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When Big Data Was Small: My Life in Baseball Analytics and Drug Design
By Richard D. Cramer. 2019
Richard D. Cramer has been doing baseball analytics for just about as long as anyone alive, even before the term…
“sabermetrics” existed. He started analyzing baseball statistics as a hobby in the mid-1960s, not long after graduating from Harvard and MIT. He was a research scientist for SmithKline and in his spare time used his work computer to test his theories about baseball statistics. One of his earliest discoveries was that clutch hitting—then one of the most sacred pieces of received wisdom in the game—didn’t really exist. In When Big Data Was Small Cramer recounts his life and remarkable contributions to baseball knowledge. In 1971 Cramer learned about the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and began working with Pete Palmer, whose statistical work is credited with providing the foundation on which SABR is built. Cramer cofounded STATS Inc. and began working with the Houston Astros, Oakland A’s, Yankees, and White Sox, with the help of his new Apple II computer. Yet for Cramer baseball was always a side interest, even if a very intense one for most of the last forty years. His main occupation, which involved other “big data” activities, was that of a chemist who pioneered the use of specialized analytics, often known as computer-aided drug discovery, to help guide the development of pharmaceutical drugs. After a decade-long hiatus, Cramer returned to baseball analytics in 2004 and has done important work with Retrosheet since then. When Big Data Was Small is the story of the earliest days of baseball analytics and computer-aided drug discovery.Red Sox vs. Yankees: Hometown Experts Analyze, Debate, and Illuminate Baseball's Ultimate Rivalry (Classic Sports Rivalries #1)
By David Fischer, Bill Nowlin. 2019
Teddy Ballgame or the Great Bambino? Nomar or Jeter? Clemens or Clemens? For more than 115 years, the Boston Red…
Sox and New York Yankees have been battling it out on the diamond, playing each other over 2,000 times. This heated rivalry has stood the test of time, as one team’s triumph usually means the other’s dismay. While the teams battle on the field, the fans and cities take the rivalry just as seriously. But who’s the best? Which team’s players have the edge? Which team’s squad would reign supreme? If you ask a New Yorker, you’ll get an obvious answer; same with a Bostonian. But what happens when two men from opposite sides of the track sit down to discuss who is the best?Red Sox vs. Yankees pairs baseball historians Bill Nowlin (Red Sox) and David Fischer (Yankees) to discuss who each team’s best position player was and which super team would win in a head-to-head series. Obviously, they won’t easily agree. Obviously, there will be cheap shots and venom spewed back and forth. But in the end, we will have two teams: one of the greatest players and one of each squad’s best year. You can guess that Nowlin will say that the Sox will win, while Fischer is confident that the Yanks will be victorious. But it’s not that easy. Thanks to the help of Action! PC Baseball, we will have a simulation to find out which team would win in a head-to-head battle. Will the All-Star Yankees take the series? Will the Red Sox pummel the best the Bronx has to offer? There’s only one way to find out.Wrigley Field Year by Year: A Century at the Friendly Confines
By Sam Pathy. 2016
More than just a lavishly illustrated and highly readable book, Wrigley Field Year by Year, originally published in 2014 and…
updated through the 2018 season, is the result of a quarter century of meticulous research. Written by a baseball historian and recognized authority on the “Friendly Confines,” this is the first book to detail each year of the storied park’s existence. The book covers not only the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Federal League baseball teams in detail, it touches on the Chicago Bears football team, basketball, hockey, high school sports, track and field, and political rallies. It references activities and changes throughout the park and in its neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side. In addition to pertinent Cubs statistics, the author’s year-by-year coverage includes:A “game of the year”A description of unusual and interesting happenings in the ballparkA quote from the year that best captures its essenceSupplementing the year-by-year approach are nine chapters that divide Wrigley Field’s rich history into nine “innings” along with informative appendixes that will delight every Cubs fan, from the casual to the obsessed. The book’s easy-to-use format and wealth of information make it a resource that readers will turn to again and again.When the Braves Ruled the Diamond: Fourteen Flags over Atlanta
By Dan Schlossberg. 2016
From 1991 through 2005, the Atlanta Braves did something no pro sports team can match, finishing in first place for…
fourteen consecutive seasons. During that stretch, the Braves paired powerful pitching with potent hitting that produced under pressure. Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox won with veteran teams, young teams, slugging teams, and several times with teams that emphasized speed and defense. His teams captured on hundred wins in six different seasons. In When the Braves Ruled the Diamond, now newly updated to include a discussion of the team's latest Hall of Fame inductees, former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg covers the record-breaking era that transformed Atlanta from the Bad-News Braves to America's Team. With separate chapters on Cox, fabled pitching coach Leo Mazzone, and Hall of Fame pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, this book also highlights the contributions of Andres Galarraga, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Brian Jordan, Javy Lopez, Terry Pendleton, and many more Braves stars. It features year-by-year summaries, Opening Day lineups, and even oddball anecdotes that explain why the fourteen-year streak may never be duplicated. It is the perfect gift for fans of baseball history as well as fans of the Atlanta Braves!The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players
By Ben Lindbergh, Travis Sawchik. 2019
Move over, Moneyball -- a cutting-edge look at major league baseball's next revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players.…
As bestselling authors Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik reveal in The MVP Machine, the Moneyball era is over. Fifteen years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics' groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players, and the league's smarter teams no longer have a huge advantage in valuing past performance.Lindbergh and Sawchik's behind-the-scenes reporting reveals:How the 2017 Astros and 2018 Red Sox used cutting-edge technology to win the World SeriesHow undersized afterthoughts José Altuve and Mookie Betts became big sluggers and MVPsHow polarizing pitcher Trevor Bauer made himself a Cy Young contenderHow new analytical tools have overturned traditional pitching and hitting techniquesHow a wave of young talent is making MLB both better than ever and arguably worse to watchInstead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball's best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of former fringe hitters into home-run kings, show how washed-up pitchers have emerged as aces, and document how coaching and scouting are being turned upside down. The MVP Machine charts the future of a sport and offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball: Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential.Baseball's Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro Leagues
By Andrea Williams. 2021
For fans of Hidden Figures and Steve Sheinkin's Undefeated, Andrea Williams's Baseball's Leading Lady is the powerful true story of…
Effa Manley, the first and only woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, Black athletes played in the Negro Leagues--on teams coached by Black managers, cheered on by Black fans, and often run by Black owners. Here is the riveting true story of the woman at the center of the Black baseball world: Effa Manley, co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles. Elegant yet gutsy, she cultivated a powerhouse team. Yet just as her Eagles reached their pinnacle, so did calls to integrate baseball, a move that would all but extinguish the Negro Leagues. On and off the field, Effa hated to lose. She had devoted her life to Black empowerment--but in the battle for Black baseball, was the game rigged against her?Convirtiendome en el Sr. Octubre
By Reggie Jackson. 2014
Los Yankees de Nueva York versus los Red Sox de Boston, septiembre 1977: ¿Le pides a Babe Ruth que toque…
la bola, o a Cookie Lavagetto, Willie McCovey o Phil Rizzuto? Pero yo estaba aprendiendo. Billy Martin me dijo que tocara la bola y me preparé para hacerlo. Pero Reggie Cleveland me lanzó una bola hacia adentro y no pude sacar el bate, así que tuve que tomarla como una bola. Miré a Dick Howser y el toque de bola quedó descartado. Cleveland me lanzó una bola rápida y cometí un foul. Miré de nuevo a Howser. Volvió a hacerme señas para tocar la bola. Díganme una cosa, ¿tiene sentido eso? Me preparé para tratar de tocar la bola de nuevo, pero Reggie Cleveland me lanzó otra bola hacia adentro. Era como si ellos estuvieran viendo las señas, lo cual era muy probable. Era como si supieran con antelación que iba a intentar tocar la bola. Personalmente, pensé que estaban cometiendo un error. Si fuera mi equipo y Reggie Jackson quería tocar la bola, yo le dejaría hacerlo. Pero la cuenta se puso a mi favor, el toque de bola quedó descartado y Cleveland me lanzó una bola deslizadora. Me lo pusieron muy fácil. El resto es historia.The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron
By Howard Bryant. 2010
In the thirty-four years since his retirement, Henry Aaron's reputation has only grown in magnitude: he broke existing records (RBIs,…
total bases, extra-base hits) and set new ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen times, becoming the first player in history to hammer five hundred home runs and three thousand hits). But his influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here is the first definitive biography of one of baseball's immortal figures. Based on meticulous research and interviews with former teammates, family, two former presidents, and Aaron himself, The Last Hero chronicles Aaron's childhood in segregated Alabama, his brief stardom in the Negro Leagues, his complicated relationship with celebrity, and his historic rivalry with Willie Mays--all culminating in the defining event of his life: his shattering of Babe Ruth's all-time home-run record. Bryant also examines Aaron's more complex second act: his quest to become an important voice beyond the ball field when his playing days had ended, his rediscovery by a public disillusioned with today's tainted heroes, and his disappointment that his career home-run record was finally broken by Barry Bonds during the steroid era, baseball's greatest scandal. Bryant reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time--fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress--and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson's mission to obtain full equality for African-Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public spotlight. Eloquently written, detailed and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon.Historic Ballparks of the Twin Cities (Sports)
By Stew Thornley. 2021
From the rickety to the palatial, ballparks have grown up with and defined baseball in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Some…
old-timers have vivid memories of cheering for Willie Mays and Roy Campanella at Nicollet and Lexington. Others marveled at a majestic Killebrew home run at the Met. Many a lucky resident celebrated two world championships in the Metrodome and witnessed one of the greatest pitching performances in World Series history. More recently, fans have enjoyed the return of sunshine and even raindrops at Target Field. Described by City Pages as "the most respected local baseball historian," Stew Thornley leads a tour of where we--as well as our grandparents and now our children--discovered baseball.Grover Cleveland Alexander was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, with 373 career victories during twenty seasons in…
the Major Leagues. Elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938, the right-hander remains a compelling—and tragic—figure. &“Pete&” Alexander&’s military service during World War I was the demarcation line between his great seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and his years of struggle and turmoil with the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals after the Great War. Indeed, Alexander&’s service during World War I has all but been forgotten, even though it dramatically changed his life—and his game. Alexander served in the 342nd Field Artillery Regiment, which included big leaguers and star athletes among its officers and men. Naturally, the regiment fielded an outstanding baseball team, but it also faced hard service during the final weeks of the war. After the armistice in November 1918, the unit undertook occupation duty in Germany.The Best Team Over There examines this crucial period closely: where Alexander was stationed, how he was trained, how he withstood the effects of combat and shelling, how he interacted with his fellow athletes and soldiers, and how the war changed his baseball career, revealing for the first time the little-known details of this critical stage in the legendary pitcher&’s life and career. We can&’t truly understand Alexander and his enduring appeal to baseball fans without also understanding his life as a gunner and soldier.Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke
By Andrew Maraniss. 2021
*"[An] excellent exercise in narrative nonfiction." --Booklist (starred review)From New York Times bestselling author Andrew Maraniss comes the remarkable true…
story of Glenn Burke, a "hidden figure" in the history of sports: the inventor of the high five and the first openly gay MLB player. Perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin and Daniel James Brown. On October 2nd, 1977, Glenn Burke, outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, made history without even swinging a bat. When his teammate Dusty Baker hit a historic home run, Glenn enthusiastically congratulated him with the first ever high five. But Glenn also made history in another way--he was the first openly gay MLB player. While he did not come out publicly until after his playing days were over, Glenn's sexuality was known to his teammates, family, and friends. His MLB career would be cut short after only three years, but his legacy and impact on the athletic and LGBTQIA+ community would resonate for years to come. New York Times bestselling author Andrew Maraniss tells the story of Glenn Burke: from his childhood growing up in Oakland, his journey to the MLB and the World Series, the joy in discovering who he really was, to more difficult times: facing injury, addiction, and the AIDS epidemic.Packed with black-and-white photographs and thoroughly researched, never-before-seen details about Glenn's life, Singled Out is the fascinating story of a trailblazer in sports--and the history and culture that shaped the world around him.Praise for Singled Out:"A compelling narrative . . . This is a meticulously researched history of the ways queer culture in the &’70s intersected with baseball, Blackness, and larger culture wars, with one man at their center." --Kirkus ReviewsPower, Money and Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life
By Deion Sanders, Jim Nelson Black. 1999
Superstar Deion Sanders tells his powerful life story and reveals how power, money and sex could not satisfy the void…
in his life--a void ultimately satisfied by his relationship with Christ.New York Times Story of the Yankees: 1903-Present: 390 Articles, Profiles & Essays
By The New York Times. 2017
Experience a century of the pride, power, and pinstripes of the Yankees, Major League Baseball's most successful team, as told…
through the stories of their hometown newspaper, The New York Times.The New York Yankees are the most storied franchise in baseball history. They consistently draw the largest home and away crowds of any team, command the largest broadcast audiences in baseball, draw the greatest number of on-line followers, and routinely sell more copies of books and magazines than any other professional sports team.The New York Times Story of the Yankees includes more than 350 articles chronicling the team's most famous milestones—as well as the best writing about the ball club. Each article is hand-selected from The Times by the peerless sportswriter Dave Anderson, creating the most complete and compelling history to date about the Yankees.Organized by era, the book covers the biggest stories and events in Yankee history, such as the purchase of Babe Ruth, Roger Maris's 61st home run, and David Cone's perfect game. It chronicles the team's 27 World Series championships and 40 American League pennants; its rivalries with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox; controversial owners, players, and managers; and more. The articles span the years from 1903—when the team was known as the New York Highlanders—to the present, and include stories from well-known and beloved Times reporters such as Arthur Daley, John Kieran, Leonard Koppett, Red Smith, Tyler Kepner, Ira Berkow, Richard Sandomir, Jim Roach, and George Vecsey.Hundreds of black-and-white photographs throughout capture every era. A foreword by die-hard Yankees fan, Alec Baldwin, completes the celebration of baseball's greatest team.Three Rivers Stadium: A Confluence of Champions (Sports)
By The Association of Gentleman Pittsburgh Journalist. 2020
Erected on the city's Northside in 1970, Three Rivers Stadium was Pittsburgh's home of champions for three decades. It hosted…
the first-ever World Series game played at night as the Pirates would win their last two titles there. The Pitt-Penn State rivalry in college football was never more heated than under the bright lights of Three Rivers. The Steel Curtain era of the Steelers brought Super Bowl wins and elevated the stadium to become one of the most feared venues in all of professional sports. Locally referred to as the "House that Clemente Built," the stadium was the site of the beloved right fielder's 3,000th hit. Join local sportswriters as they recall the roaring crowds, rocking stands and greatest moments of Three Rivers Stadium.Clubbie: A Minor League Baseball Memoir
By Greg Larson. 2021
Greg Larson was a starry-eyed fan when he hurtled headfirst into professional baseball. As the new clubhouse attendant for the…
Aberdeen IronBirds, a Minor League affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, Larson assumed he&’d entered a familiar world. He thought wrong. He quickly discovered the bizarre rituals of life in the Minors: fights between players, teammates quitting in the middle of the games, doomed relationships, and a negligent parent organization. All the while, Larson, fresh out of college, harbored a secret wish. Despite the team&’s struggles and his own lack of baseball talent, he yearned to join the exclusive fraternity of professional ballplayers. Instead, Larson fell deeper into his madcap venture as the scheming clubbie. He moved into the clubhouse equipment closet, his headquarters to swing deals involving memorabilia, booze, and loads of cash. By his second season, Larson had transformed into a deceptive, dip-spitting veteran, now fully part of a system that exploited players he considered friends. Like most Minor Leaguers, the gravitational pull of baseball was still too strong for Larson—even if chasing his private dream might cost him his girlfriend, his future, and, ultimately, his love of the game. That is, until an unlikely shot at a championship gives Larson and the IronBirds one final swing at redemption.Clubbie is a hilarious behind-the-scenes tale of two seasons in the mysterious world of Minor League Baseball. With cinematic detail and a colorful cast of characters, Larson spins an unforgettable true story for baseball fans and nonfans alike. An unflinching look at the harsh experience of professional sports, Clubbie will be a touchstone in baseball literature for years to come.Comeback Pitchers: The Remarkable Careers of Howard Ehmke and Jack Quinn
By Steve Steinberg, Lyle Spatz. 2021
The careers of pitchers Jack Quinn and Howard Ehmke began in the Deadball Era and peaked in the 1920s. They…
were teammates for many years, with both the cellar-dwelling Boston Red Sox and later with the world champion Philadelphia Athletics, managed by Connie Mack. As far back as 1912, when he was just twenty-nine, Quinn was told he was too old to play and on the downward side of his career. Because of his determination, work ethic, outlook on life, and physical conditioning, however, he continued to excel. In his midthirties, then his late thirties, and even into his forties, he overcame the naysayers. At age forty-six he became the oldest pitcher to start a World Series game. When Quinn finally retired in 1933 at fifty, the &“Methuselah of the Mound&” owned numerous longevity records, some of which he holds to this day. Ehmke, meanwhile, battled arm trouble and poor health through much of his career. Like Quinn, he was dismissed by the experts and from many teams, only to return and excel. He overcame his physical problems by developing new pitches and pitching motions and capped his career with a stunning performance in Game One of the 1929 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, which still ranks among baseball&’s most memorable games. Connie Mack described it as his greatest day in baseball.Comeback Pitchers is the inspirational story of these two great pitchers with intertwining careers who were repeatedly considered washed up and too old but kept defying the odds and thrilling fans long after most pitchers would have retired.Two Sides of Glory: The 1986 Boston Red Sox in Their Own Words
By Erik Sherman. 2021
Following an epic American League Championship Series win over the California Angels and just one out from winning their first…
World Series in sixty-eight years, the 1986 Boston Red Sox lost Game Six to the New York Mets in unforgettable and devastating fashion. Then they lost Game Seven and the Series itself. Two Sides of Glory portrays the losing side of the story about one of baseball&’s most riveting World Series match-ups. With the benefit of years of reflection from the men who made up the &’86 Sox, this will be the definitive book on this iconic yet most Shakespearian of Boston teams for years to come. After telling the Mets&’ side of the story, Erik Sherman turns here to the Red Sox&’s version, with recollections from players that are both insightful and surprisingly emotional. Bill Buckner, whose name became synonymous with a muffed grounder, speaks openly about the cruel aftermath. Pitcher Bruce Hurst broke down three times while being interviewed. Dwight Evans confesses in his interview that he had never before talked at length about the &’86 team. And Roger Clemens talks candidly not only about the &’86 squad but also accusations of alleged steroid abuse later in his career and the toll it has taken on his family. In each player&’s retelling, there is the excitement of history never told and old mysteries answered. The story of the &’86 Red Sox is well known, but now, after thirty years, the players have opened up to Sherman like never before. It&’s an in-depth, first-person account with the intriguing key players who made up this once-in-a-generation Boston team, and also a look at how the extremes of tantalizing victory and heart-wrenching failure shaped and influenced their lives—both on the field and off.Tony Lazzeri: Yankees Legend and Baseball Pioneer
By Lawrence Baldassaro. 2021
Before there was Joe DiMaggio, there was Tony Lazzeri. A decade before the &“Yankee Clipper&” began his legendary career in…
1936, Lazzeri paved the way for the man who would become the patron saint of Italian American fans and players. He did so by forging his own Hall of Fame career as a key member of the Yankees&’ legendary Murderers&’ Row lineup between 1926 and 1937, in the process becoming the first major baseball star of Italian descent. An unwitting pioneer who played his entire career while afflicted with epilepsy, Lazzeri was the first player to hit sixty home runs in organized baseball, one of the first middle infielders in the big leagues to hit with power, and the first Italian player with enough star power to attract a whole new generation of fans to the ballpark. As a twenty-two-year-old rookie for the New York Yankees, Lazzeri played alongside such legends as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He immediately emerged as a star, finishing second to Ruth in RBIs and third in home runs in the American League. In his twelve years as the second baseman for Yankee teams that won five World Series, he was their third-most productive hitter, driving in more runs than all but five American Leaguers, and hitting more home runs than all but six. Yet for all that, today Lazzeri is a largely forgotten figure, his legacy diminished by the passage of time and tarnished by his bases-loaded strikeout to Grover Cleveland Alexander in Game Seven of the 1926 World Series, a strikeout immortalized on Alexander&’s Hall of Fame plaque. Tony Lazzeri reveals that quite to the contrary, he was one of the smartest, most talented, and most respected players of his time, the forgotten Yankee who helped the team win six American League pennants and five World Series titles.Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood
By Dave Parker, Dave Jordan. 2021
&“For that period of time, he was the greatest player of my generation.&”—Keith Hernandez Dave Parker was one of the…
biggest and most badass baseball players of the late twentieth century. He stood at six foot five and weighed 235 pounds. He was a seven-time All-Star, a two-time batting champion, a frequent Gold Glove winner, the 1978 National League MVP, and a World Series champion with both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Oakland A&’s. Here the great Dave Parker delivers his wild and long-awaited autobiography—an authoritative account of Black baseball during its heyday as seen through the eyes of none other than the Cobra. From his earliest professional days learning the game from such baseball legends as Pie Traynor and Roberto Clemente to his later years mentoring younger talents like Eric Davis and Barry Larkin, Cobra is the story of a Black athlete making his way through the game during a time of major social and cultural transformation. From the racially integrated playing fields of his high school days to the cookie-cutter cathedrals of his prime alongside all the midseason and late-night theatrics that accompany an athlete&’s life on the road–Parker offers readers a glimpse of all that and everything in between. Everything. Parker recounts the triumphant victories and the heart-breaking defeats, both on and off the field. He shares the lessons and experiences of reaching the absolute pinnacle of professional athletics, the celebrations with his sports siblings who also got a taste of the thrills, as well as his beloved baseball brothers whom the game left behind. Parker recalls the complicated politics of spring training, recounts the early stages of the free agency era, revisits the notorious 1985 drug trials, and pays tribute to the enduring power of relationships between players at the deepest and highest levels of the sport. With comments at the start of each chapter by other baseball legends such as Pete Rose, Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, and many more, Parker tells an epic tale of friendship, success, indulgence, and redemption, but most of all, family. Cobra is the unforgettable story of a million-dollar athlete just before baseball became a billion-dollar game.Jackie Robinson and the American Dilemma: The Library of American Biography
By John R. M. Wilson. 2010
In this book, John R.M. Wilson illustrates how Jackie Robinson’s life transcended his baseball career to illuminate the racial struggles…
of the nation. By breaking the color barrier in baseball, Jackie Robinson (1919―1973) brought the American public face-to-face with a dilemma that has plagued the nation throughout its history: the disjuncture between the American ideals of liberty and equality and the realities of racial prejudice, segregation, and discrimination.