In the spring of 1865, the first spring after the end of the Civil War, three baseball clubs were founded in downtown Columbus. This local enthusiasm for the game reflected the national trend during the post-war era, when baseball, or "base ball" as it was called, was spreading rapidly throughout the United States. Baseball in Columbus begins with these earliest baseball pioneers and tells the story of the national pastime in the capital city right up to the present-day Columbus Clippers of the International League. Columbus first made the "big leagues" in 1883 with the Columbus Buckeyes of the American Association, and local fans have embraced the city's teams and players ever since. Several of baseball's greats once wore a Columbus uniform during their minor league careers, including Enos Slaughter, Joe Garagiola, Harvey Haddix, Willie Stargell, Derek Jeter, and Bernie Williams.

Columbus: 1910–1970 begins when Columbus was an industrial center and chronicles a pivotal time in this capital city's history. During the years covered here, the city lost many of its manufacturing enterprises and transformed into a government, education, research, and financial hub. Downtown Columbus was teeming with activity, making transportation to the city center vital. This volume ends as Columbus is in the beginning of a transformation that saw the accelerated development of suburbs and the dissipation of activities to outlying areas. In the vintage photographs in these pages, readers will also see the f lood of 1913, which claimed 100 lives and brought about flood prevention measures that forever changed the face of downtown Columbus. Columbus: 1910–1970 begins when Columbus was an industrial center and chronicles a pivotal time in this capital city's history. During the years covered here, the city lost many of its manufacturing enterprises and transformed into a government, education, research, and financial hub. Downtown Columbus was teeming with activity, making transportation to the city center vital. This volume ends as Columbus is in the beginning of a transformation that saw the accelerated development of suburbs and the dissipation of activities to outlying areas. In the vintage photographs in these pages, readers will also see the f lood of 1913, which claimed 100 lives and brought about flood prevention measures that forever changed the face of downtown Columbus.

Almost Yankees is a poignant and nostalgic narrative of the lives and travails of Minor League Baseball, focusing on the 1981 championship season of the New York Yankees' Triple-A farm club, the Columbus Clippers. That year was especially notable in the annals of baseball history as the year Major League Baseball went on strike in midseason. When that happened, the Clippers were suddenly the best team in baseball and found themselves the focus of national media attention. Many of these Minor Leaguers sensed this was their last, best chance to make an impression and fulfill their dreams to one day reach the majors. The Clippers' raw recruits, prospects, and Minor League veterans responded to this opportunity by playing the greatest baseball of their lives on the greatest team most of them would ever belong to. Then the strike ended, leaving them to return to their ordinary aspirational lives and to be just as quickly forgotten. Almost Yankees is the previously untold baseball story of a team and its players performing in the shadow of one of the sport's most famous teams and infamous owners. Featuring interviews with more than thirty former players (including Steve Balboni, Dave Righetti, Buck Showalter, and Pat Tabler) and dozens of other baseball and media figures, this season's narrative chronicles success, failure, resilience, and redemption as told by a special group of players with hopes and dreams of big-league glory. J. David Herman, who worshipped the team as an eleven-year-old, tracked down his old heroes to learn their stories--and to better understand his own. The season proved to be a launching pad for some, a final chance for others, and the end of the dream for many others.

Green Cathedrals is a celebration of the sport of baseball, through the lens of its ballparks-the "fields of dreams" of players and fans alike. In all, some 405 ballparks have, over time, hosted a Major League or Negro League game, and each one of them is given its due, from hard statistics about dimensions to nostalgic and current photographs, to anecdotes that will inspire the memories of fans all over the country. From Fenway Park and Gus Greenlee Field (home of the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords), to Ebbets Field, Camden Yards, and the brand-new parks that have opened in the past two years, Green Cathedrals presents a cavalcade of the most beautiful sporting venues in history. Fully revised and updated since its previous edition a decade ago, with more than 130 new ballparks and hundreds of new photographs, Green Cathedrals is an essential reference for baseball aficionados and a perfect gift for baseball fans everywhere.

Discusses baseball's history and the game's relationship to American society from the 1850s until the present day.

With this volume, David Nemec completes his remarkable trilogy of 19th-century baseball biographies, covering every major league player, manager, umpire, owner and league official. It provides in-depth information on many figures unknown to most historians. Each detailed entry includes vital statistics, peer-driven analysis of baseball-related skills, and an overview of the individual's role in the game. Also chronicled are players' first and last major league games, most important achievements, movements from team to team, and much more. By bringing attention to these overlooked baseball personalities, this reference work immeasurably enriches our knowledge of 19th century major league baseball.

“Gorgeous George” Sisler, a left-handed first baseman, began his major-league baseball career in 1915 with the St. Louis Browns. During his sixteen years in the majors, he played with such baseball luminaries as Ty Cobb (who once called Sisler “the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer”), Babe Ruth, and Rogers Hornsby. He was considered by these stars of the sport to be their equal, and Branch Rickey, one of baseball’s foremost innovators and talent scouts, once said that in 1922 Sisler was “the greatest player that ever lived.” During his illustrious career he was a .340 hitter, twice achieving the rare feat of hitting more than .400. His 257 hits in 1920 is still the record for the “modern” era. Considered by many to be one of the game’s most skillful first basemen, he was the first at his position to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Yet unlike many of his peers who became household names, Sisler has faded from baseball’s collective consciousness. Now in The Sizzler, this “legendary player without a legend” gets the treatment he deserves. Rick Huhn presents the story of one of baseball’s least appreciated players and studies why his status became so diminished. Huhn argues that the answer lies somewhere amid the tenor of Sisler’s times, his own character and demeanor, the kinds of individuals who are chosen as our sports heroes, and the complex definition of fame itself. In a society obsessed with exposing the underbellies of its heroes, Sisler’s lack of a dark side may explain why less has been written about him than others. Although Sisler was a shy, serious sort who often shunned publicity, his story is filled with its own share of controversy and drama, from a lengthy struggle among major-league moguls for his contractual rights—a battle that helped change the structure of organized baseball forever—to a job-threatening eye disorder he developed during the peak of his career and popularity. By including excerpts from Sisler’s unpublished memoir, as well as references to the national and international events that took place during his heyday, Huhn reveals the full picture of this family man who overcame great obstacles, stood on high principles, and left his mark on a game he affected in a positive way for fifty-eight years.