In the summer of 1932, with the Cubs in the thick of the pennant race, Billy Jurges broke off his relationship with Violet Popovich to focus on baseball. The famously beautiful showgirl took it poorly, marching into his hotel room with a revolver in her purse. Both were wounded in the ensuing struggle, but Jurges refused to press charges. Even without their star shortstop, Chicago made it to the World Series, only to be on the wrong end of Babe Ruth's legendary Called Shot. Using hundreds ...

Winner of the Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball ResearchWinner of the North American Society for Sport History Book AwardNamed a 2005 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleNamed a 2025Choice Outstanding Academic TitleWhen Baseball before We Knew It was first published in 2005, it shatter...

"Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things."--Robert FrostIt's been broadly acknowledged that baseball is the most lyrical of all sports-the one whose natural flow lends itself to poetic rhythm and meter more than any other. Here Comes The Pizzer: The Found Poetry of Baseball Broadcasts recognizes this natural marriage of baseball and rhythm and takes it to the next level. Dozens of poets, researchers, wr...

This ebook is now available from Bloomsbury Academic. Bloomsbury Academic publish acclaimed resources for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as the general reader, across a broad range of subjects including Archaeology, Art & Visual Culture, Biblical Studies, Business & Management, Drama & Performance Studies, Economics, Education, Film & Media, History, Linguistics, Literary Studies, Music & Sound Studies, Philosophy, Politics & International Relations, Psychology, Religious ...

To celebrate the National Hockey League’s centennial anniversary, three of the most hilariously irreverent writers in sports media present their own selections for the "100 Greatest Players in NHL History." Read along as Dave Lozo, Sean “Down Goes Brown” McIndoe and Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy rank the NHL's best through a unique scoring system that's sure to spark debates – especially when it comes to where modern stars like Sidney Crosby rank. Then check out their other lists a...

The untold story of baseball's nineteenth-century origins: "a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat" (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal).You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn't. Perhaps you've read that baseball's color line wa...

In his no-holds-barred memoir, Sapp Attack!, Warren Sapp, one of the NFL's most hilarious and candid personalities, reveals a side of football most fans have never before seen.Big Man. Big Talent. Big Star. Big Mouth. Big Heart. Big Personality. Big Smile. Big Headlines. Warren Sapp, one of pro football's most dominating defensive players both on and off the field, has a reputation for being bold, brash, knowledgeable, and outspoken. During his All-American...

"It didn't occur to me until fairly late in the work that I was writing a book about the beginnings of a national celebrity culture. By 1860, a few boxers had become heroes to working-class men, and big fights drew considerable newspaper coverage, most of it quite negative since the whole enterprise was illegal. But a generation later, toward the end of the century, the great John L. Sullivan of Boston had become the nation's first true sports celebrity, an American icon. The likes of poet...

**INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLERA Kirkus Reviews Most Anticipated Book of the FallA moving celebration of the history of American football from the New York Times bestselling author of Why We Love Baseball**After his bestselling home run books Why We Love Baseball and The Baseball 100, Joe Posnanski turns from the national pastime to the number one sport in America. Why We Love Football is Posnanski’s newest must-ha...

This fascinating reassessment of America's most popular and famous poet reveals a more complex and enigmatic man than many readers might expect. Jay Parini spent over twenty years interviewing friends of Robert Frost and working in the poet's archives at Dartmouth, Amherst, and elsewhere to produce this definitive and insightful biography of both the public and private man. While he depicts the various stages of Frost's colorful life, Parini also sensitively explores the poet's psyche, sho...

The New York Times–bestselling author "knocks it out of the park," exploring the history of the 2016 World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs ( Vanity Fair).When Rich Cohen was eight years old, his father took him to see a Cubs game. On the way out of the park, his father asked him to make a promise. "Promise me you will never be a Cubs fan. The Cubs do not win," he explained, "and because of that, a Cubs fan will have a diminished life determined ...

"The story . . . has as much vigor and passion as Roosevelt himself. It's a fascinating and thoroughly American tale." — Candice Millard, New York Times–bestselling authorJohn J. Miller delivers the intriguing, never-before-told story of how Theodore Roosevelt saved American Football—a game that would become the nation's most popular sport. Miller's sweeping, novelistic retelling captures the violent, nearly lawless days of late 19th centur...