{"title":"Sports And American Culture Series","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"outside-shooter-book-philip-raisor-9780826214843","title":"Outside Shooter","description":"Philip Raisor lost two of the most storied basketball games ever played. He started at guard for the Muncie High Bearcats, who fell in the 1954 Indiana state final to tiny Milan, the David-over-Goliath event that inspired the movie Hoosiers. On a basketball scholarship to the University of Kansas, he watched his Wilt Chamberlain-led Jayhawks lose the 1957 NCAA championship in triple overtime to North Carolina. In Outside Shooter, Raisor recounts the hard knocks and hard-won triumphs of a basketball odyssey across 1950s America, from Indiana to Kansas to Louisiana, and from adolescence to adulthood. This was an era in which a racially divided society was taking halting steps toward integration, and few places held more tension than the sports arena. Raisor saw firsthand the toll of racism in the inner rage and sorrow of Muncie's star player, John Casterlow, whose life followed a trajectory from playing the legendary Oscar Robertson to a draw - almost - to death in the streets of Detroit at age twenty-three. Later, at Louisiana State University after having transferred from Kansas, Raisor, spurred by the memory of Casterlow, would join in hazardous early attempts to integrate the LSU campus. From Indiana to Louisiana, he sees the ordeal of racism reveal character - including his own - at depths beyond the illumination even of competitive sport. Devoted though Raisor was to basketball, Outside Shooter captures the period of his life in which he gradually stopped defining himself in terms of the game. As the rise and fall of his fortunes on the basketball court become overshadowed by the shifting patterns of his larger life - the competing measures of acceptance and expectation from his family and followers; the love and conflict in his relationship with the woman he eventually marries; his struggles with failure and doubt juxtaposed with his awakening intellect and conscience - he discovers the sense of purpose that will carry him beyond his playing days and into adulthood as a budding writer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49724955033873,"sku":"CIN0826214843G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826214843.jpg?v=1750746849"},{"product_id":"curt-flood-story-book-stuart-l-weiss-9780826217400","title":"The Curt Flood Story","description":"Curt Flood, former star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, is a hero to many for selflessly sacrificing his career to challenge baseball's reserve system. Although he lost in the Supreme Court, he has become for many a martyr in the later successful battle for free agency. Sportswriters and fans alike have helped to paint a picture of Flood as a larger-than-life figure, a portrait that, unhappily, cannot stand closer inspection. This book reveals the real Curt Flood - more man than myth. Flood stirred up a hornet's nest by refusing to be traded to another team on the grounds that Major League Baseball's reserve system reduced him to the status of bondage. Flood challenged the legality of a system in which his contract could be traded without his consent and in which he was not at liberty to negotiate his services in an open market. Stuart Weiss explores the span of Flood's life, shedding light on the relationships with those close to him as they helped shape his decision to sue baseball and providing a new perspective on the lawsuit that found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although a superb player, Flood was known to be temperamental and sensitive; in bringing his lawsuit he transformed his grievances against the Cardinals, and those in the front office who traded him, into an attack on how the business of big-league ball was conducted. Weiss shows that Flood was far from the stereotypical \"\"dumb jock\"\" but was rather a proud, multifaceted black man in a business run by white moguls. By illuminating Flood's private side, rarely seen by the public, he reveals how Flood misled a gullible press on a regular basis and how his 1971 memoir, \"\"The Way It Is\"\", didn't tell it the way it really was. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Weiss examines more fully and deeply than other writers the complexity of Flood's decision to pursue his suit - and demonstrates that the picture of Flood as a martyr for free agency is a myth. He suggests why, of all the players traded or sold through the years, it was Flood who brought this challenge. Weiss also explains how Flood's battle against the reserve system cannot be understood in isolation from the personal experiences that precipitated it, such as his youth in a dysfunctional home, his unwavering commitment to the Cardinals, and his alcoholism. \"\"The Curt Flood Story\"\" is a realistic account of an eloquent man who presented a warm, even vulnerable, face to the public as well as to friends, while hiding his inner furies. It shows that Flood was neither a hero not a martyr but a victim of unique circumstances and his own life.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49974004613393,"sku":"CIN0826217400G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51332603838737,"sku":"CIN0826217400A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52522971005201,"sku":"CIN0826217400VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826217400.jpg?v=1751233502"},{"product_id":"off-the-rim-volume-1-book-fred-hobson-9780826216434","title":"Off the Rim Volume 1","description":"Why should a particular game, played with a round ball by twenty-year-olds in short pants often hundreds of miles away, mean so much to me, since I seem to have so little to gain or lose by its outcome?\"\" Fred Hobson thus begins \"\"Off the Rim\"\", his narrative of college basketball and society, of growing up and not growing up. He seeks the answer to this question by delving into the particulars of his own experience. Growing up in a small town in the hills of North Carolina where basketball was king, he became a rabid UNC basketball fan (like many others) at the tender age of thirteen during the 1956-1957 Tar Heels \"\"magical\"\" 32-0 national championship season. He starred as a high school basketball player and lived a dream by \"\"walking on\"\" the highly successful 1961-1962 Carolina freshman team. That was also the year Dean Smith was elevated to head coach of the Heels. Hobson observed firsthand the difficult early days of Coach Smith before he became the winningest coach in college basketball. Forced to find a substitute for his beloved sport after not making the varsity his sophomore year, Hobson turned to the romance of books, both reading and writing them. Changing his major to English, he discovered the joys of William Faulkner and Virginia Wolfe, Robert Penn Warren, Flannery O'Connor, and H. L. Mencken, and made a career teaching American literature. This is a book about basketball that is more than a book about basketball. It is, in the beginning, a depiction of a part of the South that departs from the usual idea of Dixie, a look into the culture, religion, and politics of the Carolina hills. It is a portrait of the people who made up the South, including the author's parents, who both were and were not conventional southerners. Finally, in some respects, it is the story of a boyhood that never ends, relived each year during basketball season in the frantic, tortured life of a fan. Although Hobson's story is largely about the Tar Heels - and about other things related to growing up in the South of the 1950s - what he says about basketball, childhood, and adulthood also holds true for those who finds themselves in emotional bondage to Hoosiers or Bulldogs or Ducks, to Wolverines, Gophers, Badgers, and various other species of Upper Midwestern low-lying ground fauna, to Blue Devils or Blue Demons, to Tigers, Wildcats, Cougars, and all other breeds of cat.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50138814349585,"sku":"CIN0826216439G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51765816066321,"sku":"CIN0826216439VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/082649398X_cdd2a7cc-3eb5-44b5-8040-968e7d6ea32a.jpg?v=1750786748"},{"product_id":"high-flying-birds-book-jerome-m-mileur-9780826218346","title":"High-flying Birds","description":"1942: Americans suddenly found themselves at war but were not about to be distracted from the National Pastime. The Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees were looking to continue their World Series rivalry from the 1941 season, and a youthful team from St. Louis was determined to stop them. With only one player older than thirty, the St. Louis Cardinals were the youngest - and fastest - team to win the National League pennant and World Series. The team featured rookie Stan Musial, future Hall-of-Famer Enos Slaughter, and ace pitcher Mort Cooper, the National League's Most Valuable Player of 1942. With their winningest season ever, posting 106 victories, the 1942 Redbirds have been called the greatest Cardinal team of all time. Jerome Mileur was just a kid from downstate Illinois, but he well remembers his view of one game from the left-field grandstand - and the thrill of attending the second game of the World Series.In this book, he brings a sure and loving grasp of his subject to reconstructing one of the most remarkable pennant drives in modern baseball history, with the Cards winning forty-three of their last fifty-one games and taking the title on the last day of the season. Mileur provides a game-by-game account of the season with play-by-play action, not only capturing all the thrills on the Cards' way to the top but also conveying the physical and mental demands that the players endured. Counted out by nearly everyone but themselves in August, the Redbirds caught fire in the season's final weeks to pass the seemingly unbeatable Dodgers. And by winning four games out of five to defeat the New York Yankees for the championship, they handed Joe DiMaggio his only World Series defeat.More than a recapitulation of a thrilling season, Mileur's book is a reminder of how major-league baseball in 1942 differed in so many ways from today's game - one startling example is Mileur's account of how the absence of outfield warning tracks contributed to a devastating injury to Brooklyn's star outfielder, Pete Reiser. The tenor of the times is reflected as well in the juxtaposition of the baseball season with the United States' first year in the Second World War. The 1942 Cardinals were not only a remarkable team unto themselves but also the beginning of a new baseball dynasty - 1942 was the first of three consecutive pennants for the Cards, as well as the first of three World Series victories in a space of five seasons. This account of that tremendous season is a page-turner for anyone who loves the game and a must-read for Cardinals fans.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50229099921681,"sku":"CIN0826218342G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52816366731537,"sku":"CIN0826218342VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826218342.jpg?v=1751395935"},{"product_id":"elston-and-me-book-arlene-howard-9780826213587","title":"Elston and Me","description":"Of all the great ballplayers to wear Yankee pinstripes, Elston Howard was among the proudest. Remarkable temperament and courage made him the Jackie Robinson of baseball's most storied franchise. No Yankee carried himself with more dignity. No Yankee had greater respect for his teammates or love for his wife and family. And no one loved being a Yankee more than Elston Howard. In Elston and Me,  Howard's widow, Arlene, and coauthor Ralph Wimbish recall the life of the first black to play baseball for the New York Yankees. Howard, who played fourteen major-league seasons, was signed by the Yankees in 1950, but the reluctance of the Yankee organization to break the color barrier held Howard back from the major leagues until 1955 when he was twenty-six years old. By 1961, the year he batted .348 for the Yankees, Elston had become the everyday catcher. Voted the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1963, Howard was a three-time Gold Glove winner, and his fielding average of the same year remains one of the highest among catchers in major-league history. In 1967, with the Yankee dynasty in decay, Elston was traded to the Boston Red Sox, although Yankee management had promised him that he would finish his career in pinstripes. After contemplating retirement, he moved to Boston late that season and helped the Red Sox win the Impossible Dream pennant. After one more season with the Red Sox, he returned to the Yankees as the first black coach in the American League. Howard died at the age of fifty-one without fulfilling his dream of becoming baseball's first black manager. Beginning with Howard's early years as a St. Louis teenager, the book relates his encounters with racism and his love of baseball. He began his professional career for the legendary Negro League team the Kansas City Monarchs. His three decades with the New York Yankees include numerous anecdotes about fellow Yankee legends such as Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra. With countless personal moments and never-before- published photographs and clippings from family albums, Elston and Me is the touching story of one of baseball's great players.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50260973486353,"sku":"CIN0826213588G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50426443268369,"sku":"CIN0826213588VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53075218989329,"sku":"GOR014729469","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826213588.jpg?v=1751297820"},{"product_id":"st-louis-baseball-reader-book-richard-peterson-9780826216878","title":"The St. Louis Baseball Reader","description":"The St. Louis Baseball Reader is a tale of two teams: one the city's lovable losers, the other a formidable dynasty. The St. Louis Cardinals are the most successful franchise in National League history and the St. Louis Browns one of the most colorful. Now Richard Peterson has collected the writings of some of baseball's greatest storytellers to pay tribute to both these teams. His book, the first anthology devoted exclusively to the Cardinals and Browns, covers the rich history of St. Louis baseball from its late-nineteenth-century origins to the modern era. \"\"The St. Louis Baseball Reader\"\" is a celebration of the many legendary stars and colorful characters who wore St. Louis uniforms, and the writers who told their stories, including Alfred Spink, Roger Angell, George Will, and Baseball Hall of Fame writers Bob Broeg, J. Roy Stockton, Red Smith, and Fred Lieb. Here, too, are John Grisham, who grew up a Redbirds fan in Mississippi, and Jack Buck, the most identifiable voice in Cardinal history. Great players - Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rogers Hornsby, Marty Marion, and Satchel Paige - tell their own stories, while Bill Veeck offers an account of his wild ride as the last Browns owner and Whitey Herzog shares regrets about the play that cost the Cardinals the 1985 World Series. From the days of the Gas House Gang to the 1944 \"\"Streetcar Series,\"\" from Bill Veeck's legendary stunts to Mark McGwire's pursuit of Roger Maris's home-run record, the Reader will bring back memories for every fan. It takes in all of the magic of the ballpark - whether re-counting the unhittable pitching of Bob Gibson, the slugging prowess of Stan \"\"The Man\"\" Musial, or the sterling glove-work of Ozzie Smith - along with reflective commentaries that tell how Jackie Robinson confronted racism and Curt Flood challenged the reserve clause. St. Louis is a city blessed with a memorable baseball history, and \"\"The St. Louis Baseball Reader\"\" perfectly captures the joy and heartbreak of its winning and losing teams. It's a book that will delight current fans of the Cardinals and old-timers who fondly recall the Browns.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50291644825873,"sku":"CIN0826216870G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50590470603025,"sku":"CIN0826216870VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826216870.jpg?v=1750850177"},{"product_id":"america-s-first-olympics-book-george-r-matthews-9780826215888","title":"America's First Olympics","description":"America in 1904 was a nation bristling with energy and confidence. Inspired by Theodore Roosevelt, the nation's young, energetic, and athletic president, a sports mania rampaged across the country. Eager to celebrate its history, and to display its athletic potential, the United States hosted the world at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. One part of the World's Fair was the nation's first Olympic games. Revived in Greece in 1896, the Olympic movement was also young and optimistic. In fact, the St. Louis Olympics were only the third in modern times. Although the games were originally awarded to Chicago, St. Louis wrestled them from her rival city against the wishes of International Olympic Committee President Pierre de Coubertin. Athletes came from eleven countries and four continents to compete in state-of-the-art facilities, which included a ten-thousand-seat stadium with gymnasium equipment donated by sporting goods magnate Albert Spalding. The 1904 St. Louis Olympics garnered only praise, and all agreed that the games were a success, improving both the profile of the Olympic movement and the prestige of the United States. But within a few years the games of 1904 had receded in memory. They suffered a worse fate with the publication of Coubertin's memoirs in 1931. His selective recollections, exaggerated claims, and false statements turned the forgotten Olympics into the failed Olympics. This fictitious account was furthered by the 1948 publication of An Approved History of the Olympic Games by Bill Henry, which was reviewed and endorsed by Coubertin. America's First Olympics, by George R. Matthews, corrects common misconceptions that began with Coubertin's memoirs and presents a fresh view of the 1904 games, which featured first-time African American Olympians, an eccentric and controversial marathon, and documentation by pioneering photojournalist Jessie Tarbox Beals. Matthews provides an excellent overview of the St. Louis Olympics over a six-month period, beginning with the intrigue surrounding the transfer of the games from Chicago. He also gives detailed descriptions of the major players in the Olympic movement, the events that were held in 1904, and the athletes who competed in them. This original account will be welcomed by history and sports enthusiasts who are interested in a new perspective on this misunderstood event.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50364832448785,"sku":"CIN0826215882G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826215882.jpg?v=1751170341"},{"product_id":"sizzler-book-rick-huhn-9780826220134","title":"Sizzler","description":"“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, 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.”    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.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50365011001617,"sku":"CIN0826220134G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50371174400273,"sku":"CIN0826220134VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826220134.jpg?v=1750882535"},{"product_id":"breaking-babe-ruth-book-edmund-f-wehrle-9780826221605","title":"Breaking Babe Ruth","description":"Rather than as a Falstaffian figure of limited intellect, Edmund Wehrle reveals Babe Ruth as an ambitious, independent operator, one not afraid to challenge baseball’s draconian labor system. To the baseball establishment, Ruth’s immense popularity represented opportunity, but his rebelliousness and potential to overturn the status quo presented a threat. After a decades-long campaign waged by baseball to contain and discredit him, the Babe, frustrated and struggling with injuries and illness, grew more acquiescent, but the image of Ruth that baseball perpetuated still informs how many people remember Babe Ruth to this day. This new perspective, approaching Ruth more seriously and placing his life in fuller context, is long overdue.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50365062185233,"sku":"CIN0826221602G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826221602.jpg?v=1750979847"},{"product_id":"last-king-of-the-sports-page-book-ted-geltner-9780826219794","title":"Last King of the Sports Page","description":"Part crusader, part comedian, Jim Murray was a once-in-a-generation literary talent who just happened to ply his trade on newsprint, right near the box scores and race results. During his lifetime, Murray rose through the ranks of journalism, from hard-bitten 1940s crime reporter, to national Hollywood correspondent, to the top sports columnist in the United States. In Last King of the Sports Page: The Life and Career of Jim Murray, Ted Geltner chronicles Jim Murray's experiences with twentieth-century American sports, culture, and journalism.      At the peak of his influence, Murray was published in more than 200 newspapers. From 1961 to 1998, Murray penned more than 10,000 columns from his home base at the Los Angeles Times. His offbeat humor and unique insight made his column a must-read for millions of sports fans. He was named Sportswriter of the Year an astounding fourteen times, and his legacy was cemented when he became one of only four writers to receive the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for coverage of sports. Geltner now gives readers a first look at Murray's personal archives and dozens of fresh interviews with sports and journalism personalities, including Arnold Palmer, Mario Andretti, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Yogi Berra, Frank Deford, Rick Reilly, Dan Jenkins, Roy Firestone, and many more. Throughout his life, Murray chronicled seminal events and figures in American culture and history, and this biography details his encounters with major figures such as William Randolph Hearst, Henry Luce, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Mickey Mantle, Muhammad Ali, and Tiger Woods. Charming and affecting moments in Murray's career illustrate the sportswriter's knack for being in on the big story. Richard Nixon, running for vice president on the Eisenhower ticket in 1952, revealed to Murray the contents of the 'Checkers' speech so it could make the Time magazine press deadline. Media mogul Henry Luce handpicked Murray to lead a team that would develop Sports Illustrated for Time\/Life in 1953, and when terrorists stormed the Olympic village at the 1972 Munich games, Murray was one of the first journalists to report from the scene. The words of sports journalist Roy Firestone emphasize the influence and importance of Jim Murray on journalism today: 'I'll say without question, I think Jim Murray was every bit as important of a sports writer - forget sport writer - every bit as important a writer to newspapers, as Mark Twain was to literature.' Readers will be entertained and awed by the stories, interviews, and papers of Jim Murray in Last King of the Sports Page.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50371165389073,"sku":"CIN0826219799G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826219799.jpg?v=1750947188"},{"product_id":"sportswriter-s-life-book-gerald-eskenazi-9780826215109","title":"A Sportswriter's Life","description":"In 1959, Gerald Eskenazi dropped out of City College, not for the first time, and made his way to the New York Times. That day the paper had two openings - one in news and one in sports. Eskenazi was offered either for thirty-eight dollars a week. He chose sports based on his image of the sports department as a cozier place than the news department. Forty-one years and more than eighty-four hundred stories later, New Yorkers know he made the right decision. When Eskenazi started reporting, sports journalism had a different look than it does today. There was a camaraderie between the reporters and the players due in part to the reporter's deference to these famous figures. Unlike today, journalists stayed out of the locker rooms, and didn't ask questions about the players' homelives, or their feelings about matters other than the sports that they played. In The Changing Face of Sports in America, Eskenazi details how much sports and America have changed since then. His anecdotes regarding famous and infamous sports figures from baseball great Joe DiMaggio to boxer Mike Tyson illustrate the transformation that American culture and journalism have undergone in the past fifty years. E","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50467439640849,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50467442032913,"sku":"CIN0826215106VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826215106.jpg?v=1750786745"},{"product_id":"if-you-were-only-white-book-donald-spivey-9780826219787","title":"If You Were Only White","description":"'If You Were Only White' explores the legacy of one of the most exceptional athletes ever - an entertainer extraordinaire, a daring showman and crowd-pleaser, a wizard with a baseball whose artistry and antics on the mound brought fans out in the thousands to ballparks across the country. Leroy 'Satchel' Paige was arguably one of the world's greatest pitchers and a premier star of Negro Leagues Baseball. But in this biography Donald Spivey reveals Paige to have been much more than just a blazing fastball pitcher. Spivey follows Paige from his birth in Alabama in 1906 to his death in Kansas City in 1982, detailing the challenges Paige faced battling the color line in America and recounting his tests and triumphs in baseball. He also opens up Paige's private life during and after his playing days, introducing readers to the man who extended his social, cultural, and political reach beyond the limitations associated with his humble background and upbringing. This other Paige was a gifted public speaker, a talented musician and singer, an excellent cook, and a passionate outdoorsman, among other things. Paige's life intertwined with many of the most important issues of the times in U.S. and AfricanAmerican history, including the continuation of the New Negro Movement and the struggle for civil rights. Spivey incorporates interviews with former teammates conducted over twelve years, as well as exclusive interviews with Paige's son Robert, daughter Pamela, Ted 'Double Duty' Radcliffe, and John 'Buck' O'Neil to tell the story of a pioneer who helped transform America through the nation's favorite pastime. Maintaining an image somewhere between Joe Louis's public humility and the flamboyant aggression of Jack Johnson, Paige pushed the boundaries of segregation and bridged the racial divide with stellar pitching packaged with slapstick humor. He entertained as he played to win and saw no contradiction in doing so. Game after game, his performance refuted the lie that black baseball was inferior to white baseball. His was a contribution to civil rights of a different kind - his speeches and demonstrations expressed through his performance on the mound.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50627529015569,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50627531473169,"sku":"CIN0826219780G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826219780.jpg?v=1750786753"},{"product_id":"sizzler-book-rick-huhn-9780826215550","title":"The Sizzler","description":"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.\u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e Now in \u003ci\u003eThe Sizzler, \u003c\/i\u003ethis 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. \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e 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.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51416547066129,"sku":"CIN0826215556G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53240854970641,"sku":"CIN0826215556VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826215556.jpg?v=1751395932"},{"product_id":"before-they-were-cardinals-book-jon-david-cash-9780826214010","title":"Before They Were Cardinals","description":"\u003cp\u003eMark McGwire, Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock. These famous Cardinals are known by baseball fans around the world. But who and what were the predecessors of these modern-day players and their team? In \u003ci\u003eBefore They Were Cardinals, \u003c\/i\u003e Jon David Cash examines the infancy of major-league baseball in St. Louis during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. His in-depth analysis begins with an exploration of the factors that motivated civic leaders to form the city's first major-league ball club. Cash delves into the economic trade rivalry between Chicago and St. Louis and examines how St. Louis's attempt to compete with Chicago led to the formation of the St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1875. He then explains why, three years later, despite its initial success, St. Louis baseball quickly vanished from the big-league map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSt. Louis baseball was revived with the arrival of German immigrant saloon owner Chris Von der Ahe. Cash explains how Von der Ahe, originally only interested in concession rights, purchased a controlling interest in the Brown Stockings. His riveting account follows the team after Von der Ahe's purchase, from the formation of the American Association, to its merger in 1891 with the rival National League. He chronicles Von der Ahe's monetary downturn, and the club's decline as well, following the merger.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBefore They Were Cardinals\u003c\/i\u003e provides vivid portraits of the ball players and the participants involved in the baseball war between the National League and the American Association. Cash points out significant differences, such as Sunday games and beer sales, between the two Leagues. In addition, excerpts taken from Chicago and St. Louis newspapers make the on-field contests and off-field rivalries come alive. Cash concludes this lively historical narrative with an appendix that traces the issue of race in baseball during this period.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe excesses of modern-day baseball--players jumping contracts or holding out for more money, gambling on games, and drinking to excess; owners stealing players and breaking agreements--were all present in the nineteenth-century sport. Players were seen then, as they are now, as an embodiment of their community. This timely treatment of a fascinating period in St. Louis baseball history will appeal to both baseball aficionados and those who want to understand the history of baseball itself.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51324600451345,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51324602876177,"sku":"CIN0826214010G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53496511201553,"sku":"CIN0826214010VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826214010.jpg?v=1750914832"},{"product_id":"if-you-were-only-white-book-donald-spivey-9780826220141","title":"If You Were Only White","description":"“If You Were Only White” explores the legacy of one of the most exceptional athletes ever—an entertainer extraordinaire, a daring showman and crowd-pleaser, a wizard with a baseball whose artistry and antics on the mound brought fans out in the thousands to ballparks across the country. Leroy “Satchel” Paige was arguably one of the world’s greatest pitchers and a premier star of Negro Leagues Baseball. But in this biography Donald Spivey reveals Paige to have been much more than just a blazing fastball pitcher.  Spivey follows Paige from his birth in Alabama in 1906 to his death in Kansas City in 1982, detailing the challenges Paige faced battling the colour line in America and recounting his tests and triumphs in baseball. He also opens up Paige’s private life during and after his playing days, introducing readers to the man who extended his social, cultural, and political reach beyond the limitations associated with his humble background and upbringing. This other Paige was a gifted public speaker, a talented musician and singer, an excellent cook, and a passionate outdoorsman, among other things.  Paige’s life intertwined with many of the most important issues of the times in U.S. and African American history, including the continuation of the New Negro Movement and the struggle for civil rights. Spivey incorporates interviews with former teammates conducted over twelve years, as well as exclusive interviews with Paige’s son Robert, daughter Pamela, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, and John “Buck” O’Neil to tell the story of a pioneer who helped transform America through the nation’s favourite pastime.   Maintaining an image somewhere between Joe Louis’s public humility and the flamboyant aggression of Jack Johnson, Paige pushed the boundaries of segregation and bridged the racial divide with stellar pitching packaged with slapstick humour. He entertained as he played to win and saw no contradiction in doing so. Game after game, his performance refuted the lie that black baseball was inferior to white baseball. His was a contribution to civil rights of a different kind—his speeches and demonstrations expressed through his performance on the mound.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51862619521297,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51862619619601,"sku":"CIN0826220142G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780826220141.jpg?v=1753929016"},{"product_id":"before-they-were-cardinals-book-jon-david-cash-9780826219350","title":"Before They Were Cardinals","description":"An in-depth analysis that examines the infancy of major-league baseball in St. Louis during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52723426296081,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52723426394385,"sku":"CIN0826219357G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780826219350.jpg?v=1763036211"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/sports-and-american-culture-series-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}