Buck Ewing

Buck Ewing (1859-1906) was regarded by contemporaries as the greatest catcher and all-around player of his era. A lifetime .300-hitter, he played every position on the diamond and led the league in fielding at two different positions. The first National League hitter to reach double digits in home runs, Ewing once stole six bases in a game, pioneered the snap forearm throw to catch runners napping, averaged 35 steals a season, and is the only catcher to lead his team in stolen bases (53 in 1888). Off the field, Ewing's personality proved as multifaceted as his playing skills. Considered both affable and modest, he still received criticism from fellow players for negotiating contracts directly with the National League and was wrongly accused of faking injuries. This revealing biography provides a detailed exploration of Ewing's life and career, shedding new light on one of baseball's most talented and versatile players.

"National League players planned revolt as the crowds swelled, hoping to take advantage of baseball's growing popularity. The season became, as one sportswriter said, something approaching a Lobster-Frankenstein nightmare."--BOOK JACKET.

After talks with baseball's owners broke down in the fall of 1889, some of the greatest players of the day jumped their contracts and declared open revolt against the American Association and National League. Tired of life under the hated reserve clause, which bound players to their teams and left them with no bargaining power, John Montgomery Ward and some 140 others set out to form a rival major league. The Players League would last only a season and end quite badly for both the players and the American Association, which folded a year later; but as a representation of the first major battle between the players and owners, the league occupies an important place in baseball history. This remarkably comprehensive book opens with an historical introduction to the league, including detailed information about its origins and failure. A biographical dictionary follows, with entries for every player in the league's brief tenure and additional profiles of prominent players who chose not to dignify the revolt with their participation. Profiles of the teams are also included.

This work uses practical measures to scientifically rank major league players, position by position, according to their offensive and defensive skills. The author has adjusted individual statistics for the era in which the player was active and for the "home park factor" in order to put all eligible players on a level playing field. For each position, the author has identified the top contenders for best offensive, defensive and all-around player, and provides a brief history of each of the candidates.

This was the climax; the end of a lifetime of bitterness and hate—Rusty Maxwell and Ben Sharp, both grown old, grizzled, and rich; one the owner of a barbed-wire empire, a sea of grass larger than some Eastern states; the other risen to great political power, ruthlessly scheming to break the man with whom he had clashed ever since both had driven their longhorn herds over the trail to Dodge. To cut that empire in two, to bring its over-lord to his knees, had long been Ben Sharp’s purpose. And in the South Western Pacific Railroad he found a weapon admirably forged to accomplish this end. But Rusty Maxwell, for all his years, had not forgotten how to fight; nor had Lance Kincaid, the fledgling eagle he had reared, if not sired. Here is the last-stand fight between the valiant Old West, bred to the plains and the saddle, fearless, a six-shooter the tool of its trade; and the raw, dollar-driven progress of the New. Lance Kincaid was certain of his position, the issues clear-cut in his mind, until proud, smiling Valerie Pickett reached the end-of-steel in her father’s construction car. In a novel that catches the soul of the windswept plains, Will Ermine has painted a canvas of historic action and drama which far exceeds the dimensions and depth of the usual cowboy story. Its tense, gripping reality strikes a singular note in Western fiction.

"The business of baseball and player transactions by David Ball"-- t.p.

Helms Hall of Fame's brothers William M. and Andrew B. "June" Rankin lived exciting lives covering sports for papers like the New York Sunday Mercury, New York Herald, New York World, Brooklyn Daily Eagle and New York Clipper from 1870 to 1930. Playing for amateur and semiprofessional Rockland County (N.Y.) clubs in the mid-1860s through early 1870s, the brothers developed into baseball writers and editors. Often working with Henry Chadwick, called the Father of Baseball, the brothers became authorities on the sport, writing histories of clubs and players, and scoring for the early New York and Brooklyn clubs. June went on to cover boxing as it transitioned into a gentlemen's sport, football as it emerged on college campuses, and golf through the formative years of the USGA and PGA. He also wrote two baseball books. Filled with sporting details, this book sets the brothers into a period of great changes in the world of American sports.

Known today as “the Babe Ruth of the 1880s,” Hall of Famer Roger Connor was the greatest of the nineteenth-century home run hitters, his career total (138) having stood as the major league record for nearly 24 years—until it was broken by Ruth himself. When he retired in 1897, he was also tops in triples (233), second in walks and total bases, third in hits, and fourth in doubles. But Connor did more than swing from his heels. He was an expert bunter who averaged more than twenty stolen bases a year (some credit him with inventing the “pop-up” slide) and led the league four times in fielding. Called “The Gentleman of the Diamond,” the slugger was never ejected from a game in seventeen major league seasons. This biography sheds new light on the life and five-decade baseball career of one of the games most admired and beloved players.