The Deadball Era (1901û1920) is a baseball fanÆs dream. Hope and despair, innocence and cynicism, and levity and hostility blended then to create an air of excitement, anticipation, and concern for all who entered the confines of a major league ballpark. Cheating for the sake of victory earned respect, corrupt ballplayers fixed games with impunity, and violence plagued the sport. Spectators stormed the field to attack players and umpires, ballplayers charged the stands to pummel hecklers, ...

The Deadball Era (1901–1920) is a baseball fan's dream. Hope and despair, innocence and cynicism, and levity and hostility blended then to create an air of excitement, anticipation, and concern for all who entered the confines of a major league ballpark. Cheating for the sake of victory earned respect, corrupt ballplayers fixed games with impunity, and violence plagued the sport.At the same time, endearing practices infused baseball with lightheartedness, kindness, and laughter. Fa...

The Rivals marks the first joint project from the top sports writers of New York Times and the Boston Globe--and what better subject than the two baseball teams whose crossed fortunes obsess and define each city.**A Struggle for the Ages. . .BOSTON GLOBE JANUARY 6, 1920RED SOX SELL RUTH FOR $100,000 CASH--------Demon Slugger of American League, Who Made 29 Home Runs Last Season, Goes to New York Yankees--------...

There is no football game more exciting than the Super Bowl, the match that pits the best AFC team against the best NFC in a battle for the NFL championship. THrilling last-second victories, curshing defeats, jaw-dropping touchdown catches-and misses!-the Super Bowl has it all. In this action-packed volume, young readers can relive forty years of Super Bowl history. It chronicles the rise of such dynasties as the San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots as well as the agony felt by...

While baseball is touted as America’s favourite pastime, everyone will know the score with this grand slam of Q&A that’s sure to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Doug Lennox hammers it out of the park by filling us in on who’s won the most Cy Young Awards, what the Green Monster is, and the five ways that a player can be called "out." In this treasure trove of baseball lore, you’ll learn all about the leagues and teams that have come and gone, the players who are legends, and the achieve...

In the 1970s the Pittsburgh Steelers ruled the world of pro football as Chuck Noll's dynastic team won four NFL championships led by Hall of Famers like Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Greene, Jack Ham, and Franco Harris. This is the story of the magnificent 1978 team which defeated the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl III, earning the third ring for the men who made their living in the city of three rivers.

The man Newsweek once called "the guru of baseball" offers profiles of top managers, sidebars, statistics, and snapshots of each decade.Widely considered to be one of the greatest minds in the history of the game, Bill James has changed the way we think about the sport of baseball. In this chronicle of field generals, strategists, and occasional cannon fodder, James writes with piercing insight about the men who hold what may be the most important spot in ...

On a torridly hot August day in 1920, Ray Chapman was struck and killed by a Carl Mays fastball, in what was and remains the only on-the-field fatality in the history of major league baseball. The drama of Good Guy Chapman versus Bad Guy Mays is a wrenching human tale. Add to it an intense pennant race, the meteoric ascension of Babe Ruth to baseball supremacy, the banning of the Black Sox for throwing the previous year's World Series, and the story grows to one of the most fascinating and...

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson was one of baseball's greatest hitters and most colorful players. Born Joseph Jefferson Wofford Jackson on July 16, 1888, in Pickens County, South Carolina, Jackson went to work in a textile mill when he was around six years old, and got his start in baseball playing for the Brandon Mill team at the age of 13 earning 2.50 a game. He emerged as the star of the team and a favorite of fans with his hitting and throwing abilities, and moved up to play in the Ca...

When in 2000 the Baseball Writers Association of America elected the ever-durable Carlton Fisk to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, many fans quietly pointed to the Hall's omission of Fisk' greatest American League contemporary, Thurman Munson. And when in 2001 the writers honored Kirby Puckett, the Twins star forced to retire with glaucoma after a brilliant but brief 12-year career, the same fans began to raise their voices in support of Munson, another short-timer who was once the toas...

In the years before the Curse of the Bambino descended on New England, the Boston Red Sox rode major league baseball like a colossus, capturing four World Series titles in seven seasons. Blessed with legendary players like Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, and Smokey Joe Wood, and a brand new, thoroughly modern stadium, the Red Sox reigned as kings of the Deadball Era. Just in time for the centenary of baseball's hallowed Fenway Park and the dawn of the Red Sox dynasty, Thomas J. Whal...

The Philadelphia Phillies franchise has been providing thrills and chills for its faithful fanatics for more than 125 years---with the 2008 World Series victory providing the ultimate high for the team and its city. The Phillies have boasted great legends of the game, including sluggers like Chuck Klein, Richie Ashburn, Mike Schmidt, and Ryan Howard; beloved characters like Tug McGraw, Lenny Dykstra, and John Kruk; and stellar hurlers from Pete Alexander to Robin Roberts to Steve Carlton t...