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Between 1915 and 1930, nine towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia hosted teams in one of the most successful Class D minor leagues in professional baseball. The Blue Ridge League launched the careers of legendary Hall of Famers Lefty Grove and Hack Wilson and served as a training ground or final stop for over 100 major-league players. This feisty league challenged laws prohibiting Sabbath baseball games (resulting in mass arrests of players and management), pioneered night baseball, served as a laboratory for the establishment of baseball's farm system, and helped develop a postseason five-state championship series.
Between 1915 and 1930, nine towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia hosted teams in one of the most successful Class D minor leagues in professional baseball. The Blue Ridge League launched the careers of legendary Hall of Famers Lefty Grove and Hack Wilson and served as a training ground or final stop for over 100 major-league players. This feisty league challenged laws prohibiting Sabbath baseball games (resulting in mass arrests of players and management), pioneered night baseball, served as a laboratory for the establishment of baseball's farm system, and helped develop a postseason five-state championship series.
Wee Willie Sherdel was a very humble, courageous left-handed pitcher who became one of the all-time great southpaws in St. Louis Cardinals history. The son of a German blacksmith in a small Pennsylvania village, Willie’s dream was to become a major league pitcher – a rather big dream for a small boy. Not the most talented or biggest, he worked hard and learned from greats like Eddie Plank, Branch Rickey and Grover Cleveland Alexander. Sherdel’s best years were in the 1920s while Rickey was developing the farm system concept and the Cards were playing in two World Series. Known for his slow ball, Willie was given the honor of pitching the first game against Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the powerful Yankees in both Series. Although labeled a hard-luck pitcher in the Series, Sherdel performed many great feats on the diamond. Since his retirement in 1932, he remains the Redbirds’ winningest left-hander and fourth all-time winner. Willie also has pitched the third-most games and the fourth-most innings. Like all pitchers, he loved to talk about his hitting. Among Cardinals’ pitchers, Sherdel owns the fourth-most career home runs and the fifth-best batting average for his .337 in 1923. His contemporaries included over 90 Hall of Famers and some of the greatest players of all-time including Ruth, Gehrig, Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby.
On September 27, 1865, gambler Kane McLoughlin paid William Wansley $100 to ensure that the Brooklyn Eckfords would beat the Mutuals of New York. Wansley bribed Mutuals shortstop Tom Devyr and third baseman Ed Duffy to join the plot. The result was a 23-11 win by the Eckfords in a game marked by "passed balls and...muffed easy flys." Baseball was faced with its first gambling scandal. This is a comprehensive account of gambling and game fixing scandals that have gripped the nation. Attention is rightly focused on the best known incidents (e.g., the Black Sox scandal and the Pete Rose case), but the lesser known scandals are covered in-depth as well. Included are two chapters on game fixing scandals in the minor leagues.
Road-Tripping the South Atlantic League by Walter Triebel Pdf
This comprehensive visitor's guide to the teams of baseball's South Atlantic League lays out the methods needed to plan efficient, cost-effective and rewarding road trips to see home games at ballparks throughout the league. It provides carefully planned travel routes, including lists of interesting eateries and attractions (both baseball-related and otherwise) in or near each team's city. The text traces the history of the league, profiles each current team in detail, describes each ballpark and identifies players who have led the league in batting or pitching. Team profiles list more than 300 players who played with a South Atlantic League team and went on to have a successful major league career. Information about nearby teams outside the SAL is also included for travelers wanting to broaden their baseball road trip experience.
Minor League Baseball by Frank Hoffmann,Rebecca S Kraus,Martin J Manning Pdf
Examine the big-league benefits of minor league baseball! The Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports examines the role played by minor league baseball in hundreds of cities and towns across the United States. Written from the unique perspective of a sociologist who also happens to be an avid baseball fan, the book looks at the contributions minor league teams make to the quality of life in their communities, creating focal points for spirit and cohesiveness while providing opportunities for interaction and entertainment. The book links theory and experience to present a “sociology of baseball” that explains the symbiotic relationship which brings people together for a common purpose—to root, root, root for the home team. From the author: Minor league baseball is played across the country in more than 100 very different communities. These communities seem to share a special bond with their teams. As with all sports teams, there is a symbiotic relationship between the team and the city or town that it represents. In the case of major league professional sports, the relationship is often fueled by economic outcomes. On the minor league level, the relationship appears to go beyond mere money and prestige. Minor league teams occupy a special place in our hearts. We are more forgiving when they lose, and extremely proud of them when they win. Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports is a detailed look at the connection between town and team, including: economic benefits (development strategies, community growth) intangible benefits (ballpark camaraderie, hometown pride) fan attachment and attendance (demographic variables, stadium accessibility, “home court advantage”) case studies of two Maryland minor-league franchises--the Class AA Bowie Baysox and the Class A Hagerstown Suns Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports also includes an introduction to the organizational structure of the minor leagues, a history of each current league, and charts and tables on attendance figures and franchise relocations. This book is essential reading for sociologists, sport sociologists/historians, academics and/or practitioners in the fields of community sociology and psychology, and of course, baseball fans.
Arguably the most famous baseball team outside of the major leagues in the early twentieth century, the Travelers from Hawaiʻi barnstormed the American mainland from 1912 to 1916. During their journeys and after, team leader and star Buck Lai and his teammates encountered racism and colonialism while asserting their humanity in a variety of ways.
Professional Baseball in North Carolina by J. Chris Holaday Pdf
Hundreds of major leaguers—including the Hall of Fame’s Hank Greenburg, Johnny Mize, Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Morgan—got their starts in North Carolina, where baseball has been a fixture in the state for nearly 100 years—in Charlotte and Durham (whose Bulls were in the 1988 film Bull Durham) as well as Red Springs and Snow Hill. Following an historical statewide overview, year by year summaries and histories are provided for each of the 72 towns, from Albemarle to Zebulon. Notable players and club records are listed for each year, and the causes for the rise and fall of baseball in the different towns are discussed. Biographies of 20 prominent minor leaguers are included, as is an appendix of nearly 2,000 major leaguers who played for a North Carolina team. The state’s Negro League and textile league histories are also related.
West Virginia sprang into existence as a state in the midst of the Civil War, and "base ball," as it was called then, was close on the heels of statehood. A game in 1866 hosted by the Hunkidori Base Ball Club in Wheeling, is considered the first "match game of Base Ball." Some historians contend the game spread via the movement of soldiers who were from urban areas. The real roots of baseball are not the romantic image of rural boys in sandlots or lazy father-son afternoons. It was born and came of age as an urban sport, a social pursuit of well-heeled young men that in the early days often involved banquets and shows following each game. The author traces the history of minor league and independent league baseball in West Virginia. Baseball below the minor leagues has a rich and comparatively unexplored history, and West Virginia has made substantial contributions to this legacy. Chapters examine the chronological history of baseball and the larger economic and cultural changes that have influenced it. Eras include baseball as a social game (through 1873); the emergence of professional baseball (through 1895); its second boom (through 1905); the deadball era (through 1920); the Martinsburg dynasty (1914 to 1934); as a miners' sport (1920 to 1941); the Middle Atlantic League (1925-1942); the Mountain State League (1937-1942); the postwar years (1945-1955); the nadir (1955-1985); and "A Minor Miracle" (1985-2000), a chapter that heralds a comeback in the popularity of professional baseball.
A hundred and ninety-one. Mention the number anywhere near a ballpark and before you can ask who or what, fans will almost certainly shape their lips with a single word: Wilson. They'll tell you Hack Wilson, a burly, bull-necked outfielder who roamed Wrigley Field in the 1920s and 1930s, was the man who drove in 191 runs in 1930--more than most players had hits. A few of them will know that in 1929, Wilson racked up 159 RBI and hit 39 home runs. Still fewer might be able to tell you that for the four seasons 1927-1930, the slugger hit no fewer than 30 home runs a season and drove home no fewer than 120. But you are unlikely to find more than a handful of fans who know how the Cub great's career came to an end. Or when. Or why. The heir apparent to Ruth's title of world-beater, Wilson was a star by his late 20s and a record setter by 30. But he was also an alcoholic who was as practiced at swinging his fists as he was his bat. By his early 30s his days as a full-time player were behind him, and by 48 he was dead; his son refused to claim the body. This biography examines the turbulent life and career of one of the most dominant short-stint powerhitters ever to pull on a uniform. From Wilson's early career as a steelworker, through his time as the beloved ballplayer and icon for the City of Big Shoulders to his days as a down-on-his-luck baseball washout and itinerant laborer, an unflinching look at this Hall of Famer is provided.
One of the most prolific scouts in baseball history, Joe Cambria almost single-handedly saved the Washington Senators from ruin. Signing a stream of young players from Cuba--as many as 20 per season for three decades--he fed the team affordable talent and kept them competitive during World War II, when many front-liners went to the front lines. Cambria subverted baseball's color line years before Jackie Robinson broke it, signing light-skinned Cubans--many of African descent--who could pass in the all-white Major Leagues. This first ever biography traces his memorable career, including the shady hiring practices and flamboyant deals that drew rulings from the bench of Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
Baseball on Maryland's Eastern Shore, 1866-1950 by Marty Payne Pdf
By 1900 Maryland's Eastern Shore, along the western side of the Delmarva Peninsula, was acknowledged in the national press as a hotbed of baseball activity. By the 1920s the game was fully ingrained into local community life, central to the summer social season among the towns and villages that measured their worth by the quality of their teams. Providing fresh insight into early 20th century baseball at its grassroots, this book explores the Chesapeake Bay region as a case study for the enthusiasm (and hubris) the game brought to rural American life, in context with national trends and influences.
