Double No Hit

The average pitcher has about a .000645 chance of throwing a no-hitter. In the spring of 1938, Cincinnati Reds rookie pitcher Johnny Vander Meer pitched two, back to back. The feat has never been duplicated, which comes as no surprise to sports professionals and aficionados alike. Decade after decade, in one poll after another (from Sport magazine, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN),Vander Meer?s consecutive no-hitters turn up as one of baseball?s greatest and most untouchable achievements. Double No-Hit offers an inning-by-inning account of that historic second consecutive no-hitter accomplished during the first night game in New York City, with the Cincinnati Reds facing the Brooklyn Dodgers in Ebbets Field. James W. Johnson sets the stage and assembles the colorful cast of characters. Highlighting the story with recollections and observations from owners, managers, and players past and present, he fills in the details of Vander Meer?s accomplishment?and his baseball career, which never lived up to expectations heightened by his sensational performance. In the end, Double No-Hit brings to life a bygone era of the national pastime and one shining spring night, June 15, 1938, when a twenty-two-year-old fireballing left-hander with lousy control pitched his way into the top tier of baseball?s record book.

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.

The 1917 Chicago White Sox were rooted in frustration over eleventh hour pennant losses as far back as 1907 and 1908. Charles Comiskey, one of the founding fathers of the American League and a man who did not gladly suffer mediocrity and losing, had fumed for a decade until he finally put together a team that would take him back to the World Series and win it all. This work chronicles the team that did it, re-establishing the White Sox as one of the game's elite. It covers Comiskey's recruitment of quality players beginning in 1914 and continuing through the 1917 season; the players themselves, including Red Faber, Hap Felsch, Eddie Cicotte, Joe Jackson and Eddie Collins; the events of the extraordinary season on and off the field, including the three series that the White Sox had with the Boston Red Sox and the United States' involvement in World War I; and the team's victory over John McGraw's Giants in the World Series.

Many in baseball consider the scout to be the most important figure in any organization: It is the scout's work in the high school and college bleachers that unearths future legends. Few have achieved more--and in such grand style--than George Genovese. In a game that values numbers, Genovese's are staggering. No other scout has been responsible for more players in a single lineup, more home runs by players signed or more All-Star and World Series highlights than Genovese. Genovese's eye for talent is unmatched, his advocacy for the players he discovers is unrivaled, and the investment he makes toward their success is a difference maker. This autobiography is the story of his seven decades in baseball as a player, manager and scout.

In a series that imagines the impossible, each book plays out a flawless season for a particular team, identifying the most memorable real-life victory on every single day of the baseball calendar and including archival photos, original quotes and thorough research.

This Day in Philadelphia Sports, first published in 2014 and now newly updated in paperback to cover events from the 2014–15 season, offers a concise 366-day approach to looking back at the history of Philadelphia sports. Every day on the calendar is represented with a fun tidbit of information of what has happened on that specific day, over the years, in the history of one of the greatest sports towns in the world: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Every page is filled with accounts of specific events from the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, and 76ers, as well as the local college and high school sports teams. The authors incorporate fun facts, specific information, and thoroughly researched statistical data into each entry. From the inception of the Penn Relays in 1895 to the Eagles’ Nick Foles’s record-tying performance in 2013, this book covers it all. Relive the evening in late October of 2008 when the Phillies captured their second World Series title or Allen Iverson’s 55-point showing against the Hornets in the first game of the 2003 playoffs. The authors take you through the greatest moments in Philadelphia-sports history, as well as the moments when the pain of being a sports fan is in full force in the City of Brotherly Love. It’s all here, in This Day in Philadelphia Sports. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

The Dodgers Encyclopedia is the definitive book on Los Angeles and Brooklyn Dodgers baseball. It traces the history of one of Major League Baseball's most successful organizations, from the misty beginnings of its predecessors in rural Brooklyn more than 140 years ago, through their formative years in the major leagues, as a member of the American Association from 1884 through 1889, to a full-fledged representative of the National League since 1890. It covers the exciting and oftenzany years in Brooklyn through 1957, as well as a long and successful sojourn in Southern California during the last half of the 20th century.