Baseball Players of the 1950s

A Biographical Dictionary of All 1,560 Major Leaguers

$49.95

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About the Book

The playing and post-playing careers of all 1,560 players who appeared in a major league box score between 1950 and 1959—the “golden age,” many say—are profiled in this exhaustive work. From Aaron to Zuverink: this treasure-trove of anecdotes, many gathered from personal interviews, is full of historical facts, controversy, and trivia.
Readers will be reminded, that Milwaukee Braves pitcher Humberto Robinson was asked by a gambler to fix a game against the Phillies (he refused), Joe Adcock chased Giants pitcher Ruben Gomez around the field with a bat, Bob Turley reached the top of the corporate ladder after his playing days, Casey Wise became an orthodontist, Bobby Brown became a heart surgeon and president of the AL, and that Chuck Conners became an actor. All of this and much more can be found here.

About the Author(s)

Rich Marazzi has served 24 of the 30 major league teams as a baseball rules consultant, including ESPN, the YES Network, Bally Sports, and NBS Sports Chicago. He lives in Ansonia, Connecticut.

SABR member Len Fiorito a former columnist for the Old Tyme Baseball News, lives in Seattle, Washington.

Bibliographic Details

Rich Marazzi and Len Fiorito
Format: softcover (8.5 x 11)
Pages: 456
Bibliographic Info: 290 photos, bibliography
Copyright Date: 2010 [2004]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4688-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0429-9
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      vi
Preface (Rich Marazzi)      1
Preface (Len Fiorito)      2

BASEBALL PLAYERS OF THE 1950S      5

Selected Bibliography      449

Book Reviews & Awards

“amusing anecdotes…you love the game, you gotta have it”—Booklist; “entries are strong on narratives, stories, and anecdotes…very well done, covers a large number of names not found elsewhere, and is recommended”—ARBA; “difficult to put it down…very fascinating”—Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society; “treasure trove of 50’s nostalgia”—Boston Braves Historical Association Newsletter; “plenty of original stuff…Marazzi interviewed hundreds of players…baseball junkies can get lost for hours in the anecdotes”—Sunday Squibs; “historic and entertaining”—Valley Times; “a glorious read”—New Haven Register; “baseball junkies can get lost for hours in the anecdotes”—Connecticut Post; “readers will enjoy the many photographs that show our heroes from the Golden Age of Baseball now in their golden years”—Sports Collectors Digest; “a glorious read…it’s much more of an anecdotal, whimsical look at all 1,560 players of the 1950s than it is a statistical reference”—New Haven Register; “a who’s who of 1950s baseball”—Seattle Times; “one of the more incredible books out there”—New York Post; “It is one of the finest books I’ve ever read”—Bob Wolff, Broadcaster; “Breezy, funny, and entertaining…it is 450 delightful pages of fun for anyone who ever put a bubble gum card of a ballplayer in his school notebook or stared at his radio when Bobby Thomson hit the ‘Shot heard ’Round the World’”—Writer Maury Allen. “Baseball Players of the 1950s brings back many memories for me inasmuch as I covered that entire decade at the start of my career”—Writer Jack Lang.