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The untold story behind one of baseball’s biggest scandals and the men who saved a tarnished game. In the winter of 1926, Major League Baseball became enveloped in scandal. Two of baseball’s biggest stars, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, were accused of fixing and betting on games. Sportswriters called the scandal worse than that of the infamous “Black Sox.” The reputation of baseball was in tatters. In Baseball at the Abyss, Dan Taylor reveals the behind-the-scenes story of how baseball was saved after the banishment of Cobb and Speaker. It was all set in motion by one unlikely individual—Christy Walsh, the business manager for Babe Ruth and baseball’s first player agent. Taylor follows Walsh and Ruth as the agent arranges for the Babe to star in a motion picture and presses for Ruth to hire a fitness guru, change his habits, and train while in Hollywood. The results were astonishing. The scandal was soon forgotten as a reinvigorated Babe Ruth enjoyed his greatest season in 1927, slugging 60 home runs and powering his New York Yankees to heights never seen before. Baseball at the Abyss features fascinating details of the 1926 scandal and the incredible resurgence of the national pastime when it seemed the game was permanently tarnished. It’s the story of a remarkable year in baseball history and the men who restored glory to a troubled game.
Baseball has never had a more important year than 1939, when events and people came together to reshape the game like never before. The author explains why that special year proved to be absolutely pivotal for our national pastime and its greatest heroes, as baseball's golden age met its modern era.
During the 19th century, baseball was a game with few rules, many rowdy players and just one umpire. Dirty tricks were simply part of a winning strategy--spiking, body-blocking, cutting bases short or hiding an extra ball to be used when needed were all OK. Deliberately failing to catch a fly in order to have the game called due to darkness was also acceptable. And drinking before a game was perhaps expected. Providing brief bios of dozens of players, managers, umpires and owners, this book chronicles some of the flamboyant, unruly and occasionally criminal behavior of baseball's early years.
Football and gambling. The two activities are inseparable. Yet the National Football League states it does not want fans to bet on its games. The league even fought against the state of New Jersey to keep sports gambling illegal. If wagering threatens the league's integrity as it claims, then why does the NFL openly embrace the gambling taking place in fantasy football, and why does it allow teams to license their logos to state lotteries? Is the league clandestinely working with legal and illegal bookies? Are its athletes gambling as well? Why are referees constantly making calls that seem to benefit Las Vegas? And what role do the NFL's broadcast partners play in all of this? Controversial author Brian Tuohy spent the 2014 NFL season doing exactly what it is the league doesn't want its fans doing -- gambling on its sport in all its forms -- to learn the true relationship between the NFL and gambling. No football fan should watch another game without realizing the impact these two entities have on each other.
Major League Baseball was in crisis in 1968. The commissioner was inept, professional football was challenging the sport's popularity and the game on the field was boring, with pitchers dominating hitters in a succession of dull, low-scoring games. The major league expanded for the 1969 season but the muddled process by which new franchises were selected highlighted the ineffective management of the sport. This book describes how baseball reached its nadir in the late 1960s and how it survived and began its slow comeback. The lack of offense in the game is examined, taking in the great pitching performances of Denny McLain, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale and others. Colorful characters like Charley Finley and Ken Harrelson are covered, along with the effects that dramatic changes in American society and the war in Vietnam had on the game.
The Hollywood Stars were the most inventive team in baseball history, known for their celebrity ownership and movie star following during the Golden Age of Hollywood. In Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball, Dan Taylor delivers a fascinating look at the Hollywood Stars and their glorious twenty-year run in the Pacific Coast League. Led by Bob Cobb, owner of the heralded Brown Derby restaurant and known more famously as the creator of the Cobb salad, the Hollywood Stars took professional baseball to a new and innovative level. The team played in short pants, instigated rule changes, employed cheerleaders and movie-star beauty queens, pioneered baseball on television, eschewed trains for planes, and offered fans palatable delicacies not before served at ballparks. On any given night, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, and dozens more cheered on their favorite team from the boxes and grandstands of Gilmore Field. During the Hollywood Stars’ history, its celebrity owners pushed boundaries, challenged existing baseball norms, infuriated rivals, and produced an imaginative product, the likes of which the game had never before seen. Featuring interviews with former players, Lights, Camera, Fastball is an inside look at a team that was far ahead its time, whose innovations are still seen in professional baseball today.
A fascinating look at how America's favorite sport has both reflected and shaped social, economic, and
"No One Who Wants to Know Baseball History Should be Without this Book" -- Portland Press Herald The story of America's pastime is rooted in our history. The most commonly told stories of baseball are no mystery. They can easily be found in any of the thousands of books on this team or that player. In 100 Years of Baseball, we get to look even further into the past at the stories that didn't make the headlines. Down through the years as baseball grew, Lee Allen traces the development... the New York knickerbockers of yesteryear; Jackie Robinson; the dark days of 1919, to the shenanigans of Durocher and MacPhail, and the New York Yankee world series monopoly. For a full-fledged history of professional baseball with all its crises, climaxes and heroes 100 Years of Baseball is a book that will excite you like no other.
“This is one of the very best baseball books in years.” Booklist, Starred Review Reaching the major leagues is a pipe dream for most young baseball players in America. Very few ever get to live it out. A select number of those players face the elation and frustration of getting to play in just one major league game. The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History tells the unique stories of eleven of these players. It details their struggles to reach the major leagues, their one moment in the limelight, and their struggles to get back. They include a former Major League Baseball manager, the son of a Baseball Hall of Famer, and two different brothers of Hall of Famers. Exclusive interviews with each of the players provide insight into what that single seminal moment meant and how they dealt with the blow of never making another major league appearance again. Spanning half a century of baseball, each player’s journey to Major League Baseball is distinct, as is each of their responses to having played in just a single game. The Cup of Coffee Club shares their unique perspectives, providing a better understanding of just how special each major league game can be.
Baseball's roots lie deep in our ancestral past. The ancient arts of throwing (distance warfare), hitting (close quarters combat), and running (attack and retreat) were woven into the earliest forms of baseball. Early humans recognized the importance of the sun and sought to placate it with sacrificial offerings, imitating its movements and deifying it. Myths and relics of these foundational practices and beliefs were carried westward across the Old World by Indo-European peoples. Games for the early British and Continental Europeans (notably the Celts and Druids) served military, religious, social and educational needs. As the Celts and Druids came under the control of the Roman Empire, and later the Christian Church, their customs and practices, including games, fell out of favor. Despite persecution, some folk games survived the millennia under such names as "stool-ball," "tut-ball," and "base-ball." Descendants of these peoples brought their variant games to the New World where the standardization of various informal rules led to their rapid spread. Baseball, with its underlying beliefs, superstitions and practices, still brings us together with familiar and comforting rituals as we assemble under the sun.