The first time fabled pitcher Smokey Joe Hood held a baseball in his hand he knew it was meant to be thrown and thrown hard. And so he did. Harder and faster than any man who ever lived. A smoking fastball took him to the pinnacle of the game, but his passion for practical jokes and tall tales made him a legend to love and laugh with. In his inimitable style, he tells the story of a life that took him from the Kentucky farmlands of his youth to baseball's hall of fame, a life full of mischief, wild times and rousing baseball games. Along the way, we meet a cast of dazzling characters who join Smokey Joe on a romp through the glory days of baseball. On and off the field, Smokey Joe was truly a lovable, rollicking giant of his times."

"An idiosyncratic adventure, pulling you in and saying: 'this is, in fact, not what you were looking for; but its much more interesting."' - Terry Pratchet This flagship title in the Brewer's series was first published in 1870 to supply readers with material that was both entertaining and improving. The new 18th edition is filled with hundreds of new facts from designer babies to New York's sewer-dwelling alligators and brings back over 200 classic entries such as magic garters and Poison detectors.

Recounts the true childhood stories and lessons of some of baseball's greatest players, including Gary Carter, Ralph Kiner, Ferguson Jenkins, and Tony Gwynn.

Centering around the life and times of the revered American sportswriter Grantland Rice (1880-1954), How You Played the Game takes us back to those magical days of sporting tales and mythic heroes. Through Rice's eyes we behold such sports as bicycle racing, boxing, golf, baseball, football, and tennis as they were played before 1950. We witness ups and downs in the careers of such legendary figures as Christy Mathewson, Jack Dempsey, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, Bill Tilden, Notre Dame's Four Horsemen, Gene Tunney, and Babe Didrikson--all of whom Rice helped become household names. Grantland Rice was a remarkably gifted and honorable sportswriter. From his early days in Nashville and Atlanta, to his famed years in New York, Rice was acknowledged by all for his uncanny grasp of the ins and outs of a dozen sports, as well as his personal friendship with hundreds of sportsmen and sportswomen. As a pioneer in American sportswriting, Rice helped establish and dignify the profession, sitting shoulder to shoulder in press boxes around the nation with the likes of Ring Lardner, Damon Runyon, Heywood Broun, and Red Smith. Besides being a first-rate reporter, Rice was also a columnist, poet, magazine and book writer, film producer, family man, war veteran, fund-raiser, and skillful golfer. His personal accomplishments over a half century as an advocate for sports and good sportsmanship are astounding by any standard. What truly set Rice apart from so many of his peers, however, was the idea behind his sports reporting and writing. He believed that good sportsmanship was capable of lifting individuals, societies, and even nations to remarkable heights of moral and social action. More than just a biography of Grantland Rice, How You Played the Game is about the rise of American sports and the early days of those who created the art and craft of sportswriting. Exploring the life of a man who perfectly blended journalism and sporting culture, this book is sure to appeal to all, sports lovers or not.

Mark Ribowsky, the widely acclaimed biographer of "Satchel Paige," pulls no punches in his portrait of this magnificent, troubled athlete. Ribowsky shows Gibson's dark side, but he also enhances Gibson's historical status even as he separates fact from fiction by examining the truth behind his legendary performances. "Josh Gibson" is the most complete, thorough, and authoritative account of the life of black ball's greatest hitter, and one of its most important stars.

Theatre critics' reviews brings you the complete reviews from these New York publications and stations whenever covered by the critic: New York daily news, Wall Street journal, Time, New York post, Women's wear daily, WABC-TV, CBS-TV, New York times, Christian Science monitor, Newsweek.

Whether you’re seeking movie gifts or something for the history buffs in your life, this comprehensive guide to animation and cartoons has it all. In this one-of-a-kind definitive history of American animated cartoons, renowned film critic and historian Leonard Maltin presents the most extensive filmography on cartoons ever compiled. In this revised and updated edition of Of Mice and Magic, Leonard Maltin not only recreates this whole glorious era from the silent days through the Hollywood golden age to Spielberg’s An American Tail, he traces the evolution of the art of animation and vividly portrays the key creative talents and their studios. This definitive history of American animated cartoons also brings Maltin’s many fans up to date on the work being done today at the Walt Disney and Warner Bros. studios, and other developments in the world of animation. Drawing on colorful interviews with many of the American cartoon industry’s principals, Maltin has come up with a gold mine of anecdotes and film history. Behind the scenes were genius animators and entrepreneurs such as Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Mel Blanc, and a legion of others. In all, Maltin has put together a glorious celebration of a universally loved segment of Americana.

"There's a distinct sound that results from a great hitter making pure contact with a baseball, a thunder-clap of power that lesser hitters can only aspire to. Before his first exposure to Josh Gibson, long-time Negro leagues all-star Buck O'Neil had heard the sound just once, coming from the bat of Babe Ruth. It is as "the black Babe Ruth" that Gibson is best remembered, but while Ruth invited the adoration of millions with his easy smile, becoming a beloved symbol of the national pastime, Gibson lived his life bathed in the darkness that came both from the shadow world of the Negro leagues and from within his own tortured soul." "The legends that grew up around Gibson are legion. It is said that he is the only man to have hit a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium. Some claim he hit as many as seventy-five home runs in a season. He was a fightening hitter to face, and in addition he played the most demanding position on the field, donning the mask, chest protector, and shin guards - the so-called tools of ignorance - required to play catcher, the defensive team's true leader and quarterback. What Satchel Paige was to pitching in the Negro leagues, Gibson was to hitting: their greatest star, biggest gate attraction, and most important symbol." "But while Satchel Paige was not just a pitcher but an entertainer, mindful of the need to please the crowd and always ready to join what he called "the social ramble," Gibson was a harder man, a victim of a harder life. Forever haunted by the death in childbirth of the woman he loved, he destroyed his body through drink and drugs even as he kept launching tape-measure home runs into the far reaches of the bleachers. Even at his peak, it was not unusual for him to spend part of a season in a hospital, drying out or under sedation for his violent rages. If Satchel Paige is baseball's Louis Armstrong, belatedly loved as an accommodating caricature that belies the greatness of his accomplishments, Josh Gibson is its Charlie Parker, a genius dead too soon in a body that bore the consequences of the life he led."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Think you know how the game of baseball began? Think again. Forget Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown. Did baseball even have a father--or did it just evolve from other bat-and-ball games? John Thorn, baseball's preeminent historian, examines the creation story of the game and finds it all to be a gigantic lie. From its earliest days baseball was a vehicle for gambling, a proxy form of class warfare. Thorn traces the rise of the New York version of the game over other variations popular in Massachusetts and Philadelphia. He shows how the sport's increasing popularity in the early decades of the nineteenth century mirrored the migration of young men from farms and small towns to cities, especially New York. Full of heroes, scoundrels, and dupes, this book tells the story of nineteenth-century America, a land of opportunity and limitation, of glory and greed--all present in the wondrous alloy that is our nation and its pastime.--From publisher description.