The SABR Bookshelf: Spring 2014
Here are the SABR Bookshelf listings for Spring 2014.
To get your NEW book listed on The SABR Bookshelf, make sure a review copy is sent to: The SABR Bookshelf, Society for American Baseball Research, 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018. An e-book file will also suffice; please send the e-book in PDF, EPUB or Kindle/MOBI format to jpomrenke@sabr.org.
To ensure a listing in The Baseball Index — SABR’s online catalog of baseball research materials at www.baseballindex.org — make sure a review copy is sent to The Baseball Index, 4025 Beechwood Pl., Riverside, CA 92506.
Bolded names indicates that the author(s) is a SABR member. Click here for a list of publishers found in the SABR Bookshelf, along with their contact information.
All new SABR Bookshelf listings can be purchased at the SABR Bookstore, powered by Amazon.com. In addition, check out new books published by SABR at SABR.org/ebooks.
The Fight Of Their Lives: How Juan Marichal And John Roseboro Turned Baseball’s Ugliest Brawl Into A Story Of Forgiveness And Redemption
By John Rosengren
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyons Press | $18.90 (hdcvr) | 978-0-762787128 | Amazon |
- Summary: One Sunday afternoon in August 1965, on a day when baseball’s most storied rivals, the Giants and Dodgers, vied for the pennant, the national pastime reflected the tensions in society and nearly sullied two men forever, Juan Marichal and John Roseboro
Wrigley Field: The Long Life & Contentious Times of the Friendly Confines
By Stuart Shea
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Of Chicago Press | $15.93 (sftcvr) | 978-0-2261-3427-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: Stu Shea provides a detailed and fascinating chronicle of this living historic landmark. The colorful history revealed in Wrigley Field shows how the stadium has evolved through the years to meet the shifting priorities of its owners and changing demands of its fans.
Baseball On Trial: The Origin of Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption
By Nathaniel Grow
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Of Illinois Press | $31.50 (sftcvr) | 978-0-2520-7975-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: In Baseball on Trial, legal scholar Nathaniel Grow defies conventional wisdom to explain why the unanimous Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, which gave rise to Major League Baseball’s exemption from antitrust law, was correct given the circumstances of the time.
Early Professional Baseball and the Sporting Press: Shaping the Image of the Game
By R. Terry Furst
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $35.00 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-6985-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: From its earliest days as a sport for village children, base ball and its successors has been cause for comment in newspapers. Furst examines how the criticism and praise of the 19th-century game helped to found the image of the National Pastime.
Baseball Prodigies: Best Major League Seasons by Players Under 21
By Charles F. Faber
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $35.00 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-7331-1 | Amazon |
- Summary: Faber has sections on the 10 best hitters’ seasons (Mel Ott to Mike Trout) and 10 best pitchers’ seasons (Matt Kilroy to Willis Hudlin) and then short blurbs on 176 other prodigies and their seasons.
Baseball’s Comeback Players: Forty Major Leaguers Who Fell and Rose Again
By Rick Swaine
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $35.00 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-7654-1 | Amazon |
- Summary: Swaine profiles 40 players who, through injuries and other disasters, had to make strong comebacks. He starts with Tommy John but goes well back into the 20th century for his examples.
A’s Bad as it Gets: Connie Mack’s Pathetic Athletics of 1916
By John G. Robertson and Andy Saunders
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| McFarland & Co. | $29.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-7864-7818-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: Mack dismantled his first Athletics dynasty in time for the 1916 season, and it was an epic disaster. The Mackmen not only finished last, they finished 40 games behind the 7th place team.
The Great Eight: The 1975 Cincinnati Reds
Edited by Mark Armour
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $24.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-8032-4586-0 | University of Nebraska Press |
- Summary: Another of SABR’s biography collections from great teams, twenty-nine Reds players, the coaches, manager, lead broadcaster and general manager are all profiled. Also, updates on the pennant race, how the team was put together and what happened in subsequent years.
Pitching to the Pennant: The 1954 Cleveland Indians
Edited by Joseph Wancho
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $26.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-8032-4587-7 | University of Nebraska Press |
- Summary: And yet another SABR biography collection. In this one, the 1954 Cleveland Indians come alive through 44 profiles of players, coaches, the manager, front office personnel as well as stories about the stadium, the progress of the season and the World Series.
Jackie & Campy: The Untold Story of Their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Barrier
By William C. Kashatus
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $24.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8032-4633-1 | Amazon |
- Summary: Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella, teammates for nine generally successful seasons, had different approaches to the questions of integration and civil rights. Kashatus explores those differences and their personal relations.
Throwing Hard Easy: Reflections on a Life in Baseball
By Robin Roberts with C. Paul Rogers
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $19.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-8032-4867-0 | Amazon |
- Summary: This is a re-release, with a new introduction, of 2003’s “My Life in Baseball.”
Bring In the Right-Hander! My Twenty-Two Years in the Major Leagues
By Jerry Reuss
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $27.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8032-4897-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: This autobiography chronicles Reuss’ years pitching with the Cardinals, Astros, Pirates, Reds, Angels, White Sox, Brewers and, overwhelmingly, the Dodgers. His perpetual humor is evident.
The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession
By Rick Huhn
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $29.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8032-7182-1 | Amazon |
- Summary: Huhn takes on the tale of the 1910 American League race for the batting title, the controversial last day with Lajoie’s 8 hits in a doubleheader and league president Ban Johnson’s decision on who the winner was.
The Continental League: A Personal History
By Russell D. Buhite
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska Press | $24.95 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8032-7190-6 | Amazon |
- Summary: Buhite played in the Western Carolina League, set up by Branch Rickey to produce players for his abortive Continental League. Decades later, Buhite, now a professor of history, set out to tell the Continental’s story.
The Bilko Athletic Club: The Story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels
By Gaylon H. White
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rowman & Littlefield | $34.54 (hdcvr) | 978-0-8108-9289-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: The Bilko Athletic Club tells the story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels, a Pacific Coast League team of castoffs and kids built around Steve Bilko, a bulky, beer-loving basher of home runs.
Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports
By S.L. Price
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Press of Florida | $15.45 (sftcvr) | 978-0-8130-4968-7 | Amazon |
- Summary: Offers a rare and provocative tour of the world’s most remarkable sports culture. It’s an unforgettable story of supremely gifted athletes, the utter madness of politics, and the scent of big money across the sea.
The Cubs Quotient: How The Chicago Cubs Changed The World
By Scott Rowan
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sherpa Multimedia | $19.95 (sftcvr) | 978-0-9895-0030-2 | Amazon |
- Summary: The Cubs Quotient is the world’s first hybrid, interactive, GPS-enhanced book published that not only entertains readers with fascinating stories any Cubs fan would want to know, but also educates fans at the same time with little-known historical facts that were ignored in classrooms or were taught incorrectly.
Down To The Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time
By Tim Wendel
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Da Capo Press | $18.92 (hdcvr) | 978-0306822766 | Amazon |
- Summary: Four of the games between the Twins and Braves were settled by “walk-off” runs. Three of them, including the climactic Game Seven, went into extra innings. And all seven games had memorable moments—from close plays at the plate to base-running blunders to pitching gems to dramatic late-inning home runs.
1954: The Year Willie Mays And The First Generation Of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever
By Bill Madden
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Da Capo Press | $16.43 (hdcvr) | 978-0306823329 | Amazon |
- Summary: 1954: Perhaps no single baseball season has so profoundly changed the game forever. In that year—the same in which the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, that segregation of the races be outlawed in America’s public schools—Larry Doby’s Indians won an American League record 111 games, dethroned the five-straight World Series champion Yankees, and went on to play Willie Mays’s Giants in the first World Series that featured players of color on both teams.
Mover and Shaker: Walter O’Malley, The Dodgers, and Baseball’s Westward Expansion
By Andy McCue
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Of Nebraska Press | $25.43 (hdcvr) | 978-0803245082 | Amazon |
- Summary: One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O’Malley (1903–79) is best remembered—and still reviled by many—for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
Called Out But Safe: A Baseball Umpire’s Journey
By Al Clark with Dan Schlossberg
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Of Nebraska Press | $19.92 (hdcvr) | 978-0803246881 | Amazon |
- Summary: One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O’Malley (1903–79) is best remembered—and still reviled by many—for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
How to Speak Baseball: An Illustrated Guide to Ballpark Banter
By James Charlton and Sally Cook
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronicle Books | $11.32 (hdcvr) | 978-1-4521-2645-6 | Amazon |
- Summary: This guide to the language of baseball decodes the amusing, clever phrases that pepper commentary about the sport. Packed with witty explanations of everything from “duster” and “rubber arm” to “up the elevator.”
Shane Victorino: The Flyin’ Hawaiian
By Alan Maimon
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triumph Books | $9.98 (sftcvr) | 978-1-6007-8941-0 | Amazon |
- Summary: Long before Shane Victorino gained fame as a Gold Glove outfielder, All-Star, and fan favorite at Fenway Park, he was a precocious child on the island of Maui, frustrating teachers with his inability to sit still and tagging along with older boys to neighborhood ball fields.
Wrigley Field Year by Year: A Century at the Friendly Confines
By Sam Pathy
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Publishing | $24.46 (hdcvr) | 978-1-6132-1633-0 | Amazon |
- Summary: The book covers not only the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Federal League baseball team in detail, it touches on the Chicago Bears football team, basketball, hockey, high school sports, track and field, and political rallies.
Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar
By Roberta J. Newman and Nathan Rosen
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Press Of Mississippi | $58.06 (sftcvr) | 978-1-6170-3954-6 | Amazon |
- Summary: This book examines how the relationship between black baseball and black businesses functioned, particularly in urban areas with significant African American populations: Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and more. Inextricably bound together by circumstance, these sports and business alliances faced destruction and upheaval.
Thar’s Joy in Braveland! The 1957 Milwaukee Braves
Edited by Gregory H. Wolf
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| SABR | $9.99 (ebook) | 978-1-933599-72-4 | SABR |
- Summary: A collaborative effort of 32 members of the Society for American Baseball Research, this book celebrates the Milwaukee Braves’ historic 1957 World Series championship season. Includes biographies of all players, coaches, executives, broadcasters and other figures on the team, along with summaries of the regular season and World Series victory over the New York Yankees.
The Ashippun Trap
By Doug Welch
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Rose Writing | $14.36 (sftcvr) | 978-1612963068 | Amazon |
- Summary: From right field of the sparse Ashippun’s Fireman’s Park to the vacated County Stadium dugout of the Braves final Milwaukee home game in 1965, The Ashippun Trap takes readers on a wild nostalgic ride using a unique blend of baseball fiction and extensively-researched baseball fact.
A Tribe Reborn: How The Cleveland Indians Of The ’90’s Went From Cellar Dwellers To Playoff Contenders
By George Christian Pappas
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Publishing | $18.27 (hdcvr) | 978-1613216378 | Amazon |
- Summary: For almost 50 years, the Cleveland Indians were a joke. They had won the 1948 World Series with one of the greatest teams of all time, but had not been to the playoffs since 1954 (losing to the New York Giants in the World Series). Even the Major League movies poked fun at their inadequacy. That all changed in the 1990s, when the Indians became one of the most dominant teams of the decade.
Baseball in Hawai’i
By Jim Vitti
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The History Press | $15.67 (sftcvr) | 978-1626193130 | Amazon |
- Summary: Alexander Cartwright, an early pioneer of baseball in New York in the 1840s, later took his bag of tricks to Hawai’i, where adoption of the pastime predates most other American locales. Pineapple plantation teams played rival sugar refinery clubs with Chinese, Korean and Japanese teams. Barnstorming big-leaguers landed during the winter, and Pearl Harbor brought the biggest names in the sport to paradise: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, John McGraw and many more.
Minnesota Twins Baseball: Hardball History On The Prairie
By Stew Thornley
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The History Press | $15.74 (hdcvr) | 978-1626193819 | Amazon |
- Summary: For more than half a century, Minnesotans have been treated to the memorable players and teams of the Minnesota Twins. From the Ruthian blasts of Harmon Killebrew and Kirby Puckett to a successful brand of “small ball,” the Twins have fielded competitive teams at Metropolitan Stadium, the Metrodome and Target Field.
The Best Seat In Baseball, But You Have To Stand!: The Game As Umpires See It
By Lee Gutkind
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Road Media | $9.99 (Kindle) | N/A | Amazon |
- Summary: In 1974, Lee Gutkind walked into Shea Stadium, then home of the New York Mets, with an unusual proposal. He wanted to chronicle one of the least celebrated cadres in professional baseball: the umpires. Gutkind spent one exhilarating season traveling with the officiating crew he found that day.
Star Spangled Baseball: True Tales Of Flags And Fields
By James Breig
| Publisher | Retail Price | ISBN | Buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| BookBaby | $4.99 (Kindle) | N/A | Amazon |
- Summary: In the aftermath of the Civil War, two all-American things — flags and baseball — became tied together as a means of reuniting the nation. From “The Star-Spangled Banner” to pennants marking a winning season, flags and the sport have been entwined for 150 years.
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