Baseball player and manager Hugh Ambrose Jennings was the kind of colorful personality who inspired nicknames. Sportswriters called him ?Ee-yah? for his famous coaching box cry and ?Hustling Hughey? for his style of play. But to the nearly 100 other men from northeast Pennsylvania who followed Jennings from the coal mines to the major leagues, he was known as ?Big Daddy, ? not for his physical stature but for his iconic status to men desperate to escape the mines. The son of an immigrant coal miner from Pittston, Pennsylvania, Jennings himself became a miner at the ripe old age of 11 or 12....

This biography closely describes Walshs life and 14-year playing career, with special discussion of the spitball, a pitch that profoundly affected his fortunes--and ultimately his arm. The years 1905-1911 are explored in depth, especially his contributions to the 1906 world champion White Sox and his prominent role in the now-famous 1908 pennant race.

In 1924, at the age of 27, manager and second baseman Stanley Bucky Harris-aka The Boy Wonder-led the Washington Senators to their only World Series championship. His incredible debut season at the helm of the Senators marked the beginning of remarkable 29-year managerial career that earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. This detailed biography chronicles Harris's road to the top of his sport, including his youth in the coal mining region of eastern Pennsylvania, his brief stint in professional basketball, his early days as a baseball player, his 1947 world championship as manager...