The Players League

Author : Robert B. Ross
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2016-04-01
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780803249417

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The Great Baseball Revolt by Robert B. Ross Pdf

The Players League, formed in 1890, was a short-lived professional baseball league controlled and owned in part by the players themselves, a response to the National League’s salary cap and “reserve rule,” which bound players for life to one particular team. Led by John Montgomery Ward, the Players League was a star-studded group that included most of the best players of the National League, who bolted not only to gain control of their wages but also to share ownership of the teams. Lasting only a year, the league impacted both the professional sports and the labor politics of athletes and nonathletes alike. The Great Baseball Revolt is a historic overview of the rise and fall of the Players League, which fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Though it marketed itself as a working-class league, the players were underfunded and had to turn to wealthy capitalists for much of their startup costs, including the new ballparks. It was in this context that the league intersected with the organized labor movement, and in many ways challenged by organized labor to be by and for the people. In its only season, the Players League outdrew the National League in fan attendance. But when the National League overinflated its numbers and profits, the Players League backers pulled out. The Great Baseball Revolt brings to life a compelling cast of characters and a mostly forgotten but important time in professional sports when labor politics affected both athletes and nonathletes. Purchase the audio edition.

Author : Ed Koszarek
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2014-11-04
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781476609188

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The Players League by Ed Koszarek Pdf

After talks with baseball’s owners broke down in the fall of 1889, some of the greatest players of the day jumped their contracts and declared open revolt against the American Association and National League. Tired of life under the hated reserve clause, which bound players to their teams and left them with no bargaining power, John Montgomery Ward and some 140 others set out to form a rival major league. The Players League would last only a season and end quite badly for both the players and the American Association, which folded a year later; but as a representation of the first major battle between the players and owners, the league occupies an important place in baseball history. This remarkably comprehensive book opens with an historical introduction to the league, including detailed information about its origins and failure. A biographical dictionary follows, with entries for every player in the league’s brief tenure and additional profiles of prominent players who chose not to dignify the revolt with their participation. Profiles of the teams are also included.

Author : Dirk Hayhurst
Publisher : Citadel Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2013-03
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0806534869

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Out of My League by Dirk Hayhurst Pdf

A humorous, candid and insightful memoir of Hayhurst's rookie season in the majors. . .Grade: Home Run. --Cleveland Plain Dealer After six years in the minors, pitcher Dirk Hayhurst hopes 2008 is the year he breaks into the big leagues. But every time Dirk looks up, the bases are loaded with challenges--a wedding balancing on a blind hope, a family in chaos, and paychecks that beg Dirk to answer, "How long can I afford to keep doing this?" Then it finally happens--Dirk gets called up to the Majors, to play for the San Diego Padres. A dream comes true when he takes the mound against the San Francisco Giants, kicking off forty insane days and nights in the Bigs. Like the classic games of baseball's history, Out of My League entertains from the first pitch to the last out, capturing the gritty realities of playing on the big stage, the comedy and camaraderie in the dugouts and locker rooms, and the hard-fought, personal journeys that drive our love of America's favorite pastime. "A rare gem of a baseball book." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "A fun read. . .This book shows why baseball is so often used as a metaphor for life." --Keith Olbermann "Entertaining and engaging. . .reminiscent of Jim Bouton's Ball Four." --Booklist "Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious." --Bob Costas

Author : Cam Perron,Nick Chiles
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2021-03-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781982153601

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Comeback Season by Cam Perron,Nick Chiles Pdf

In 2007, at the age of twelve, Perron bought a set of Topps baseball cards featuring several players from the Negro Leagues. He started writing letters to former Negro League players asking for their autographs and a few words about their careers. The players responded with detailed stories about their glory days on the field, and the racism they faced, including run-ins with the KKK. The letters turned into phone calls, and in these conversations many of the players revealed that they had fallen out of touch with their former teammates. Perron and a small group of fellow researchers organized the first annual Negro League Players Reunion in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010. This is the story of his mission to help many players get pension money that they were owed from Major League Baseball-- and to get a Negro League museum opened in Birmingham, stocked with memorabilia. -- adapted from jacket

Author : R.A.R. Edwards
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 215 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2020-08-07
Category : Reference
ISBN : 9781476670171

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Deaf Players in Major League Baseball by R.A.R. Edwards Pdf

The first deaf baseball player joined the pro ranks in 1883. By 1901, four played in the major leagues, most notably outfielder William "Dummy" Hoy and pitcher Luther "Dummy" Taylor. Along the way, deaf players developed a distinctive approach, bringing visual acuity and sign language to the sport. They crossed paths with other pioneers, including Moses Fleetwood Walker and Jackie Robinson. This book recounts their great moments in the game, from the first all-deaf barnstorming team to the only meeting of a deaf batter and a deaf pitcher in a major league game. The true story--often dismissed as legend--of Hoy, together with umpire "Silk" O'Loughlin, bringing hand signals to baseball is told.

Author : Robert B. Ross
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-01
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780803294806

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The Great Baseball Revolt by Robert B. Ross Pdf

The Players League, formed in 1890, was a short-lived professional baseball league controlled and owned in part by the players themselves, a response to the National League’s salary cap and “reserve rule,” which bound players for life to one particular team. Led by John Montgomery Ward, the Players League was a star-studded group that included most of the best players of the National League, who bolted not only to gain control of their wages but also to share ownership of the teams. Lasting only a year, the league impacted both the professional sports and the labor politics of athletes and nonathletes alike. The Great Baseball Revolt is a historic overview of the rise and fall of the Players League, which fielded teams in Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Though it marketed itself as a working-class league, the players were underfunded and had to turn to wealthy capitalists for much of their startup costs, including the new ballparks. It was in this context that the league intersected with the organized labor movement, and in many ways challenged by organized labor to be by and for the people. In its only season, the Players League outdrew the National League in fan attendance. But when the National League overinflated its numbers and profits, the Players League backers pulled out. The Great Baseball Revolt brings to life a compelling cast of characters and a mostly forgotten but important time in professional sports when labor politics affected both athletes and nonathletes.

Author : Barry Swanton
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 231 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2006-03-30
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780786425105

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The ManDak League by Barry Swanton Pdf

The ManDak League may be one of baseball's best kept secrets. Operating in Manitoba and North Dakota from 1950 to 1957, it was the outlet for former Negro Leaguers to continue playing and entertaining fans, occupying fields with ex-major leaguers, minor league stars and some of the best Manitoba-, North Dakota-,and Minnesota-born players. It featured such greats as Willie Wells, Leon Day, Ray Dandridge and Satchel Paige, who pitched briefly for the Minot Mallards in 1950. In Part I, chapters on each of the ManDak's eight seasons provide detailed information on the stadiums, franchise and league personnel, pennant races, and standout performances. In Part II, a comprehensive listing of profiles presents basic information on the league's players, their baseball backgrounds, and their accomplishments in the ManDak and other leagues. Emphasis is given to former Negro Leaguers, many of whom finished their careers in the ManDak League. Appendices provide batting and pitching records, rosters, and rules of conduct.

Author : Greg Larson
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2021-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781496226358

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Clubbie by Greg Larson Pdf

Greg Larson was a starry-eyed fan when he hurtled headfirst into professional baseball. As the new clubhouse attendant for the Aberdeen IronBirds, a Minor League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, Larson assumed he’d entered a familiar world. He thought wrong. He quickly discovered the bizarre rituals of life in the Minors: fights between players, teammates quitting in the middle of the games, doomed relationships, and a negligent parent organization. All the while, Larson, fresh out of college, harbored a secret wish. Despite the team’s struggles and his own lack of baseball talent, he yearned to join the exclusive fraternity of professional ballplayers. Instead, Larson fell deeper into his madcap venture as the scheming clubbie. He moved into the clubhouse equipment closet, his headquarters to swing deals involving memorabilia, booze, and loads of cash. By his second season, Larson had transformed into a deceptive, dip-spitting veteran, now fully part of a system that exploited players he considered friends. Like most Minor Leaguers, the gravitational pull of baseball was still too strong for Larson—even if chasing his private dream might cost him his girlfriend, his future, and, ultimately, his love of the game. That is, until an unlikely shot at a championship gives Larson and the IronBirds one final swing at redemption. Clubbie is a hilarious behind-the-scenes tale of two seasons in the mysterious world of Minor League Baseball. With cinematic detail and a colorful cast of characters, Larson spins an unforgettable true story for baseball fans and nonfans alike. An unflinching look at the harsh experience of professional sports, Clubbie will be a touchstone in baseball literature for years to come.

Author : Michael Lewis
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2004-03-17
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780393066234

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Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis Pdf

"This delightfully written, lesson-laden book deserves a place of its own in the Baseball Hall of Fame." —Forbes Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis follows the low-budget Oakland A's, visionary general manager Billy Beane, and the strange brotherhood of amateur baseball theorists. They are all in search of new baseball knowledge—insights that will give the little guy who is willing to discard old wisdom the edge over big money.

Author : Craig Allen Cleve
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2004-10-15
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780786418978

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Hardball on the Home Front by Craig Allen Cleve Pdf

More than 5000 major and minor league baseball players left the baseball diamond to serve in the military during World War II, but President Roosevelt insisted that baseball still be played to boost the country's morale. More than 400 replacement players made their major league debuts between 1943 and 1945, among them Sal Maglie, Andy Pafko, Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial. The author of this book points out that the true story of wartime baseball rests mostly with the players whose careers were not so well remembered or documented. He highlights nine players--Frank Mancuso, Ford Mullen, Ed Carnett, Lee Pfund, George Hausmann, Cy Buker, Bill Lefebvre, Eddie Basinski, and Nick Strincevich--who took the field while the major leaguers were fighting in the war. They share their memories of being called up to play in the majors, and their feelings about providing much needed and much wanted entertainment to thousands of Americans during the war years.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 136 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 1989-08-01
Category : Baseball
ISBN : 0944786405

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Players League Guide, 1890 by Anonim Pdf

Author : Jonathan Fraser Light
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 1112 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2016-03-25
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781476617442

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The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, 2d ed. by Jonathan Fraser Light Pdf

More than any other sport, baseball has developed its own niche in America’s culture and psyche. Some researchers spend years on detailed statistical analyses of minute parts of the game, while others wax poetic about its players and plays. Many trace the beginnings of the civil rights movement in part to the Major Leagues’ decision to integrate, and the words and phrases of the game (for example, pinch-hitter and out in left field) have become common in our everyday language. From AARON, HENRY onward, this book covers all of what might be called the cultural aspects of baseball (as opposed to the number-rich statistical information so widely available elsewhere). Biographical sketches of all Hall of Fame players, owners, executives and umpires, as well as many of the sportswriters and broadcasters who have won the Spink and Frick awards, join entries for teams, owners, commissioners and league presidents. Advertising, agents, drafts, illegal substances, minor leagues, oldest players, perfect games, retired uniform numbers, superstitions, tripleheaders, and youngest players are among the thousands of entries herein. Most entries open with a topical quote and conclude with a brief bibliography of sources for further research. The whole work is exhaustively indexed and includes 119 photographs.

Author : Robert Allan Bauer
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2018-06-11
Category : Baseball
ISBN : 1948478102

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Outside the Lines of Gilded Age Baseball by Robert Allan Bauer Pdf

After the 1889 baseball season, the players of the National League, furious over their treatment by NL owners, decided to secede from the National League and start their own rival league, the Players League. Their league lasted only one season, but its formation remains one of the seminal events in understanding the trajectory of nineteenth-century baseball. Why is this true? By learning why the players of the NL elected to strike out on their own, we gain insight into some of the critical issues facing the game in the late 1880s, particularly the relationship between team owners and their players. However, that's not all. Had a few things gone differently, the Players League might have succeeded. Had it done so, the entire history of major league baseball would have been vastly different. Therefore, understanding the motivations of the players gives us a glimpse of both what was, and what might have been. Put simply, baseball history in the 1890s is incomprehensible without knowledge of the 1890 Players League and how it began.

Author : Jerold J. Duquette
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1999-11-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780313001178

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Regulating the National Pastime by Jerold J. Duquette Pdf

Major League Baseball, alone among industries of its size in the United States, operates as an unregulated monopoly. This 20th-century regulatory anomaly has become known as the baseball anomaly. Major League Baseball developed into a major commercial enterprise without being subject to antitrust liability. Long after the interstate commercial character of baseball had been established and even recognized by the Supreme Court, baseball's monopoly remained free from federal regulation. Duquette explains the baseball anomaly by connecting baseball's regulatory status to the larger political environment, tracing the game's fate through four different regulatory regimes. The constellation of institutional, ideological, and political factors within each regulatory regime provides the context for the survival of the baseball anomaly. Duquette shows baseball's unregulated monopoly persists because of the confluence of institutional, ideological, and political factors which have prevented the repeal of baseball's antitrust exemption to date. However, both the institutional and ideological factors are fading fast. Baseball's owners can no longer claim special cultural significance in defense of their exemption. Nor can they credibly claim that the commissioner system approximates government regulation effectively. Both of these strategies have been discredited by the labor unrest of the 1980s and 1990s. Duquette provides a unique perspective on American regulatory politics, and by explaining a complicated story in comprehensive prose, he has given researchers, policy makers, and fans a fascinating look at the business of baseball.

Author : Jacob Kornhauser
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2020-02-27
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781538130827

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The Cup of Coffee Club by Jacob Kornhauser Pdf

“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.