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.
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. 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.
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, 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.
Softcover. NY, Penguin Books, reprint, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 334 pages. A fascinating collection of news clippings from various papers (mostly from New York) detailing the 1908 National League pennant race. the author adds clarifications of references made by the scribes that may be unknown to today's reader and occasional footnotes but otherwise lets the articles speak for themselves. The 1908 baseball season culminated in a virtual three team tie until a tie breaker was played on October 8th. if you're a nostaglia buff, avid baseball fan or interested in popular styles of writing from long ago you will enjoy this book. Clean copy.
Hardcover. New York , Hyperion Books, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 96 pages illustrated by Nelson. SIGNED BY NELSON on title page. Featuring nearly fifty iconic oil paintings and a dramatic double-page fold-out, an award-winning narrative, a gorgeous design and rich backmatter, We Are the Ship is a sumptuous, oversize volume for all ages that no baseball fan should be without. Using an inviting first-person voice, Kadir Nelson shares the engaging story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its evolution, until after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.
Hardcover. Chicago, Triumph Books, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in glossy pictorial boards. 306 pages, b&w illustrations. Taking a decade-by-decade approach to the Chicago Cubs baseball tradition, this collection brings together over 40 stories from the most outstanding voices of the team. The spirit of Cubs baseball is not captured by just one phrase, one season, or one particular game; instead, the players and managers who made the magic happen over the decades blend their experiences to capture the true essence of their beloved team. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, William Morrow , 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. In 1906 the baseball world saw something that had never been done. Two teams from the same city squared off against each other in a World Series that pitted the heavily favored Cubs of the National League against the hardscrabble American League champion White Sox. Now, more than a century later, noted historian Bernard A. Weisberger tells the tale of a unique time in baseball, a unique time in America, and a time when Chicago was at the center of it all. 213 pages, b&w photos. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 200 pages. The years 1930-1970 were the Golden Age of both American sports and American comic strips, and we turn your attention to a neglected part of the art form "sports cartooning "and to its greatest practitioner, Willard Mullin. Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball: Drawings 1934-1972 collects for the first time Mullin's best drawings devoted to baseball. Mullin was to baseball players what Bill Mauldin was to soldiers: advocate and critic, investing them with personality, humanity, dignity, and poignancy; Mauldin had Willie & Joe and Mullin had the Brooklyn Bum, his affectionate 1939 character representing the bedraggled figure of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Hardcover. Boston, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1st, 1906, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 300 pages. Yellow cloth cover with gilt lettering and color embossed illustrations, b&w frontispiece and 7 illustrations by Charles Copeland. Cocked spine, wear to cover corners and edges, previous owner's inscription to front endpaper; otherwise a clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. NY, Julian Messner, 1st, 1962, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. 186 pages, b&w illustrations. This book looks at ten top world series thrills from 1912 to 1960 featuring the likes of Ruth, Maz, Larsen, Stengel, Johnson , Diz and more. Previous owner's stamp on front fly leaf, some pencil marks on contents page, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, reprint, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket, 248 pages. Clean copy. Tunis' World Series is Book #2 in his 8- book series on the Brooklyn Dodgers. Roy Tucker and his Brooklyn Dodgers teammates summon every ounce of their collective skill to fight for the greatest title in baseball -- World Series champs.