Silver Bats and Automobiles
The Hotly Competitive, Sometimes Ignoble Pursuit of the Major League Batting Championship
$29.95
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About the Book
Almost from professional baseball’s birth more than 130 years ago, the batting championship has been one of the sport’s most highly coveted awards. Since 1949, the Louisville Slugger company has presented the man with the highest batting average at season’s end with the Silver Bat Award, a regulation-sized metal bat plated in sterling silver with the winner’s name and average engraved upon it. Throughout the years, heated battles for the Silver Bat Award have featured unusual machinations by players, managers, and entire teams, including allegations of cheating, bribery, deliberate misplays, and questionable strategies, and, in one especially bitter campaign, charges of racism. Here are the stories behind these races.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
David L. Fleitz
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 222
Bibliographic Info: 27 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-5879-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8684-7
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Preface 1
1. The Birth of Batting Average 3
2. The First Batting Champions 10
3. Waiting on Deck 17
4. The Eternal Question: Play or Sit? 26
5. Bubbles, Cuckoo, and Schnozz 34
6. A Walk Is as Good as a Hit 45
7. Mad Dog 52
8. The Ted Williams Effect 60
9. An Equal Chance 69
10. Brett and McRae 79
11. 1931: A Four-Way Race 88
12. Scoring Disputes 96
13. The Curious Case of Adrian Anson 104
14. The Unloved Batting Champ 111
15. Cheating for Fun and Profit 119
16. Backing In 127
17. The Boston Connection 135
18. Looking Out for Number One 147
19. Minor League Shenanigans 156
20. Quirky Rules 164
21. Sittin’ Out 172
22. The Most Contentious Batting Race of All 179
23. Beyond Batting Average 192
Chapter Notes 199
Bibliography 207
Index 209
