San Antonio College Library

"From the New York Times baseball columnist, a ... history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than three hundred people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today"--Dust jacket flap Even the slightest calibration can turn a baseball from an ordinary pitch into a weapon to thwart the greatest hitters in the world. Each pitch has its own history, evolving through...

"A hilarious celebration of the worst in baseball history: The boneheads, cheats, jerks and losers who make the grand old game so fun. From a delightful survey of batters who fell below the dreaded "Mendoza Line" to a rundown of managers who had long careers distinguished by relentless losing to a roster of players who took steroids but still stunk, Who's on Worst? is a thoroughly entertaining portrait of the personalities who deserve their place...

"Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a larger-than-life figure--a man who had precision in his speech and who could work a room with handshakes and smiles. While he has been vilified in film as a rotund cheapskate and the driving force, albeit unknowingly, behind the actions of the 1919 White Sox, who threw the World Series (nicknamed the "Black Sox" scandal), that statement is far from the truth"--

Ted Williams was the best hitter in baseball history. His batting average of .406 in 1941 has not been topped since, and no player who has hit more than five hundred home runs has a higher career batting average. Those totals would have been even higher if Williams had not left baseball for nearly five years in the prime of his career to serve as a Marine pilot in World War II and Korea. He hit home runs farther than any player before him, and traveled...

"Culturally, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were light years apart. Yet they were nearly the same age, almost the same size, and came to New York at the same time. They possessed virtually the same talents, and played the same position. They were both products of generations of baseball-playing families, for whom the game was the only escape from a lifetime of brutal manual labor. Both were nearly crushed by the weight of the outsized expectations...

Baseball in the 1930s was more than a national pastime; it was a cultural touchstone that galvanized communities and gave a struggling country its heroes despite the woes of the Depression. Hank Greenberg, one of the most exciting sluggers in baseball history, gave the people of Detroit a reason to be proud. But America was facing more than economic hardship. With the Nazis gaining power across Europe, political and social tensions were approaching...

Chronicling a century of highs and lows at Wrigley Field, George Will explores the home of the hapless Chicago Cubs in relation to his upbringing, the growth of Chicago, the history of baseball, and the nature of sports fandom.

"Game Three of the 1932 World Series between the Cubs and Yankees stood locked at 4-4. Some 50,000 fans had gathered at Wrigley Field that bright October day, but above their roar Ruth heard insults pouring from the Cubs' dugout. He watched a fastball from Cubs pitcher Charlie Root set the count at 2-2. Agitated, the Bambino made a gesture, holding out two fingers--but what did it mean? Lou Gehrig heard him call out: "I'm going to knock the next one...

""The best all-around catcher in black baseball history"--Cumberland Posey, Owner of the Homestead Grays National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher James Raleigh "Biz" Mackey's professional career spanned nearly three decades in the Negro Leagues and elsewhere. He distinguished himself as a defensive catcher who also had an impressive batting average and later worked as a manager of the Newark Eagles and the Baltimore Elite Giants. Using archival materials...