| Book of Baseball Literacy |
E-books | Stats Lessons | History Lessons | Book Reviews | Ultimate Baseball Library |
> About the book
> About the author
> Book excerpts
> Critical praise
only $21.95
Author
The most influential baseball writer in recent times, James is largely
responsible for revolutionizing the way people approach baseball statistics.
Through his Baseball Abstracts, which he published from 1978 through
1988, James examined and analyzed countless important statistical questions,
such as the true value of the stolen base and the importance of walks,
and he has introduced new methods of judging ballplayers through the practice
of sabermetrics, a term coined by James himself. Among his other body
of work, he wrote what I and many others consider the quintessential baseball
history book -- The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract;
every fan should own a copy.
You could say James is responsible for the explosion in statistics you
see during a game: "Batting average on Tuesday afternoons,"
"Home runs against left-handers in day games after night games,"
etc. But that would be an injustice to James. In fact, his precedent-setting
statistical analyses and general approach to the game have positively
influenced -- directly or indirectly -- an entire generation of baseball
fans and writers, myself included.
Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?
The Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
Commissioner, 1921-1944
Only a handful of men influenced major league baseball more than Kenesaw
Mountain Landis. Baseball's first commissioner, he had worked previously
as a federal judge who vaulted to fame though a number of antitrust decisions
-- many of which were outrageous enough to get overturned by higher courts.
But when baseball needed an authoritarian figure to preside over the game
in the wake of the Black Sox
scandal and the death of Ray Chapman, the owners turned to the man
who had refused to make a ruling in the Federal League case against major
league baseball several years earlier.
Wanting to provide fans with the appearance of total propriety, the owners
granted Landis nearly absolute power -- a decision the owners would soon
come to regret. Landis's first act was to reaffirm the expulsion of the
eight members of the 1919 White Sox who conspired to fix the World Series.
He banished many more players for illegal or alleged illegal acts, suspended
Babe Ruth for barnstorming, and granted free agency to several hundred
minor league ballplayers who were being crushed under the weight of the
oppressive farm system. And despite public denials, he silently supported
baseball's execrable policy of denying blacks entry into major league
baseball.
When Landis died in 1944 after 23 years on the job, owners were publicly
sad but privately relieved. They then promptly rewrote the bylaws to limit
the commissioner's power. To many owners' dismay, Branch Rickey took advantage
of Landis's death to open the national pastime to people of all races.
Judge
and Jury : The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain
by David Pietrusza
Owner
"We plan absentee ownership," said Cleveland shipbuilding magnate
George Steinbrenner in 1973 as the group headed by him purchased the Yankees
from CBS. If only Yankee fans had been so lucky, for Steinbrenner loved
to bask in the yellow glow of the New York tabloids and quickly became
the most meddlesome owner in recent times.
He began his tenure auspiciously: suspended for two years after his conviction
for making illegal contributions to Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign.
He returned to plunge the Yankees into the new free agent market by signing
Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and Goose Gossage to bring the Yankees
their first pennants in a decade. Later, he signed Dave Winfield to the
richest free-agent contract in history, a 10-year contract worth $15 million--plus
some cost-of-living escalators that Steinbrenner didn't realize would
increase the deal to about $23 million. Those extra $8 million nearly
proved to be Steinbrenner's undoing, for he immediately began to despise
Winfield and his agents.
Throughout the '80s, while Winfield was building his Hall
of Fame career, Steinbrenner fought with and belittled Winfield and
even broke the part of the contract that ordered Steinbrenner to donate
$3 million to the ballplayer's charitable foundation. Steinbrenner then
went a step too far, according to the commissioner's office: On claims
from a gambler named Howard Spira that Winfield had given him money to
pay off his debts to mobsters, Steinbrenner began to have private detectives
investigate the player and his foundation. As it turned out, the foundation
was on shaky financial and ethical ground, and Winfield was publicly shamed.
But the investigation actually haunted Steinbrenner more. Spira began
to extort money from the Yankee boss, threatening to go public with the
owner's actions in digging up dirt on Winfield. Steinbrenner gave Spira
$40,000 to keep him quiet, then Spira spilled his story to the commissioner's
office.
The investigation and hearing that followed was as one-sided and prejudicial
as one could imagine; for example, Steinbrenner's lawyers weren't allowed
to depose or cross-examine many important witnesses. The results were
predictable: Commissioner Fay Vincent banished Steinbrenner for two years
in 1990. According to John Helyar's account of the affair in his book
Lords of the Realm, it's pretty apparent that the baseball establishment
was out to get Steinbrenner for his many other sins--from outrageous free-agent
signings to boorish behavior off the field. Now, however, that the tables
are turned, for Steinbrenner is back in baseball, older and with another
handful of championships, while Vincent is not.
Lords
of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball
by John Helyar
101
Reasons to Hate George Steinbrenner
by Brandon Toropov
Owner
Whenever you read Bill Veeck's name in a book or article, the word "maverick"
is almost always nearby: "Bill Veeck, the maverick owner of the St.
Louis Browns. . ." And it's not a misnomer. Veeck was always an innovator,
was always ahead of his time. During his long career, he owned three different
teams -- the Indians, Browns, and White Sox (twice) -- and he brought
his unique brand of leadership to each one.
In Cleveland, he integrated the American League with the signing of Larry
Doby in 1947 and, later, Satchel
Paige, helping to secure a pennant in 1948 and drawing over 2.6 million
fans, the most ever at the time. With the Browns, he sent midget Eddie
Gaedel to the plate in a grand publicity stunt, but he couldn't revive
that moribund franchise. As White Sox owner, however, he delivered the
team's first pennant since the Black
Sox scandal and introduced the first exploding scoreboard. Most of
his tactics were frowned upon by his fellow owners, who felt baseball
should remain classy and dignified. Veeck, on the other hand, saw baseball
as entertainment for the masses. He staged stunts and promotions almost
daily, like pre-game circus acts, post-game fireworks, the time he let
fans manage a game from the stands, or his "Disco Demolition Night"
that caused his team to forfeit when marijuana-stoned fans stormed the
field.
Veeck learned his trade first-hand, as the son of a Chicago sportswriter
who went on to become the Cubs' president. The young Veeck, in fact, came
up with the idea of planting ivy along the outfield walls in Wrigley
Field. A law school graduate, he urged the commissioner to do something
about the reserve clause built into every player's contracts -- in 1940,
or 30 years before Curt Flood. A few years later, according to his autobiography,
he tried to buy the lowly Phillies and stock the club with Negro
league stars -- half a decade before Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson
broke the color line.
(However, there is no independent evidence that he ever actually made
this attempt.) Veeck, who died in 1986, told his life story in Veeck
as in Wreck, universally regarded as one of the finest sports autobiographies
ever.
Veeck
as in Wreck
by Bill Veeck, Ed Linn
Check out the new blog that features interesting tidbits of baseball lore, literature, personalities, statistics, terminology, and more. I'm sharing a lot of research I've done over the years on fascinating topics. If you're a fan of the history of the game, this blog is for you.
