascinating sketches
and photos of baseball broadcasting legends that veteran author Ted Patterson
has compiled, fans will also be able to hear the inside stories about their
careers in audio CD form. Included are many of the classic calls these
legends made over the last half century. From pioneers such as Graham McNamee,
Harold Arlin and Ted Husing, to broadcasting icons such as Mel Allen, Jack
Buck and Vin Scully, this compilation of words and voices is destined to
become the definitive book about baseball broadcasting history. Besides
those that have already been mentioned, the list of 40 featured broadcasters
includes Red Barber, Bob Prince, Lindsey Nelson, Russ Hodges, Jimmy Dudley,
Jack Brickhouse and Ernie Harwell. Hall of Famer Curt Gowdy contributes
the foreword to the book and the introduction to the audio CD.
Hardcover: 200 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.82 x
10.44 x 10.14
Sports Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 1582614989; Book &
Cd edition (November 8, 2002) |
| |
Hal
Chase : The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball's Biggest Crook
by Martin Donell Kohout
Hal Chase is considered by many to be one of the best first basemen
ever to play the game of baseball. He was able to make the routine look
spectacular, the spectacular look routine. But Chase will never have his
plaque in Cooperstown because he has gone down in history as the biggest
crook in baseball. Chase was repeatedly accused of throwing games, bribing
players, betting against his own team, and various other crimes, yet with
his relaxed nature he always managed to get off the hook for his misdeeds
by working his charm. His playing career lasted from 1905 to 1919, and
by the mid-1930s he was a destitute alcoholic living off friends. The last
fifteen years of Chase's life saw him hospitalized repeatedly for a variety
of ailments, living off a sister and brother-in-law who loathed him. This
work traces the turbulent life and times of Hal Chase from his humble beginnings
to his sad end. Amazon.com
Paperback - 347 pages (September 2001)
McFarland & Company; ISBN: 0786410671
The
Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign Stealing Have Influenced
the Course of Our National Pastime
by Paul Dickson
Hardcover from Walker & Co
Book Published: May, 2003
I Was Right on Time : My Journey from Negro Leagues to the Majors
by Buck O'Neil
Listed under Negro Baseball League
John
McGraw
by Charles C. Alexander
... as manager of both the old Baltimore Orioles and New York Giants,
he's the only skipper in the game's history to win almost 1,000 games more
than he lost. Amazon.com
Paperback - 358 pages Rep edition (March 1995)
Univ of Nebraska Pr; ISBN: 0803259255
Land
of the Giants: New York's Polo Grounds
by Stew Thornley
More than thirty years after its demolition, the Polo Groundslike some
other urban neighborhood parks such as Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium, Fenway
Park, and Wrigley Fieldstill holds a place in the hearts of baseball fans.
The Polo Grounds was the home of the New York Giants from John...
Hardcover - October 2000
Milwaukee Braves : A Baseball Eulogy
by Bob Buege
Listed under Baseball Teams
New
Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
by Bill James
Divided into two sections, "The Game" and "The Players," this comprehensive
and opinionated tome describes the evolution of the sport over the decades
(uniforms in the 1890s, best minor league teams of the 1930s, the Negro
Leagues, etc.) and the characteristics of its players (stats, injuries,
habits and proclivities). Publisher's Weekly
Hardcover - 998 pages (October 23, 2001)
Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 0684806975 |
| |
Now
Pitching for the Yankees : Spinning the News for Mickey, Billy, and George
by Martin Appel, et al
(Hardcover)
1960:
The Last Pure Season
by Kerry Keene
(Hardcover)
The New York Mets Encyclopedia
by Peter C. Bjarkman
Listed under New York Mets
Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Guide to Baseball Parks
Past & Present
by Josh Leventhal
Listed under Sports Stadiums
The Teammates
by David Halberstam
Listed under Boston Red Sox
Red Sox Century
by Glenn Stout, et al
Listed under Boston Red Sox
The
1919 World Series : What Really Happened?
by William A. Cook
One of baseball's infamous events is the 1919 World Series between
the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. Overshadowed by the suspicion
cast upon, and the subsequent indictment of, eight White Sox players for
throwing the games, the 1919 World Series has often been simplistically
and inaccurately portrayed by the popular media in the decades since. This
book takes an objective look at the series, players, managers, owners,
and on-field events to separate fact from fiction ... Amazon.com
1951:
When Giants Played the Game
by Kerry Keene
Hank Greenberg : The Story of My Life
by Hank Greenberg, Ira Berkow (Contributor)
Listed under Baseball Legends
Summer
of '49
by David Halberstam
With the airwaves saturated with so much sporting choice, it's hard
to imagine how, not that long ago, baseball so completely dominated the
landscape and captured imaginations. Given the 1949 season that veteran
journalist David Halberstam meticulously recreates, maybe it's not so hard
after all. It was a season of great public and personal drama for the Boston
Red Sox and the New York Yankees, with the conflict finally resolving itself
in a Yankee pennant following a head-to-head showdown on the final day
of the season. Each team was led by a star of the highest magnitude: Joe
DiMaggio spurred the Yankees despite missing half the season with a foot
injury; Ted Williams virtually carried the Sox on his back, missing an
unprecedented third Triple Crown by mere decimal points on his batting
average. Halberstam focuses much of his narrative on the trials of these
two individual sporting giants, adding fine supporting performances by
Yogi Berra, Ellis Kinder, Dom DiMaggio, even restaurateur Toots Shoor.
Both on and off the field, Halberstam beautifully captures the ethos of
a more innocent game that no longer exists, played by heroes far more driven
by their pride than by their salaries. Amazon.com
Paperback: 384 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.90 x
8.15 x 5.30
Harper Perennial; ISBN: 0060007818; (March 19, 2002)
Treasures
of the Baseball Hall of Fame : The Official Companion to the Collection
at Cooperstown
by John Thorn, Ted Williams, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
"Baseball is at the core of our national life, and the Baseball Hall
of Fame and Museum is the game's national shrine, the repository of its
heritage." So begins this tour of the treasures of the Hall of Fame. Every
baseball fan knows that Cooperstown stands for the best of the history
and tradition of the great game. For those fans who visit this village
in upstate New York--400,000 make the pilgrimage annually--and for those
who cannot get there, John Thorn, baseball's foremost historian,... Amazon.com
Hardcover - 304 pages (June 1998)
Villard Books; ISBN: 0375501436
Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles
by James Overmyer
Listed under Negro Baseball League
Whitey
Ford (Baseball Hall of Famers)
by Arthea Nolan
(Library Binding - November 2002)
The Yankees Century : Voices and Memories of the Pinstripe Past
by Alan Ross
Listed under New York Yankees
Zim : A Baseball Life
by Don Zimmer, et al
Listed under Baseball Legends
1947
: When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball
Red Barber
Not recommended
Paperback / Published 1988
The Greatest Team of All Time : As Selected by Baseball's Immortals,
from Ty Cobb to Willie Mays
by Nicholas Acocella, Donald Dewey
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
The Joe Williams Baseball Reader : The Glorious Game, from Ty Cobb
and Babe Ruth to the Amazing Mets : 50 Years of Baseball Writing
by Peter Williams (Editor)
Out of Print - Try Used
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