Roy Sievers

 Few players in the history of baseball suffered as many professional setbacks as Roy Sievers (1926–2017). After an award winning rookie season in 1949, he endured a year and a half–long slump, a nearly career-ending injury and a major position change—all from 1950 through 1953.
Traded in 1954, he prevailed and became one of the most feared hitters of the decade, the Washington Senators’ home run leader and the biggest gate attraction since Walter Johnson.
Drawing on original interviews with Sievers and teammates, this first full-length biography covers the life and career of a first baseman who overcame adversity to restore a dispirited franchise.

Paul Scimonelli, retired teacher and musician, had a successful music career for more than 60 years. He has written numerous articles for music journals and his dissertation on the history of the Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music is a widely read resource in the university library’s database. He lives in Woodstock, Maryland.

Paul Scimonelli
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 220
Bibliographic Info: 24 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6869-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3024-3
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments v

Preface 1

Foreword by Bob Wolff 7

Introduction 11

 1. Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis 15

 2. “A pair of spikes, and they were too big!” 24

 3. “I thought, hell, this is easy!” 31

 4. The Sophomore Jinx 37

 5. Bad Breaks and Small Wonders 48

 6. Big Bat and Short Fences 61

 7. “The sweetest ­right-handed swing in baseball” 73

 8. The World Is His Oyster 94

 9. The Times, They Are ­A-Changin’ 119

10. The Best Is Yet to Come 142

11. Coming Home 159

Epilogue 176

Appendix: Achievements, Awards and Highlights 183

Chapter Notes 187

Bibliography 197

Index 199