Carolina Baseball

Carolina Baseball: Pressure Makes Diamonds is action-packed, filled with vibrant photos, taking readers on an incomparable ride through college baseball history. A must read for any baseball fan of any age. Pressure Makes Diamonds wizzes the reader through the University of South Carolina's rich 119-year baseball program, culminating with a powerful play-by-play account of the Gamecocks unparalleled back-to-back, national championship wins in 2010 and 2011! Pressure Makes Diamonds IS the heart and soul of what makes American college baseball so exhilarating!

Shortly after the independent Carolina League was formed in 1936, officials of the National Association of Professional Baseball--which oversaw what was known as "organized baseball," including the major leagues--began a campaign to destroy the league. The NAPB declared the Carolina League "outlaw" and blacklisted its players because their teams were pirating professionally-contracted ballplayers with the lure of higher wages, small-town hero worship and a career off-season. Backed into a corner, the Carolina League wore its "outlaw" label with a defiant swagger, challenging the all-powerful monopoly of organized professional baseball and its standard player contract. This complete history of the league reveals how it persevered through three tumultuous seasons, fueled by the tight-knit community spirit of North Carolina Piedmont textile towns. Over its three seasons of existence, the Carolina League attracted professional baseball players from all over the country and it gave the players control over their careers, setting a standard that was resisted until free agency was adopted in 1973.

Hundreds of major leaguers—including the Hall of Fame’s Hank Greenburg, Johnny Mize, Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Morgan—got their starts in North Carolina, where baseball has been a fixture in the state for nearly 100 years—in Charlotte and Durham (whose Bulls were in the 1988 film Bull Durham) as well as Red Springs and Snow Hill. Following an historical statewide overview, year by year summaries and histories are provided for each of the 72 towns, from Albemarle to Zebulon. Notable players and club records are listed for each year, and the causes for the rise and fall of baseball in the different towns are discussed. Biographies of 20 prominent minor leaguers are included, as is an appendix of nearly 2,000 major leaguers who played for a North Carolina team. The state’s Negro League and textile league histories are also related.

Bordered by the Appalachian Mountains to the west and the flat coastal plain to the east, North Carolina's foothills region, also called the Piedmont, is home to a remarkable baseball heritage. For well over a century, the game has played a meaningful role in the lives of Piedmont residents. Countless thousands have participated in this national tradition and though some went on to become famous professional players in the big leagues, most never played for more than their local team. All, however, contributed to an important part of regional history. The North Carolina Piedmont has long been famous for its minor league teams, including the Durham Bulls and the Carolina Mudcats, but it's not just the professionals who helped shape the area's baseball tradition. College programs like those at the University of North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, and NC State have all figured prominently on the national scene at one time or another. High school teams from towns including Sanford have ranked among the nation's best, while American Legion teams have even captured the national championship. In the past it was the textile mills that contributed so much to the region's baseball heritage. Many of the mills only exist in memories today, but some of the teams they fielded-with names like McCrary, Wiscassett, Cannon, and Cooleemee-became local legends. With such a rich and colorful history, there is no doubt that North Carolina's Piedmont is truly baseball country.

Provides management, field staff, and contact information, league schedules, and ballpark directions for major and minor leagues.

Professional baseball is full of arcane team names. The Los Angeles Dodgers, for instance, owe their nickname to the trolley tracks that honeycombed Brooklyn in the early 1880s. (Residents were "trolley dodgers.") From the Negro Leagues, there were the Pittsburgh Crawfords (sponsored early by the Crawford Bath House and Recreation Center); from the minors, the Tucson Waddies (slang for cowboy) and, later, the Montgomery Biscuits (for the would-be concessions staple); from overseas, the Adelaide, Australia, Bite (a shark reference but also a pun for bight) and the Bussum, Netherlands, Mr. Cocker HCAW (the sponsoring restaurant chain, followed by the acronym for the official team name, Honkbalclub Allan Weerbaar). This comprehensive reference book explains the nicknames of thousands of major and minor league franchises, Negro League and early independent black clubs, and international teams--from 1869 through 2011.

Capturing such quintessentially American pastimes as baseball and road trips in one fascinating work, the updated and expanded third edition of Chris Epting’s Roadside Baseball chronicles more than 500 important events in baseball history with detailed descriptions of the event and information on each location. Packed with historical data, trivia, photographs, and baseball lore, entries include the birthplaces of baseball legends, ballparks, museums and halls of fame, final resting places, and many locations that are no longer standing. From out-of-the-way spots to the most popular stadiums in the U.S. and Canada, no site is too small or insignificant to be included in this comprehensive guide. The third edition of Roadside Baseball includes hundreds of newly discovered landmarks, including the former locations of stadiums that have been torn down since the last edition of the book (Yankee stadium, Shea stadium, Tiger stadium, etc.), information on the Negro Leagues Baseball Marker project which has placed headstones around the country to honor forgotten African-American ballplayers, new exhibits at existing MLB parks, and suggested daytrip itineraries located near your favorite stadiums. Other new entries include the actual diamond used for the classic film, The Sandlot; the exact location where Mickey Mantle’s legendary 565-foot blast landed; the baseball field in Orange County, California where many believe Babe Ruth hit the longest home run of his career against the great Walter Johnson (along with extremely rare photos of Ruth both batting and pitching during that very game); the newly marked location in Kekionga, Indiana where the first major league game was played in 1871; all 29 markers along the new “Hot Springs Baseball Trail” celebrating baseball history in Arkansas; and Heckscher Fields in Central Park, New York, where Larry David’s softball team played in an episode of “Curb Your Enthusisam.” Entries from the previous edition include the Buckminster Hotel in Boston, where the Black Sox planned their fix of the 1919 World Series; the original little league field and museum in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; the birthplace of Jackie Robinson; the place where Mickey Mantle was discovered by a scout from the New York Yankees; and the site of the original Wrigley Field, erected in Los Angeles in 1925. The third edition of Roadside Baseball is the most comprehensive book ever written on the locations of baseball landmarks, and the perfect gift for baseball fans of all ages!

Offering a fresh approach to the familiar concept of all-time baseball teams, this exhaustive work ranks more than 2,500 players by state of birth and includes both major league and Negro League athletes. Each chapter covers one state and opens with the all-time team, naming a top selection for each position followed by honorable mentions. Also included are all-time stat leaders in nine categories--games, hits, average, RBI, home runs, stolen bases, pitching wins, strikeouts and saves--a brief overview of the state's baseball history, notable player achievements, historic baseball places to see, potential future stars, a comprehensive list of player nicknames, and the state's all-time best player.