It is without a doubt the Holy Grail of baseball, the grand finale of the season: The World Series, one of the most popular sporting events on earth. Now this lavishly illustrated volume of images and reflections celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of an American classic. While the season play from April through October is filled with memorable achievements, often the most exciting and historic moments are those that occur during the World Series. From the dawn of baseball to the present day, An American Classic honors the best of the best, including: • Greatest Series: The Washington Senators filibuster the New York Giants in 1924; the Cincinnati Reds wash out the Boston Red Sox in 1975; and the Arizona Diamondbacks claim victory over the New York Yankees in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 7 of the 2001 Series • Greatest Upsets: From the Chicago White Sox defeating their hometown rivals, the Chicago Cubs, in 1906, to the Reds sweeping the Oakland A’s in four games in 1990 • Greatest One-Game Feats: Bill Wambsganss’ unassisted triple play in 1920; Willie Mays’ sensational catch in 1954; Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956; Reggie Jackson’s three home runs on three pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 Series; and injured Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit, game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth in Game 1 of the 1988 Series • Unlikely Heroes: The unforgettable and unexpected performances of Hank Gowdy (1914 Boston Braves), Billy Martin (1953 Yankees), Gene Tenace (1972 Oakland A’s), and Rick Dempsey (1983 Baltimore Orioles) • Great Hitters Who Rose to the Occasion: From Babe Ruth (1928 Yankees) and Lou Brock (1967 St. Louis Cardinals) to Paul Molitor (1993 Toronto Blue Jays) and Barry Bonds (2002 San Francisco Giants) • Great Pitchers Who Rose to the Occasion: no baseball fan can forget such players as Lefty Gomez (1936 Yankees), Lew Burdette (1957 Milwaukee Braves), and the three shutouts from the 1965 Dodgers and the 1966 Orioles pitching staffs Along with an overview of the World Series dynasties through the years, this magnificent volume provides a striking sweep of drama and glory, victory and defeat–paying tribute to the boys of summer and the game that is a unique American treasure.

An American Classic: The World Series at 100

Sports & Outdoors

Leiker, Ken

Baseball

Ballantine Books

For more than a century, the game of baseball has captivated a nation—and filled history with unforgettable moments that will live forever. Now in Memorable Moments, thirty of the sport’s greatest milestones are celebrated in one splendid volume that every fan will cherish. Lavishly illustrated with more than one hundred and thirty photographs, some never before published, and including original statistical analysis and commentary, Ken Leiker brings to life these astonishing feats in all their glory. Inside there is Lou Gehrig’s stirring “luckiest man” farewell speech at Yankee Stadium; Willie Mays’s catch in the far reaches of center field at the Polo Grounds; Joe DiMaggio’s fifty-six-game hitting streak during the magical season of 1941; Bobby Thomson’s dramatic homer that gave the New York Giants the 1951 National League pennant; Don Larsen’s pitcher-perfect game in the 1956 World Series; Reggie Jackson’s three consecutive out-of-the-park blasts in the 1977 World Series; and the incredible power displays by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001. Major League Baseball’s Memorable Moments captures dazzling individual performances, intense season-long rivalries, career excellence, heated emotion, and important historical events. This momentous tribute is for anyone who has ever thrilled to the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd.

Memorable Moments

Vancil, Mark

Miscellaneous

For more than a century, the game of baseball has captivated a nation— and filled history with unforgettable moments that will live forever. Now in Memorable Moments, thirty of the sport’s greatest milestones are celebrated in one splendid volume that every fan will cherish. Lavishly illustrated and including original commentary, Ken Leiker brings to life these astonishing feats in all their glory. There is Lou Gehrig’s stirring “luckiest man” farewell speech at Yankee Stadium; Willie Mays’ catch in the far reaches of center field at the Polo Grounds; Bobby Thomson’s dramatic homer that gave the New York Giants the 1951 National League pennant; Reggie Jackson’s three consecutive out-of-the-park blasts in the 1977 World Series; the incredible power displays by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001; and ironman Cal Ripken Jr.’s streak of most consecutive games played. Major League Baseball’s Memorable Moments captures dazzling individual performances, intense season-long rivalries, career excellence, heated emotion, and important historical events. This momentous tribute is for anyone who has ever thrilled to the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd. In the summer of 2002, Major League Baseball and its corporate partner, MasterCard, invited fans to select the game’s most memorable moment by filling out ballots distributed at ballparks and by voting online. Millions of ballots were cast worldwide. The most popular moment, announced on October 23, 2002, before Game 4 of the World Series, was Cal Ripken Jr., breaking Lou Gehrig’s streak for consecutive games played. Coming in second was Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record.

Major League Baseball Memorable Moments: The Most Memorable Moments in Major League Baseball History

Hiking & Camping

In America’s Pastime, sometimes talent and hard work aren’t enough. Now, in Jinxed, some of the best baseball scribes in the business catalog the superstitions, rituals, eccentricities, routines, and just plain bizarre behavior of players who believe such actions will give them an edge on the diamond. Is baseball a numbers game? St. Louis outfielder Larry Walker seems to think so. Larry tries to organize his life in multiples of three: He takes three practice swings, got married at 3:33 p.m., and gave his ex-wife $3 million in a divorce settlement. Think a bad commute can wreck your day? Look no further than Cincinnati’s Ken Griffey, Jr., who ditched his Mercedes because he never seemed to get a hit on the days he drove it to the ballpark. And the stories of curious devotions and odd customs just keep on coming. Legendary journeyman of the ‘60s and ‘70s Rico Carty floated five lit candles in the bathtub, sink, and toilet of his hotel room, confident that the rite would help him get five hits in that day’s game. You are what you eat? Tell that to third baseman Wade Boggs, who believed in the power of poultry and ate chicken every day. And talk about a real jock, Rob Murphy, a left-handed relief pitcher in the 1980s and 1990s, wore women’s black silk panties under his athletic supporter. (Any wonder that he pitched for eight different teams?) Even the all-time greats had their quirks. Babe Ruth stepped on second base every time he ran to his position in the outfield, while Willie Mays always kicked that same bag en route to his station in center field. Lefty Grove, like many before and after him, famously avoided stepping on the foul line on his way to and from the dugout. Just what is it about life on the diamond that reduces otherwise rational men to gratuitously strange habits? One possible answer is that in baseball, the odds are stacked against you. Just ten extra hits in a hundred at bats could mean the difference between a trip to A ball and a trip to Cooperstown; mere fractions of an inch can determine the course of a game, series, season, or career. Ballplayers, says Rich Donnelly, a major league coach, “are like trained animals. They come to the ballpark, and everything has to be the same. They don’t like anything that knocks them off their routine.” As if we needed additional evidence that elite athletes are, indeed, a breed apart, Jinxed offers fans a wild and oftentimes insightful excursion into the mind of a professional baseball player. Ken Griffey Jr. once got rid of a luxury automobile because, “It didn’t have any hits in it.” It seems that every time Griffey drove a particular Mercedes to the ballpark, he failed to get a hit in the game that day. Griffey became so disgusted with the car that he banished it from his Cincinnati fleet, shipping it to his Florida home. He later traded it in for another Mercedes. Presumably, that one came stocked with hits–Griffey still had it as the 2005 major league baseball season approached. Griffey’s behavior might seem strange to many, but not in the baseball industry, where superstitions and rituals are as much a part of the game as beer vendors and the seventh-inning stretch.

Jinxed: Baseball Superstitions from Around the Major Leagues True Stories

Two hundred full-color photographs and interviews with the wrestlers complement an inside glimpse of the world of professional wrestling, offering a backstage study of the WWE's wrestlers as they prepare to perform in the ring and covering everything from training regimens, to life on the road, to performing before crowds of thousands of fans.

Unscripted

Biographies & Memoirs

World Wrestling Entertainment