baseball

Softcover. Cleveland OH, The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in pictorial wraps, 382 pages. Based on the field's most prolific, imaginative, and best-known scholars, this ultimate reference work on the Negro Leagues includes a complete register of all the players--3,400 names, with positions and teams from before the turn of the century into the 1950s--annual rosters, in-depth histories, and more than 75 original photographs.

Hardcover. NY, Macmillan , 1st, 1970, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a dust jacket, 383 pages. Ex-lib with light stamping, spine label, dust jacket glued to covers. Clean inside. The complete and authoritative history of the Mets. Has 150 pages of records: the team, every player, each season. Has 64 pages of action and behind-the-scenes photographs of the team and the players. Filled with action and anecdote, from October 17, 1960 when the National League awarded a franchise to New York to the miracle year of 1969 and the Mets were World Champions.

Hardcover. Chicago, Contemporary Books, 1st, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 227 pages. Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro (1939-2020) was THE face of the Atlanta Braves between the Hank Aaron and the Dale Murphy eras. Joe Niekro (1944-2006) pitched for the 1987 World Series champion Minnesota Twins. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt and Company, 2nd pr., 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. A good read about a sorrowful (for an old Philadelphia A's fan) subject. Mehl gets right into his subject and brings it all together, particularly all the work Arnold Johnson had to do to get Kansas City ready to receive its new franchise and how the city came together and the minor league ballpark was reconstructed to meet Major League standards. 8 pages of b&w photos. No marking.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Years of watching the Boston Red Sox baseball team playing at Fenway Park with his father, grandfather, and then his son, allows Higgins to talk about the simple game, so difficult to play.

Softcover. Jefferson NC, Mcfarland & Co , 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 174 pages. In early 1869, Harry Wright of the Cincinnati Base Ball Club made an announcement to the sporting press: the Red Stockings would be the first all-professional club in the history of the game. The outcry could be heard in nearly every town in which the sport was played. Wright, however, paid little heed to their protests and went about his business of signing players. By the start of the season he had inked ten players to contracts, with salaries ranging from $600 to $1,400 annually. By June of 1870, the Red Stockings had compiled a 90-game winning streak and were recognized as the finest team in the game. How the Red Stockings were formed, who the players were, and why things came to an end are all fully covered in this detailed history.

Softcover. NY, Charter Books, reprint, 1962, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 350 pages. With a new introduction by the author. Presents the story about coming of age in America by way of the baseball diamond. Lefthander Henry Wiggen, six feet three, a hundred ninety-five pounds, and the greatest pitcher going, grows to manhood in a right-handed world. Written in Henry's own words, this funny novel follows his eccentric course from bush league to the World Series. First published in 1953. Price blacked out on front fly leaf, otherwise a tight, clean copy.

Softcover. Laurel MD, Den's Collector's Den, 1st, 1979, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 156 pages illustrated in b&w and color. Paper spine reinforced with clear tape. Otherwise clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Viking Press, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. bit of fading to the green top edge. Angell was the consummate writer on baseball, and this, his first baseball book, is one of his major achievements. Thoughtful, funny, appreciative of the elegance of the game and the passions invested by players and fans, it goes beyond the usual sports reporters beat to examine baseballs complex place in our American psyche. Owner's inscription on the half-title page, light creasing to rear flap, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, A. S. Barnes and Co., 1st, 1955, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 192 pages, book and dust jacket in excellent condition. The paper used has tanned/yellowed. Otherwise a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, A. S. Barnes, 1st, 1949, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover, brown boards with green letting on the front cover and the spine. Dust jacket is fair only with tape repairs, chipping and a chunk gone from bottom of spine. Novel about the Quaker City Quakers, a major league team closely based on the Whiz Kids-the Philadelphia Phillies, with the main characters of the book closely based on the real Whiz Kids. For instance, Phillie coach Bennie Bengough was portrayed as Bennie Benson, Robin Roberts as Rossiter, Richie Ashburn as Robbie Ashton, etc. O'Rourke made no attempts to hide the connection. The book is dedicated to the Phillies, and O'Rourke thanks many of the Phillies by name in the introduction. Name in bold pencil on front fly leaf, otherwise clean

Hardcover. NY, Hyperion Books, 5th pr., 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 217 pages. "In early October 2001, Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their beloved teammate Ted Williams, knowing that he is dying. Bobby Doerr, the fourth member of this close group - "my guys," Williams used to call them - is unable to be with them because he is back in Oregon tending to his wife of sixty-three years, Monica, who has suffered her second stroke." "At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different but extraordinary men, the key players in a remarkable Boston Red Sox team, who stayed close to each other for more than sixty years." The Teammates is the story of two the final one that DiMaggio and Pesky are taking to see Williams, and another, a flight back in time, as they and Bobby Doerr recall the wonders of their years together and reminisce about a magical era. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Lincoln NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Is there life after baseball? Starting from this simple question, The Wax Pack ends up with something much bigger and unexpected--a meditation on the loss of innocence and the gift of impermanence, for both Brad Balukjian and the former ballplayers he tracked down. To get a truly random sample of players, Balukjian followed this wildly absurd but fun-as-hell premise: he took a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he collected cards), opened it, chewed the nearly thirty-year-old gum inside, gagged, and then embarked on a quest to find all the players in the pack. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, David McKay Co., 1st, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and chipped dust jacket. Classic and vintage Major League Baseball: The story of Robin Roberts, Jim Konstanty, Richie Ashburn and the rest of the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies as reported by a Philadelphia sportswriter who covered the team. Profiles of each player, manager, owners, World Series statistics, box score of the pennant clinching game. 8 pages of b&w photos. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY/Cleveland, World Publishing, 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in an edgeworn dust jacket, 223 pages, illustrated with photos. The story of a crucial nine-day stretch during the miracle season of the Amazin' Mets encompassing critical, controversial games with their arch enemy Chicago Cubs. Published in the middle of the magical 1969 baseball season which would see the Mets go on to win the World Series. No marking.

Hardcover. NY, Avery Publishing Group, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Story of the aborted 1904 World Series, with center photo supplement on coated paper. The 1904 World Series was called off, because of a clash of wills among John T. Brush (owner of the New York Giants), John McGraw (manager of the Giants), and Ban Johnson (president of the National League and instrumental in forming the New York Highlanders, later to be renamed the New York Yankees). Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Non-paginated. Hardcover with dust jacket. Color illustrations by John O'Brien. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. NY, Verso, reprint, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 299 pages. This paperback edition of Dean Chadwin's widely-discussed book has been expanded to include the Yankee's World Series appearance in the 1999 season. The New York Yankees have won twenty-five championships, more than any other American professional sports franchise. The team's rich history includes a color bar, the towering home runs and bottomless appetites of Babe Ruth, the early and intensely lamented death of Lou Gehrig, frequent labor disputes between players and owners, and the free verse of Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto. A riveting and unconventional foray into the murky underworld of baseball, from the incipient sexual desire of young girls visiting the Derek Jeter on-line fansite to the boozy macho heart of the Yankee Nation in the now-endangered bleachers. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 3rd pr., 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a nice dust jacket with light fading to spine, 216 pages. A view from behind the plate of baseball in the 50s, 60s,, and 70s. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. New York, Charles E. Graham, 1st, 1912, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. 126 pages. Some discoloration to endpapers. Black & white illustrations. Light wear to corners and spine. Covers a bit warped.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Potomac Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 270 pages, b&w illustrations. As the first great Jewish player in the major leagues and the first African American to play major-league baseball during the twentieth century, respectively, Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson are forever linked because of the barriers they encountered, the discrimination they endured, the athletic gifts they exhibited, and especially the courage and dignity they displayed. Both suffered ridicule and abuse as they participated in the national pastime. Nevertheless, each excelled. Greenberg became one of the preeminent sluggers of the 1930s and 1940s who took a break from baseball to serve in the war. Robinson, from the mid-1940s into the following decade, helped bring back speed and a thinking man's approach to the game, both of which had largely been discarded for a generation. Two Pioneers presents these remarkable players' experiences while competing in a nation that was deeply divided on social issues such as anti-Semitism and racism. Both men earned nearly as much attention off the field as they did on it. Greenberg called into question the idea of a "master race" as Adolf Hitler rose to power and gained supporters all over the world. Likewise, Robinson contested racial notions regarding the supposed inferiority of people of African ancestry, even though segregationists proved determined to maintain social barriers separating blacks and whites. It is only fitting that when Robinson finally crossed baseball's color line, Greenberg was one of the first players to welcome him publicly. Robert Cottrell's well-researched work shows how two baseball superstars became important figures in the civil rights crusade to ensure that all Americans, no matter their religion or race, are given equal opportunity. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, Thomas Dunne/St. Martins, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket, 290 pages, b&w illustrations. Early in the twentieth century, fate thrust a young Babe Ruth into the gleaming orbit of Ty Cobb. The resulting collision produced a dazzling explosion and a struggle of mythic magnitude. At stake was not just baseball dominance, but eternal glory and the very soul of a sport. For much of fourteen seasons, the Cobb-Ruth rivalry occupied both men and enthralled a generation of fans. Even their retirement from the ball diamond didn't extinguish it. On the cusp of America's entry into World War II, a quarter century after they first met at Navin Field, Cobb and Ruth rekindled their long-simmering feud--this time on the golf course. Ty and Babe battled on the fairways of Long Island, New York; Newton, Massachusetts; and Grosse Ile, Michigan; in a series of charity matches that spawned national headlines and catapulted them once more into the spotlight. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Praeger Publishers, 1st, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 225 pages, b&w photos. Cobb is pictured as an explosive personality, a shrewd realist, and a great base stealer in this account of his life and career. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 449 pages, b&w illustrations. Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don't tell half of Cobb's tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: "Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam," one columnist wrote. When the Hall of Fame began in 1936, he was the first player voted in.But Cobb was also one of the game's most controversial characters. He got in a lot of fights, on and off the field, and was often accused of being overly aggressive. In his day, even his supporters acknowledged that he was a fierce and fiery competitor. Because his philosophy was to "create a mental hazard for the other man," he had his enemies, but he was also widely admired. After his death in 1961, however, something strange happened: his reputation morphed into that of a monster--a virulent racist who also hated children and women, and was in turn hated by his peers. Clean copy.