VII: THE BABE
68 father never visited St. Mary's school: Marshall Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), p. 11.
68 Brother Matthias: Ibid., p. 14.
68 Dunn guardian: Ibid., p. 32.
68 “Jack Dunn's babes”: Ibid., p. 39.
69 Ruppert and Huston: Ibid., p. 123.
69 Ruth $125,000 plus loan: Ibid., p. 128.
69 livelier baseballs: Leonard Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004), p. 139.
70 better wool: Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built, p. 189.
70 “The House That Ruth Built”: Ibid., p. 274.
71 Gehrig's farewell speech: Jonathan Eig, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), p. 317.
73 Henry Ford: Glenn Stout, Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002).
73 anti-Semitic material: “Jewish Degradation of American Baseball,” Dearborn Independent, September 10, 1921; Glenn Stout, “Nothing but the Truth: The Untold History of the ‘Curse,’” Elysian Fields Quarterly, Fall 2005.
74 Frazee estate: Stout, Yankees Century.
VIII: MR. RICKEY
77 Rickey stolen bases: Mark Herrmann, “Branch Rickey: One Man's Vision Changed Baseball Forever,” Newsday, March 16, 1997.
79 Knothole Gang: Mike Eisenbath, “Branch Took the Birds, and Baseball, Out of the Woods,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 5, 1992.
79 Cardinals impoverished: Henry D. Fetter, Taking On the Yankees (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), p. 108.
79 “the king of the weeds”: Ibid., p. 119.
79 “lending” players: Ibid., p. 122.
80 Holmes on reserve clause: Allen Guttmann, “When Supreme Court Rules,” New York Times, September 9, 1984.
80 “sport, not trade”: John Helyar, Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball (New York: Villard, 1994), p. 10.
80 fifty ex-farmhands in majors: Ibid., p. 173.
80 “South Dakota, North Dakota”: Interview with Branch B. Rickey, 2005.
81 Schoendienst and CCC: BaseballLibrary.com. 81 Slaughter and hunting dogs: Interview with Branch B. Rickey, 2005.
81 Giants, Yankees resist farm system: Fetter, Taking On the Yankees, p. 154.
81 Yanks emulated Cardinals: Marshall Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), p. 405.
81 Newark farm team: Fetter, Taking On the Yankees, p. 104.
IX: THE NEGRO LEAGUES
87 some Cubans not white: Roberto González Echevarría, The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 255.
88 “Cherokee” bellhop: Arthur R. Ashe, Jr., A Hard Road to Glory: Baseball: The African-American Athlete in Baseball (New York: Amistad, 1988), p. 15.
88 Ban Johnson bans white players: Ibid., p. 18.
88 “no makeshift club”: Michael M. Oleksak and Mary Adams Oleksak, Beisbol: Latin Americans and the Grand Old Game (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Masters Press, 1991), p. 22.
89 Andrew (Rube) Foster: Ashe, A Hard Road to Glory, pp. 17, 23.
89 Foster rebuilds grandstand: Donn Rogosin, Invisible Men (New York: Atheneum, 1983), p. 8.
89 Foster and black owners: Jules Tygiel, Baseball as History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 116.
89 Landis forbids major league uniforms: John B. Holway, “A Vote for Chandler, an Ignored Pioneer,” New York Times, March 1, 1981.
89 Homestead Grays and Posey: Negroleaguebaseball.com.
90 Greenlee buys Crawfords: Rogosin, Invisible Men, p. 15.
90 five Hall of Famers on Crawfords: Ibid., p. 17.
90 Gibson joins Grays, 1930: Ibid., p. 53.
90 baseball as black industry: Ibid., p. 6.
91 nine consecutive championships: Negroleaguebaseball.com.
92 “shadow ball”: Baseball, documentary by Ken Burns, 1994.
92 Dean praises Paige: Rogosin, Invisible Men, p. 124.
92 Negro League victories: Burns, Baseball.
92 “In games between”: Jules Tygiel, “The Negro Leagues,” Organization of American Historians, Magazine of History, Summer 1992.
92 innovations by Bassett, Wells: Rogosin, Invisible Men, p. 74.
92 Manley and Newark Eagles: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, 2006.
93 Willie Wells in Mexico: Wendell Smith, Pittsburgh Courier, May 6, 1944.
93 bridge named for Grays: Associated Press, “Bridge Name Honors Homestead Grays,” July 14, 2002.
93 Negro League merchandise: Richard Sandomir, “Survivors of Negro League Reaping the Benefits,” New York Times, February 12, 1995.
X: RADIO DAYS
97 converted telephone: Curt Smith, Voices of the Game (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), p. 6.
97 “I was just a nobody”: Ibid., p. 7.
97 first World Series broadcast: Stan Isaacs, “Baseball's Radio Pioneers,” Newsday, July 11, 1989.
98 “I don't know which”: Smith, Voices of the Game, p. 12.
98 “rough around the edges”: Ibid., p. 20.
99 “Aunt Minnie”: Ibid., p. 76.
99 Barber and “Arabian horse”: Gerald Ensley, “Red Barber's Career Marked by Pride, Accuracy and Integrity,” Knight-Ridder, October 25, 1992.
100 “good and dark”: Jerome Holtzman, “An Enlightening Journey Through Night-Game Annals,” Chicago Tribune, August 8, 1988.
101 Joe Bowman: Les Bowen, “Wrigley Field Sees the Light,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 8, 1988.
101 percentage of night games: Telephone interview with Bob Waterman, Elias Sports Bureau, 2005.
102 “The Rembrandt of Re-creation”: Isaacs, “Baseball's Radio Pioneers.” 102 Barbar, NBC, 1939: Smith, Voices of the Game, p. 40.
106 first peacetime draft: Richard Goldstein, Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War (New York: Macmillan, 1980), p. 3.
XI: WAR
109 sign of weakness: Richard Goldstein, Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War (New York: Macmillan, 1980), p. 37.
109 “green light” letter: Ibid., p. 19.
110 over 100 major-leaguers in uniform: Leonard Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004), p. 212.
110 Chandler and baseball: Goldstein, Spartan Seasons, p. 202.
111 Moreland and Mexico: Jules Tygiel, Baseball as History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
112 Gedeon and O'Neill: Goldstein, Spartan Seasons, p. 249.
112 Bert Shepard: Ibid., pp. 212–13.
113 Harry Walker: Ibid., p. 252.
114 Pesky and DiMaggio: telephone interviews with George Vecsey, October 17, 2002.
115 O'Doul in Japan: Lawrence Ritter, The Glory of Their Times (New York: William Morrow, 1984), p. 278.
115 MacArthur and O'Doul: Japanese ambassador to the United States, Ryozo Kato, speech, Washington, D.C., January 17, 2006.
XII: JACKIE ROBINSON
119 “snowflake”: Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett, I Never Had It Made (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1972), p. 63.
120 Robinson and newspapers: Interview with Jackie Robinson by George Vecsey, Newsday, 1967.
120 Lester Rodney: Jack Epstein, “Baseball's Conscience Finally Gets His Due,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 10, 2005.
121 Dykes and tryout: John B. Holway, “A Vote for Chandler, an Ignored Pioneer, New York Times, March 1, 1981.
121 “on his lips”: John B. Holway, “A Vote for Chandler, an Ignored Pioneer,” New York Times, March 1, 1981.
121 “my predecessor”: Joseph Durso, “Aaron, Robinson Inducted and Honored as Pioneers,” New York Times, August 2, 1982.
121 Robinson in Boston: Glenn Stout, “Tryout and Fallout: Race, Jackie Robinson and the Red Sox,” Massachusetts Historical Review, Volume 6, 2004.
122 Charles Thomas:
James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1994), pp. 121–22.
122 “guts enough not to fight back”: Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), p. 126.
122 “vindictive spikes”: Ibid., p. 127.
123 Cardinal boycott threat: Harold Rosenthal, “The Story Behind the Story,” New York Times, May 4, 1997.
124 Sisler and Robinson: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, p. 208.
124 Shuba anecdote: Letter to George Vecsey, circa 1982.
XIII: BASEBALL HITS THE INTERSTATE
132 Veeck and Phillies: John B. Holway, “A Vote for Chandler, an Ignored Pioneer,” New York Times, March 1, 1981.
132 Veeck and attendance: John Helyar, Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball (New York: Villard, 1994), p. 235.
133 Veeck and television: Jules Tygiel, Baseball as History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 155.
133 attendance figures: Ibid., p. 303.
134 Dodger television revenue: Henry D. Fetter, Taking On the Yankees (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), p. 230.
XIV: FREE AGENCY ARRIVES
141 Flood background: Thomas Boswell, How Life Imitates the World Series (Garden City: Doubleday, 1982).
141 Flood and oil painting: Brad Snyder, A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports (New York: Viking, 2006), pp. 9, 10, 67.
141 union history: Major League Baseball Players Association, MLBPlayers.com.
142 “deep hatred and suspicion”: Bowie Kuhn, Hardball: The Education of a Baseball Commissioner (New York: Times Books, 1987), p. 77.
142 “aberration, a temporary irritation”: Marvin Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004), p. 91.
143 $1,000 raise in twenty years: John Helyar, Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball (New York: Villard, 1994), p. 10.
143 “slaves and pieces of property”: Murray Chass, “A World of Change in the Money Game,” New York Times, December 30, 1979.
144 Flood trial: Joseph Durso, “Curt Flood Is Dead at 59,” New York Times, January 21, 1997.
144 Flood's childhood friend: Curt Flood, with Richard Carter, The Way It Is (New York: Pocket, 1972).
144 Garagiola on Flood: Murray Chass, “Flood Was a Man for Every Season,” New York Times, January 21, 1997.
145 “I don't think”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, p. 194.
145 Thurgood Marshall dissent: Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972), laws.findlaw.com/us/407/258.html.
145 “I did a double take”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, p. 41.
145 no tax deduction for Finley: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, p. 137.
146 Hunter and free agency: Ibid., p. 140.
146 “before the ink was dry”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, p. 251.
146 payroll increases: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, p. 349.
146 “anti-management bias”: Kuhn, Hardball, p. 157.
146 cable television revenue: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, p. 372.
147 strike insurance ran out: Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball, p. 391.
147 salaries, 1976–1985: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, pp. 286, 318.
147 salaries, 1989–1991: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, p. 455.
147 “Mickey Mantle made $100,000”: Murray Chass, “A World of Change in the Money Game,” New York Times, December 30, 1979.
147 Boras: Tom Verducci, “Big Deals,” Sports Illustrated, June 14, 1993.
147 “first ballplayer who made sacrifices”: Joseph Durso, “Aaron, Robinson Inducted and Honored as Pioneers,” New York Times, August 2, 1982.
148 Flood and sobriety: Snyder, A Well-Paid Slave, p. 337.
148 Flood on free agency: Steve Jacobson, “His Fight for Freedom Cost Him Dearly,” Newsday, January 21, 1997.
148 1997 salaries: Murray Chass, “Believe It or Not: Steinbrenner Is Being Outspent,” New York Times, April 2, 1998.
XV: WHY THE YANKEES EXIST
152 Ruppert management: Henry D. Fetter, Taking On the Yankees (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), p. 9.
153 Yankee–Kansas City transactions: John Thorn, with Pete Palmer, Michael Gershman, and David Pietrusza, Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, Sixth Edition (New York: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 2371–2579.
154 Yankee attendance: Fetter, Taking On the Yankees, p. 8.
155 sale to CBS: Ibid. 156 three firings: Jack Mann, The Decline and Fall of the New York Yankees (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), pp. 205–17.
158 value of Yankees: Richard Sandomir, “Big Spending by Yankees Is Not Proof of Big Profits,” New York Times, January 6, 2005; Fetter, Taking On the Yankees, p. 304.
159 Yankees worth $1.026 billion: Michael K. Ozanian and Lesley Kump, “Steinbrenner's Tax Shelter,” Forbes, May 8, 2006.
159 Manfred rebuts Forbes: “MLB Objects to Forbes' Estimates,” Associated Press, April 22, 2006.
XVI: THE WORLD CATCHES UP
163 baseball in China: Joseph A. Reaves, Taking In a Game: A History of Baseball in Asia (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), pp. 14–16, via faroutliers.blogspot.com/2004.
163 Wilson and Hiraoka: Ibid.
164 first game in Japan: Akio Nikaido, in Mainichi Shimbun, May 7, 2000, citing research by Masanori Hirota, posted by Robert Whiting on faroutliers.blogspot.com.
164 O'Doul and Japan: Lawrence Ritter, The Glory of Their Times (New York: William Morrow, 1984), pp. 276–78.
165 Arakawa and Oh: Sadaharu Oh, with David Falkner, A Zen Way of Baseball (New York: Times Books, 1984), pp. 81, 111–35.
166 “never really friends”: Ibid., p. 75.
166 Oh and Nagashima: Robert Whiting, The Chrysanthemum and the Bat: Baseball Samurai Style (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1977), p. 110.
169 “coffee-colored Cubans”: Michael M. Oleksak and Mary Adams Oleksak, Beisbol: Latin Americans and the Grand Old Game (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Masters Press, 1991), p. 22.
169 record of 32-32-1: Ibid., p. 23.
169 “olive-skinned”: Ibid., p. 26.
169 Luque and “Mardy”: Sal Maglie with Dick Schaap, “I Always Threw Bean Balls,” Cavalier, September 1959.
170 Minoso family name: Ibid., p. 56.
171 Clemente hidden: Jack Mann, The Decline and Fall of the New York Yankees (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), p. 17.
171 Clemente's No. 21: Interviews with Roberto Clemente, Jr., and Luis Clemente, March 2006.
172 Ichiro: Timothy Egan, “As Suzuki Chased History, the Hits Just Kept On Coming,” New York Times, October 3, 2004.
172 Sisler: John McGrath, “Sisler Reheated,” Tacoma News Tribune, September 2, 2004.
173 “If my grandfather”: Art Thiel, “Ichiro Fashions Link to Baseball's Immortals,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 2, 2004.
173 “so little time”: Larry Larue, “The Hit King,” Tacoma News Tribune, October 2, 2004.
173 Rangers bow to Ichiro: Ibid.
173 international baseball: Interview with Sadaharu Oh, January 17, 2006, Washington, D.C.
174 Antonio Castro: Jack Curry, “Son of Fidel Castro Is Making a Name for Himself with Cuba's Team,” New York Times, March 9, 2006.
XVII: SAME GAME, YUPPIFIED
178 innovations (unless otherwise noted): Don Jensen, The Timeline History of Baseball (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
178 “When we arrived in Jacksonville”: Brian Schmitz, “A Swing Through Spring Training,” Orlando Sentinel, February 23, 2003.
179 Bresnahan batting helmet: Kate Ledger, “Safety Did Not Come First Even After a Fatal 1920 Beaning,” Sports Illustrated, July 14, 1997.
179 the Babe's trainer: Marshall Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), pp. 326–28.
179 amplifier: Leonard Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball (New York: Carroll & Graf, 20
04), p. 186.
179 uniform numbers: Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built, p. 391.
180 Pirates wear helmets: Ledger, “Safety Did Not Come First Even After a Fatal 1920 Beaning.”
180 Veeck proposed interleague play: Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball, p. 487.
180 bad-taste uniforms: Patricia Leigh Brown, “The Champions and Cellar-Dwellers of Fashion,” New York Times, July 18, 1993.
182 “Marberry as an intimidator”: Shirley Povich, “Baseball No Longer Speaks Same Language,” Washington Post, March 20, 1996.
186 SkyDome: John Helyar, Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball (New York: Villard, 1994) p. 447.
XVIII: WHO'SIN CHARGE?
Source of information in this chapter, unless otherwise noted: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum yearbook.
191 “Well argued”: Richard Goldstein, “Wellington Mara, Patriarch of N.F.L., Dies at 89,” New York Times, October 26, 2005.
196 Ueberroth tried to force centralization: Ibid., p. 407.
196 Giamatti and Rose: Ibid., p. 408.
XIX: FOUR SCANDALS
202 “like jelly beans”: Lee Jenkins with Juliet Macur and Bill Pennington, “A Chance for Baseball to Settle Its Drug Score,” New York Times, December 12, 2004.
202 Hernandez testimony: Associated Press, “Met Testifies of ‘Romance’ Between Players and Drugs,” September 6, 1985.
203 collusion and 1985 Collective Bargaining Agreement: Leonard Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004), p. 415.
203 Dawson salary: Murray Chass, “Baseball: Big Collusion Winners: Clark, Parrish, Dawson,” New York Times, December 15, 1992.
204 Settlement for $280 million: Richard Sandomir, “Players Association Priority: Taking Care of Business, New York Times, August 11, 1991.
204 Curt Flood Act: “Antitrust Exemption Is Partly Revoked,” Associated Press, New York Times, October 28, 1998.
205 Rose at World Series: Richard Sandomir, “All-Century Became All About Rose and Gray,” New York Times, October 31, 1999.
206 “Charles Manson”: George Vecsey, “The All-Century Player Who Haunts Baseball,” New York Times, October 25, 1999.
206 home runs and labor stoppage: Koppett, Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball, p. 481.
208 Bonds and steroids: Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, “What Bonds Told BALCO Grand Jury,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 3, 2004.
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