The Immaculate Inning shines a light on the miracle of baseball’s endless possibility—the way that on any given day, someone (maybe a star, or maybe a scrub) could perform the rarest of single-game feats or cap off a seemingly unobtainable chase for a record. Covering a selection of the most unusual, significant, and rare feats in baseball history, both in the context of single-day (and sometimes even single-play) events and those that require a longer streak or a full season’s excellence to reach or complete, the book clearly defines how each task is amassed, provides historical background, and tells riveting stories of the ballplayers that did the unthinkable.
Getting 3 batters out in order on nine pitches is one of the most remarkable feats in baseball. Since the late 1800s, only 71 pitchers have been able to do it. Yet, unlike other rare achievements in baseball, such as pitching a perfect game, the “immaculate inning” does not capture the same attention or consideration. In a game that is as unpredictable as baseball, perfection, when it occurs, should be cause for both reflection and celebration. In Immaculate, Cairney provides a short history of perfect innings through the stories of the pitchers who pitched them. Beginning with an brief overview of the numbers, the remaining chapters, one for each immaculate inning on record in major baseball, provides insight into the men, their careers and details of the inning itself, from the first recorded perfect inning in 1889 to the most recent string of innings last MLB season in 2014. The names include pitching greats such as Jim Bunning, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson, but also many lesser known, if not colorful, pitchers like “Sloppy” Thurston and Bill Wilson. The teams include famous franchises like the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees, but also clubs now defunct like the Boston Beaneaters and the Montreal Expos. Using immaculate innings as benchmarks, the book provides an engaging and entertaining journey through the history of professional baseball that will delight both the serious student of the game, as well as the fan who enjoys reading about the game.
There are a number of baseball players who live out a profound faith. There are also people of faith who love the game of baseball. To find people who understand the nuances of the game of baseball through a framework of theology is unique. A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? explores aspects of the game of baseball that evoke images from biblical stories and theological themes. Using a theological framework to analyze the game of baseball provides a much more interesting, if not deeper, experience of the game. It is much more than a game from this perspective. It is much more than life. Baseball becomes a reflection of the deepest meaning of life. Both baseball and faith can be described as journeys. The journey of faith begins in the wilderness as we pursue the call of God in our lives. The journey of baseball comes on two levels--one as a player striving to become a major leaguer and two as a fan whose love of baseball may be generational or dream inspired or both. We begin with the journeys of faith and baseball in section 1. Section 2 looks at the social and cultural context of faith and baseball. Both have experienced and initiated social change. Section 3 identifies how baseball and faith deal with rule breakers or sinners. Section 4 shows the relationship between baseball and faith in their unusual personalities and goals of perfection. Section 5 is a potpourri of theological images that can be found in baseball. Finally, any theological discussion requires consideration of sacrament. Maybe surprisingly, there are sacramental images in baseball. On one level, A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? is an autobiography of Dan Flanagan. He traces how he was first introduced to baseball through his playing days and into his professional involvement in broadcasting, which gave him access to major league baseball in a way he was unable to achieve as a player. His multiple universes of interest come together in this book. His years of biblical teaching is evident. The breadth of his reading adds interest. His years of playing the game provides a flavor of legitimacy of one who knows the game of baseball. A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? will challenge you and entertain you as a baseball fan and as a person of faith. It will expand your love of both!
In 2010 a Buddhist scroll was found in the ruins of Yankee stadium, and it proved what Buddhist scholar/award-winning author Donald Lopez, Ph.D., had suspected: the Buddha created the game of baseball. Buddha Takes the Mound: Enlightenment in 9 Innings is The Tao of Pooh for baseball. Funny, moving, and enlightening, this is a read that will engross, enrich, and charm any baseball fan. At once a love letter to the sport and an engaging introduction to Buddhism, it shows how the Buddha invented baseball to teach us deep truths about the world, about ourselves, and about each other. Lopez believes that Buddhism provides a lens for us to see baseball in a new way, a way that makes us love the game even more, a way that makes us ponder profound questions about winning and losing, about who we are, about finitude and infinitude, about birth and death. As Lopez reveals, not only is Buddhism integral to baseball; but baseball is Buddhism, and baseball is ourselves.
In the more than 140-year-history of the Chicago Cubs, fans have been treated to countless firsts — well-known things such as the first Cubs Black player (Ernie Banks), the first night game at Wrigley (August 9, 1988 vs. the Mets), the first to win a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in the same year (Ryne Sandberg), and the first Cubs pitcher to win the Cy Young Award (Ferguson Jenkins). The list goes on. In Chicago Cubs Firsts, Al Yellon presents the stories behind those and other firsts in Cubs history in question-and-answer format. More than a mere trivia book, Yellon’s collection includes substantive answers to the question of “Who (or when) was the first…?” on a variety of topics, many of which will surprise even seasoned fans of the North Siders.
NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year National Sports Media Association Sports Book of the Year An NPR "Book of the Day" #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But these are also moments raw with the humanity of the game, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar, and every story, from the immortal to the obscure, is told from a unique perspective. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player—these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth. Posnanski’s previous book, The Baseball 100, portrayed the heroes and pioneers of the sport, and now, with his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, he gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers’ duels to breaking the sport’s color line in the ’40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski’s illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love—and thought we knew. Why We Love Baseball is an epic that ends too soon, a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that has us thrilled, torn, inspired, and always wanting more.
The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2009-2010 is an anthology of scholarly essays that utilize the national game to examine topics whose import extends beyond the ballpark and constitute a significant academic contribution to baseball literature. The essays represent sixteen of the leading presentations from the two most recent proceedings of the annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, held, respectively, on June 3-5, 2009, and June 2-4, 2010. The anthology is divided into five parts: Baseball as Culture: Dance, Literature, National Character, and Myth; Constructing Baseball Heroes; Blacks in Baseball: From Segregation to Conflicted Integration; The Enterprise of Baseball: Economics and Entrepreneurs; and Genesis and Legacy of Baseball Scholarship, which features an essay written by the co-creator of baseball scholarship, Dorothy Seymour Mills.
The author now wishes to welcome all conquerors of the soul and suggests that they tread lightly around the tigers in the house before sitting for tea with the masters of life and death. Members of the family of man will be serving angel food cake to the sacred and profane through the courtesy of the three wise women. Meanwhile, the Blacketeers will be checking to make sure that you dot all the ayes and fill in the blanks so that you can connect the dots on the forms you received from the offices of Our Savior. Now that you are in full compliance with the standards of Christ, we will be offering you safe conduct past the White Quicksand and the Black Kryptonite and sundry other places where signs that point to Gods gone wild have been sighted.
Big Book of WHO is a book your young sports fans will return to again and again!Batter up! Baseball is a game of legends. From diamond greats such as Babe Ruth and Willie Mays to Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, this newly revised and updated edition of The Big Book of WHO Baseball is a collection of the 101 baseball stars every fan needs to know, past and present. Featuring the latest MLB photography and the most current information about baseball's best players, this Sports Illustrated Kids reference book for young sports fans is written in a fun and easy-to-navigate question and answer format. Player profiles, facts, and stats are organized into five comprehensive categories: Champions, Super Sluggers, Prime Pitchers, Cool Characters, and Record Breakers.This fun collection of questions and answers will have kids stumping their friends and adult sports fans with their expert knowledge of baseball's brightest stars.
