Baseball Prodigies

This is a book about baseball players who performed in the major leagues before the age of 21. For years the dream of many boys has been to enter the world of professional sports. Out of millions of boys who have played baseball, more than 17,000 have appeared in major league contests. Among them were hundreds who made their debut before their 21st birthday. However, most of these appeared in only a few games. Only 284 young men have played at least one season as a regular before or during the season in which they reached the age of 21. They are the subjects of this book. The text is divided into three parts. Part One deals with the careers of the ten prodigies who had the most productive seasons at the bat. Part Two discusses the ten young pitchers who had the most fruitful seasons on the mound. Part Three provides short sketches of the 172 players with at least five eligible seasons who do not rank among the above 20 prodigies. Data on the 92 players with at least one but fewer than five eligible seasons are given in an appendix.

Coaching youth baseball is tough. Not only do coaches have to teach kids the fundamental skills of the game, they also have to know how to select a team, how to run efficient practices, and how to deal with parents and umpires. Furthermore, they have to make sure the game is fun for all the kids on their team. Jeff Ourvan is an experienced youth baseball coach who has determined that what makes the experience of little league so special is the values it teaches. In How to Coach Youth Baseball So Every Kid Wins, he outlines a plan of action for youth coaches to follow that will enable them to field a team that plays together, plays well, and has lots of fun in the process.

In the world of sports, Iowa is probably best known for wrestling but the state has also produced more than 200 major league baseball players. Sixteen of them are profiled here, including six Hall of Famers, the game's brightest star of the 19th century, an American League batting champion, the only pitcher to lead the National League in strikeouts seven years in a row, the only catcher to catch two back-to-back no-hitters and one of the most dominant pitchers in American League history. They made their presence felt off the field, too. One helped fortify the game's racial barriers. One helped tear them down. One invented devices that changed the game. Two wrote instructional books on baseball. One became famous so young that he graced the cover of national magazines before graduating from high school. Each has a compelling story, some interwoven with the game's greatest moments.

This book examines what it takes for Latino youngsters to beat the odds, overcoming cultural and racial barriers—and a corrupt recruitment system—to play professional baseball in the United States. Latin Americans now comprise nearly 30 percent of the players in Major League Baseball (MLB). This provocative work looks at how young Latinos are recruited—and often exploited—and at the cultural, linguistic, and racial challenges faced by those who do make it. There are exposés of baseball camps where teens are encouraged to sacrifice education in favor of hitting and fielding drills and descriptions of fraud cases in which youngsters claim to be older than they are in order to sign contracts. The book also documents the increasing use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by kids desperately trying to gain an edge. In addition to discussing the hard road many Latinos follow to MLB, the work also traces the fascinating history of baseball's introduction in Latin American countries—in some cases, more than a century ago. Finally, there are the stories of great Latino players, of men like Roberto Clemente and Carlos Beltran who made it to the majors, but also of men who were not so lucky. Through their tales, readers can share the dreams and expectations of young men who, for better or worse, believe in "America's pastime" as their gateway out of poverty.

Exposing trafficking, theft, fraud, and gambling in the major leagues, a founding member of the MLB's Department of Investigations reveals a news-breaking true story of power and corruption. In the wake of 2005's sometimes contentious, sometimes comical congressional hearings on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball and the subsequent Mitchell Report, Major League Baseball established the Department of Investigations (DOI). An internal and autonomous unit, it was created to not only eliminate the use of steroids, but also to rid baseball of any other illegal, unsavory, or unethical activities. The DOI would investigate the dark side of the national pastime--gambling, age and identity fraud, human trafficking, cover-ups, and more--with the singular purpose of cleaning up the game. Eduardo Dominguez Jr. was a founding member of that first DOI team, leaving a stellar career with the Boston Police Department to join four other "supercops"--a group that included a 9/11 hero, a mob-buster, and narcotics experts--keeping watch over Major League Baseball. A decorated detective as well as a member of an FBI task force, Dominguez was initially reluctant to leave his law-enforcement career to work full-time in baseball. He had already seen the game's underbelly when he worked as a resident security agent (RSA) for the Boston Red Sox in 1999 and become wary of the game's commitment to any kind of reform. Only at the persuasion a widely respected NYPD detective tapped to lead the DOI did Dominguez agree to join the unit, which was the first--and last--of its kind in major American sports. "We could clean up this game," his new boss promised. In Baseball Cop, Dominguez shares the shocking revelations he confronted every day for six years with the DOI and nine as an RSA. He shines a light on the inner workings of the commissioner's office and the complicity of baseball's bosses in dealing with the misdeeds compromising the integrity of the game. Dominguez details the investigations and the obstacles--from the Biogenesis scandal to the perilous trafficking of Cuban players now populating the game to the theft of prospects' signing bonuses by buscones, street agents, and even clubs' employees. He further reveals how the mandates of former senator George Mitchell's report were modified or ignored altogether. Bracing and eye-opening, Baseball Cop is a wake-up call for anyone concerned about America's national pastime.

From an award-winning graphic artist and baseball historian comes a strikingly original illustrated history of baseball’s forgotten heroes, including stars of the Negro Leagues, barnstorming teams, semi-pro leagues, foreign leagues, and famous players like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio before they achieved notoriety. From a young age, Gary Cieradkowski had a passion for baseball’s unheralded heroes. Inspired by his father and their shared love of the sport, Cieradkowski began creating “outsider” baseball cards, as a way to tell the little-known stories of baseball’s many unsung heroes—alongside some of baseball’s greatest players before they were famous. The League of Outsider Baseball is a tribute to all of those who’ve played the game, known and unknown. Shining a light into the dark corners of baseball history—from Mickey Mantle’s minor league days to Negro League greats like Josh Gibson and Leon Day; to people that most never knew played the game, such as Frank Sinatra, who had his own ball club in 1940s Hollywood; bank robber John Dillinger, who was a promising shortstop and took time out between robberies to attend Cubs games; and even a few US presidents—this book is a rich, visual tribute to America’s pastime. Meticulously researched, beautifully illustrated using a unique, vintage baseball-card-style, and filled with a colorful and rich cast of characters, this book is a prized collector’s item and will be cherished by fans of all ages.

An irreverent look at a side of baseball not usually found on the sports pages, with more than 700 entries and 70 lists

Recounts the 1975 Cincinnati Reds winning season, offering readers player biographies, essays on team management and key aspects and highlights of the season.