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I met Neil Berry in October 2013 when he was 91. I had recently met his daughter, Linda, and when she mentioned that her father was the "oldest living Detroit Tiger" I had no qualms about asking to meet him. In preparation for this first meeting, I combed eBay for any memorabilia suitable for this former Tiger player to sign. To my surprise, when I handed over my vintage photograph of a play at the plate, Neil was immediately able to recognize the team and face of the catcher he had played against 65 years ago. Neil remembered his life in amazing detail and his anecdotes were colorful and razor sharp. Neil Berry was a star athlete for Kalamazoo Central and made the majors in 1948. Berry is not a household name even among the most ardent Tiger fans, but Neil played with or against many of the greatest players in the game; Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, and Don Larsen, to name a few. Through the ups and downs of his seven year Major League career, Neil Berry witnessed many unique or one time events in the history of the sport. Neil was playing shortstop when the shortest player in the history of the Major Leagues made the only plate appearance of his short (pun intended) career. Neil witnessed a teammate throw a no hitter in his first major league start and another teammate set a record with 12 consecutive hits. Neil's favorite game forced the first playoff game in the history of the American League. From that first meeting, he shared his stories and his scrapbooks with me almost weekly until he passed away in 2016. These scrapbooks had been dutifully and lovingly compiled by Neil's wife Gloria. She collected every word the press wrote about him starting with his high school days until his final days playing ball. From the perspective of the sportswriters of the time to the hours of recorded conversations from the "oldest living Detroit Tiger," here is the life and times of the shortstop from Kalamazoo.
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.
The definitive story of one of the greatest dynasties in baseball history, Joe Torre's New York Yankees. When Joe Torre took over as manager of the Yankees in 1996, they had not won a World Series title in eighteen years. In that time seventeen others had tried to take the helm of America’s most famous baseball team. Each one was fired by George Steinbrenner. After twelve triumphant seasons—with twelve straight playoff appearances, six pennants, and four World Series titles—Torre left the Yankees as the most beloved manager in baseball. But dealing with players like Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Roger Clemens, and Randy Johnson is what managing is all about. Here, for the first time, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci take readers inside the dugout, the clubhouse, and the front office, showing what it took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world.
Comeback Pitchers is the story of two pitchers, Jack Quinn and Howard Ehmke, whose intertwining careers began in the Deadball Era and continued into the 1920s and 1930s.
Minor league baseball in Michigan is back and this revival should encourage new interest in baseball traditions in over 40 Michigan towns. These traditions are brought back to life in Minor League Baseball Towns of Michigan -- 186 pages of team histories, rare photos, and location maps for all the communities in Michigan that have participated in professional baseball leagues dating back to the 1880s. All the diamond heroes of yesterday are remembered in this volume, along with the baseball pioneers and the ballparks that provided the memories for generations of fans in Michigan. An enjoyable and informative journey through time that is unprecedented for any state -- a treasure chest for sports fans and an irresistible reference volume for any sports library.
New York City has become almost uninhabitable when continuous sunlight causes unbearable heat, rationing of water and electricity, and swarms of people leaving, looking for cooler weather further north.