Category: Sports

New on our bookshelf:

Gettysburg Eddie Plank: A Pitcher’s Journey to the Hall of Fame
Dave Heller

Eddie Plank won 326 games and has the most complete games and shutouts by a left-handed pitcher in Major League history. But how much do we know about the hurler best known as “Gettysburg Eddie” in his playing days? And what of him that we do know is factual?

This biography of Plank sorts out the truth and the myths—and everything in between—as he made his way from a college team in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, all the way to the Hall of Fame, 20 years after his death. Along the way, readers will discover what made Plank so great, the secrets behind his famous crossfire delivery, and more.

New on our bookshelf:

Seven Games in ’62: The Yankees and Giants Square Off in a Classic World Series
John Iamarino

After seven games and 13 days, the outcome of the 1962 World Series hung on the final pitch, thrown by a pitcher for the New York Yankees to a hitter for the San Francisco Giants. The teams had been evenly matched, alternating victories until the final, winner-take-all contest. One more out would give the Yankees the championship. A hit would almost certainly win the Giants their first Series title since moving to San Francisco. Despite its breathtaking climax, the ’62 Series has seldom been chronicled among the most dramatic Fall Classics. This book provides an unprecedented in-depth examination, describing in detail each game of the Series and the events that led up to it, including the Giants’ thrilling playoff with the Dodgers for the National League pennant. The author compares common game strategies used in the early 1960s vs. today and explores possible factors that made this Series historically underrated in the annals of baseball.

New on our bookshelf:

Amos Alonzo Stagg: College Football’s Greatest Pioneer
David E. Sumner

Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862–1965) grew up one of eight children in a poor New Jersey family, graduated high school at 21 and worked his way through Yale. His goal was to become a Presbyterian minister, but he dropped out of Yale Divinity School because he felt he could have more influence on young men through coaching. He was hired as the first football coach at University of Chicago after its founding in 1892.

Under Stagg’s leadership, Chicago emerged as one of the nation’s most formidable football teams during the early 20th century, winning seven Big Ten championships and two national championships. After Chicago forced him to retire at 70, Stagg found another coaching position at College of the Pacific, where he was forced to retire at 84. He found another job and never fully retired from coaching until he was 98. His marriage to his wife to Stella­—his de facto assistant coach—lasted almost 70 years. Sports Illustrated wrote of him, “If any single individual can be said to have created today’s game, Stagg is the man. He either invented outright or pioneered every aspect of the modern game from…the huddle, shift and tackling dummy to such refinements as the T-formation strategy.” This biography tells the story of his life and many innovations, which made him one of the great pioneers of college football.

New on our bookshelf:

Ted Sullivan, Barnacle of Baseball: The Life of the Prolific League Founder, Scout, Manager and Unrivaled Huckster
Pat O’Neill and Tom Coffman

In his day, perhaps no one in baseball was better known than Irish-born Timothy Paul “Ted” Sullivan. For 50 years, America’s sportswriters sang his praises, genuflected to his genius and bought his blarney by the barrel. Damon Runyon dubbed him “The Celebrated Carpetbagger of Baseball.”

Cunning, fast-talking, witty and sober, Sullivan was the game’s first player agent, a groundbreaking scout who pulled future Hall of Famers from the bushes, an author, a playwright and a baseball evangelist who promoted the game across five continents. He coined the term “fan” and was among the first to suggest the designated hitter—because pitchers were “a lot of whippoorwill swingers.” But he was also a convert to the Jim Crow attitudes of his day—black ballplayers were unimaginable to him.

Unearthing thousands of contemporaneous newspaper accounts, this first exhaustive biography of “Hustlin’” Ted Sullivan recounts the life and career of one of the greatest hucksters in the history of the game.

New on our bookshelf:

The NHL’s Mistake by the Lake: A History of the Cleveland Barons
Gary Webster

The Cleveland Barons should never have existed. Born when the National Hockey League’s California Golden Seals—another team that should never have existed—were transplanted to Cleveland in 1976 and greeted with apathy by the dwindling number of hockey fans in northeastern Ohio, the Barons were an embarrassment to the city and to the NHL. The only thing the team had going for them was the state-of-the-art arena they played in, which was all but empty for nearly every game they played. This book chronicles the Barons’ two regrettable seasons—a case study in what happens when an ill-conceived professional sports team created in an expansion splurge is moved, in an effort to save it, to a city that doesn’t really want it.

New on our bookshelf:

Max Gordon: Life, Loss and Baseball’s Greatest Comeback
Jacob Kornhauser and Dylan Kornhauser

A left-handed batter in the NCAA’s Division 1, Max Gordon still had a lot to live for, provided he would live at all. Facing a devastating loss–the death of his brother, Nick–and a life-threatening physical injury, he went on a transformative personal journey that united his family through the most difficult time they had ever faced.

In this intimate narrative about the healing power of sports, a family is made whole again through the determination of a son who proves that in life as in baseball, no matter the score, as long as you have one more at bat, you’re still in the game. The authors tell the story from the perspective of having shared relationships with the Gordon brothers.

We’ve been hitting the speedbag with subject sales lately, and fight night is finally here: check out our newest catalog of boxing books and, through October 15, get 25% off with coupon code BOXING25!

New on our bookshelf:

Bill DeWitt, Sr.: Patriarch of a Baseball Family
Burton A. Boxerman and Benita W. Boxerman

In 1954, one year after Baltimore bought the St. Louis Browns, the New York Yankees hired former Browns executive and owner William O. DeWitt as assistant to general manager George Weiss. “DeWitt,” the news announced, “was considered an astute baseball man who would have a definite role to play with the Yankees.” Baseball fans had assumed that once the Browns were no longer the American League’s doormats, DeWitt would quietly retire. But for DeWitt, a shrewd protégé of Branch Rickey, his years with the Browns began a long and fascinating career, including his years as owner and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. This first ever biography focuses on the career of a baseball executive who contributed greatly to America’s pastime.

New on our bookshelf:

Barney Dreyfuss: Pittsburgh’s Baseball Titan
Brian Martin

A young German immigrant, Barney Dreyfuss was an American success story in business and in baseball. He fell in love with the game after settling in Paducah, Kentucky, where he discovered he had a knack for assembling good players on the diamond. Relocating to Louisville, he became involved in the professional game with the Colonels. Faced with ouster from the National League, he took his players to Pittsburgh, where he became owner of the Pirates and forged a winning tradition, leading the club to six pennants and two World Series.

This first biography of Dreyfuss chronicles the innovative career of the Hall of Famer executive who built Forbes Field—the National League’s first concrete-and-steel ballpark, into which he put $1 million of his own money—pushed for creation of the office of commissioner to govern the game and helped initiate the modern World Series.

New on our bookshelf:

Amazin’ Upset: The Mets, the Orioles and the 1969 World Series
John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden

In October 1969, the New York Mets stunned the sports world by defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in a memorable World Series. Their five-game triumph capped off a true Cinderella season, when the woebegone National League franchise rose from laughingstock to popular champions. The histories of both the Mets and Orioles are traced, along with their paths to the climactic ’69 Series. A batter-by-batter recap of all five games gives a box seat view to a storied moment in baseball history.

New on our bookshelf:

Sylvia Hatchell: The Life and Basketball Legacy
Roberta Teague Herrin and Sheila Quinn Oliver

As a young girl, Sylvia Hatchell longed to play little league baseball and, later, high-school basketball, but both were closed to her because she was a girl. In college, her world shifted when she discovered a passion for coaching that would lead her to become a Naismith Hall of Fame coach of women’s basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this book, Coach Hatchell’s life story unfolds against the backdrop of Title IX and women’s struggle for equal opportunities in athletics. She celebrates triumphs (such as winning the 1994 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament) and weathers sadness and failure (such as the loss of her parents, surviving cancer, and being forced to resign from her dream job in 2019).

New on our bookshelf:

Dr. Strangeglove: The Life and Times of All-Star Slugger Dick Stuart
William J. Ryczek

Dick Stuart (1932–2002) began as a minor league first baseman, noted for his outsized ego and terrible fielding. His brash personality and 66 home runs for the Lincoln Chiefs of the Western League made him a national figure in 1956. In 1958, he came up to the majors in Pittsburgh and played some fine seasons with the Pirates, and later the Boston Red Sox. In 1961, he was selected for the National League All-Star team, and he led the American League in RBI in 1963.

A wise-cracking bon vivant, his career was not what it might have been. If he had worked harder, he might have been a better player. If Bill Mazeroski hadn’t ended the 1960 Series with a home run, Stuart, who was on deck, might have been the hero. Yet his great hitting ability, quick wit and love for the limelight made him one of the most interesting players of his era.

New on our bookshelf:

Penn State Bowl Games: A Complete History
Tommy A. Phillips

With play-by-play coverage of every Nittany Lion bowl game, this book chronicles Penn State football’s vibrant history all the way back to the 1923 Rose Bowl. The team broke the color barrier at the Cotton Bowl in 1948, finished undefeated after back-to-back Orange Bowl victories in 1969 and 1970, and reigned over the college football world with national championships in the 1983 Sugar Bowl and 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

New on our bookshelf:

Coaching Women’s Softball: A Practical Guide with Insights from Players
Steve Meyer

What do women softball players look for in a coach? Drawing on interviews with 50 college players and a survey of players from all NCAA divisions, this book explores what players want and need: someone who connects with them on and off the field, a competent leader who knows and loves the game and mentors them with a vision beyond softball.

Coaches from major Division One conferences, as well as Divisions Two and Three and Junior College ranks, share their experiences and coaching strategies—among them four-time Olympian Laura Berg, Baylor University Coach Glenn Moore, University of South Carolina Coach Bev Smith, and four coaches with national championships to their credit. Taking cues from the coaches and players themselves, softball coaches will have the tools they need to revolutionize their approaches.

New on our bookshelf:

Baseball Under the Lights: The Rise of the Night Game
Charlie Bevis

Night games transformed the business of professional baseball, as the smaller, demographically narrower audiences able to attend daytime games gave way to larger, more diversified crowds of nighttime spectators. Many ball club owners were initially conflicted about artificial lighting and later actually resisted expanding the number of night games during the sport’s struggle to balance ballpark attendance and television viewership in the 1950s.

This first-ever comprehensive history of night baseball examines the factors, obstacles and trends that shaped this dramatic change in both the minor and major leagues between 1930 and 1990.

New on our bookshelf:

Base Ball 12: New Research on the Early Game
Edited by Don Jensen

Base Ball is a peer-reviewed book series published annually. Offering the best in original research and analysis, it promotes study of baseball’s early history, from its protoball roots to 1920, and its rise to prominence within American popular culture. This volume, number 12, includes thirteen articles on topics ranging from the career of pitcher Harry Coveleski, Philadelphia baseball pioneer Thomas Fitzgerald, and a baseball power couple, James and Harriet Coogan, to early Brooklyn baseball, the game in Canada during World War I, and the amateur teams sponsored by typewriter companies.

New on our bookshelf:

LSU Bowl Games: A Complete History
Neal Golden

Telling the story of LSU football through coverage of each of the Tigers’ 50 bowl games–from 1907 through 2019–this book provides summaries of the team’s regular season, and their opponents’ season, along with quarter-by-quarter game highlights, important stats, and quotes from players and coaches. Bowl games are presented in a number of notable contexts, including games against Hall of Fame coaches (1936-1938 Sugar Bowls, 2010 Capital One Bowl), games that featured Heisman Trophy winners (1959-1960 Sugar Bowls, 2019 Peach Bowl), LSU’s first games against black players (1965 Sugar Bowl, 1972 Bluebonnet Bowl), and the first game played by a U.S. football team in a foreign country (1907 Bacardi Bowl).

New on our bookshelf:

A Statistical History of Pro Football: Players, Teams and Concepts
Rupert Patrick

Drawing on the author’s 30-year study of football statistics, this book presents new methods for analyzing the game in different ways. An examination of known distances for missed field goals offers an accurate method for evaluating placekickers. Reassessments of punters and running backs are included, along with an overhaul of the NFL’s passer rating system. Topics previously unexplored through statistics are covered, such as momentum, defining “What is a dynasty?” and “What is a Cinderella team?”

Baseball is almost back! As a leading publisher of scholarly books about baseball, our editors are as excited as our readers for the first pitch. Browse our latest baseball catalog for gift ideas for your favorite fan, or treat yourself to a few new books—and, through opening day, April 1, get 20% off with coupon code OpeningDay2021!

New on our bookshelf:

Hockey’s Wildest Season: The Changing of the Guard in the NHL, 1969–1970
John G. Robertson

The 1969-70 season marked a turning point in the history of the National Hockey League. The season began with a near fatality and it culminated on a steamy Sunday afternoon in Boston with one of the NHL’s most iconic moments. In the interim, the 12 NHL clubs staged thrilling and memorable playoff races that were not decided until the final regular-season games were played. The three traditional powerhouse teams from the Original Six era faltered while former underdog clubs began to vie for top honors. Along the way, Boston’s Bobby Orr made history by becoming the first defenseman to win the NHL scoring title, three aging veterans in Detroit combined to form the most effective forward line in hockey, and a rookie goalie, Tony Esposito, lifted the Chicago Black Hawks from the basement to a divisional championship. Told here are the numerous other wonderful, strange, and captivating incidents that made the fun, fascinating, and free-wheeling 53rd NHL season one for the ages.

New on our bookshelf:

Baseball and the House of David: The Legendary Barnstorming Teams, 1915–1956
P.J. Dragseth

House of David barnstorming baseball (1915-1957) was played without pre-determined schedules, leagues, player statistics or standings. The Davids quickly gained popularity for their hirsute appearance and flashy, fast-paced style of play. During their 200 seasons, they travelled as many as 30,000 miles, criss-crossing the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Benton Harbor teams invented the pepper game and were winners year after year, becoming legends in barnstorming baseball.
Initially a loose affiliation of players, the Davids expanded to three teams–Western, Central and Eastern–as their reputation grew, and hired outsiders to fill the rosters. Prominent among them were pitchers Grover Cleveland Alexander and Charlie “Chief” Bender, both player managers in the early 1930s. They resisted the color barrier, eagerly facing Negro League teams everywhere. In 1934, before their largest crowd to date, they defeated the first Negro team invited to the famed Denver Post Tournament, the great Kansas City Monarchs, for the championship.

New on our bookshelf:

The Life and Teams of Johnny F. Bassett: Maverick Entrepreneur of North American Sports
Denis M. Crawford

One of the most influential sportsmen of the late 20th century, Johnny F. Bassett’s marketing wizardry belied his impact on professional hockey and football. A Canadian showman with a Barnumesque flair for spectacle, Bassett challenged the orthodoxy of sports, building sporting utopias in the fatally flawed World Football League, World Hockey Association, and United States Football League. He catered to the common fan, demanded fair treatment of athletes, and forced the sporting establishment to change the way it did business, often to his own detriment.

Drawing on archival research and interviews with Bassett’s contemporaries, this comprehensive biography chronicles his life in and around professional sports: his quixotic attempt to compete with the Maple Leafs; his stunning coup in signing three members of the reigning Super Bowl champions for his WFL team; his battles with the Canadian government over American football; his audacious marketing of hockey in Alabama; and his rivalry with Donald Trump for the soul of the USFL.

New on our bookshelf:

Best of the Bruins: Boston’s All-Time Great Hockey Players and Coaches
Jonathan Weeks

Among the “Original Six” National Hockey League clubs to survive the Great Depression, the Boston Bruins have a vibrant history. Entering the 2019-2020 campaign, the team ranked fourth all-time, with six Stanley Cup championships. Some of the most gifted players in NHL history have skated for the Bruins over the years. This detailed survey tells the individual stories of the players and coaches, past and present, who have helped make the Bruins perennial contenders for close to a century.

New on our bookshelf:

Frank Selee: Hall of Fame Manager of the Boston Beaneaters and Chicago Cubs
Richard Bressler

One of the best managers in the early years of professional baseball, Frank Selee (1859–1909) built two great teams. The Boston Beaneaters of the 1890s won five National League pennants during his tenure. The Chicago Cubs won four National League pennants and two World Series immediately after his period as manager—mostly with players he assembled. Selee’s teams earned reputations for sportsmanship during an era known for dirty play, and Selee himself was known as a congenial man at a time when many managers and players had were considered loutish or combative. This biography tells the story of one of baseball’s notable nice guys, who honed his craft to succeed in a ruthlessly competitive business.

New on our bookshelf:

Zack Wheat: The Life of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer
Joe Niese

Zack Wheat was long considered the greatest player in Dodgers history. The Missouri native parlayed his tenacious work ethic and raw skills into a major league career. For almost two decades, the mild-mannered outfielder was a mainstay for the Dodgers, bringing stability to a team that was at times unhinged. To this day, Wheat is the franchise leader in several batting categories.

Greatly respected by his peers and adored by fans, Wheat served as Brooklyn’s captain for several years, leading the club to two pennants (1916 and 1920). After his playing days, Wheat found difficulty working his way back into the game and was nearly killed in an automobile accident as a member of the Kansas City police force before finding redemption in election to the Hall of Fame in 1959.

New on our bookshelf:

Pro Sports in 1993: A Signature Season in Football, Basketball, Hockey and Baseball
David Ostrowsky

America and Canada both saw historic sports milestones in 1993. While the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bulls reigned supreme, the Toronto Blue Jays won a second consecutive World Series on a walk-off homer, and the Montreal Canadiens emerged as the last Canadian team to win a Stanley Cup. While stars like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Joe Montana overcame physical and emotional challenges to make history, teams were performing unprecedented feats, from the Buffalo Bills’ unrivaled comeback on Wild Card Weekend to the Baltimore Orioles’ unveiling of their transformative ballpark design during All-Star Week. Drawing on original interviews with dozens of former players and coaches, this book revisits an exceptional sports year for fans across North America, with memorable stories involving some of the most iconic sports figures of the 1990s.

New on our bookshelf:

The Knicks of the Nineties: Ewing, Oakley, Starks and the Brawlers That Almost Won It All
Paul Knepper

The Knicks of the 1990s competed like champions but fell short of their goal. An eclectic group who took divergent, in many cases fascinating paths to New York, they forged an identity as a rugged, relentless squad. Led by a superstar center Patrick Ewing and two captivating coaches—Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy—they played David to the Chicago Bulls’ Goliath. Despite not winning a championship, they were embraced as champions by New Yorkers and their rivalries with the Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat defined NBA basketball for a decade. Drawing on original interviews with players, coaches and others, this narrative rediscovers the brilliance of the Knicks, Ewing and his colorful supporting cast—Charles Oakley, John Starks, Larry Johnson and Latrell Sprewell—in the glory days of Madison Square Garden.

Now available in softcover:

Strong Arm Tactics: A History and Statistical Analysis of the Professional Quarterback
John Maxymuk

Signal caller, gunslinger, field general—the quarterback goes by many lofty nicknames. It’s arguably the toughest, most high-pressure position to play among all sports. The quarterback touches the ball on every offensive snap, is responsible for reading the defense, adjusting the play, and executing complex schemes that require tremendous physical and mental prowess. He is expected to be the undisputed team leader, whether he’s an established veteran or an untested rookie. If he succeeds, he’s the most likely player on the field to be canonized by fans and broadcasters. If he fails, he’ll be vilified in the press and his home field fans will start cheering for the backup.

This book traces the interesting history of the professional quarterback, from the early years when the quarterback was a blocker (and the appellations quarterback, halfback, and fullback were literal and geographically correct) to the modern-day player who must be the eyes, ears, brains, and, of course, the accurate, strong arm of the offense. The narrative history in Section I is rich with statistical analysis. The author employs realistic metrics for statistical comparison across multiple eras, and includes all-time rankings as well as specific rankings among different styles of quarterbacks. Section II compares quarterbacks within their respective eras, putting their accomplishments in context with those of their contemporaries. Section III breaks down the quarterback position, team-by-team, for current NFL franchises. Appendices provide detailed passing records; additional statistics on everything from relative passer ratings to fourth quarter comebacks; and listings of first round draft picks, trades involving quarterbacks, awards, and uniform numbers.

New on our bookshelf:

Professional Hockey in Philadelphia: A History
Alan Bass

Philadelphia has been a hockey town since 1897. Before and even during the Philadelphia Flyers’ tenure, other teams—the Ramblers, the Quakers and the Firebirds, among others—called the city home, for better or for worse. The first of its kind, this comprehensive history covers the teams and players that graced the ice from the turn of the 20th century through the 2009 demise of the Philadelphia Phantoms. Offering something for every Philly hockey fan, the author tells the stories of the 10 pro teams that played the world’s fastest game in the City of Brotherly Love.

New on our bookshelf:

Negro Leaguers and the Hall of Fame: The Case for Inducting 24 Overlooked Ballplayers
Steven R. Greenes

Since 1971, 35 Negro League baseball players and executives have been admitted to the Hall of Fame. The Negro League Hall of Fame admissions process, which has now been conducted in four phases over a 50-year period, can be characterized as idiosyncratic at best. Drawing on baseball analytics and surveys of both Negro League historians and veterans, this book presents an historical overview of NLHOF voting, with an evaluation of whether the 35 NL players selected were the best choices. Using modern metrics such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR), 24 additional Negro Leaguers are identified who have Hall of Fame qualifications. Brief biographies are included for HOF–quality players and executives who have been passed over, along with reasons why they may have been excluded. A proposal is set forth for a consistent and orderly HOF voting process for the Negro Leagues.

New on our bookshelf:

Eddie Cicotte: The Life and Career of the Banned Black Sox Pitcher
David L. Fleitz

New on our bookshelf:

Three-Pointer!: A 40-Year NBA History
Łukasz Muniowski

The three-point shot has been an NBA institution for more than 40 years, with the first long-distance bombs fired on October 12, 1979. The game has since changed dramatically. Critics today contend that three-pointers have gotten out of hand. Attempts rose from 2.8 per game in the 1979–1980 season to 18.4 in 2011–2012 to 32 in 2018–2019. Charting this development, this volume focuses on examples of 12 performances by 12 exceptional shooters—with mention of many more. Starting with Chris Ford and ending with Steph Curry, the author shows how these athletes have changed the NBA one shot at a time.

New on our bookshelf:

Arky: The Baseball Life of Joseph Floyd “Arky” Vaughan
Frank Garland

Bursting onto the scene as a 20-year-old rookie, Arky Vaughan quickly established himself as the next great Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop. In 1935 his .385 batting average eclipsed even that of the immortal Honus Wagner, who was a steadying influence for Vaughan during his 10 seasons with the Pirates. Vaughan never hit under .300 with Pittsburgh and his versatility later made him an asset to the Brooklyn Dodgers. One of the quietest men in baseball, the nine-time All-Star eschewed the limelight but received plenty of attention for his on-field performance, for his one-man mutiny against Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher, and for walking away from the game to take care of his family and his beloved ranch during World War II. Drawing on dozens of articles, personal writings, recorded interviews and his daughter’s unpublished biography, this book covers the life and career of an often overlooked Hall of Famer who died in a tragic boating accident at age 40.

New on our bookshelf:

Boom and Bust in St. Louis: A Cardinals History, 1885 to the Present
Jon David Cash

The St. Louis Cardinals, despite winning more World Series than any Major League franchise except for the New York Yankees, have seen their share of dry spells when they were shut out of the postseason. Like the American economy, the Cardinals have seen their fortunes cycle through prolonged ups and downs, with booms in 1885–1888, 1926–1946, 1964–1968, 1982–1987 and 1996–2011, and busts in 1889–1925, 1947–1963, 1969–1981 and 1988–1995. Drawing on years of research, this book chronicles the Cardinals’ periods of success and failure and explains the reasons behind them.

New on our bookshelf:

The Baseball Bat: From Trees to the Major Leagues, 19th Century to Today
Stephen M. Bratkovich

Why do modern-day sluggers like Aaron Judge prefer maple bats over the traditional ash bats swung by Ted Williams and others? Why did the surge of broken bats in the early 21st century create a crisis for Major League Baseball and what steps were taken to address the issue? Are different woods being considered by players and manufacturers? Do insects, disease and climate change pose a problem long-term?

These and other questions are answered in this exhaustive examination of the history and future of wooden bats, written for both lifelong baseball fans and curious newcomers.

New on our bookshelf:

Cy Young: The Baseball Life and Career
Lew Freedman

An early celebrity pitcher, Denton “Cy” Young (1867–1955) established supreme standards on the mound. A small-town Ohio farmer made good, he set Major League pitching records in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that will likely last forever.
The winner of 511 games—nearly one hundred more than the second-ranked hurler—Young pitched the first perfect game of the modern era, as well as three no-hitters. His talents helped establish the American League in 1901.

Among the Hall of Fame’s first inductees, he remained a sought-after interviewee decades after retirement. A year after his death, the Cy Young Award was dedicated as baseball’s most prestigious honor for pitchers.

New on our bookshelf:

The Hall Ball: One Fan’s Journey to Unite Cooperstown Immortals with a Single Baseball

Ralph Carhart

Rescued in 2010 from the small creek that runs next to Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, a simple baseball launched an epic quest that spanned the United States and beyond. For eight years, “The Hall Ball” went on a journey to have its picture taken with every member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, both living and deceased. The goal? To enshrine the first crowd-sourced artifact ever donated to the Hall.

Part travelogue, part baseball history, part photo journal, this book tells the full story for the first time. The narratives that accompany the ball’s odyssey are as funny and moving as any in the history of the game.

New on our bookshelf

The Umpire Was Blind!: Controversial Calls by MLB’s Men in Blue

Jonathan Weeks

In the words of former American League umpire Nestor Chylak, umpires are expected to “be perfect on the first day of the season and then get better every day.” Forced to deal with sullen managers and explosive players, they often take the blame for the failures of both. But let’s face it—umpires are only human.

For well over a century, the fortunes of Major League teams—and the fabric of baseball history itself—have been dramatically affected by the flawed decisions of officials. While the use of video replay in recent decades has reduced the number of bitter disputes, many situations remain exempt from review and are subject to swirling controversy. In the heat of the moment mistakes are often made, sometimes with monumental consequences. This book details some of these more controversial calls and the men who made them.

Now available in softcover:

Prizefighting: An American History
Arne K. Lang

This work brings a fresh perspective to the history of modern prizefighting, a sport which has evolved over several centuries to become one of mankind’s most lasting and valued sporting attractions. With his primary focus outside the ropes, the author shows how organizers, publicity agents, and political allies overcame both legal and moral roadblocks to make fisticuffing a lively commercial enterprise.

The book begins with the clandestine bare-knuckle fights in eighteenth-century London, and ends with the vibrant, large-scale productions of modern Las Vegas “fight nights.” Along the way, he explains many of the myths about antiquarian prizefighters, describes the origins of slave fight folklore, and examines the forces that transformed Las Vegas into the world’s leading venue for important fights.

Now available in softcover:

Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Korchnoi: A Chess Multibiography with 207 Games
Andrew Soltis

This book describes the intense rivalry—and collaboration—of the four players who created the golden era when USSR chess players dominated the world. More than 200 annotated games are included, along with personal details—many for the first time in English.

Mikhail Tal, the roguish, doomed Latvian who changed the way chess players think about attack and sacrifice; Tigran Petrosian, the brilliant, henpecked Armenian whose wife drove him to become the world’s best player; Boris Spassky, the prodigy who survived near-starvation and later bouts of melancholia to succeed Petrosian—but is best remembered for losing to Bobby Fischer; and “Evil” Viktor Korchnoi, whose mixture of genius and jealousy helped him eventually surpass his three rivals (but fate denied him the title they achieved: world champion).

Remember live sports? So do we, but just barely. With nothing on TV and the ballparks empty, we’re using this time to read, study and reminisce with some good books. Luckily, for the last forty years, we’ve celebrated sports by publishing the best scholarship available, with more than 1,000 titles covering all aspects of sport.  Through Sunday, June 14, we’re offering 40% off the list price of ALL sports titles—use coupon code SPORTS40 at checkout! Thank you for continuing to support McFarland, and we look forward to sitting next to you at the ballpark again.

New on our bookshelf:

New York Loves Them, Cooperstown Snubs Them: Great Mets and Yankees Who Belong in the Hall of Fame
Tom Van Riper

Despite the big market, bright lights and World Series rings, many Hall of Fame level players from the Mets and Yankees have been passed over by voters, often by good margins. The biggest reason: they didn’t accumulate those traditional lifetime stats in hits, home runs or wins that typically punch Hall of Fame tickets. New York fan favorites Keith Hernandez, Ron Guidry, David Cone and others had the misfortune of playing before today’s accepted measurement tools like on-base percentage, slugging percentage and ERA-plus (adjusting a pitcher’s earned run average to the league norm in a given year) became commonplace. Some players were overshadowed by bigger personalities who were better able to take advantage of the New York spotlight.

This book makes an in-depth case for the induction of seven Mets and Yankees, and evaluates many more who have been passed over for a spot in the Hall of Fame. Giving these players a fresh look, it uses advanced stats that weren’t around when these men were playing and places traditional stats in the context of their era.

New on our bookshelf:

The Pittsburgh Penguins: The First 25 Years
Greg Enright

The Pittsburgh Penguins have captured the Stanley Cup five times since 1991—more than any NHL team during the same period. Joining the NHL in 1967 as an expansion team, they waddled their way through years of heavy losses both on and off the ice—bad trades, horrible draft picks, a revolving door of owners, general managers and coaches, and even a bankruptcy. Somehow, they hung on long enough to draft superstar Mario Lemieux in 1984 and eventually claim their first championship, attracting a large fanbase along the way.

Packed with colorful recollections from former players, reporters and team officials, this book tells the complete story of the Penguins’ first 25 years, chronicling their often hilarious, sometimes tragic transformation from bumbling upstarts to one of hockey’s most accomplished franchises.

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The Baltimore Stallions: The Brief, Brilliant History of the CFL Champion Franchise
Ron Snyder

Baltimore is home to some of the greatest football players ever to step onto the gridiron. From the Colts’ Johnny Unitas to the Ravens’ Ray Lewis, Charm City has been blessed with multiple championship teams and plenty of Hall of Fame players.

Between the Colts and Ravens, a brief but significant chapter of Baltimore football history was written—the Stallions. Formed in 1994, they posted the most successful single season in the history of the Canadian Football League, when in 1995 they became the only U.S. team to win the Grey Cup. By 1996 the Stallions were gone, undermined by the arrival of the Ravens and the overall failure of the CFL’s U.S. expansion efforts. Drawing on original interviews with players, coaches, journalists and fans, this book recalls how the Stallions both captured the imagination and broke the hearts of Baltimore football fans in just 24 months.

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George “Mooney” Gibson: Canadian Catcher for the Deadball Era Pirates
Richard C. Armstrong and Martin Healy, Jr.

Canadian-born George “Mooney” Gibson (1880–1967) grew up playing baseball on the sandlots around London, Ontario, before going on to star with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. In an era known for tough, defensive catchers, Gibson was an ironman and set records for endurance. He helped the Pirates defeat Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers to win their first World Series in 1909. He played with and against some of the biggest names in the game and counted Cobb, Honus Wagner and John McGraw as friends. He then held numerous coaching and managing roles in New York, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Washington and Chicago—the last Canadian to manage full-time in the Major Leagues.

New on our bookshelf:

Rosenblatt Stadium: Essays and Memories of Omaha’s Historic Ballpark, 1948–2012
Edited by Kevin Warneke, Libby Krecek, Bill Lamberty and Gary Rosenberg

Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium was home to baseball’s College World Series from 1950 until 2010. Future Major League stars played pro ball there in all but seven seasons during the same period. The venue also hosted barnstorming games, football games, concerts and a variety of novelty events in its lifetime.

The history of the stadium is told by people who lived it. Essays and recollections by players and coaches who competed there, organizers of the Series and other events, and fans who enjoyed more than six decades of entertainment establish Rosenblatt’s place in the American cultural landscape.

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The Man Who Made Babe Ruth: Brother Matthias of St. Mary’s School
Brian Martin

At six-feet-six, the hulking Martin Leo Boutilier (1872–1944) was hard to miss. Yet the many books written about Babe Ruth relegate the soft-spoken teacher and coach to the shadows. Ruth credited Boutilier—known as Brother Matthias in the Congregation of St. Francis Xavier—with making him the man and the baseball player he became. Matthias saw something in the troubled seven-year old and nurtured his athletic ability. Spending many extra hours on the ballfield with him over a dozen years, he taught Ruth how to hit and converted the young left-handed catcher into a formidable pitcher.

Overshadowed by a fellow Xavierian brother who was given the credit for discovering the baseball prodigy, Matthias never received his due from the public but didn’t complain. Ruth never forgot the father figure who continued to provide valuable counsel in later life. This is the first telling of the full story of the man who gave the world its most famous baseball star.

New on our bookshelf:

John Beilein at Michigan: A Basketball Revival
Tim Rooney

When John Beilein arrived at University of Michigan in 2007, the once-proud men’s basketball program was adrift after failing to reach the NCAA Tournament for nine straight seasons. Over the next twelve years, he became the program’s all-time winningest coach, reached two national championship games, won four Big Ten championships and produced eight NBA first-round draft picks.

In an age of ethical lapses throughout college basketball, Beilein succeeded without a hint of impropriety. As much a teacher as a coach, he consistently identified undervalued recruits, taught them his innovative offensive system and carefully developed them into better players—an approach to the game that drove his unprecedented rise from high school junior varsity coach to head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. This book examines his tenure at Michigan in detail for the first time.

New on our bookshelf:

Yale Football Through the Years
Rich Marazzi

Chronicling Yale football from its 1872 inception to the present, this volume offers a comprehensive coverage of the most important games, including all Yale-Harvard contests, most Yale-Princeton games, record-making performances, great plays and more. Human-interest anecdotes offer a sidebar to the game or era covered, giving color to the storied history of Yale football. The evolution is traced of rules that transformed a game combining soccer and rugby into the football we know today.

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Cum Posey of the Homestead Grays: A Biography of the Negro Leagues Owner and Hall of Famer
James E. Overmyer

Cumberland Posey began his career in 1911 playing outfield for the Homestead Grays, a local black team in his Pennsylvania hometown. He soon became the squad’s driving force as they dominated semi-pro ball in the Pittsburgh area. By the late 1930s the Grays were at the top of the Negro Leagues with nine straight pennant wins.

Posey was also a League officer; he served 13 years as the first black member of the Homestead school board; and he wrote an outspoken sports column for the African American weekly, the Pittsburgh Courier. He was regarded as one of the best black basketball players in the East; he was the organizer of a team that held the consensus national black championship five years running. Ten years after his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he became a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame—one of only two athletes to be honored by two pro sports halls.

New on our bookshelf:

The Year the Packers Came Back: Green Bay’s 1972 Resurgence
Joe Zagorski

The 1972 Green Bay Packers were not expected to challenge for a playoff spot, or even to top their four victories from the season before. But the players were an eclectic group of over-achievers, 20 of whom were brand new to the team. Despite disheartening decisions by a questionable head coach, they gelled almost immediately and by season’s end became the only Packers team throughout the 1970s to earn a division title. This book details how they succeeded beyond all expectations and tells one of the great stories in pro football history.

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Sixty-One in ’61: Roger Maris Home Runs Game by Game
Robert M. Gorman

Much has been written about Roger Maris and the historic summer of 1961 when he broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record yet little is known about the pitchers on the other side of the tale. One of the many knocks against Maris was that he faced inferior pitching in an American League watered down by expansion from eight to 10 teams. But was that really the case? Did Maris face has-beens and never-weres while Ruth confronted the cream of AL pitching? Who were these starters and relievers and how good were they?

Drawing on first-hand accounts, interviews and a range of contemporary sources, this study covers each of Maris’ 63 home runs that season, including the lost one and his game-winning World Series dinger. Biographies of each of his 48 victims cover the pitcher’s career, pitching style and the circumstances of the game. Maris faced some really fine pitching that summer despite what many contended then—and now.

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Building the Brewers: Bud Selig and the Return of Major League Baseball to Milwaukee
Chris Zantow

When the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season, many impassioned fans grew indifferent to baseball. Others—namely car dealer Bud Selig—decided to fight for the beloved sport. Selig formed an ownership group with the goal of winning a new franchise. They faced formidable opposition—American League President Joe Cronin, lawyer turned baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, and other AL team owners would not entertain the notion of another team for the city.

This first ever history of baseball’s return to Milwaukee covers the owners, teams and ballparks behind the rise and fall of their Braves, the five-year struggle to acquire a new team, the relocation of a major league club a week prior to the 1970 season and how the Brewers created an identity and built a fan base and a contending team.

New on our bookshelf:

Baseball in Europe: A Country by Country History, 2d ed.
Josh Chetwynd

With the success of The Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, baseball in Europe has begun to receive more attention. But few realize just how far back the sport’s history stretches on the continent. Baseball has been played in Europe since the 1870s, and in several countries the players and devoted followers have included royalty, Hall of Famers from the U.S. major leagues, and captains of industry.

Featuring approximately 80 new interviews and 70 new photos and images, this second edition builds extensively on the previous edition’s country-by-country histories of more than 40 European nations. Also included are two new appendices on European players signed by MLB organizations and European countries’ performance in worldwide rankings.