When Chicago Ruled Baseball

In 1906 the baseball world saw something that had never been done. Two teams from the same city squared off against each other in a World Series that pitted the heavily favored Cubs of the National League against the hardscrabble American League champion White Sox. Now, more than a century later, noted historian Bernard A. Weisberger tells the tale of a unique time in baseball, a unique time in America, and a time when Chicago was at the center of it all. When Chicago Ruled Baseball brings to life a dazzling epoch in a land of the self-made man—where A. G. Spalding helped establish baseball as both a national pastime and a thriving business, where Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown overcame a horribly disfiguring injury and pitched his way into the Hall of Fame . . . and Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance proved that you could use teamwork to stand out as stars. Weisberger brings to life an unforgettable story of how a city that had rebuilt itself from the ashes of the Great Fire thirty-five years earlier became the focal point of an entire baseball-loving country, and one grand sporting contest staked its claim as one of the most remarkable and electrifying World Series ever to be played. Some images that appeared in the print edition of this book are unavailable in the electronic edition due to rights reasons.

In the years before the Curse of the Bambino descended on New England, the Boston Red Sox rode major league baseball like a colossus, capturing four World Series titles in seven seasons. Blessed with legendary players like Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, and Smokey Joe Wood, and a brand new, thoroughly modern stadium, the Red Sox reigned as kings of the Deadball Era. Just in time for the centenary of baseball's hallowed Fenway Park and the dawn of the Red Sox dynasty, Thomas J. Whalen gracefully recounts the rise and fall of one of baseball's greatest teams.

The first deaf baseball player joined the pro ranks in 1883. By 1901, four played in the major leagues, most notably outfielder William "Dummy" Hoy and pitcher Luther "Dummy" Taylor. Along the way, deaf players developed a distinctive approach, bringing visual acuity and sign language to the sport. They crossed paths with other pioneers, including Moses Fleetwood Walker and Jackie Robinson. This book recounts their great moments in the game, from the first all-deaf barnstorming team to the only meeting of a deaf batter and a deaf pitcher in a major league game. The true story--often dismissed as legend--of Hoy, together with umpire "Silk" O'Loughlin, bringing hand signals to baseball is told.

This study uses sociological and historical methodologies to analyze the role of sport in the formation of urban identity in Chicago. The author traces the transformation of Chicago from a frontier town to a commercial behemoth, examining its role as an immigration, transportation, and entertainment hub. The author argues that, as a pioneering leader in American sport history, Chicago allowed teams and athletes to forge a unique national and global identity. This thorough and well-researched study makes a major contribution to debates on the social and psychological functions of sport culture.

The last time the Chicago Cubs played in the World Series, World War II had just ended. The last time they won a World Series, World War I had not yet begun. But from 1906-1910 the Cubs not only played in the World Series four of the five years, they won two World Championships, as well. It was a time when the Cubs ruled baseball, and no one could have imagined the roller coaster adventures that were ahead for this grand old franchise. In The Last Chicago Cubs Dynasty: Before the Curse, Hal Bock tells the story of this legendary team, the characters who were central to its success, and the misfortunes which have plagued the team ever since. Stars such as pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown and the double-play combination of Tinker to Evers to Chance are profiled, as are opponents who caused the Cubs unending headaches, like superstar pitcher Christy Mathewson and immortal shortstop Honus Wagner. A chronology and cast of characters set the stage for the reader before Bock delves into the early history of the Cubs and the assembly of what would become a dynasty. With talent to spare and just a little bit of luck going their way, the Chicago Cubs were unstoppable. But when an angry fan issued a curse on the team during the 1945 World Series, some believe it marked the beginning of the end for this storied franchise. Featuring 100-year-old images from historic baseball cards, profiles of Hall of Fame legends, and a foreword by Cubs supporter and TV star Joe Mantegna, The Last Chicago Cubs Dynasty will appeal to all baseball fans, but especially to those always-passionate Cubs enthusiasts from around the nation.

A celebration of the fast, the strong, the agile, and the tricky throughout Chicago's storied sports history

In his day, perhaps no one in baseball was better known than Irish-born Timothy Paul "Ted" Sullivan. For 50 years, America's sportswriters sang his praises, genuflected to his genius and bought his blarney by the barrel. Damon Runyon dubbed him "The Celebrated Carpetbagger of Baseball." Cunning, fast-talking, witty and sober, Sullivan was the game's first player agent, a groundbreaking scout who pulled future Hall of Famers from the bushes, an author, a playwright and a baseball evangelist who promoted the game across five continents. He coined the term "fan" and was among the first to suggest the designated hitter--because pitchers were "a lot of whippoorwill swingers." But he was also a convert to the Jim Crow attitudes of his day--black ballplayers were unimaginable to him. Unearthing thousands of contemporaneous newspaper accounts, this first exhaustive biography of "Hustlin'" Ted Sullivan recounts the life and career of one of the greatest hucksters in the history of the game.

Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years explores the history of organized baseball during the middle of the twentieth century, examining the sport on and off the field and contextualizing its development as both sport and business within the broader contours of American history. Steven P. Gietschier begins with the Great Depression, looking at how those years of economic turmoil shaped the sport and how baseball responded. Gietschier covers a then-burgeoning group of owners, players, and key figures--among them Branch Rickey, Larry MacPhail, Hank Greenberg, Ford Frick, and several others--whose stories figure prominently in baseball's past and some of whom are still prominent in its collective consciousness. Combining narrative and analysis, Gietschier tells the game's history across more than three decades while simultaneously exploring its politics and economics, including, for example, how the game confronted and barely survived the United States' entry into World War II; how owners controlled their labor supply--the players; and how the business of baseball interacted with the federal government. He reveals how baseball handled the return to peacetime and the defining postwar decade, including the integration of the game, the demise of the Negro Leagues, the emergence of television, and the first efforts to move franchises and expand into new markets. Gietschier considers much of the work done by biographers, scholars, and baseball researchers to inform a new and current history of baseball in one of its more important and transformational periods.