50 Phabulous Phillies contains stories about former players, executives, and managers of the Phillies. Most of the subjects were previously interviewed for the Phillies' team newspaper, Phillies Report, now known as Pinstripes, with those stories updated to today. The book covers people associated with the club as far back as 1915. Dick Allen, Johnny Callison, Steve Carlton, Lenny Dykstra, Tug McGraw, Greg Luzinski, Robin Roberts, Mike Schmidt, Richie Ashburn, and 41 others are among the 50 Phabulous Phillies who are featured.
The 2015-16 season marks the 60th anniversary of the Big 5, Philadelphia’s top men’s college basketball teams—LaSalle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple, and Villanova. No other city has schools that participate in a full round robin, which has grown in popularity in such a sports-driven city. Philadelphia’s Big Five highlights the history of these five schools, their basketball programs, and their unique relationship with one another. Author Skip Clayton has interviewed prominent figures from each school to get a look into some of the biggest moments in Big 5 history. One chapter focuses exclusively on the legendary coaches from these teams, including several who went on to coach in the NBA (three from Penn, three from Saint Joseph’s, and one from Temple), and four who became general managers. Clayton also provides stats on how each Big 5 team did against each other in the City Series games, the most exciting events for Big 5 fans. Some of the legends highlighted include: • LaSalle: Larry Cannon, Ken Durrett, Tom Gola • UPenn: Steve Bilsky, Corky Calhoun, Bob Morse • Saint Joseph’s: Cliff Anderson, Matt Guokas Jr., Jim Lynam • Temple: John Baum, Eddie Jones, Aaron McKie • Villanova: Harold Jensen, Wali Jones, Jim Washington • Coaches: Tom Gola, Jack McKinney, Phil Martelli Philadelphia’s Big Five is a great read for Big 5 alumni and all fans of Philadelphia basketball! Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
So You Think You’re a Philadelphia Flyers Fan? tests and expands your knowledge of Flyers hockey. Rather than merely posing questions and providing answers, it will give you the details behind each—stories that bring to life players and coaches, games and seasons. This book is divided into multiple parts, with progressively more difficult questions in each new section. Along the way, you’ll learn more about the great Flyers players and coaches of the past and present, from Bobby Clarke to Bernie Parent, Bill Barber, Fred Shero, Rick MacLeish, Brian Propp, Mike Keenan, Mark Howe, Tim Kerr, Ron Hextall, Eric Desjardins, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Pronger, Eric Lindros, Mark Recchi, Simon Gagne, Wayne Simmonds, and so many more. Some of the many questions that this book answers include: • What goalie recorded the first shutout in team history? • Which former Flyers coach later won a Stanley Cup for another team? • Who scored the very first regular-season overtime goal for the Flyers? • What opponent went forty-two games without beating the Flyers at the Spectrum? This book makes the perfect gift for any fan of the Fly Guys!
So You Think You’re a Philadelphia Eagles Fan? tests and expands your knowledge of The Birds. Rather than merely posing questions and providing answers, you’ll get details behind each—stories that bring to life players and coaches, games and seasons. This book is divided into four parts, with progressively more difficult questions in each new section. The Rookie section contains the most basic questions. Next come the Starter and All-Pro sections, followed by the biggest challenge: the Hall of Fame. Also, you’ll learn more about the great Eagles players and coaches of the past and present, including Norm Van Brocklin, Steve Van Buren, Chuck Bednarik, Pete Retzlaff, Harold Carmichael, Dick Vermeil, Mike Quick, Randall Cunningham, Reggie White, Andy Reid, and Carson Wentz.. Some of the many questions that this book answers include: Who scored the winning touchdown in the 1960 NFL Championship Game? When Donovan McNabb became the starting quarterback during the 1999 season, who did he replace? Who threw the longest touchdown pass in Eagles history? Who are the only three Eagles players to lead the league in scoring? This book makes the perfect gift for any fan of Philadelphia football!
To Philadelphia Phillies fans, he was the soundtrack of summer. To millions of football fans across America, he was the "Voice of the NFL." And as open and giving as Harry Kalas was throughout his professional and personal life, there are countless layers of the man that have remained unknown . . . until now. Author Randy Miller interviewed more than 160 people -- including all of Harry's surviving family, many of his close friends from childhood to present, numerous colleagues from baseball and the NFL, and even Harry's longtime personal psychologist -- to craft a loving and shockingly honest portrayal of one of the most celebrated broadcasters in the history of sports. With incredible details from all phases of his life -- from his upbringing in the Chicago suburbs, to his Hall of Fame broadcasting career in baseball, to his ubiquitous voiceover work with the NFL, to his personal vices for drinking and women, to his legendary friendship with Richie "Whitey" Ashburn, to his ongoing feud with on-air partner Chris Wheeler -- Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas will surprise, delight, and enlighten all fans of the man they called "Harry the K."
On September 11, 1985, with a sell-out crowd of 52,000 fans on hand at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and millions of others watching on television, Pete Rose collected hit number 4,192 of his career and passed Ty Cobb as the all-time career hits leader. As he reached first base, thousands of cameras flashed, his teammates mobbed him, fireworks exploded and the crowd overwhelmed him with a seven-minute standing ovation. Rose was on top of the world. Less than four years later, he would be banned for life from baseball for allegedly betting on major league games, roundly criticized in the press by both fans and fellow players, and then convicted for tax evasion. In 2003, fourteen years after he was made ineligible for the Hall of Fame, Commissioner Bud Selig took up Rose's application for reinstatement, igniting once again an intense debate about his legacy and baseball's long-standing zero-tolerance policy on gambling. This book gathers the available facts of Rose's life and career, as well as the scandals he was embroiled in, leaving the reader a more informed participant in the ongoing discussion.
The 1964 season, highlighted by two significant trades, a game-winning home run, and three no-hitters, was a dramatic one for the National League. But even more thrilling was that season's final week and the race for the pennant. All the drama of the 1964 National League season through the Cardinals' league championship is in this book. It covers Johnny Callison's All-Star game-winning home run, Duke Snider's trade from the New York Mets to the San Francisco Giants and Lou Brock's trade from the Cubs to the Cardinals, Reds manager Fred Hutchinson's battle with cancer (and his replacement, and death in November 1964), the controversial remarks made by Giants manager Alvin Dark about African American and Latin players on his own team, the no-hitters pitched by Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers, Jim Bunning of the Phillies, and Ken Johnson of the Colt .45s (later the Astros), the opening of Shea Stadium, and the demolition of the Polo Grounds. Special attention is given to the final weeks of the season when the Phillies collapsed with a six and a half game lead and twelve games to go, while battling it out with the Cardinals and the Reds.
Waite Hoyt was much more than a baseball player. A multi-faceted, sometimes troubled man, Hoyt was a vaudevillian, a mortician, a writer, a painter, and (of course) a Hall of Fame pitcher. He was also an alcoholic who overcame his demons and became one of the first players to make the transition to the announcer's booth. His teammates and managers were among the all-time greats, but he'll always be associated with his friend Babe Ruth. He was there when Ruth hit 29 homers for a new record in 1919; when Ruth hit his 60th in 1927; when the Babe hit his 714th, and last, home run; he was even a pallbearer at Ruth's funeral. His career on the mound and as the Cincinnati Reds announcer lasted from 1915 to 1965, and to walk in his footsteps is to journey through the history of baseball in the 20th century. This biography of Waite Hoyt involves many great moments in baseball history, and includes some of the classic tales that Hoyt, a natural-born storyteller, would tell about his teammates. It follows his transition from a career on the field to his career behind the microphone, and his struggles with alcoholism that almost cost him his dream of working as a broadcaster. Later chapters chronicle his years in the announcer's booth, his induction into Cooperstown, and his longtime championing of Babe Ruth as beyond compare, even as Ruth's most prominent records fell to Maris and Aaron.
By 1964 the storied St. Louis Cardinals had gone seventeen years without so much as a pennant. Things began to turn around in 1953, when August A. Busch Jr. bought the team and famously asked where all the black players were. Under the leadership of men like Bing Devine and Johnny Keane, the Cardinals began signing talented players regardless of color, and slowly their star started to rise again. Drama and Pride in the Gateway City commemorates the team that Bing Devine built, the 1964 team that prevailed in one of the tightest three-way pennant races of all time and then went on to win the World Series, beating the New York Yankees in the full seven games. All the men come alive in these pages--pitchers Ray Sadecki and Bob Gibson, players Lou Brock, Curt Flood, and Bobby Shantz, manager Johnny Keane, his coaches, the Cardinals' broadcasters, and Bill White, who would one day run the entire National League--along with the dramatic events that made the 1964 Cardinals such a memorable club in a memorable year.
