Sportbiographien

One of early baseball''s most popular celebrities, Arlie Latham played for the St. Louis Browns in the 1880s. A brainy hitter and base-runner, he was also the sport''s brashest, funniest player, his "fresh" personality bringing him as much trouble as reward. He played with the 19th century''s greatest names, and was friends with everyone from King Kelly to King George V. He parlayed his stardom into a vaudeville career and the first official major league coaching job. In his fifties he carried the game he loved into world war to cheer Allied troops and in his seventies went to work for the Yankees. Arlie Latham''s baseball odyssey is made more compelling by the parade of players, gamblers, boxers, actors, women and mascots that passes through it, providing a unique glimpse into America''s game and the people who loved it.

Known today as ""the Babe Ruth of the 1880s"", Hall of Famer Roger Connor was the greatest of the nineteenth-century home run hitters. When he retired in 1897, he was also tops in triples (233), second in walks and total bases, third in hits, and fourth in doubles. This biography sheds new light on the life and five-decade baseball career of one of the games most admired and beloved players.

Possessed of one of the most creative minds in the game's long history, Rickey made early use of statistical analysis, pioneered the farm system, and pressed for the expansion of major league baseball. This biography is based on hundreds of interviews and research, including access to Rickey's own papers.

From his first match in the late 1870s through his final fight in 1905, this biography contains a detailed accounting of John L Sullivan's boxing career. With special attention to the 1880s, it follows Sullivan's skill development and discusses his opponents in detail, providing various viewpoints of a single event.

When in 1911 Phillies pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander set the National League record for wins by a rookie (28), it was a sign of things to come. This biography sheds light on the pitcher and the man, focusing on Alexander's personal life, especially his complex relationship with his wife, Aimee, as well as their marriages and divorces.

This work looks at the lives and careers of 17 veteran spitballers: Red Faber, Burleigh Grimes, Jack Quinn, Urban Shocker, Stan Coveleskie, Bill Doak, Ray Caldwell, Clarence Mitchell, Dutch Leonard, Ray Fisher, Dick Rudolph, Allen Sothoron, Phil Douglas, Allan Russell, Doc Ayers, Dana Fillingim and Marvin Goodwin.

This biography of Joe McCarthy details the 90-year life of one of the greatest managers in baseball. Baseball was McCarthy's ticket out of a working-class existence in Germantown, Pennsylvania, taking him to college, the minor leagues, managerial stints in baseball's backwaters, and on to remarkable years with the Yankees, Cubs and Red Sox.

McGinnity may have been the most durable hurler in the history of the sport, often pitching both games of a doubleheader. This biography traces the hard life and colorful career of 'Iron Man' McGinnity from his childhood working the coalfields of Illinois to his death in 1929.

Ninteen twenty was a crucial year for the Chicago White Sox and for the game of baseball, in the aftermath of the 1919 World Series scandal. This work is a collective biography of four individuals whose baseball careers were forever altered in 1920 and an examination of the 1920 baseball season.

Beyond the statistical record of this truly great baseball player, this book focuses on Mel Ott's personal life, his strong family ties, and the contributions that he made to the game of baseball. This volume is enhanced by intimate contact with the Ott family, particularly his daughters Lyn and Barbara, both of whom contributed to the story.

George Altman grew up in the segregated South but through a mix of timing and opportunity was able to participate in Baseball at more levels of competition than perhaps anyone else who has ever played the game, starting in the 1940s and concluding in the 1970s.

This book covers Joan Newton Cuneo's life, and her roles (from 1905 to 1915) as the premier female racer in the United States and spokeswoman for women drivers and good roads. Beginning with her family history and marriage to Andrew Cuneo, it traces her life in New York society, the birth of her children, and Joan's growing interest in automobile touring and racing and partnership with Louis Disbrow, her racing mechanic. The book covers Joan's experiences in three Glidden Tours, including her notes on the 1907 tour, her first races, and her rivals. It also looks at the growth and change of automobile culture and the battles for control of racing among the American Automobile Association, the Automobile Club of America, and the American Automobile Manufacturers Association--which ended in banishing women racers shortly after Joan's greatest racing victories at New Orleans (in 1909). The book then follows Joan's attempts to continue racing, the end of her marriage, her move to the Upper Peninsula, and her remarriage and death. The book also includes a chapter on her female rivals in racing and touring.

Harvey Dorfman literally rose from a childhood sickbed to his place of world renown in the field of sports psychology. Here he recounts the early experiences that 'persuaded' his future years.

A heroic story of women rowers who fought the tide of sexual prejudice to gain international glory.

One of the most recognisable, respected and inspirational men on earth, Muhammad Ali is the world's most famous boxing hero. Ali brought unprecedented speed and grace to the sport, and his charm and wit changed forever what the world expects of a champion athlete. This is the ultimate biography to match Ali's lifetime of extraordinary achievements.

From his status as Heavyweight Champion of the World to his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali is a celebrated icon known the world over for his athletic championships and civic and humanitarian enterprises. This book reveals many facets of the beloved man and legend known to all as The Greatest: the one and only Muhammad Ali.

This is a cradle-to-grave biography of Mickey Walker, former welterweight (1922-1926) and middleweight champion (1926-1931) of the world, one of the greatest fighters in ring history. He fought at a time when boxing was a major sport with only eight championships, and he held two of them over a nine-year period.

This book is the story of Harvey Dorfman, who rose from a childhood sickbed to experience numerous successes in the world of sports. Dorfman has been a teacher, coach, counselor, and a consultant in sport psychology. This third and last volume of a trilogy closes in 2010.

For the first time, one of Britain's best-loved sporting heroes reveals all

The autobiograpy of a legendary figure in football and an inspirational story with wide appeal

Ingemar Johansson's right hand--dubbed "The Hammer of Thor"--was the most fearsome in boxing, and Johansson's three fights with Floyd Patterson rank among the sport's classic rivalries. Yet most fans know little about the Swedish playboy who won the world heavyweight championship with a shocking third round knockout of Patterson and held it for six days short of a year (1959-1960). During his reign, the raffish "Ingo" hit fashionable nightspots on two continents, romanced Elizabeth Taylor, and refused to kowtow to the mobsters who controlled boxing. This first-ever biography of Johansson chronicles his fistic triumphs as a Goteborg teen prodigy, his humiliating disqualification for "cowardice" at the 1952 Olympics, his storybook romances with Birgit Lundgren and Edna Alsterlund and his post-career life and tragic early dementia.

A fascinating dual biography of the two most influential football managers of recent times

This revealing biography explores Indianapolis Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning as an athlete and as a man. From the moment Peyton Manning arrived in the National Football League at the start of the 1998 season, he has been a numbers machine, completing passes at a dazzling rate and throwing touchdowns at a pinball-machine clip.

Most sports watchers' projections for Alex Rodriguez's final stats rank him with men such as Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron. A veritable baseball wunderkind, this Dominican-American ball player has broken records from the moment he stepped on the diamond. In this engaging biography author Wayne Stewart describes the highlights of A-Rod's record-setting career and examines the reasons for the unprecedented impact he has had on the game.Recruited right out of high school in 1993, his first year in pro ball was a whirlwind with Rodriguez making not only his minor league debut, but getting his first taste of big-league ball as a Seattle Mariner-all by the age of just 18. Fast forward to 2000 when A-Rod signed a 10-year deal with the Texas Rangers calling for a total salary of $252 million, the most lucrative deal in baseball. In 2003 he became the youngest player ever to reach the 300 home run circle. Just two years later became the youngest player ever to reach the 400 home run strata. If baseball history is any indication, A-Rod's days of record-breaking performances are far from over. This fair-minded and well-researched biography traces A-Rod from his childhood growing up in Miami to his career with the New York Yankees. Personal interests, such as his donations of both time and money to such causes as the Boys and Girls Club, are covered in detail. Also included is a timeline, photographs, and career statistics, which will give the reader insight into Rodriguez's place in the history of the game as well as how he stacks up against baseball's all-time greatest players.

When Jackie Robinson became the first African American player in major league baseball in 1947, elbowing aside the league's policies of segregation that had been inviolate for 60 years, he became a symbol of opportunity and acceptance for African American players everywhere.

When the Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Jackie Robinson from the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs in 1947, it marked a turning point both in baseball and civil rights history. Robinson became the first African American to play in the Major Leagues, and in doing so, led generations of black players into the previously all-white world of professional baseball. As one of the greatest players professional baseball has ever seen, Robinson fought fiercely for civil rights on and off the diamond throughout his lifetime, and in doing so became a great American hero.Mary Kay Linge recounts the extraordinary story of Robinson's life-from his early childhood in the South, to his college years at UCLA, to becoming a Hall of Famer and a major figure in the NAACP. In analyzing the surrounding social and cultural contexts of Robinson's time, this biography examines the legacy of a man who forever changed baseball. A timeline, statistical appendix, bibliography of print and electronic sources for further reading, and photographs enhance this biography.

Willie Mays' career bridged eras in baseball history, from the Negro Leagues to expansion to free agency.

Immortalized in song and story, Joe DiMaggio is one of baseball's most accomplished players-and also one of its most enigmatic stars.

Evel Knievel, the father of extreme sports, was a high-flying daredevil. He was the personification of excitement and danger and showmanship, and represented a unique slice of American culture and patriotism. But behind the flash and the frenzy, who was this man in red, white, and blue? With characteristic flair and insight, Leigh Montville delves into Knievel’s amazing place in pop culture, as well as his notorious dark side, exploring Knievel’s complicated and often contradictory relationships with his image, the media, his own family, and his many demons. With this all-American saga, Montville has delivered another definitive biography of a one-of-a-kind sports legend.