Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945, Fred Clarke began his career in 1894 with a record day at the plate, going 5 for 5. He would go on to play for 21 years spending most of that time as the player-manager of the Pirates, a team he led to four pennants and one World Series Championship (1909).

This book begins with Sir Arthur C. Clarke's early years on the family farm in Somerset, as recounted by his brother Fred. Clarke's talent for playful mischief -- especially in challenging his school masters - and his enquiring mind -- already looking out to the stars even at a young age - are clearly in evidence, as is the creative day-dreaming that would later lead to so many timeless world famous stories. The book includes special guest contributions from Stephen Baxter, Michael Moorcock, Ben Bova, Greg Benford, Fred Ordway, Robert Sawyer, Paul McAuley, Sir Patrick Moore, British astronaut Helen Sharman and many others; all of whom describe the enduring influence of this celebrated writer. The book also includes a unique collection of photographs from the Clarke family, some of which have never been published before. This is a rare insight into Arthur's early life and into the people he met and influenced during his own personal Odyssey.

Education for Democracy in England in World War II examines the educational discourse and involvement in wartime educational reforms of five important figures: Fred Clarke, R. H. Tawney, Shena Simon, H. C. Dent and Ernest Simon. These figures campaigned for educational reforms through their books, publishing articles in newspapers, delivering speeches at schools and conferences and by organizing pressure groups. Going beyond the literature in this key period, the book focuses on exploring the relationship between democratic ideals and reform proposals in each figure’s arguments. Displaying a variety of democratic forums for debates about education beyond parliament, the book re-interprets wartime educational reforms from a different perspective and illustrates the agreements and contradictions in the educational discourse itself.

After many years of being an also-ran in the National league, the Pittsburgh Pirates' fortunes changed dramatically following the 1899 season after a monumental deal with the Louisville Colonels. The addition of star players such as Fred Clarke, Honus Wagner, Tommy Leach and Deacon Phillippe allowed Pittsburgh to become the first baseball dynasty of the twentieth century as they won National League pennants in 1901, 1902 and 1903. Without question, the 1902 Pirates aggregation was the greatest of those three squads. This definitive historical account examines the record-breaking 1902 Pittsburgh season, the politics that shaped baseball's landscape during that era and the players responsible for that squad's claiming its rightful place in baseball history.

An addictive read that is sure to spark conversation wherever baseball is spoken, The Baseball Maniac’s Almanac is part reference, part trivia, part brain teaser, and absolutely the greatest, most unusual, and thorough compendium of baseball stats and facts ever compiled—all verified for accuracy by the Baseball Hall of Fame. In its pages, renowned sportswriter Bert Randolph Sugar presents thousands of fascinating lists, tables, data, and stimulating facts about: Individual players and teams Managers Player relatives The Hall of Fame Annual awards The World Series All-Star Games The book also contains a list of the all-time statistical leaders for every major league team as well as a truly unforgettable miscellaneous section that answers such mind-boggling questions as, “Which major-leaguers have palindromic surnames?” and “Which players born under each zodiac sign have hit the most career home runs?”

The 1936 Yankees, the 1963 Dodgers, the 1975 Reds, the 2010 Giants--why do some baseball teams win while others don't? General managers and fans alike have pondered this most important of baseball questions. The Moneyball strategy is not the first example of how new ideas and innovative management have transformed the way teams are assembled. In Pursuit of Pennants examines and analyzes a number of compelling, winning baseball teams over the past hundred-plus years, focusing on their decision making and how they assembled their championship teams. Whether through scouting, integration, instruction, expansion, free agency, or modernizing their management structure, each winning team and each era had its own version of Moneyball, where front office decisions often made the difference. Mark L. Armour and Daniel R. Levitt show how these teams succeeded and how they relied on talent both on the field and in the front office. While there is no recipe for guaranteed success in a competitive, ever-changing environment, these teams demonstrate how creatively thinking about one's circumstances can often lead to a competitive advantage.

With virtually the same personnel that had won both the National League pennant and the World Series the previous season, the 1926 Pittsburgh Pirates were favored by the majority of preseason prognosticators to capture the pennant for the second year in a row. But they finished in third place, four and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. That failure has largely been attributed to the alleged dissension caused by the presence of vice president and assistant to the manager Fred Clarke on the Pirate bench and to the ramifications of an attempt by several players to remove him, known as the "ABC Affair." This book chronicles the '26 Pirates, showing that the blame assigned to Clarke has been mostly misplaced and that the reasons for the Bucs' failure were far more complex.