Books for the Baseball Fan in Your Life

Many people know of Milwaukee's famous beer brewers, such as Schlitz, Pabst, and Miller, but these pages contain the story of the original baseball Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association spent 51 seasons (1902-1952) on the city's near north side. To have had the opportunity to stretch out in the sun-soaked stands of Borchert Field during that era was to witness minor league baseball at its best. The Brewers were the second-winningest franchise in the league's history, and names like Tom "Sugar Boy" Dougherty and Nick "Tomato Face" Cullop were once household words throughout the city. This book stands as a tribute to the colorful history of this team and to all the former players, coaches, and managers who ever wore the woolens for Milwaukee.

Eau Claire has been a hotbed for amateur and professional baseball since the end of the Civil War. Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley has had the honor of donning dozens of nationally known baseball stars in its uniforms (most notably Hank Aaron) as well as hosting thousands of other players who were stars in their own right. With this collection of images, author Jason Christopherson takes the reader on a journey in time through the eyes of a baseball fan. Many of the images are from the collections of the players themselves and are therefore available to the public for the first time in this book.

Mixed in with the images are stories-and not just the kind you would find in the newspaper. Unless, of course, your local paper runs stories such as the one on a future major leaguer who, not knowing any better, ate gravy-laden pork chops with his bare hands on his first road trip!

Launched in 1919 by William Horlick, the inventor of malted milk, Horlick Athletic Field has hosted two NFL teams, the Racine Belles professional women's baseball team (immortalized in A League of Their Own)" and thousands of semiprofessional- and industrial-league games. But it is the drum and bugle corps shows that have made the stadium one of the most iconic landmarks in its corner of the state. From an archive of fond recollection and painstaking record, Alan Karls has pieced together a history of Horlick Athletic Field that justifies the reverence that drum and bugle corps have felt for the place for almost a century."