Lefty Grove may have been baseball’s best pitcher. He was certainly one of its most interesting. A three-hundred-game winner during 1925–41, he captured an unmatched nine ERA and five winning-percentage titles. While starring for the Philadelphia Athletics he was known for “a fastball and a mean disposition,” qualities best exemplified in 1931, when he won thirty-one games and wrecked a clubhouse. Grove finished his career with the Boston Red Sox, where he injured his arm and reconstructed himself as a fabulous control artist.
This book chronicles the history of the Philadelphia Athletics, the first real dynasty in Major League Baseball. The focus of the book is the 1931 season, in which Philadelphia, led by superstar pitcher Lefty Grove, had the best season in franchise history, leading to a third consecutive trip to the World Series. With a roster full of future Hall of Fame players--like Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx and Connie Mack--the Athletics were one of the best baseball teams of all time, and the 1931 season served as the apex of their success, as the financial restrictions of the Great Depression caused the owners to break up the team.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year “An instant sports classic.” —New York Post * “Stellar.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” —BookPage (starred review) * “This is a remarkable achievement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will. Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,? The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?” Baseball’s legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history? No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more. The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.
Honig interviewed former big-league players across the country to compile this nostalgic book packed with statistics, action, revelations, and an extraordinary oral history of the halcyon days of baseball between the world wars. Includes comments by Ted Williams, Bucky Waters, Lou Gehrig, and others. Photos.
Sports expert Allen Barra's Clearing the Bases takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question in this, the ultimate baseball debate book, one guaranteed to spark thousands of heated arguments and supply the fuel for thousands more. Who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? Who was the best right-hander of the '60s, Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal? Who is the greatest starting pitcher of all time? At his peak, who was more valuable, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams? If Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, and Roger Clemens had pitched at the same time against the same hitters, who would have won the most games? If Jackie Robinson had been white, would he be deserving of the Hall of Fame? Is Pete Rose overrated? Has Tim Raines been underrated? Who is the best hitter of the game today-- Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr.? Is today's pitching really that bad? Why can't modern pitchers go nine innings? Which are more valuable--good starters or good relievers? How important is the stolen base? What are the myths that still surround Babe Ruth? What was the most talented baseball team of the twentieth century? Which twentieth-century championship team has been most slighted by baseball historians? What has been the real impact of black and Latin talent on Major League Baseball? Is baseball more competitive now than it was one hundred years ago? Or fifty? Or twenty-five? Who was the greatest all-around player of the last century? Find the answers here. Clearing the Bases is the first book to tackle these and many other of baseball's most intriguing questions, plus it offers hard, sensible answers--answers based on exhaustive research and analysis. Sports journalist Allen Barra, whose weekly sports column, "By the Numbers," has earned him millions of readers in The Wall Street Journal and whose outspoken opinions on Salon.com are discussed regularly on National Public Radio, takes on baseball's toughest arguments. Using stats and methods he developed during his ongoing tenure at The Wall Street Journal, Barra takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question, Who's the Best?, in this, the ultimate baseball debate book. Regardless of what stand you take in these debates, you'll never think about baseball's greatest stars in the same way again.
A Founding Father of modern baseball, Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy started out as a catcher and moved on to become the consummate manager and part owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 to 1950. Better known as Connie Mack, he cut a dashing figure clad in a business suit and straw skimmer. With an even-tempered manner, "Mr. Mack" was regarded as a unique combination of coach and father figure by his players—who included such all-time greats as Ty Cobb, Lefty Grove, and Chief Bender. This engaging autobiography, written with his characteristic warmth and enthusiasm, reads like a history of baseball during the first half of the twentieth century. Enhanced by seventy photos, Mack walks us through his amazing life—and the highlights of his legendary career. He holds the records for most wins and losses by a manager, he won nine American League pennants, brought the A's to eight World Series and won five of them. Plus, there has never been another man who has managed one sports team for fifty years. Achieving the ultimate recognition, the "Grand Old Man of Baseball" was elected to the National Hall of Fame in 1937, and was the first person chosen for the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Certain to create new controversies, and stir up some old ones, here is a fascinating historical and comparative look at the national pastime and its greatest players over the past one hundred years.
Part reference, part trivia, part brain teaser, and absolutely the most unusual and thorough compendium of baseball stats and facts ever assembled—all verified for accuracy by the Baseball Hall of Fame. First created by legendary sportswriter Bert Randolph Sugar, and now updated, here are thousands of fascinating lists, tables, data, and stimulating facts. Inside, you’ll find all of the big name baseball heroes like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Pete Rose, Denny McLain, Ty Cobb, and a lot of information that will be new to even the most devoted fans: Highest batting averages not to win batting titles Home-run leaders by state of birth Players on last-place teams leading the league in RBIs, by season Most triples by position, season Winners of two “legs” of triple crown since last winner Oldest pitchers with losing record, leading league in ERA Career pitching leaders under six feet tall Managers replaced wile team was in first place Hall of Famers whose sons played in the majors Players with palindromic surnames And so much more! Not just a collection of facts or records, this is a book of glorious fun that will astound even the most bookish baseball fan. Read up and amaze your friends!
Full-color, detachable facsimile reproductions, both front and back, of 92 authentic baseball cards. Among the players are Hornsby, Young, McGraw, Stengel, Rickey, Gehrig, Williams, Mantle, Spahn, Robinson, Musial, Koufax, Clemente, and many more. There is no duplication of cards with Sugar's Classic Baseball Cards.
Includes stories, memoirs, poems, news reports, and insider accounts about all aspects of baseball from its pastoral nineteenth-century beginnings to now.
