Ball Cap Nation

Ball Cap Nation

Author: Jim Lilliefors

Publisher: Clerisy Press

Published: 2009-09-01

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1578604117

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As the country grows increasingly diverse and complicated, Americans seek, and occasionally find, a common thread to unite them. And, as Jim Lilliefors reveals in his new book, that common thread is what the baseball cap is made of -- indeed, what has transformed it into America's National Hat. As fads go, it's no longer even a fad, but a part of the national identity that, for better or worse, is a symbol of America. It feeds an illusion that Americans cherish -- that despite their differences, and no matter what position they play -- when wearing a baseball cap, they're all part of the same team. Exploring every aspect of caps and their culture -- including the history, manufacturing, and evolution of baseball caps; collecting and caring for caps; cap etiquette; and even cap urban legends -- and packed with photos throughout, Ball Cap Nation is a delightful look at a uniquely American phenomenon.


Ball Cap Nation

Ball Cap Nation

Author: Jim Lilliefors

Publisher: Clerisy Press

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1578603404

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As the country grows increasingly diverse and complicated, Americans seek, and occasionally find, a common thread to unite them. And, as Jim Lilliefors reveals in his new book, that common thread is what the baseball cap is made of — indeed, what has transformed it into America’s National Hat. As fads go, it’s no longer even a fad, but a part of the national identity that, for better or worse, is a symbol of America. It feeds an illusion that Americans cherish — that despite their differences, and no matter what position they play — when wearing a baseball cap, they’re all part of the same team. Exploring every aspect of caps and their culture — including the history, manufacturing, and evolution of baseball caps; collecting and caring for caps; cap etiquette; and even cap urban legends — and packed with photos throughout, Ball Cap Nation is a delightful look at a uniquely American phenomenon.


Baseball As America

Baseball As America

Author: Kevin Mulroy

Publisher: National Geographic

Published: 2005-04

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9780792238980

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The official companion, filled with stunning original and archival photographs, to the National Baseball Hall of Fame's groundbreaking four-year travelling exhibition pays tribute to America's favorite national pasttime by featuring more than thirty essays by writers, players, scholars, and fans, revealing how baseball has had a profound impact on the evolution of American culture. Reprint.


Slaves in the Family

Slaves in the Family

Author: Edward Ball

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2017-10-24

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 146689749X

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Fifteen years after its hardcover debut, the FSG Classics reissue of the celebrated work of narrative nonfiction that won the National Book Award and changed the American conversation about race, with a new preface by the author The Ball family hails from South Carolina—Charleston and thereabouts. Their plantations were among the oldest and longest-standing plantations in the South. Between 1698 and 1865, close to four thousand black people were born into slavery under the Balls or were bought by them. In Slaves in the Family, Edward Ball recounts his efforts to track down and meet the descendants of his family's slaves. Part historical narrative, part oral history, part personal story of investigation and catharsis, Slaves in the Family is, in the words of Pat Conroy, "a work of breathtaking generosity and courage, a magnificent study of the complexity and strangeness and beauty of the word ‘family.'"


Baseball in the Garden of Eden

Baseball in the Garden of Eden

Author: John Thorn

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-03-20

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0743294041

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Think you know how the game of baseball began? Think again. Forget Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown. Did baseball even have a father--or did it just evolve from other bat-and-ball games? John Thorn, baseball's preeminent historian, examines the creation story of the game and finds it all to be a gigantic lie. From its earliest days baseball was a vehicle for gambling, a proxy form of class warfare. Thorn traces the rise of the New York version of the game over other variations popular in Massachusetts and Philadelphia. He shows how the sport's increasing popularity in the early decades of the nineteenth century mirrored the migration of young men from farms and small towns to cities, especially New York. Full of heroes, scoundrels, and dupes, this book tells the story of nineteenth-century America, a land of opportunity and limitation, of glory and greed--all present in the wondrous alloy that is our nation and its pastime.--From publisher description.


When Baseball Went White

When Baseball Went White

Author: Ryan A. Swanson

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2014-06-01

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0803235216

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"Explains how in the decade following the Civil War, baseball became segregated because its leaders wanted to grow its presence and appeal to Southerners, and wanted to professionalize it. The result was the exclusion of black players that lasted until 1947"--


The Great Baseball Revolt

The Great Baseball Revolt

Author: Robert B. Ross

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0803249411

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The Players League, formed in 1890, was a short-lived professional baseball league controlled and owned in part by the players themselves, a response to the National League’s salary cap and “reserve rule,” which bound players for life to one particular team. Led by John Montgomery Ward, the Players League was a star-studded group that included most of the best players of the National League, who bolted not only to gain control of their wages but also to share ownership of the teams. Lasting only a year, the league impacted both the professional sports and the labor politics of athletes and nonathletes alike. The Great Baseball Revolt is a historic overview of the rise and fall of the Players League, which fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Though it marketed itself as a working-class league, the players were underfunded and had to turn to wealthy capitalists for much of their startup costs, including the new ballparks. It was in this context that the league intersected with the organized labor movement, and in many ways challenged by organized labor to be by and for the people. In its only season, the Players League outdrew the National League in fan attendance. But when the National League overinflated its numbers and profits, the Players League backers pulled out. The Great Baseball Revolt brings to life a compelling cast of characters and a mostly forgotten but important time in professional sports when labor politics affected both athletes and nonathletes. Purchase the audio edition.


The Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat

Author: Dr. Seuss

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 000734869X

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Two children sitting at home on a rainy day are visited by the Cat in the Hat who shows them some tricks and games.


Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Author: Michael Lewis

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2004-03-17

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0393066231

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Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?


The Imagine Nation Project

The Imagine Nation Project

Author: Michael O'Brien

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-06-22

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9781512309515

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What makes magic so much fun to watch? Is it the compelling story, the sense of wonder it creates, or perhaps even the beautiful ballet of cards that the magician brings to life? To be honest, all of these things are correct. Magic is an art form and like any art form it depends on what kinds of emotions it evokes from its viewers. The ability to make a spectator's imagination run wild as they witness these impossible miracles taking place in the palm of their own hands is what truly makes magic such a wonderful experience. At the end of the day it is how a spectator feels that will make them remember this moment forever. "The Imagine Nation Project" is a collection of 31 close-up magic effects that are designed to evoke a sense of wonder and excitement from your viewers whilst leaving them with an experience that they will be telling their family and friends about for years to come. Join magician Michael O'Brien on a journey through the imagination and discover what it is that makes magic so captivating. Learn some new sleights, techniques and build some new gimmicks that will take your magic to the next level. Deep down we all have a child's sense of wonder just waiting to be discovered. It is your job as the conjurer to inspire your audience to take a step back from reality and truly enjoy this magical experience.