Hardball Legends and Journeymen and Short-Timers

This collection of more than 300 graphic biographies of baseball players is a throwback to the illustrated biographies or cartoons seen regularly in newspaper sports sections of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. All manner of ballplayers are included from the Hall of Famers (the Legends), to the everyday players (the Journeymen), to the cup-of-coffee guys (the Short-Timers). Almost all of the bio-illustrations are of major league players, but there are interesting exceptions—minor leaguers, female players, entertainers… These bio-illustrations regularly appeared in the pages of Sports Collectors Digest from 1997 through 2011.

The late Ronnie Joyner coauthored autobiographies with major leaguers Don Gutteridge, Frank Thomas (1950s–60s version), Virgil Trucks and Bob Dillinger and produced baseball card sets for the Washington Senators, Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, and the 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers. A graphic artist for the U.S. Senate, he lived in Charlotte Hall, Maryland.

Written and Illustrated by Ronnie Joyner
Format: softcover (8.5 x 11), graphic novel
Pages: 340
Bibliographic Info: b&w illustrations, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7052-5
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9145-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Preface      1

Assorted Legends, Journeymen, and Short-Timers      5
Big Boppers      81
Natural Born Hitters      107
Armed and Dangerous 1      28
Tragedies and Near Tragedies 1      65
World War II 1      78
Korea and Vietnam      209
Men of Desegregation 2 1      5
Music, Movies, and TV      225
Speedsters      249
Cool Couplings      260
Wholly-Worthy Half-Pagers 27      2
Black Sox: 1919 Chicago White Sox      280
Whiz Kids: 1950 Philadelphia Phillies      292
Pinstripers: 2009 New York Yankees      305

Index      321

• “Ronnie Joyner is a talented baseball artist whose specialty is exquisite, realistic B & W Player portraits that are embellished with amazingly succinct biographical text and small comic illustrations. A wonderful book which amounts to a fitting tribute to an art form that was once a staple of newspaper sports pages”—Spitball
• “A work of art…tremendous attention to detail. If you’re a lover of baseball history, or even baseball trivia, then you will love Joyner’s work…sure to astound and delight”—Tampa Bay Online