Bobby Baseball

Ten-year-old Bobby Ellis loves everything about baseball, from the hits to the hot dogs. That's why he calls himself Bobby Baseball! Every day he dreams of becoming a major league pitcher and joining the stars in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And what better place to start his career than right here on his own Kids Club team, the Hawks? But the hawks' coach happens to be Bobby's father, who has other ideas. "You're a natural second baseman," he says, expecting Bobby to be a model player who never makes a single mistake. Get real, Dad! When Bobby pitches three winning games in a row, the Hawks rule. Suddenly Bobby's life seems like one big basball game--games on the field, games on TV, and games in his mind. Can Bobby keep on winning? Can he count on Dad?

Of all the teams in the annals of baseball, only a select few can lay claim to historic significance. One of those teams is the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, the first racially integrated Major League team of the twentieth century. The addition of Jackie Robinson to its roster changed not only baseball but also the nation. Yet Robinson was just one member of that memorable club, which included Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, Duke Snider, Eddie Stanky, Arky Vaughan, and Dixie Walker. Also present was a quartet of baseball’s most unforgettable characters: co-owners Branch Rickey and Walter O’Malley, suspended manager Leo Durocher, and radio announcer Red Barber. This book is the first to offer biographies of everyone on that incomparable team as well as accounts of the moments and events that marked the Dodgers’ 1947 season: Commissioner Happy Chandler suspending Durocher, Rickey luring his old friend Burt Shotton out of retirement to replace Durocher, and brilliant outfielder Reiser being sidelined after running into a fence. In spite of all this, the Dodgers went on to win the National League pennant over the heavily favored St. Louis Cardinals. And of course, there is the biggest story of the season, where history and biography coalesce: Jackie Robinson, who overcame widespread hostility to become Rookie of the Year—and to help the Dodgers set single-game attendance records in cities around the National League.

Three full-length sports history and trivia books from Black Mesa Publishing and author Tucker Elliot. Atlanta Braves IQ: The Ultimate Test of True Fandom Think you know Braves baseball? Think again. You're about to find out how smart you really are about the Atlanta Braves. Are you a rookie? Are you a tested, hardcore veteran? Or will you be clearing waivers for your pending release halfway through the book? We'll let you know. Test your skills. Wrack your brain. It's the ultimate Atlanta Braves IQ test. Atlanta Braves: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports THE TEAM: The Braves are the oldest continuously operated franchise in National League history and are one of just six Major League clubs with more than 10,000 victories—that's more than the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees and nearly 1,000 more than the Philadelphia Phillies (though the Phils have lost 10,000-plus games). In baseball's modern era the Braves franchise has won three World Series titles, 17 Pennants, and made 21 playoff appearances ... not to mention an unprecedented run of 14 consecutive Division Titles and the team of the 1990s under the leadership of Bobby Cox. A virtual who's who of Hall of Fame legends also claim the Braves as their home team: Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews and Phil Niekro to name a few. THE FORMAT: Atlanta Braves: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports is composed of ten chapters, each offering numbered "mini stories"—facts, anomalies, records, coincidences, and enthralling lore and trivia from Hall of Fame legends Aaron, Spahn, Mathews and Niekro to future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Chipper Jones, to contemporary stars Brian McCann, Dan Uggla and Tim Hudson. Each chapter begins with an introduction that highlights the many exciting stories found in these pages such as the "Worst-to-First" 1991 Braves, the legendary career of Manager Bobby Cox, the unprecedented Cy Young success for the Braves during the 1990s, the team's greatest sluggers, and the greatest feats and most astounding records in franchise history. SPORTS BY THE NUMBERS books are not just for diehard sports fans, but for every fan and sports history reader who loves sports and wants to know more about their heroes and favorite teams—and this title is the definitive source for history and trivia on your Atlanta Braves. Major League Baseball IQ: The Ultimate Test of True Fandom Think you know everything about our National Pastime? Think again! It's time to find out how much trivia you really know about Major League Baseball. Are you a rookie? Are you a tested, hardcore veteran? Or will you be clearing waivers for your pending release halfway through the book? We'll let you know. Ten chapters, 200 brand new questions, fascinating history, the best trivia from every era of the game, and all the big name players you'd expect to find, MLB IQ is the most comprehensive and challenging book of baseball trivia available today. Test your skills. Wrack your brain. It's your MLB IQ, the ultimate test of true fandom!

The 1954 Cleveland Indians were one of the most remarkable baseball teams of all time. Their record for most wins (111) fell only when the baseball schedule expanded, and their winning percentage, an astounding .721, is still unsurpassed in the American League. Though the season ended with a heartbreaking loss to the New York Giants in the World Series, the 1954 team remains a favorite among Cleveland fans and beyond. Pitching to the Pennant commemorates the ’54 Indians with a biographical sketch of the entire team, from the “Big Three” pitching staff (Mike Garcia and future Hall of Famers Bob Lemon and Early Wynn), through notable players such as Bobby Avila, Bob Feller, Larry Doby, and Al Rosen, to manager Al Lopez, his coaches, and the Indians’ broadcast team. There are also stories about Cleveland Stadium and the 1954 All-Star Game (which the team hosted), as well as a season timeline and a firsthand account of Game One of the World Series at the Polo Grounds. Pitching to the Pennant features the superb writing and research of members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), making this book a must for all Indians fans and baseball aficionados.

He was only five feet, seven inches at his very tallest. So how did he star on his high school football, basketball, and baseball teams, winning the award as the best athlete in his graduating class? Better yet, at the University of North Carolina, one of the best sports schools in the country, how did he win the very same award at graduation after playing basketball and baseball for all four years? Better yet, how did he help to found one of the very best junior colleges in the entire country? Better still, how did he spend ninety-one years as a central figure responsible for developing one of the countrys best summer camps, one that significantly impacted the lives of over twenty-thousand young people? Theres still more to his incredible rsum, so come join us for the inspirational life of Bobby G, a life worth celebrating! Some of it is bound to rub off on you!

More than any other sport, baseball has developed its own niche in America’s culture and psyche. Some researchers spend years on detailed statistical analyses of minute parts of the game, while others wax poetic about its players and plays. Many trace the beginnings of the civil rights movement in part to the Major Leagues’ decision to integrate, and the words and phrases of the game (for example, pinch-hitter and out in left field) have become common in our everyday language. From AARON, HENRY onward, this book covers all of what might be called the cultural aspects of baseball (as opposed to the number-rich statistical information so widely available elsewhere). Biographical sketches of all Hall of Fame players, owners, executives and umpires, as well as many of the sportswriters and broadcasters who have won the Spink and Frick awards, join entries for teams, owners, commissioners and league presidents. Advertising, agents, drafts, illegal substances, minor leagues, oldest players, perfect games, retired uniform numbers, superstitions, tripleheaders, and youngest players are among the thousands of entries herein. Most entries open with a topical quote and conclude with a brief bibliography of sources for further research. The whole work is exhaustively indexed and includes 119 photographs.

“This is the thing, you see: I am on my way to being an old man. But at sixty, I am still the youngest of old men.” As acclaimed journalist and author Ian Brown’s sixtieth birthday loomed, every moment seemed to present a choice: Confront, or deny, the biological fact that the end was now closer than the beginning. Brown chose instead to notice every moment—to try to capture precisely what he was experiencing, without panicking. Sixty is the result: an uncensored, seriocomic report, a slalom of day-to-day dramas (as husband, father, brother, friend, and neighbor), inquisitive reporting, and acute insights from the line between middle-aged and soon-to-be-elderly.

"This delightfully written, lesson-laden book deserves a place of its own in the Baseball Hall of Fame." —Forbes Moneyball is a quest for the secret of success in baseball. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis follows the low-budget Oakland A's, visionary general manager Billy Beane, and the strange brotherhood of amateur baseball theorists. They are all in search of new baseball knowledge—insights that will give the little guy who is willing to discard old wisdom the edge over big money.