The Shortstop From Kalamazoo

The Shortstop From Kalamazoo PDF Author: William Christiansen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Neil Berry grew up on Walter Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan across the street from the city dump. The city filled in this dump when Berry was still young and in its place built the Upjohn Park athletic fields. This was a fortunate turn of events for Neil who was able to start watching and admiring the older boys who played on those fields. As he grew into a young man, he was able to spend many hours practicing in these fields. By the late 1930s Neil was a sports sensation playing left halfback in football for Kalamazoo Central High School and shortstop for the American Legion and Sutherland Paper Co. baseball teams.After a year at Western State Teachers College (now Western Michigan University) on a sports scholarship, Neil signed with the Detroit Tigers. He played one season of minor league ball before volunteering to serve his country in World War II. After the war and two seasons of AAA ball, Neil Berry made it to the majors. The Shortstop From Kalamazoo started the 1948 season as the Detroit Tigers starting shortstop.Neil Berry is not a household name even among the most ardent Detroit Tiger fans but Neil played with or against many of the greatest players in the game; Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, and Don Larsen, to name a few.Through the ups and downs of his seven year Major League Baseball career, Neil Berry witnessed from the bench or the playing field many unique or one time events in the history of the sport. Neil was playing shortstop when the shortest player in the history of the Major Leagues, Eddie Gaedel, made the only plate appearance of his short (pun intended) career. Neil witnessed a teammate throw a no hitter in his first major league start and another teammate set a record with 12 consecutive hits. Neil's favorite game forced the first playoff game in the history of the American League.Neil and I met in October, 2013 and continued to meet almost every week until he passed away in August, 2016. He shared his stories with me and allowed me to record those stories for this book.Neil's wife Gloria had dutifully collected every word the press ever wrote about Neil and pasted those articles and pictures in three large scrapbooks. Those scrapbooks also allowed me to tell Neil's story from the perspective of the sportswriters of the time.

The Shortstop From Kalamazoo

The Shortstop From Kalamazoo PDF Author: William Christiansen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 446

Get Book

Book Description
Neil Berry grew up on Walter Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan across the street from the city dump. The city filled in this dump when Berry was still young and in its place built the Upjohn Park athletic fields. This was a fortunate turn of events for Neil who was able to start watching and admiring the older boys who played on those fields. As he grew into a young man, he was able to spend many hours practicing in these fields. By the late 1930s Neil was a sports sensation playing left halfback in football for Kalamazoo Central High School and shortstop for the American Legion and Sutherland Paper Co. baseball teams.After a year at Western State Teachers College (now Western Michigan University) on a sports scholarship, Neil signed with the Detroit Tigers. He played one season of minor league ball before volunteering to serve his country in World War II. After the war and two seasons of AAA ball, Neil Berry made it to the majors. The Shortstop From Kalamazoo started the 1948 season as the Detroit Tigers starting shortstop.Neil Berry is not a household name even among the most ardent Detroit Tiger fans but Neil played with or against many of the greatest players in the game; Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, and Don Larsen, to name a few.Through the ups and downs of his seven year Major League Baseball career, Neil Berry witnessed from the bench or the playing field many unique or one time events in the history of the sport. Neil was playing shortstop when the shortest player in the history of the Major Leagues, Eddie Gaedel, made the only plate appearance of his short (pun intended) career. Neil witnessed a teammate throw a no hitter in his first major league start and another teammate set a record with 12 consecutive hits. Neil's favorite game forced the first playoff game in the history of the American League.Neil and I met in October, 2013 and continued to meet almost every week until he passed away in August, 2016. He shared his stories with me and allowed me to record those stories for this book.Neil's wife Gloria had dutifully collected every word the press ever wrote about Neil and pasted those articles and pictures in three large scrapbooks. Those scrapbooks also allowed me to tell Neil's story from the perspective of the sportswriters of the time.

Baseball Players of the 1950s

Baseball Players of the 1950s PDF Author: Rich Marazzi
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476604290
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
The playing and post-playing careers of all 1,560 players who appeared in a major league box score between 1950 and 1959—the “golden age,” many say—are profiled in this exhaustive work. From Aaron to Zuverink: this treasure-trove of anecdotes, many gathered from personal interviews, is full of historical facts, controversy, and trivia. Readers will be reminded, that Milwaukee Braves pitcher Humberto Robinson was asked by a gambler to fix a game against the Phillies (he refused), Joe Adcock chased Giants pitcher Ruben Gomez around the field with a bat, Bob Turley reached the top of the corporate ladder after his playing days, Casey Wise became an orthodontist, Bobby Brown became a heart surgeon and president of the AL, and that Chuck Conners became an actor. All of this and much more can be found here.

The Shortstop From Kalamazoo: The Life and Times of Neil Berry

The Shortstop From Kalamazoo: The Life and Times of Neil Berry PDF Author: William Christiansen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578772288
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
I met Neil Berry in October 2013 when he was 91. I had recently met his daughter, Linda, and when she mentioned that her father was the "oldest living Detroit Tiger" I had no qualms about asking to meet him. In preparation for this first meeting, I combed eBay for any memorabilia suitable for this former Tiger player to sign. To my surprise, when I handed over my vintage photograph of a play at the plate, Neil was immediately able to recognize the team and face of the catcher he had played against 65 years ago. Neil remembered his life in amazing detail and his anecdotes were colorful and razor sharp. Neil Berry was a star athlete for Kalamazoo Central and made the majors in 1948. Berry is not a household name even among the most ardent Tiger fans, but Neil played with or against many of the greatest players in the game; Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, and Don Larsen, to name a few. Through the ups and downs of his seven year Major League career, Neil Berry witnessed many unique or one time events in the history of the sport. Neil was playing shortstop when the shortest player in the history of the Major Leagues made the only plate appearance of his short (pun intended) career. Neil witnessed a teammate throw a no hitter in his first major league start and another teammate set a record with 12 consecutive hits. Neil's favorite game forced the first playoff game in the history of the American League. From that first meeting, he shared his stories and his scrapbooks with me almost weekly until he passed away in 2016. These scrapbooks had been dutifully and lovingly compiled by Neil's wife Gloria. She collected every word the press wrote about him starting with his high school days until his final days playing ball. From the perspective of the sportswriters of the time to the hours of recorded conversations from the "oldest living Detroit Tiger," here is the life and times of the shortstop from Kalamazoo.

The Page Fence Giants

The Page Fence Giants PDF Author: Mitch Lutzke
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476671656
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
The Page Fence Giants, an all-star black baseball club sponsored by a woven-wire fence company in Adrian, Michigan, graced the diamond in the 1890s. Formed through a partnership between black and white boosters, the team's respectable four-year run was an early integration success--before integration was phased out decades ahead of Jackie Robinson's 1947 debut, and the growing Jim Crow sentiment blocked the Page Fence Giant's best talent from the major leagues. This book tells the the story of a long-ignored team at the close of the 19th century, whose Hall of Famer second baseman Sol White was but one of their best players.

The Illio

The Illio PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : College yearbooks
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description


The Yankee Years

The Yankee Years PDF Author: Joe Torre
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0767930428
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 554

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Book Description
The definitive story of one of the greatest dynasties in baseball history, Joe Torre's New York Yankees. When Joe Torre took over as manager of the Yankees in 1996, they had not won a World Series title in eighteen years. In that time seventeen others had tried to take the helm of America’s most famous baseball team. Each one was fired by George Steinbrenner. After twelve triumphant seasons—with twelve straight playoff appearances, six pennants, and four World Series titles—Torre left the Yankees as the most beloved manager in baseball. But dealing with players like Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Roger Clemens, and Randy Johnson is what managing is all about. Here, for the first time, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci take readers inside the dugout, the clubhouse, and the front office, showing what it took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world.

Comeback Pitchers

Comeback Pitchers PDF Author: Lyle Spatz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496226623
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
2022 SABR Baseball Research Award Finalist for the 2022 SABR Seymour Medal The careers of pitchers Jack Quinn and Howard Ehmke began in the Deadball Era and peaked in the 1920s. They were teammates for many years, with both the cellar-dwelling Boston Red Sox and later with the world champion Philadelphia Athletics, managed by Connie Mack. As far back as 1912, when he was just twenty-nine, Quinn was told he was too old to play and on the downward side of his career. Because of his determination, work ethic, outlook on life, and physical conditioning, however, he continued to excel. In his midthirties, then his late thirties, and even into his forties, he overcame the naysayers. At age forty-six he became the oldest pitcher to start a World Series game. When Quinn finally retired in 1933 at fifty, the "Methuselah of the Mound" owned numerous longevity records, some of which he holds to this day. Ehmke, meanwhile, battled arm trouble and poor health through much of his career. Like Quinn, he was dismissed by the experts and from many teams, only to return and excel. He overcame his physical problems by developing new pitches and pitching motions and capped his career with a stunning performance in Game One of the 1929 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, which still ranks among baseball's most memorable games. Connie Mack described it as his greatest day in baseball. Comeback Pitchers is the inspirational story of these two great pitchers with intertwining careers who were repeatedly considered washed up and too old but kept defying the odds and thrilling fans long after most pitchers would have retired.

Daybreak, 2250 A.D.

Daybreak, 2250 A.D. PDF Author: Andre Norton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Twenty-third century
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


1962

1962 PDF Author: David Krell
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 080329087X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
An engaging history of the 1962 baseball season and a tumultuous American year.

Baseball Fever

Baseball Fever PDF Author: Peter Morris
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 9780472068265
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
This detailed history of early baseball in rural Michigan focuses on the evolution of America's pastime from child's game to organized sport and challenges the notion that baseball's development was strictly an East Coast phenomenon