The Horse that Played Center Field


Book Description

After Oscar the horse began playing center field, the New York Goats, worst team in the major leagues, seemed certain to win the World Series, and then--Oscar was horse-naped.




Philadelphia's Old Ballparks


Book Description

Philadelphia's rich baseball heritage as seen through its baseball parks is vividly brought to life in this colorful and anecdotal book. Experienced sportswriter Rich Westcott once again dives into a labor of love, taking us back in time to an era when Philadelphia's ballparks were as famous and as much a part of the game as the teams that took the field. Philadelphia's baseball history goes beyond Shibe Park. Philadelphia's Old Ballparksis both a documentary and an oral history, providing detailed descriptions of all of the old professional parks and the many teams that played in them, including Baker Bowl, with its right field wall so close to home plate, it prompted sportswriter Red Smith to quip, "It might be exaggerating to say the outfield wall casts a shadow across the infield. But if the right fielder had eaten onions at lunch, the second baseman knew it." Shibe Park is also well-documented with its idiosyncracies, as are the others. The recollections of dozens of people--players, owners, vendors, ushers, grounds keepers, and fans combine to recreate the world that was held within those walls. Author note: Rich Westcotthas served as a writer and editor on the staffs of a variety of newspapers and magazines in the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas during his 35 years in publishing. He is the publisher and editor of Phillies Report.He is the author of six books, including The New Phillies Encyclopedia(Temple), with Frank Bilovsky; Phillies '93, An Incredible Season(Temple); Diamond Greats;and Masters of the Diamond.




The Horse that Played Center Field


Book Description

After Oscar the horse began playing center field, the New York Goats, worst team in the major leagues, seemed certain to win the World Series, and then--Oscar was horse-naped.




Baseball Players of the 1950s


Book Description

The playing and post-playing careers of all 1,560 players who appeared in a major league box score between 1950 and 1959--the "golden age," many say--are profiled in this exhaustive work. From Aaron to Zuverink: this treasure-trove of anecdotes, many gathered from personal interviews, is full of historical facts, controversy, and trivia. Readers will be reminded, that Milwaukee Braves pitcher Humberto Robinson was asked by a gambler to fix a game against the Phillies (he refused), Joe Adcock chased Giants pitcher Ruben Gomez around the field with a bat, Bob Turley reached the top of the corporate ladder after his playing days, Casey Wise became an orthodontist, Bobby Brown became a heart surgeon and president of the AL, and that Chuck Conners became an actor. All of this and much more can be found here.




The Doomed Horse Soldiers of Bataan


Book Description

This is the story of the last mounted American troops to see action in battle, when, in late 1941, six-hundred men and their horses held off the Japanese invasion of Luzon in the Philippines just long enough to allow General Douglas MacArthur's forces to withdraw to Bataan. The 26th continued to fight on horseback until late February 1942 when, tragically, they were ordered dismounted and their horses and mules transferred to the Quartermaster's center and slaughtered for food for the defenders. It is on record that the 26th troopers refused to accept meat rations from their animals, regardless of their own starvation. This stirring account of a little-known aspect of the Philippine campaign is military history at its best.




They're Playing Our Song


Book Description

Originally published in 1973, when it won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award , reprinted and revised several times since, They're Playing Our Song is a classic oral history of American popular music. Now further updated with new material and new photographs, this book is indispensable for anyone interested in the Great American Songbook of the 20th Century, original, classic and timeless songs and lyrics as popular today as ever.




A Tourist's Guide to Glengarry


Book Description

Nine-year-old Neil McDonald has always wanted to write a book. Every time he tries, though, it comes out `like the Hardy Boys or something'. But when a maverick substitute teacher challenges him to record all the events and thoughts of a single day, the doors of creativity swing open. It helps that the day in question is, in Neil's words, `pretty weird'. The time is the fall of 1971; the setting is lsquo;North America's northernmost Metropolis'. The cast includes Neil, his best friend Keith and his gnome-like baba, a budding Black Power advocate, the heavy-smoking son of anti-war activists, and a very small boy wielding a very large axe in a public park. Neil thinks his day will climax with the broadcast of the first night game in World Series history, but what he's in for is something much deeper, a surprise that will teach him much about the world and his place in it. In the end, Neil has his book. And it's nothing at all like the Hardy Boys.




Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodger Dugout


Book Description

To the baseball fans of today, the name 'Dodgers' is synonymous with Hollywood, the warm California sun, and names like Tommy Lasorda, Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey, and Orel Hershiser. The Dodgers mean much more than that to the fans of baseball history, however. Namely, these fans remember the famed Boys of Summer. otherwise known as the Brooklyn Dodgers, a team that included some of the most storied players in baseball history. The group included Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, and Jackie Robinson. Although they eventually moved out West, the Brooklyn Dodgers provided some of the greatest moments the game has ever seen and some of the greatest personalities to ever take the field. Carl Erskine, another member of that legendary team, relates memories about his days with the Dodgers in a book full of true stories and revealing anecdotes. The result is the second edition of Carl Erskine's Tales from the Dodger Dugout, a delightfully interesting trip through the world of baseball in the 1950s that includes several new stories added for this edition. Among Erskine's many tales are his dealings with immortal team official Branch Rickey, his view from the Dodgers' bench during Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, and his first-hand experiences when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first black player in Major League Baseball history. During his frequent speaking engagements, people often ask Erskine if all of his stories are true. His standard response has been, Yes, I couldn't possibly make them up the way they actually happened. Now fans can read all of those great true stories in Carl Erskine's Tales from theDodger Dugout: Second Edition.




Mike Donlin


Book Description

"Biography of baseball player and actor Mike Donlin, who played for the New York Giants from 1899 to 1914 and was one of the best hitters of the Deadball Era. A playboy and showman, he later went into Vaudeville and appeared in more than one hundred films"--




Boys' Life


Book Description

Boys' Life is the official youth magazine for the Boy Scouts of America. Published since 1911, it contains a proven mix of news, nature, sports, history, fiction, science, comics, and Scouting.