Finding the Hidden Ball Trick
Finding the Hidden Ball Trick

Author: Bill Deane

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2015-02-18

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1442244348

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The dying art of the hidden-ball trick dates back to the early days of pro baseball, with seven successful executions documented in 1876 alone. This ruse occurs when a baseman conceals the ball instead of returning it to the pitcher. When the runner steps off the base, he is summarily tagged out with the hidden ball. The trick has been used some 264 times with success, a rarity roughly in the class of the no-hitter. The hidden-ball trick has produced many hilarious stories throughout the years, and even enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in 2013 when it was employed twice late in the season. In Finding the Hidden-Ball Trick: The Colorful History of Baseball’s Oldest Ruse, every known execution of the hidden-ball trick in the major leagues is documented, compiled from decades of research. This book recounts how the hidden-ball trick has completed triple plays, ended games, resulted in two arrests, cost a Hall of Famer a managing job, and even occurred in a World Series. Stories include how Fred Merkle gained revenge on Johnny Evers, how Gary Carter was caught to end a game—on his birthday—and how Lou Boudreau was nabbed the day after saying the play was obsolete. In addition to a complete chronological listing of every documented ruse, Finding the Hidden-Ball Trick also includes descriptions of tricks that went awry and a list of unsubstantiated accounts. This unique compilation of baseball stories will be of interest to baseball scholars and fans alike.

Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, Vol. 8
Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, Vol. 8

Author: John Thorn

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-01-09

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 1476617481

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BACK ISSUE Base Ball is a peer-reviewed book series published annually. Offering the best in original research and analysis, it promotes study of baseball's early history, from its protoball roots to 1920, and its rise to prominence within American popular culture. Prior to Volume 10, Base Ball was published as Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game. This is a back issue of that journal.

Baseball's Most Bizarre Plays
Baseball's Most Bizarre Plays

Author: Alan Hirsch

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1476645604

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Baseball has produced some notably strange plays--like Randy Johnson's fastball dismantling a bird--yet there have been many that defy belief. Beginning with Todd Frazier tricking umpires into calling an out with a rubber ball and culminating in Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky pitching into a scrum of two batters and a manager at home plate, this book describes the 150 most bizarre plays in the history of the game. Baserunners going in the wrong direction, outfielders kicking the ball, three runners meeting at one base, two balls in play, players ejected for dancing and many other anomalies are presented with detailed commentary.

Finding the Hidden Ball Trick
Finding the Hidden Ball Trick

Author: Bill Deane

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781442244337

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Through many years of research, Bill Deane has documented 260 successful hidden-ball tricks--putting the rarity of the play roughly in the class of the no-hitter. Along the way, he has collected the often-hilarious stories of these plays and the men who pulled them.

Rowdy Patsy Tebeau and the Cleveland Spiders
Rowdy Patsy Tebeau and the Cleveland Spiders

Author: David L. Fleitz

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2017-04-26

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1476627665

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In an era of rowdy teams, the Cleveland Spiders (1887-1899) were baseball's rowdiest. Managed by Oliver "Patsy" Tebeau, a quick-tempered infielder, the Spiders seemed to heap abuse of one kind or another on everyone--umpires, opposing teams, even the fans. Their aggression never brought home the pennant, but Cleveland's battles with the league's top clubs, including an 1895 Temple Cup victory over the Baltimore Orioles, are now legendary. Yet the story of the Spiders amounts to more than a 12 year free-for-all. There were top-flight players like Ed McKean, George Davis, Jesse Burkett, and Cy Young. There was the racially progressive signing of Holy Cross star Louis Sockalexis, the first American Indian in the major leagues. And then there was the team's final season, 1899, when a club ravaged by syndicalism set the standard for baseball futility.

Baseball and Philosophy
Baseball and Philosophy

Author: Eric Bronson

Publisher: Open Court Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 0812695569

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Baseball and Philosophy brings together two high-powered pastimes: the sport of baseball and the academic discipline of philosophy. Eric Bronson asked eighteen young professors to provide their profound analysis of some aspect of baseball. The result offers surprisingly deep insights into this most American of games. The contributors include many of the leading voices in the burgeoning new field of philosophy of sport, plus a few other talented philosophers with a personal interest in baseball. A few of the contributors are also drawn from academic areas outside philosophy: statistics, law, and history. This volume gives the thoughtful baseball fan substancial material to think more deeply about. What moral issues are raised by the Intentional Walk? Do teams sometimes benefit from the self-interested behavior of their individual members? How can Zen be applied to hitting? Is it ethical to employ deception in sports? Can a game be defined by its written rules or are there also other constraints? What can the U.S. Supreme Court learn from umpiring? Why should baseball be the only industry exempt from antitrust laws? What part does luck play in any game of skill?

Pud Galvin
Pud Galvin

Author: Brian Martin

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-09-29

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 078649977X

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Despite his outstanding pitching record, James Francis "Pud" Galvin (1856-1902) was largely forgotten after his premature death. During his 18-year career with Pittsburgh, Buffalo and St. Louis, he was one of the best-paid players in the game--but died penniless. The diminutive hurler was the first to reach 300 wins (and only four pitchers have amassed more). A determined researcher documented Galvin's record decades after his death and he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1965 with 365 wins. This book is the first comprehensive biography of Galvin and his use of a testosterone-based concoction--with eye-popping results--which earned him newfound attention as a pioneer of performance enhancing drugs.

The Baseball Codes
The Baseball Codes

Author: Jason Turbow

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2011-03-22

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 030727862X

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An insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments. Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining. At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field. With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.

Obsessed With...Baseball
Obsessed With...Baseball

Author: The Baseball Guys

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2007-10-04

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781932855739

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Includes multiple choice questions about baseball. Embedded in the book is a special computerized quiz module that lets you compete against yourself or a friend.

Hidden History of Clemson Football
Hidden History of Clemson Football

Author: Will Vandervort

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2020-08-10

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 143967079X

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From its auspicious start in 1896 to being on top of the college football world under Dabo Swinney, Clemson Football is one of the more colorful programs in all of college football. Learn how the program got its start in 1896 with a donation of land. Discover the beginning of the IPTAY program. Find out the origin of the Tiger paw and the tradition of the Clemson two-dollar bill. And, of course, get the backstage look at the "good ol' fashioned hate" that makes the Clemson-Carolina rivalry such a passionate one. Author Will Vandervort provides a behind-the-scenes look at Clemson Football's small beginnings to its current elite status as a three-time national champion and college football power under Swinney.