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Whatever Happened to "Super Joe"?: Catching Up With 45 Good Old Guys From The Bad Old Days of Cleveland Indians
Russell Schneider
Manufacturer: Gray & Co., Publishers
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Binding: Paperback
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Product Description
From the mid-1950s through the mid-1990s, the Cleveland Indians fielded team after team that just couldn't win. Those forty long years, before the opening of Jacobs Field and the "era of champions," are remembered by many as the "bad old days."
Yet each of those lousy teams had its share of pretty good guys, likeable and colorful young men who earned a spot in fans' hearts, if not the Hall of Fame.
Guys like "Super Joe" Charboneau, whose Rookie of the Year season inspired a nickname, a book, and a theme song, but whose career flamed out fast. Or Gomer Hodge, the former farm boy who went 4-for-4 in his first plate appearances with the Tribe and proudly announced that he had a 4.000 batting average.
Veteran sportswriter Russell Schneider caught up with 45 former Indians players who played in Cleveland during the "bad old days" and found out what they think now about their playing days and their lives after baseball.
There's good-fielding shortstop Duane Kuiper, who was satisfied hitting just one home run in eight seasons because, he said, "Any more than that and people start expecting them." And former knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti, who never pitched a no-hitter but did throw a perfect game--as a pro bowler.
"Immortal" Joe Azcue tried hard to live up to his early nickname but whose batting average proved him merely human. And shortstop Frank Duffy considered the Indians of the mid-'70s "just like a happy family" compared to what he found when he was traded to the Boston Red Sox.
Sometimes nostalgic, sometimes tinged with disappointment, often humorous and insightful, their stories will take Tribe fans back to an age before multi-million dollar superstars, when the players were in it for the love of the game.
Customer Reviews:
A MUST READ .......2007-01-14
THIS BOOK CONTAINS INTERVIEWS WITH 45 EX CLEVELAND INDIANS SOME OF WHOM WERE GOOD BUT MOST WERE NOT THAT GOOD. AUTHOR RUSS SCHNEIDER BRINGS US BACK TO THE BAD OLD DAYS WITH INTERVIEWS WITH PLAYERS FROM THE 50'S TO THE 90'S. SOME OF THE NAMES INCLUDED ARE: THE IMMORTAL JOE AZCUE, SUPER JOE CHARBONEAU, MUDCAR GRANT, STUNNING STEVE DUNNING AND GOMER HODGE. IT IS A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE OF TRIBE HISTORY WHEN THEY WERE NOT VERY GOOD. THIS BOOK BRINGS BACK MANY MANY WONDERFUL AND NOSTALGIC MEMORIES. I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS BOOK FOR TRIBE FANS WHO FOLLOWED THE TEAM FROM THE 60'S TO THE 90'S. A MUST READ FOR THE NOSTALGIC INDIAN FAN.
Product Description
Go behind closed doors in the Cleveland Indians' front office as award-winning sportswriter Terry Pluto analyzes the team's controversial recent moves to scrap a roster of popular stars and rebuild a new kind of contender.
Granted unprecedented access to the team's top management and financial data, Pluto delivers an up-close account of how decisions were made to radically reshape the franchise.
Indians fans grew accustomed to winning in the mid-1990s. They had an owner with deep pockets, a brand-new ballpark, and a team of high-priced all stars who delivered a division championship nearly every year.
But that glorious ride ended with a jolt of reality after savvy owner Richard Jacobs sold the franchise at the top of the market in 2000. New owners Larry and Paul Dolan and new general manager Mark Shapiro faced a challenge: an aging team, a mounting payroll, and a shrinking budget. First they made mistakes. Then they made bold changes. Stars such as Manny Ramirez, Roberto Alomar, and Jim Thome were gone, replaced with roster of unproven youngsters and veteran rehab projects. Fans were alarmed and dismayed. Then, in 2002, Shapiro boldly predicted that the Indians would return to contend for the playoffs after just three years of rebuilding. Critics scoffed.
Yet at the end of the 2005 season, the Indians were indeed back in contention, one tantalizing game away from a return to the playoffs. The core of an exciting young team was beginning to take shape, and Shapiro was voted American League Executive of the Year as his team won an impressive 93 games despite a payroll ranked in baseball's bottom five.
How was it done? In his familiar clear writing style, Pluto carefully explains the many risky moves made by management and tells which ones have paid off, which ones haven't, and why.
This rare behind-the-scenes look at a modern front office will intrigue fantasy leaguers and fans fascinated by baseball dealmaking. It will be an eye-opener for Indians fans who may still be wondering, What happened to my team?
Customer Reviews:
good insight.......2007-04-03
a great look at how mark shapiro learned on the job and, with a pittance of a budget as compared to the likes of the red sox and the yankees, has created a truly competitive team for years to come.
The thinking behind the scenes........2007-01-18
Terry Pluto has a wealth of inside information about the professional sports scene in the Cleveland area. In this book he shows us what goes on in the front office and what goes into some of the decisions about players. If your are even a casual follower of the Indians, or MLB in general, you will be interested in reading this book. You'll get a whole new look at why a team has some of the players it does, and why it doesn't have some of the players it or you may have wanted.
A very, interesting read.
a peek inside the front office -- .......2006-07-17
This new century's baseball team has different players than those in the good old days:
Moneyball
Fantasy
Reality
Business
Agents
Cable
Free Agency
Arbitration
Revenue Sharing
and of course, that good ol' reliable utility player
Hindsight
You can shuffle your lineup any way you want to, but at the end of the day, the deck is still stacked against the owner(s). Cleveland fans feel so deprived as none of their professional sports teams have won a championship for so many years, most people can't remember the last time it happened! And they're not the only ones.
In the last few years, the rules have changed--drastically. It's hardly fair to blame the new owners (the Dolan family) for not being the previous one--Dick Jacobs. After all, Jacobs did just what he'd done all his lifetime--bought low, sold high. Sold extra-high, actually. That doesn't mean that Jacobs should be blamed for having bought the baseball team in the first place--or selling it twelve years later. Had he not bought it when he did in 1987, the Cleveland Indians might well be some other city's team. Even so, it took the Jacobs family several years to get to the high-flying mid-90s, when the playoffs were the standard by which all other accomplishments were measured. Back then, the Browns were a bunch of nobodies, and so were the Cavs. Things are vastly different now--at least for the Cavs.
Terry Pluto uses his extensive knowledge and the openness of the Dolan family, along with Mark Shapiro, to explain the last few years of baseball in Cleveland. Actually, Paul Dolan, president of the team, should almost qualify for co-author status, he appears so often and so openly, explaining the actions of himself and his family. The Dolans appear to be out-going, straight-forward owners, explaining matters to the fans. (Sometimes they explain too much, to be sure.)
Reading this book, you'll feel like part of the team in this plain-speaking look at the inner workings of a Major League baseball team's front office, and how the entire team--front office and the one on the field--combine to make things happen.
Perhaps the Dolans biggest mistake was that, although they had been shrewd businessmen for many years, they approached the purchase of the team as fans rather than owners. For no other reason, perhaps, you have to like these guys. They play with their hearts--with tons of dollars thrown in for good measure. Seems to me they should be given a bit more time to make good on their intentions. After all, the world--and Northeast Ohio--changed drastically in the four years since they overpaid for the team.
There was the aftermath of 9/11, which will continue for a good many more years. The economic scene in Cleveland has gone through major changes in the last four years. Loss of jobs equates to many less dollars available for this not-so-inexpensive-anymore entertainment. Baseball, itself, has experienced the same sort of trauma, with new, long-term very pricey free-agent contracts. (Also, it's not only the Indians who sometimes have to pay another team to take a player they can't support any longer.) Then, too, the very novelty of the shiny new Jacobs Field began to wear off a bit. And don't forget the players. It takes much more time for a player to reach his prime than it does for him to pass on by it. Aging athletes can't always keep up, and it's a wise manager who realizes that fact, while still working around it. Not to mention, it's all too easy to ruin a player who's too young to handle the constant every day stress of competitive sports.
Pluto goes into great detail about how--knowing they weren't baseball strategists--the Dolans wisely found a solid core of young, knowledgeable men with varying skills and put them in charge of the team. General Manager Mark Shapiro (MLB's Executive of the Year for 2005); his assistants: Chris Antonetti, (the wizard of the computer); Neal Huntington, director of player development; scounting director John Mirabelli, and minor league director John Farrell. Between them, they selected Eric Wedge as manager of the team. (Locals complain about Wedge, but his peers have chosen him as one of the coaches for the 2006 All-Star game!) There's a lot to be said for putting someone in charge and letting them have the actual means and power to do their best without fear of the axe falling. That's not to say they can take forever, but it takes time to find the best young prospects and nurture them to major league capability.
Next time you want to complain about the penny-pinching Dolans, stop and think about this for a moment. In 2000, they purchased the Indians for 320 million dollars. The entire team, the front office, the farm teams, the whole magilla. Then, (from page175) "Along with having the three highest payrolls in team history (2000-2002), the Dolans also paid $40 million during all of their ownership in revenue sharing, mostly because of the success of the Jacobs era." Today, even though they've cut back some, they've also greatly increased the scounting program in an effort to re-build the team.
Cleveland is a small market, with three major-league teams. (New York City has more teams, of course, but even with all the dollars spent there, NY teams don't win every game, all the time.) Even though the New York Yankees spend 200 million dollars PER YEAR on their team payroll! Anyone here have that kind of money to spend? Didn't think so. Folks here want the Dolans to sell. Not so easily done. No one says the Dolans want to sell, but just suppose they did. Who'd buy? Until that happens, maybe we ought to cut them some slack, and give the Dolans a chance to finish what they started.
Take a look into the real moneyball.......2006-06-01
Terry Pluto is as close to a homegrown sports reporter as a region can have. Living in the Cleveland (OH) area, Pluto has aced major sports writing posts for The Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal, along with writing numerous books on sports and other issues.
While he has returned to his roots as it were for recent books on the financial sheets of the new Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians, Pluto may be best known for an outstanding oral history on the ABA, Loose Balls.
When you mention the Dolan family to sports fans in NE Ohio, you may be greeted with words that drove Howard Stern to satellite radio. In the late 1990s the Dolan family purchased the then thriving Cleveland Indians from Richard Jacobs, and have been considered cheap, incompetent and having little clue in long-term planning to bring the club back into a contender's slot for the World Series.
Pluto does an excellent job in describing how that myth does not equal the reality of new franchise owners who admittedly got in over their heads in trying to be like cash-cow franchise like the Red Sox and Yankees & have poised the team to make solid division runs in 2006 and beyond with a nucleus of players who will be with the franchise for several years.
As I write this review, though, the Tribe is mired behind the Tigers and White Sox in the AL Central & has been victim to some disturbingly erratic play. With the Cavs recent playoff run and the Browns ready to start soon, the interest level in baseball remains tepid at best. These issues may lead to a new dynamic in the club blueprint outlined in the book.
Where Pluto has had utter disdain with the way the NFL and Al Lerner brought football back to Cleveland - which severely hampered the writing in that book - he has a more objective pen in attempting to present facts through team financial documents, scouting analysis and interviews.
I strongly feel Pluto learned a valuable lesson from his Browns book to limit quoting himself from ABJ colmuns. He limits his writings, which is a major plus. Recent interviews with past participants in the glory run along with material culled from past media reports is a nice mix.
The book may not be for a reader who has little background in the history of the team over the past decade or so. For as popular the club has been in the sales of hats and jerseys nationally, fandom remains regional. That could be why it was published by a NE Ohio-based company.
I hope Pluto considers writing a book on the rebirth of the Cavaliers through the eyes of management. In my view he's batting .500 in his exploration of the financial side of pro sports in Cleveland and has his own emerging blueprint to make a basketball book a real winner.
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- Error Notification
- Rattle Your Saber(metrics)?
- "Goddam, But Playing Baseball Is Fun"
- Could Not Put It Down
- Wonderful book about baseball
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Summer of '49 (P.S.)
David Halberstam
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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October 1964
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ASIN: 0060884266
Release Date: 2006-05-09 |
Amazon.com
With the airwaves saturated with so much sporting choice, it's hard to imagine how, not that long ago, baseball so completely dominated the landscape and captured imaginations. Given the 1949 season that veteran journalist David Halberstam meticulously recreates, maybe it's not so hard after all. It was a season of great public and personal drama for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, with the conflict finally resolving itself in a Yankee pennant following a head-to-head showdown on the final day of the season. Each team was led by a star of the highest magnitude: Joe DiMaggio spurred the Yankees despite missing half the season with a foot injury; Ted Williams virtually carried the Sox on his back, missing an unprecedented third Triple Crown by mere decimal points on his batting average. Halberstam focuses much of his narrative on the trials of these two individual sporting giants, adding fine supporting performances by Yogi Berra, Ellis Kinder, Dom DiMaggio, even restaurateur Toots Shoor. Both on and off the field, Halberstam beautifully captures the ethos of a more innocent game that no longer exists, played by heroes far more driven by their pride than by their salaries.
Book Description
With incredible skill, passion, and insight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam returns us to a glorious time when the dreams of a now almost forgotten America rested on the crack of a bat.
The year was 1949, and a war-weary nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League, and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions—one that would be decided in an explosive head-to-head confrontation on the last day of the season.
Customer Reviews:
Error Notification.......2007-08-23
I did notice two errors in the photo section. Main one was a picture of Tommy Henrich scoring after a home run off Don Newcombe. The caption below brings attention to Newcombe walking off the field after the hit. The error is the player walking off is not Newcombe, but 1B Gil Hodges. How do I know that? I knew all the Dodger numbers in those days and the player walking off is # 14 - Hodges. Newcombe was # 36 and not in the picture. The picture above this one transcribes two names, Hodges and Duke Snider I think. Minor stuff. Great book
Rattle Your Saber(metrics)?.......2007-08-17
Don't get a statistic wrong; don't you dare make a mistake. Okay, Bill James correctly points out some mistakes that Mr. Halberstam makes in this book. None of the mistakes are important to the story, nor do any of them detract from the book in any way. I can't hold that criticism against this book.
This is an excellent baseball book. David Halberstam masterfully brings to life a baseball season and pennant race that otherwise I could never enjoy. He makes you part of the history of the era in the US, as well as in the game of baseball. He introduces you to all the important players in the game and some of the other assorted characters around the game. It is a well written book, easy to read and enjoy by any baseball fan!
"Goddam, But Playing Baseball Is Fun".......2007-08-05
"Old-time baseball players and fans love to denigrate the modern ballplayer. "Baseball today is not what it should be," one old-timer once wrote. "The players do not try to learn all the fine points of the game as in the days of old, but simply try to get by. They content themselves if they get a couple of hits every day or play an errorless game... It's positively a shame, and they are getting big money for it, too."
Bill Joyce, 1916 Ballplayer
'The Golden Age of Baseball' began when players returned from the war until 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants decided to continue their rivalry in California. That time saw many of the most memorable and significant events in the game's history: in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier; that same year, the second Yankee Dynasty began with its first of ten pennants and eight championships in a twelve-year span; in 1951, Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" to win the pennant for the Giants; in 1954, Willie Mays made his spectacular World Series catch; in 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history.
For those of us who are Boston Red Sox or New York Yankee fans, one of the biggest baseball rivalries in history, 'Summer of '49' explains much of the history and romance of these two teams. David Halberstam brings to us the glories, the rivalaries, the drinking, the social and personal stories of the players on both sides. The subject is the pennant race of 1949 between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox which wasn't decided until the last game of the season. Is there really any value to another book telling us what a legend Joe DiMaggio was, or what a great hitter Ted Williams was, or what a great team the Yankees were? Yes,indeedy.1949 was the perfect year, because it marked a turning point in the history of American sport, which is one reason why David Halberstam wrote this book. Baseball was the number one sport, but professional basketball and football were beginning to gain acceptance. Television was just beginning to make its mark. The impact of black ballplayers was only beginning to be felt.
David Halberstam brings us the day to day spotliughts of the Red Sox and Yankees for an entire year, from the end of the 1948 season through 1949. During the summer of '49, the two teams had one of the classic pennant races of all time. The Sox struggled at the beginning, while the Yankees, took a commanding early lead. But Boston chipped away at the lead until the final day of the season, when the two teams met to decide the pennant. Sound familiar? David Halberstam reveals the characters and gives us a glimpse of baseball during The Golden Age. He interviewed almost every living member of those teams and several people on the outside--fans, broadcasters, baseball executives, writers, relatives of players--over a hundred in all. The one interview he couldn't get, was from the most important member of the Yankees: Joe DiMaggio.
Each team was made up of twenty-five men, plus perhaps ten or twelve others who played a little. We are introduced to every one of them, the drinkers, womanizers, country boys, city boys, the marginal players for whom 1949 will be their only season of glory. We feel a part of the team, traveling with them between games. And at the end of the book, he tells us what has become of them.
In the conclusion, David Halberstam tells us how enjoyable it was to write this book, to interview his idols, to do research that many would consider fun. "I was the envy of my male friends who shared my enthusiasm for baseball in those years. Caught up in the more mundane tasks in journalism or Wall Street or the law, they would gladly have traded jobs with me."
"But probably the best reasons for Halberstam to choose 1949 were, first, that it was a terrific, dramatic pennant race between two hated rivals; and, second, perhaps most importantly, as he explains in the author's note, Halberstam was fifteen years old that summer and a devoted Yankee fan. The men he describes in his book were his heroes, and he lived and died with the fortunes of his favorite players." David Martinez
David Halberstam is gone now. However, his writing will live on, and those of us who loved his writing will remember him well.
What Summer of '49 does for me is to renew my love for baseball, and in particular, my love for the Boston Red Sox. Ted Williams, after reluctantly leaving the batting practice cage, once said, "Goddam, but this is fun. I could do this all day--and they pay me for it."
Highly Recommended. prisrob 8-05-07
The Best and the Brightest
Charlie Rose with Jules Witcover, David Halberstam & David Broder; Ann Druyan; Peter Balakian (July 18, 1997)
Could Not Put It Down.......2007-05-27
I always wondered how you could make writing about baseball a page turner when watching the game can be extremely dull. David Halberstam does it brilliantly in this book about a pennant rice between two arch enemies that occured nearly sixty years ago. The mix of baseball events and storytelling makes this a great book for everyone, not just baseball, Red Sox, or Yankee fans.
Wonderful book about baseball.......2007-04-24
Hearing of the author's untimely death today got me thinking about this book, which I read years and years ago but still remember fondly as one of the best baseball books I've ever come across.
Halberstam does a very fine job of bringing to life the feel of the post-war years and of making the reader understand how baseball was a big piece of the social fabric that brought a sense of normalcy back to American life after the end of the war. I also recommend his book about the 1964 World Series, "October 1964".
The author will be missed. A sad day....
Book Description
Born in 1871 on Maine's Penobscot Indian reservation and nephew of a chief, Louis Sockalexis became professional baseball's first American Indian player. Ultimately, his prowess on the diamond inspired the nickname Cleveland's baseball team carries today. Baseball's First Indian explores the brilliant by too-brief major league career of the "Deerfoot of the Diamond" at the end of the 1890s, describes his fall to new England's minor leagues, and watches his final return to the reservation in Maine where he continued as a baseball coach and umpire.
Author Ed Rice's fascinating study of the life of Louis Sockalexis is filled with game-by-game action and leavened by the flamboyant and colorful stories of nineteenth-century sportswriters who frequently invented what the truth would not supply. Every student of baseball history will treasure "Baseball's First Indian".
Customer Reviews:
Take This One Home!.......2003-09-19
This new book by Ed Rice has everything--stats, rare photos of Louis Sockalexis and Hall-of-Famers such as "Cy" Young and Jesse Burkett, and game-by-game summaries. We learn about "Sock's" short, brilliant career as an outfielder with an arm like a rifle and the fastest feet in the league. But too much drinking and an ankle injury ruined Louis's speed and fielding. He was let go after 3 seasons and drifted around the minor leagues. Occasionally he played well but he never regained his former brilliance.
Sockalexis went home to Maine and worked as a logger and ferry operator. He also stopped drinking, and earned respect as an umpire for the rough Maine leagues. "Coach Sockalexis" taught young Penobscots the game and proudly sent five of them to the New England League.
Ed Rice gives us a nice glimpse into "Sock's" later years when he was much admired by friends and colleagues. His fellow tribesmen honor him to this day as a great athlete. Enjoy this interesting bio as you count the days to spring training!
This Book's a Home Run!.......2003-09-02
This is the story of Louis Sockalexis, the first Indian ballplayer who had a great college career but fizzled out in the majors. Maine author Ed Rice tells us all about this player who became a national sensation in one short season. This exciting bio is crammed with baseball lore and play-by plays of Sockalexis's games with Holy Cross and the early Cleveland Indians. Without TV or radio, the fans had to imagine Sock's sizzling throws to the plate from deep right field and hot line drives. He was so fast he could steal bases at will. He had to face war whoops and taunting crowds, but like Jackie Robinson, he just quietly played the game. Sadly, drinking cut his career short but he holds a special place in baseball history as a pioneer and great player who could have become a champion if he'd lasted long enough. This book makes great reading during baseball season!
This One's a Hit!.......2003-08-17
This has been a remarkable year for books about Louis Sockalexis, the long-forgotten nineteenth century Penobscot outfielder. When he was signed with the Cleveland national team, he became the first Indian to play in the major leagues.
This book by Maine author Ed Rice tells Sock's story from a local point of view as well as extensively covering his outstanding career at Holy Cross and games with Cleveland, before drink and injury destroyed his career. Sockalexis broke the color barrier fifty years before Jackie Robinson, but his love of the high life and the overwhelming pressures of racism led him astray.
Mr. Rice's book is lavishly illustrated and vividly recreates the rough-and-tumble world of nineteenth-century baseball. The author also describes Sock's career in the minors, where he played better than people think, and his final years on Indian Island as a well-respected baseball coach and umpire.
This is a great piece of Americana and a must-read for baseball fans everywhere!
A Baseball Pioneer.......2003-08-12
For years, Louis Sockalexis wasn't much more than a trivia question: who were the Cleveland Indians named for? Now there are THREE new books about him.
"Sock" was an outstanding athlete in his time and showed great promise. If drink hadn't ruined his major league career, he could have ranked as one of the all-time greats. Still, he deserves to be remembered as a baseball pioneer, the first Native American player not long after the Wild West was still killing off Indians. He had to put up with rough treatment from the crowds, but it didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he was well-liked by nearly everyone--too much, sad to say. Everyone wanted to buy him a round, and he loved to party. Finally, a foot injury wrecked his playing for good.
Ed Rice, a Maine author, includes a nice local view of Sockalexis's later life and interviews with people who knew him. There are fond memories and funny anecdotes about Sock, who never lost his ability to throw like a cannon or hit the ball out of the park. He coached a Penobscot team and sent five players to the New England leagues. He was such a good umpire you didn't dare argue with him. His last years were quiet but he always kept up with the latest news on baseball. They say when he died, he had clippings from his magical rookie year in his pocket. He's buried on Indian Island near Bangor, Maine, where fellow Mainers and visitors from all over can pay their respects to "Baseball's First Indian."
This is an outstanding book--I give it two thumbs up!
An Angel in the Outfield.......2003-08-12
For part of one magical season in 1897, Louis Sockalexis, "Baseball's First Indian," had wings on his feet in the outfield. The fastest runner in the country, he ran down line drives and made spectacular diving catches followed by bullet-like throws to the plate. He went on a hot hitting streak that seemed unstoppable. Though he was showered with racial abuse at first, he soon won over the crowds with his calm demeanor and easy smile. It helped that he was rugged and handsome. If only the magic had lasted!
Louis had an alcohol addiction that soon made itself known. It wrecked his career when he injured himself and lost his lightning-quick speed and reflexes. The Cleveland Spiders (now Indians) gave him several chances to shape up, but he couldn't stop drinking. Finally they let him go in 1899. He drank himself off several minor league teams as well but occasionally showed flashes of his former brilliance. He played one complete season with the Lowell Tigers, posting a .288 average. In 1902 he went home to Indian Island for good. He quit drinking and won respect as an umpire and coach for Penobscot youths who were proud to learn from the best.
Of the three new books on Sockalexis, this one by Ed Rice is the most complete, covering each game of "Sock's" career and giving us a close look at his last years among his tribesmen, who honor his memory to this day. Mr. Rice grew up in Maine with the legend of Sockalexis close by, and decided many years ago his story was worth telling. This book is a remarkable portrait of a gifted ballplayer who's finally getting the attention he deserves.
Book Description
The third edition of The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia contains everything fans have ever wanted to know about one of baseball's most storied franchises. From 1869, when professional baseball came to Cleveland, to 1901, when the Indians became charter members of the American League, to their consistently fabulous play in the 1990s, the team has featured innumerable stars over the years. This comprehensive volume traces the genesis of baseball in Cleveland, covering all of the team lore and legend, the controversies, the triumphs, and the heartaches, including:
- Nearly 300 player profiles--from Napoleon Lajoie and Tris Speaker in the early part of the 20th century to 1960s stars Rocky Colavito and Sam McDowell to today's headliners like Omar Vizquel and Jody Gerut
- Season-by-season descriptions of unforgettable moments and memories
- Nearly 1,000 illustrations of players, game highlights, and memorabilia, including a panoramic foldout of Jacobs Field
- Extensive statistics, including box scores, team and individual records, and trades
- The World Series championship, the managerial strategies, the personalities, the honors, and the milestones
- An immense treasure of little-known facts and surprising anecdotes
Customer Reviews:
The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia (2nd Edition)Even Better!.......2001-12-31
The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia(2nd Edition) is even better than the first! I don't actually own the book, my mother-in-law, Lillian Zupancic, does. She is not only a die hard fan of The Cleveland Indians but a fan of both the authors as well. Russel Schneider has a co-author who also worked on the 1st edition with him, Mr. Joseph Simenic. He is a prominent baseball researcher and co-founder of the Society of American Baseball Reasearch. He is a long-time Indians fan.
The authors have done a marvelous job on the book. It is complete with beautiful color photos and a color insert of the current home of The Cleveland Indians, Jacob's Field. Facts included are all players from the origins of The Cleveland Indians to present time complete with stats. This is a book that you definitely must own if you are a fan of the Cleveland Indians.
I say this not only because Mr. Simenic is my mother-in-law's brother and my husband's uncle, but because The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia (both editions) are a valuable asset to any fans' library!
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Indians.......1997-01-27
Very informative history of the Cleveland franchise from the late 1800's to the present. Comments and player stats for every season. Bios on all players, front office, ballparks, Hall of Famers, Great Moments and many other features. There really isn't much of note that you could want to know about the team that isn't included. This effort must put the Indians fans in a more knowledgeable position about their team than any other fans
Book Description
The Cleveland Indians are one of baseball's most vibrant and beloved franchises, and everything you need to know about them is in Indians Essential: the clutch hitters, the dominating pitchers, and the memorable flakes. Looking for a handy reference for milestones in Indians history? They're all in here, as are the greatest moments and biggest disappointments, the biggest goats and heroes, and all the personalities that make the Indians such an endearing and captivating club. You'll read about Hall of Fame legends Nap Lajoie and Tris Speaker, World Series champions Larry Doby and Bob Feller, and today's superstars Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner. But that's only the beginning of what you'll learn in this fun, fact-filled compilation of Indians history.
Book Description
The Cleveland Indians came into existence along with the American League in 1901, and their rich and fascinating history has been well documented in photographs. Many prints from the Cleveland Press archive, dating from 1920 until the newspaperís closure in 1982, are reproduced in this book, along with a brief history of the teamís successes and failures in each decade. Most of these classic photographs, which include great Indians players like Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller and slugger Rocky Colavito, a fan favorite, have not been seen in print for decades. You will also see baseball legends Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, and Joe DiMaggio as they compete with the Tribe. ÝÝ
Customer Reviews:
Pictures That Tell Stories Of Eras Past.......2006-10-08
The collection of photographs are from the archives of the Cleveland Press - a daily afternoon newspaper - from 1920 until the publication ceased operations in 1982.
What makes the book a welcome edition is the chronicling of an era when newspapers - and especially sports pages - basically had an open field to document the home teams. And because of that, photographs were a major tool to tell the story.
The text plays the role of cutlines for each decade viewed through the lens, with Cleveland legends like Bob Feller, Herb Score, Buddy Bell and Rocky Colavito sharing space with Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio.
It is an excellent use of words to highlight classic photos and a must equally for fans of Cleveland baseball and those interested in the history of the game.
Images of the Indians' Heyday.......2003-06-26
Baseball and photography grew up together with the still photo reinforcing the memories of the game. Every year seems to bring more books of baseball photographs -- a trend that began with Don Honig's evocative collections and continued through a series of fine art collections like thos of Charles Conlon.
David Borsvold has lovingly compiled a collection of photographs of the Cleveland Indians from the archives of the now-defunct Cleveland Press. The photos cover the heyday of the Indians from 1920 to 1982, the year that the Press folded. The text summarizes the Indians performance by decade (and Cleveland was as successful as any team could be facing the Yankees from the 1920s through the 1950s) while the photographs are the spectrum of daily newspaper fare. There are some rarely seen faces (when's the last time you saw a photo of Wally Westlake?) as well as images of better known players, managers and owners. The action photographs are notably illustrative of the period when cameramen were often a few yards behind homeplate to capture the action.
The book is part of what the publisher is billing as its "Images of Baseball" series. "Cleveland Indians: The Cleveland Press Years, 1920-1982" is a solid beginning to the series.
Average customer rating:
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Day-By-Day in Cleveland Indians History
Morris Eckhouse
Manufacturer: Macmillan Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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| Sports
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| Books
History
| Baseball
| Sports
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| Books
General
| Sports
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ASIN: 0880111070 |
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