The heart of professional baseball, if not its roots, may be found in the American Midwest, especially in Missouri. In Seasons in the Sun, Roger D. Launius offers an excellent overview of the teams, pennant races, trials, and triumphs of the different major-league teams that have resided in the state over the years. Since 1876, when St. Louis became a charter member of the newly formed National League, there have also been other major-league franchises from less well known leagues in St. Louis. The St. Louis major-league baseball experience is not limited to the extraordinary success and fame of the Cardinals, who have won more World Series championships than any other National League team. St. Louis also claims the excellent but short-lived Brown Stockings, the city's first entry into the National League; the American League's Browns, who spent most of their existence in the first half of the twentieth century at the bottom of the standings; the virtually forgotten Terriers of the Federal League in 1914-1915; and the Maroons of the pre-twentieth-century National League.
A complete reference detailing the history of the Baltimore Orioles baseball franchise arranged in chronological order, day by day. Five decades of baseball history, from Cal Abrams to Cal Ripken Jr.; from Jim Palmer's first game to Brooks Robinson's last; from Frank Robinson's game-winning home run in the final game of the 1966 World Series to Earl Weaver, Memorial Stadium, Camden Yards, trades, and championships. A retrospective of the good and not-so-good days of the Baltimore Orioles.
As we all know, St. Louis is the best baseball town in America, but the city's major league history is not confined to the Cardinals. For several decades, until the middle of the twentieth century, St. Louis fielded a second professional team. True, it was mostly a losing team, but it once featured a first baseman who hit .400, a legendary Negro League star, and a pitcher who would go on to throw a perfect game in the World Series. They were the St. Louis Browns--the forerunners of the current Baltimore Orioles and a part of St. Louis's rich baseball history.
In the 1890s, the legendary Baltimore Orioles of the National League [sic] under the tutelage of manager Ned Hanlon, perfected a style of play known as "scientific baseball," featuring such innovations as the sacrifice bunt, the hit- and-run, the squeeze play, and the infamous Baltimore chop. Its best hitter, Wee Willie Keeler, had the motto "keep your eye clear and hit 'em where they ain't"--which he did. He and his colorful teammates, fierce third-baseman John McGraw, avuncular catcher Wibert Robinson, and heartthrob center fielder Joe Kelly, won three straight pennants from 1894 to 1896. But the Orioles were swept up and ultimately destroyed in a business intrigue involving the political machines of three large cities and collusion with the ambitious men who ran the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers. Burt Solomon narrates the rise and fall of this colorful franchise as a cautionary tale of greed and overreaching that speaks volumes as well about the enterprise of baseball a century later.
The bumbling St. Louis Browns won their only pennant during World War II, while Williams, DiMaggio, Feller and other stars were in uniform fighting--or playing ball--for Uncle Sam. This is the hilarious history of that era.
"Orioles Magic" is a phrase fans still associate with the 1979-1983 seasons, Baltimore's last championship era, when they played excellent, exciting ball with a penchant for late-inning heroics. This book analyzes the Orioles not just as a great team but as the team to be marked by the fabled "Oriole Way," an organizational commitment to fundamentally sound baseball that guided them for nearly 30 years. The Magic years are discussed in the context of Baltimore sports, fan culture and baseball history, recalling the thrills of a splendid squad that delighted fans and reminding us why Peter Gammons called the 1979-1983 Orioles one of the major league's "last fun teams."
From baseball's humble beginnings to its modern-day pyrotechnics, this comprehensive, one-of-a-kind, and endlessly entertaining volume contains stats and records, amazing anecdotes, and recreations of great games and heroic events--from pre-season to post-season and all the glory days in between.
In 1945, the United States was the most powerful nation in the world. But an Iron Curtain soon surrounded Eastern Europe, and by 1950, Americans were fighting in Korea. In 1952, I Like IKE! swept the nation, and the Fabulous Fifties began. GM sold the most cars, gas was 29 cents a gallon, and a new house cost $9,000. In 1955, following President Eisenhowers mild heart attack, Americas favorite sick joke had Vice President Dick Nixon greeting Ike at the White House by saying, Welcome back. . . May I race you up the stairs? The Fabulous Fifties of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley gave way to riots, Hippies, and The Beatles during the Radical Sixties. The 1960s began with JFKs New Frontier, grew into LBJs Great Society and the Vietnam War, and ended with Nixons Silent Majority and men on the moon. Soon, Nixon resigned, Ford stumbled, Carters brother sold Billy Beer, and the star of Bedtime for Bonzo led the popular Reagan Revolution. In 1989, Reagans Evil Empire collapsed. Soon, George Bush was victorious over Iraq and Panama, and lost to Bill Clinton in 1992. Clinton was eventually impeached, and was later replaced by another Bush. Want more details? Read my book.
With a legacy that spans two fiercely loyal baseball towns a half-nation apart, the Baltimore Orioles--originally the St. Louis Browns--rank among baseball's most storied teams. One of the fifteen celebrated team histories commissioned by G. P. Putnam's Sons in the 1940s and 1950s, The Baltimore Orioles: The History of a Colorful Team in Baltimore and St. Louis chronicles the club's early history and is reissued on the fiftieth anniversary of their first season in Baltimore. Hall of Fame sportswriter Frederick G. Lieb begins with the history of baseball in Baltimore from its pre-Civil War beginnings and its major-league debut as the Lord Baltimores in 1872 to the championship seasons of the National League Orioles in 1894, '95, and '96 when the roster included Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley, Kid Gleason, Roger Bresnahan, Joe McGinnity, and John McGraw. After the turn of the century, Baltimore was briefly home to the Orioles of the American League in 1901-02, then, after losing its franchise to New York, had to settle for the AAA International League Orioles until 1954. Under the leadership of Jack Dunn, the minor-league Orioles, while developing the talents of Babe Ruth, Lefty Grove, and other future major-league stars, won seven straight International League pennants from 1919 to 1926. Here, too, is the colorful history of the precursors to the current Orioles, the lovable and luckless St. Louis Browns, augmented for this edition with a new foreword from St. Louis sportswriter Bob Broeg on the escapades of the Brownies. Though they lost more than a thousand games and captured only a single pennant in fifty-three seasons, the Browns remain a legendary part of national lore. Taking their lead in different eras from larger-than-life figures such as Branch Rickey, Rogers Hornsby, Urban Shocker, and the Barnum of Baseball, Bill Veeck, the Browns "boasted a one-armed outfielder, a hired hypnotist, the mighty midget [Eddie Gaedel] and--even the best ballplayer in the land--George Sisler," as Broeg recalls in his foreword. In 1944, the Browns also played in the only all-St. Louis World Series, losing to the Cardinals. Originally published in 1955 and featuring twenty-two photographs, The Baltimore Orioles history concludes with the new American League team's first season in Baltimore, finishing seventh in the league but garnering the lasting adoration of their new hometown.
