Joe DiMaggio captured the1941 American League MVP Award after his 56-game hitting streak made headlines much of the summer. Ted Williams, despite his .401 batting average, finished second. In 1998, Sammy Sosa beat out Mark McGwire for the National League's award despite McGwire's record-setting 70 home runs that season. On a handful of occasions, the voters gave the hardware to a pitcher, though pitchers have their own version of the MVP in the Cy Young Award. The bestowing of the MVP award is one of the most anticipated announcements in major league baseball. Yet much controversy also shrouds this coveted title. What athletic characteristics, feats, records and statistics distinguish a player as an MVP award winner? How many players are in the running, and how is it decided which player will receive the distinction? This biographical dictionary profiles every MVP ballplayer from 1931 to 2001, providing detailed statistics, personal background and career highlights. A summary of each general baseball season for both leagues is provided, and the other top four contenders for MVP that year are also listed with the number of votes each player received.

The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.

1970- issued in 2 vols.: v. 1, General reference, social sciences, history, economics, business; v. 2, Fine arts, humanities, science and engineering.

From its colorful beginnings more than a century ago, baseball's annual Most Valuable Player Award has become the most prestigious (and contentious) individual honor in the sport. No accolade means more to players, fans or the media. No other award can claim a voting history so rich in alleged snubs, grudges, conspiracies and incompetence. Examining the most controversial ballots, this book attempts to settle some arguments and answer some compelling questions: Which of the so-called "worst MVPs" holds up to modern statistical analysis? Who cast the single worst vote in MVP history? Does racial bias influence the vote? Who really deserved the award in a given year?

Grandstand Baseball Puzzles is a celebration of Americas pastime. It enthusiastically takes the puzzle solver through a year of baseball by presenting crosswords and logic puzzles of varying difficulty with themes relevant to each month of the year. The puzzles are like no other sports puzzle book before it as they contain an unprecedented amount of trivia, statistics, and commentary. You will, without a doubt find yourself picking up your favorite baseball reference book or searching through baseball statistics websites as you attempt to conquer each of these puzzles. How well do you remember the 1980s? Who are the heroes and goats of the great Fall Classic? Do you know those Yankees or Red Sox legends as well as you think you do? Find out the answers in the most elaborate accumulation of baseball trivia puzzles to date, Grandstand Baseball Puzzles.

For fans of baseball trivia, this updated version of The New Baseball Bible, first published as The Baseball Catalog in 1980 and selected as a Book-of-the-Month Club alternate, is sure to provide something for everyone, regardless of team allegiance. The book covers the following topics: beginnings of baseball, rules and records, umpires, how to play the game (i.e., strategy), equipment, ballparks, famous faces (i.e., Hank Aaron vs. Babe Ruth), managers, executives, trades, the media, big moments in history, the language of baseball, superstitions and traditions, spring training, today’s game, and much more. Veteran sportswriter Dan Schlossberg weaves in facts, figures, and famous quotes, discusses strategy, and provides stats and images—many of them never previously published elsewhere. With this book, you’ll discover how the players’ approach, use of equipment, and even salaries and schedules have changed over time. You will also learn the origin of team and player nicknames, fun facts about the All-Star Game and World Series, and so much more. The New Baseball Bible serves as the perfect gift for fans of America’s pastime.