Ghosts Of Baseball S Past

Baseball has existed since the mid 1800's and has been the occupation for thousands of men through history. Defining the best amongst such a wide array of players always sparks a debate, as the Hall-of-Fame in Cooperstown is seen as the debate settler, a place where only legends reside. However, the Hall-of-Fame has overlooked many of the game's star players, failing to immortalize them with their peers. Ghosts of Baseball's Past details the careers of ball diamond legends who have been past over by Hall-of-Fame voters. So take a look inside and decide for yourself whether players like Bert Blyleven, Ted Kluszewski, Riggs Stephenson and more deserve to dwell in Cooperstown. Read about Herb Score, Turkey Mike Donlin and Buddy Lewis, and help keep the names of these legends alive.

"Much Ado About Baseball is the best children's book I've read in the past 10 years!" -Brad Thor, New York Times bestselling author of the Scot Harvath series "A moving tale of baseball, magic, and former rivals who come together to solve a problem." -Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW In this companion novel to Midsummer's Mayhem, math and baseball combine with savory snacks to cause confusion and calamity in the town of Comity. Twelve-year-old Trish can solve tough math problems and throw a mean fastball. But because of her mom's new job, she's now facing a summer trying to make friends all over again in a new town. That isn't an easy thing to do, and her mom is too busy to notice how miserable she is. But at her first baseball practice, Trish realizes one of her teammates is Ben, the sixth-grade math prodigy she beat in the spring Math Puzzler Championships. Everyone around them seems to think that with their math talent and love of baseball, it's only logical that Trish and Ben become friends, but Ben makes it clear he still hasn't gotten over that loss and can't stand her. To make matters worse, their team can't win a single game. But then they meet Rob, an older kid who smacks home runs without breaking a sweat. Rob tells them about his family's store, which sells unusual snacks that will make them better ballplayers. Trish is dubious, but she's willing to try almost anything to help the team. When a mysterious booklet of math puzzles claiming to reveal the "ultimate answer" arrives in her mailbox, Trish and Ben start to get closer and solve the puzzles together. Ben starts getting hits, and their team becomes unstoppable. Trish is happy to keep riding the wave of good luck . . . until they get to a puzzle they can't solve, with tragic consequences. Can they find the answer to this ultimate puzzle, or will they strike out when it counts the most?

Time often slows and even stops in the small town of Cottage Park, Iowa. In fact, time is best measured not by the hands of a clock but by the innings of a baseball game. Praying and playing baseball are two of the town's primary activities. Actually, they are one in the same in a town where baseball is a religion. Still, time does eventually flow on. Much like the Des Moines River just outside Cottage Park, time leads to the site of the 1974 Iowa high school baseball tournament. Cottage Park's Holy Trinity High School has never won the Finals. The team's three elderly coaches vow to at last anoint themselves champions before they retire. For the players, the road to the Finals is a confirmation by fire--a rite of passage before they must face adulthood. Fathers, sons, and the holy ghosts of baseball join together in the quest for the Finals. Along this journey, young and old alike ultimately learn you must sacrifice before you can gain and sometimes you must lose before you can win.

An irony of enshrinement at the baseball Hall of Fame is that it's no guarantee of lasting name recognition. The sport's history stretches too far back, as today fans scratch their heads about athletes and owners who were among the most celebrated public figures of their time. Who was more renowned than George Wright, baseball's greatest star during the transition from amateur to professional play? Who was more feared than Big Dan Brouthers? Maybe it was Amos Rusie, who threw so hard that some say the rules makers increased the pitching distance just to make things fair. . Of the 256 players, managers and executives in the Hall of Fame, the names that are known well--Ty Cobb, Connie Mack, Willie Mays--account for a small minority. This book, a follow-up to Ghosts in the Gallery at Cooperstown (2004), provides chapter-length biographies on 16 Hall of Famers from baseball's distant past. Award-winning biographer David Fleitz covers in detail the lives and careers of Negro League (Hilton Smith) and pre-Negro League greats (Cristobal Torriente and Smokey Joe Williams), big leaguers from the 19th century (Wright, Brouthers, Rusie, Mickey Welch, Tommy McCarthy, Tim Keefe, Joe Kelley, Billy Hamilton, and Sam Thompson) and stars from the deadball era through the Second World War (Jimmy Collins, Sam Rice, Kiki Cuyler, Arky Vaughan). For some, it is the first time their stories appear in print.

Hey kid, do you wanna get rich? I’m talking real rich, real quick. It’s easy, and to do it, all the info you need is contained within this book. Keep reading. Listen, my name is Dr. Cecil H.H. Mills. I’m the author of this book as well as many other better books that you may not have heard of. But this one is fine, I suppose—especially if you want to one day own a yacht. This is a story about three idiot wannabe detectives: J.J. and Valentine Watts and their new friend Trudi de la Rosa. Again, they’re idiots, but in a fun way where they go on adventures and occasionally use swear words. In this book, they’re riding a train on official Ghost Hunters Adventure Club business when an old friend from the past shows up to ruin everything. It’s up to our three young adventurers to solve the mystery of the Express Train to Nowhere before they’re locked away forever for a crime they didn’t even commit. There’s action, there’s humor, there’s suspense, but most importantly there is a detailed set of instructions hidden within these pages that will help both you and me get rich beyond our wildest dreams. Just buy the book and start reading. You’ll learn everything about the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and my personal get-rich-quick Yacht Plan soon.

Roy MacGregor has been called "the best hockey writer in the country," and we finally have a collection of his very best hockey writing, revised and updated. For nearly 40 years Roy MacGregor has brought hockey, our national sport, alive on the page. From tales of the game's greats (Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne) to today's stars (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel and Henrik Sedin), his magazine and newspaper coverage has revealed so much about these and so many other personalities, in moments of promise, victory and defeat. While many of these stories play out on the ice, some of the most compelling take place on the home front (Mario Lemieux's battle against cancer, the many tribulations of Bob Gainey), and MacGregor's prose shines especially when focused on the human side of a sport defined by superhuman feats of speed, aggression and power. Wayne Gretzky's Ghost is a personal book, and also a book of challenging ideas: that Wayne Gretzky, through no fault of his own, was the worst thing to happen to hockey; that CBC's Hockey Night in Canada has lost sight of what it is; that goaltending has become a position out of all proportion to what was intended. And who could offer a better perspective on the game than a writer who, playing as a youngster, had to face an onrushing phenom from Parry Sound named Bobby Orr, or who spent a year ghostwriting a national newspaper column for the Great One himself? When it comes to hockey, Roy MacGregor has seen (and in some cases, done) it all.

Baseball and ghost stories are as American as apple pie. Haunted Baseball combines both with this fun and freaky collection of otherworldly yarns. Collected from baseball players, stadium personnel, umpires, front-office folks, and fans, the tales told here explore the spooky connection between baseball and the paranormal, including Babe Ruth sightings at a former brothel, the Curse of the Billy Goat that still haunts the Chicago Cubs, of hidden passageways within the depths of Dodger Stadium, and of the spirits of legendary stars that inspire modern-day players at Yankee Stadium. We hear why Johnny Damon believes in ghosts, and how the memories of a 9/11 hero inspired Ken Griffey Jr. to hit a home run against the Phillies—a team against which he'd never even gotten a hit! There's the story of how Sam Rice settled a decades-old baseball controversy with a message from beyond the grave, and how the late Roberto Clemente had premonitions of his own death in a plane crash. With a wealth of anecdotes that have never before been told before, the authors present an entertaining and eerie look at our national pastime.

Welcome to Unknown Pleasures, a food stand in Taipei's night market named after a Joy Division album, and also the location for a big-hearted new mystery set in the often undocumented Taiwan. August is Ghost Month in Taiwan—a time to pay respects to the dead and avoid unlucky omens. Jing-nan, who runs a food stand in a bustling Taipei night market, isn’t superstitious, but this August will haunt him nonetheless. He learns that his high school sweetheart has been murdered—found scantily clad near a highway where she was selling betel nuts. Beyond his harrowing grief, Jing-nan is confused. “Betel nut beauties” are typically women in desperate circumstances, but Julia Huang was high school valedictorian, and the last time Jing-nan spoke to her, she was far away, happily enrolled in NYU’s honor program. The facts don’t add up. Julia’s parents don’t think so, either, but the police seem to have closed the case without asking any questions. The Huangs beg Jing-nan to do some investigating—reconnect with old classmates, see if he can learn anything more about Julia’s last years. Reluctantly, he agrees, for Julia’s sake. But nothing can prepare him for what he is about to learn, or how it will change his life.