Canadian Minor League Baseball


Book Description

During 75 seasons of baseball (1946-2020), 71 teams in 21 minor leagues represented 35 Canadian cities, playing either under the aegis of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (called Minor League Baseball since 1999) or independently. Sixteen teams operated for less than a year, including the eight teams of the Canadian Baseball League of 2003. Another 14 lasted three seasons or less. Seven have played continuously for 20 years or more, among them the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League and American Association, with 27 consecutive seasons since 1994. Chronicling their year-by-year fortunes, this history includes accounts of individual award winners, former Negro League players and future Hall-of-Famers, and traces of the rise and fall of independent league teams and the exodus of Canadian teams to the U.S.




Canadian Minor League Baseball


Book Description

During 75 seasons of baseball (1946-2020), 71 teams in 21 minor leagues represented 35 Canadian cities, playing either under the aegis of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (called Minor League Baseball since 1999) or independently. Sixteen teams operated for less than a year, including the eight teams of the Canadian Baseball League of 2003. Another 14 lasted three seasons or less. Seven have played continuously for 20 years or more, among them the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League and American Association, with 27 consecutive seasons since 1994. Chronicling their year-by-year fortunes, this history includes accounts of individual award winners, former Negro League players and future Hall-of-Famers, and traces of the rise and fall of independent league teams and the exodus of Canadian teams to the U.S.




Baseball's Canadian-American League


Book Description

A Class C minor league during a turbulent 15 years: its stirring history reveals what minor league baseball—indeed, all of baseball—was experiencing. Begun in the Depression, this league saw the coming of night baseball, World War II, the prosperous postwar era, integration, competition with television, and final demise. And here are the stories of stars in the making: Bob Lemon, Tommy LeSorda, Al Rosen, Lou Burdette, Frank Malzone, Vic Raschi. Those who never made it to the majors are also presented. This book—through groundbreaking research and dozens of personal interviews—captures the essence of minor league ball in this era.




The Tecumsehs of the International Association


Book Description

This is the previously untold story of the London Tecumsehs, an 1870s baseball team that rose to the top ranks of pro ball. The Tecumsehs of London, Ontario, were among the founding members of the International Association in 1877, the first league established to challenge the struggling National League, formed a year earlier. The team played against the top competition of the day and defeated nines from Chicago, St. Louis and elsewhere. They became the first champions of the International Association when they defeated Pittsburgh with the arm of Fred Goldsmith, one of the first curveball pitchers. This is also the story of the International Association, the only one of the six leagues challenging the primacy of the National League that has never been accorded major league status. To this day it has been relegated to minor league status to the detriment of some of the pioneer players in the game.




Diamonds of the North


Book Description

Baseball may not be Canada's national game, but its long history, its diffusion throughout the nation, and its play among widely diverse communities and by all ages of men and women suggests that it is a worthy claimant. Humber uncovers a multitude of previously unpublished reports of baseball-type games across present day Canada, long before the game's formal adoption in New York City in the mid-19th century. He explores baseball's major league quality in 1870s Ontario, why Quebecois came to play the game, how the Gold Rush brought baseball to the west coast, women's baseball in Saskatchewan after World War I, how their baseball teams' success staked Saint John and Halifax a claim to urban status, and the story of Japanese Canadian, black, and native baseball players in Canada.




The Northern Game


Book Description

Opening at the 2004 Olympic baseball tournament, where the unheralded Canadian team came within an errant throw of the gold medal game, the author recounts Canada's rich baseball history, from 1838 to 2004, when the top rookie in both major leagues hailed form the Great White North.




Willie Mays Aikens


Book Description

An intimate portrait of a tortured player, this biography culls interviews, letters, and the personal account of baseball legend Willie Mays Aikens. Touted from a young age as the next Reggie Jackson, Aikens' promising career quickly turned disastrous when he fell into drug abuse and was ultimately sentenced to the longest prison sentence ever given to a professional athlete in a drug case. Not only an exploration of baseball and culture in the 1980s, this book also delves into the United States justice and penal systems.




All I Thought about was Baseball


Book Description

A collection of fictional and factual essays on professional and recreational baseball as played in Canada, by professional sportswriters as well as writers not usually associated with sports. Contributors reminisce about prairie baseball in the 1930s, women's softball, Canada's first World Series in 1992, and Inuit baseball. Paper edition (unseen), $24.95. No index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Sport and Recreation in Canadian History


Book Description

"Sport and Recreation in Canadian History is a comprehensive textbook which provides an examination of events, documents, and pivotal moments that contributed to the development of sport in Canada. Content ranges from indigenous recreation, and the integration of British culture. It moves to the emergence of organized sport and national sport organizations, and their impact on how sport is viewed across the country. Amateur and professional sport is covered in detail and finally the globalization of Canadian sport and its expansion and position on the international stage"--




The Ultimate Minor League Baseball Road Trip


Book Description

An enthusiastic, irreverent, but exhaustive guidebook to all the stadiums of Minor League Baseball, following up on the success of the first Ultimate Baseball Road Trip book, which was dedicated to Major League stadiums.