Propelled into the World Series in 1995 for the first time since 1954, the Cleveland Indians proved to the world they are no run-of-the-mill team. This comprehensive volume covers all of the team lore and legend, the controversies, the triumphs, and the heartaches. It includes 200 player profiles, season-by-season descriptions of unforgettable moments and memories, 700+ illustrations, extensive statistics, the World Series championships, and an immense treasure of little-known facts. The second edition of The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia has been completely updated from its original release in 1996.
Forty Champions of the Tribe Native Clevelander Russ Schneider has reveled in the successes and lamented the failures of the Cleveland Indians from his earliest childhood. After graduating from high school in 1946 and serving two tours of duty with the U.S. Marines, Schneider acquired a degree in English from Baldwin Wallace University. Following a brief (but uneventful) season as a minor league player, Schneider became a sportswriter and columnist at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He covered the Indians daily from 1964 through 1977 and became nationally known as the chronicler of the Indians' fortunes and history. That experience provided Schneider with the opportunity to meet and befriend the icons of the Tribe--among them, Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, and others. This beautiful coffee-table book features forty twentieth-century Indians legends, beginning with the era when they were the Cleveland Blues. Schneider has divided the Indians' history into quartercentury periods, selecting ten players from each as stars of this historic franchise. Illustrator Tom Denny, known for his dynamic and creative images in oil, watercolor, and mixed media, has created portraits and action scenes for each of the forty iconic players. Napoleon Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Jim Bagby Sr. from 1901-1925; Mel Harder, Bob Feller, and Lou Boudreau from 1926-1950; Larry Doby, Rocky Colavito, and Bob Lemon from 1951-1975; and Omar Vizquel, Jim Thome, and Kenny Lofton from 1976-2000 are some of the forty outstanding players selected. Also included are highlights of each player's career, biographical information, and career statistics. Sure to be treasured by sports enthusiasts and baseball lovers everywhere--especially Indians fans--Cleveland Indians Legends is a handsome and informative addition to the history of baseball.
This four-volume set introduces, on the management side, principles and procedures of economics, budgeting and finance; leadership; governance; communication; business law and ethics; and human resources practices; all in the sports context. On the marketing side this reference resource explores two broad streams: marketing of sport and of sport-related products (promoting a particular team or selling team- and sport-related merchandise, for example), and using sports as a platform for marketing non-sports products, such as celebrity endorsements of a particular brand of watch or the corporate sponsorship of a tennis tournament. Together, these four volumes offer a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the state of sports management and marketing today, providing an invaluable print or online resource for student researchers.
The riveting story of four men—Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige—whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond. In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history. In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy. Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series--all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.
From exploits on the field, to machinations in the front office, to data on the cities where they play, the Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Clubs presents the team history of each of the 30 MLB teams. Intelligent, in-depth essays provide social and economic histories of each club that go beyond the recounting of team glories or failures year by year. Team origins, annual campaigns, and players and managers all figure into the story, but so do owners, financiers, politicians, neighborhoods and fans. Teams are also looked at as business enterprises, with special attention given to labor issues like the reserve clause and free agency, as well as stadium construction and financing. Social and political issues are covered as well, including racism and integration, ethnic makeup of fans and players, gambling, liquor sales, and Sunday play. National events, like World War I, World War II, the Great Depression and the Cold War, and their impact on the national pastime, are also brought into the picture where they are relevant. Media coverage and broadcasting rights are discussed, as is the great influence the flood of media money has had on the sport. As America's sport, baseball reflects not just our ideas and beliefs about competition, it also reflects our national and regional identities. Readers will be able to find useful information about: important players, managers, owners; community relations/charity work; business and labor issues (television income, free agency); race relations; baseball/sports economics (including stadium construction, team relocations; and teams in local and national culture (Fenway Park, Wrigley Field as local icons, Yankees as a national team). Every essay is signed, and concludes with suggested readings and a bibliography. The work is illustrated, has a comprehensive bibliography, and is thoroughly indexed.
Over their first four decades in the American League, the Cleveland Indians were known more for great players than consistently great play. Its rosters filled with all-time greats like Cy Young, Nap Lajoie, Elmer Flick, Tris Speaker, and the ill-fated Addie Joss and Ray Chapman, Cleveland often found itself in the thick of the race but, with 1920 the lone exception, seemed always to finish a game or two back in the final standings. In the 10 years that followed the end of World War II, however, the franchise turned the corner. Led by owner (and world-class showman) Bill Veeck, the boy-manager Lou Boudreau, ace Bob Feller, and the barrier-busting Larry Doby, Cleveland charged up the standings, finishing in the first division every season but one and winning it all in 1948. This meticulously researched history covers the Indians' first six decades, from their minor league origins at the end of the 19th century to the dismantling of the 1954 World Series club. It is a story of unforgettable players, frustrated hopes, and two glorious victories that fed a city's unwavering devotion to its team.
The Dodgers Encyclopedia is the definitive book on Los Angeles and Brooklyn Dodgers baseball. It traces the history of one of Major League Baseball's most successful organizations, from the misty beginnings of its predecessors in rural Brooklyn more than 140 years ago, through their formative years in the major leagues, as a member of the American Association from 1884 through 1889, to a full-fledged representative of the National League since 1890. It covers the exciting and oftenzany years in Brooklyn through 1957, as well as a long and successful sojourn in Southern California during the last half of the 20th century.
In entertaining—and unsparing—fashion, this book sparkles with Indians highlights, lowlights, wonderful and wacky memories, legends and goats, the famous and the infamous. You'll relive the impressive playoff run in 2007 but also the horrendous moments, such as the Indians 23-2 loss to the Twins in 2003. There was the opening of Jacobs Field in 1994, but also the black eye that was 10¢ beer night in 1974.The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: Cleveland Indiansincludes the best and worst Indians teams and players of all time, the most clutch performances and performers, the biggest choke jobs and chokers, great comebacks and blown leads, plus overrated and underrated Indians players and coaches. There are Indians you loved for all the right reasons, and those you couldn't stand, sublime and embarrassing records, and trades, both savvy and savagely bad. Brawls and fights. Rivalries. Compelling photos. And much more.
