This is a survey of the greatest baseball players who never played in the US major leagues. The greatest players from the various professional leagues outside organized baseball in the US are reviewed, and all-star teams are selected from each.

This revised edition reviews the careers of each home run titan, with special attention to the record-breaking seasons. The cultural and social changes that may have affected both the players' season totals and fan reception are also considered.

Gabby Harnett is believed by many to be the greatest catcher of all time.

Researchers in American anthropology and archaeology from the late seventeenth century to the present - including Cotton Mather, John Wesley Powell, Thor Heyerdahl, and Betty Meggers, among others - all had discoveries that lead to the following conclusion: America was visited by Europeans well before the time of Christopher Columbus. Divided into two main parts, this work is a comprehensive study of the evidence suggesting that ancient European and Asian mariners visited the United States more than 1000 years ago. would support the theory of ancient incursions to America. A review of ancient...

It's often said that catcher is the most important, most demanding defensive position in baseball. This view explains why so many light-hitting catchers have enjoyed long--and by all accounts successful--major league careers. Yet arguments over the all-time greats invariably privilege offensive standouts, and even among these players batting statistics are more likely than fielding numbers to affect ranking. So what, historically, have been the expectations for major league catchers, and who stands as the greatest in a more balanced view of offensive and defensive contributions? In Part I of...

Many of the great ballplayers of the Negro League have been forgotten simply because baseball's Hall of Fame would not recognize black players until Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige made their way into the Hall of Fame. For this book, more than 50 former Negro League players and baseball historians were asked to vote for players who they believe should have been included in the Hall of Fame, and to select an All-Time Negro League All-Star Team. In addition to presenting and discussing their choices, the book profiles the lives and careers of the players selected. Appendices include rosters...

Are today's major league baseball pitchers better than ever? Or do they pale in comparison to the great hurlers of 20, 30 or 40 years ago? This book tackles a debate that has been traveling baseball circles for several years. With changes in everything from the size of the playing field to the composition of the ball, it's a tall task to compare pitchers over the 170-year history of the sport in America. No stone is unturned as this work delves into every facet from the ancient roots of the game to the bigger size of today's players. The first chapters reach back to the first known "batting...

This work uses practical measures to scientifically rank major league players, position by position, according to their offensive and defensive skills. The author has adjusted individual statistics for the era in which the player was active and for home park factor in order to put all eligible players on a level playing field. For each position, the author has identified the top contenders for best offensive, defensive and all-around player, and provides a brief history of each of the candidates.

After winning the 1981 World Series, raising the expectations of management and fans, the Los Angeles Dodgers followed up with six years of disappointing finishes. By the time they ended the 1987 season 17 games behind the hated Giants, general manager Fred Claire had seen enough. Over the winter Claire radically restructured the team, bringing in fiery players like outfielder Kirk Gibson, closer Jay Howell and shortstop Alfredo Griffin to spark the team out of complacency. Led by Gibson and pitcher Orel Hershiser, the upstart Dodgers outlasted Houston in a race for the NL West title. They...

This is the first complete history of the California Winter League from its murky beginnings around 1912 to its golden years in the twenties and thirties to its demise in the mid-1940s. It provides an overview of the local amateur ball clubs evolution into the semi-professional league, detailed summaries for the official seasons of 1920 through 1947, and accounts of the exciting pennant races between the Negro League teams and the white professional teams.