Between 1909 and 1919 Charles Emmett Van Loan published an amazing nine collections of short stories, including four baseball books-The Big League (1909), The Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm (1912), The Lucky Seventh (1913) and Score By Innings (1919). Grantland Rice, in the Introduction to Score By Innings, described Van Loan as "sport's greatest fiction writer and soul (sic) historian," and claimed that "no other man has ever unfolded the romance and humor of baseball half as well." This volume brings together Van Loan's baseball stories, including those in The Big League ("The Crab," "The Low Brow," "The Fresh Guy," "The Quitter," "The Bush League Demon," "The Cast-Off," "The Busher," "A Job for the Pitcher," "The Golden Ball of the Argonauts"); The Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm ("The Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm," "Sweeney to Sanguinetti to Schultz," "Little Sunset," "The Loosening Up of Hogan," "The Phantom League," "The Comeback," "Behind the Mask," "McCluskey's Prodigal"); The Lucky Seventh ("A Rain Check," "The Mexican Marvel," "The Good Old Wagon," "For Revenue Only," "The Bachelor Benedict," "'Butterfly' Boggs: Pitcher," "Will a Duck Swim?", "Crossed 'Signs,'" "Won Off the Diamond," "The Pitch-Out"); and Score By Innings ("The National Commission Decides," "Puite vs. Puite," "Chivalry in Carbon County," "The Squirrel," "IOU," "The Bone Doctor," "His Own Stuff," "Excess Baggage," "Nine Assists and Two Errors," "Minster Conley"). Also included are the previously uncollected stories "Mathewson, Incog." and "The Indian Sign."

One day during an afternoon at the ball park, author Eric Gray asked his wife, daughter, and friend to identify their favorite game that they had been to. Little did he know, that simple question would soon take on a life of its own. As the question made its way to family members, friends, friends of friends, strangers and beyond, it gave way to a surprising collection of incredibly diverse stories and perspectives. Thus, Bases to Bleachers was born. Much more than your average baseball book, the many special and unique stories shared with readers here, whether they're about watching or playing, either at the Major League level or Little League, represent a wide gamut of experiences. Some entail meeting the stars or attending famous games--and some offered are personal, intimate moments involving family connections and the importance of baseball in people's lives. Unlike most baseball books, this is not a biography, or a discussion of a team, or analysis of a season. Baseball here is a setting in which both astounding feats and some of the most beautifully touching moments in peoples' lives have happened. Whether it's the first game, falling in love at the park, or even a beloved baseball glove that survived World War II, these stories are about more than just baseball. They reflect the joys, triumphs, and disappointments of the human condition, and often illustrate what's truly important in life--those things we hold most dear in our hearts.

Reflections on collecting baseball cards in childhood accompany remarks on the skills and achievements of players whose pictures were found in bubble gum packages

This collection of fiction by writer, critic and sports editor Ring Lardner celebrates the American pastime of baseball.

Provides standards for grading the condition of cards, descriptions of rare cards, tips for cyber-collecting, and hints for hobby shows.

Baseball & Bubble Gum: The 1952 Topps Collection details the most iconic postwar baseball set in hobby history. With the end of World War II, the advent of television, and an explosion of love for our National Pastime, the players making up this historic collection became bigger than life. Mantle, Berra, Robinson, and Spahn are just a few of the stars who helped Americans forget the ravages of war and who opened the door to Major League Baseball's desegregation that was closed for so many years.Each player narrative in this book gives you a glimpse of what life was like for these athletes during and after World War II. Many of these men fought overseas, and some of them were even Purple Heart recipients. Organized in chapters by the Hall of Famers, the Commons, and the Uncommons, it's interesting to see that the love of baseball was the common thread between players like Hall of Famer Duke Snider; an uncommon player like Bobby Shantz, who, although is not in Cooperstown, had a wonderful career; and a typical common player like Jim Busby, who played day in and day out without any fanfare.The last chapter of the book discusses the great appeal of the 1952 Topps set; how the collection was developed; the nuances of particular cards, along with the scarcity, popularity, and in some cases, the card value. This set became the template for card collecting, and it is still going strong after 68 years. Kids and adults have been trading and collecting their favorite players for years.Today, collecting has become a big business, but when all is said and done, we are all still kids who love those little cardboard pieces of art. This book is a fun read for baseball lovers, card collectors, and baseball historians. Grab yourself some bubble gum, sit back, and enjoy the journey into the decade of "The Whiz Kids," "Dem Bums," and "The Bronx Bombers."