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St. Louis' Big League Ballparks
9780738532653
Regular price $21.99 Save $-21.99
Baseball came to St. Louis before the dawn of the major leagues. It was a gentleman's game, a simple summer pastime, and its popularity grew as the city evolved. Local amateur teams proliferated, and interest in forming a team of professionals resulted in two such St. Louis teams in 1875, the Brown Stockings and the Red Stockings. The Browns and Reds played their home games at separate parks, the Grand Avenue Grounds and Red Stockings Park. The first fully professional game of baseball held in St. Louis took place at the latter. Very few modern fans are aware of this, or of these parks' locations. Moreover, there was a time early in the twentieth century when St. Louis supported not just two, but three major league teams, each with its own ballpark. This book is intended as a keepsake of the stadiums and playing fields of St. Louis' baseball past.
St. Louis Olympics, 1904
9780738523293
Regular price $21.99 Sale price $15.39 Save $6.60
The first American Olympics, held in 1904 in St. Louis, were a vigorous spectacle suited to an energetic and confident nation. The games were wrested away from rival city Chicago and appended to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair. Athletes came from eleven countries and four continents to compete in state-of-the-art facilities, which included a 10,000-seat stadium with gymnasium equipment donated by sporting goods magnate Albert Spalding. St. Louis Olympics, 1904 corrects common misperceptions and presents a fresh view of the games that featured first-time African American Olympians, an eccentric marathon, and documentation by pioneering photojournalist Jessie Tarbox Beals.
As Good As It Got
9780738531991
Regular price $21.99 Save $-21.99
World War II threatened to ruin Major League Baseball. By 1945, over 500 major leaguers and 3,000 minor league prospects had been enlisted for the war effort, leaving a dearth of talent for the Big Leagues. The St. Louis Browns, like other AL and NL clubs, would be forced to fill holes in their roster with scrubs-4-F players (those dismissed from the military due to physical ailments), retired major leaguers, and youngsters not yet ready to leave the minors. But there were still some top level players to be had, and 1944 Browns manager Luke Sewell assembled the franchise's most successful team ever, taking the St. Louis ball club to its first and only Fall Classic.
Mexican American Baseball in Kansas City
9781467128759
Regular price $21.99 Save $-21.99
Mexican American Baseball in Kansas City highlights the standout teams and players in the greater Kansas City area and other communities in the Sunflower State. Following labor opportunities, Mexican immigrants proliferated in the region in the first decade of the 20th century. Eventually, they and their offspring settled in countless communities, including Kansas City, Topeka, Newton, Chanute, Emporia, Wellington, Wichita, Dodge City, and Garden City, and had extended family networks in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Iowa. Baseball and softball in their own unique ways confronted discrimination and promoted the spirit for social equality. These remarkable photographs and wonderful memorabilia provide ample evidence and insight about those who loved the game.
Baseball in Springfield
9780738533599
Regular price $21.99 Save $-21.99
It has been more than half a century since Springfield last hosted minor league baseball. That draught will end at downtown's newly constructed Hammons Field in the spring of 2005, when the Springfield Cardinals of the AA Texas League bring professional baseball back to the Queen City of the Ozarks. The new team will have quite a legacy to fulfill, as the Springfield Cardinals of the Western Association won several pennants those many years ago, and brought to town such legendary baseball names as Branch Rickey, Joe Garagiola, and Stan Musial. Before the Cardinals came teams like the Midgets, Reds, and Merchants, and a rich tradition of professional and semi-pro baseball dating back to the mid-1880s. Drawing from a wide range of primary sources and complimented by over 100 vintage images, Baseball in Springfield is must-have for those ready to discover the historic connection this city has to the national pastime.
Baseball in St. Louis
9780738533018
Regular price $21.99 Save $-21.99
St. Louis was a hotbed of baseball activity in the early 20th century. Two of baseball's great wars played out here-the rise of the American League and the rise and fall of the Federal League. No pennants flew over the city from 1900 to 1925, yet St. Louis teams were involved in a number of torrid pennant races. Here is the heyday of the St. Louis Browns and the emergence of the Cardinals, as well as a vibrant scene for semi-pro and black teams. The city had two of the greatest hitters in baseball history-George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby-and one of the game's most influential executives-Branch Rickey. Twenty-one members of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown played baseball in St. Louis during these years. The author draws on more than 20 photo collections, with in-depth looks at an important yet overlooked era and the people who made it come alive.
