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Story Bibliography
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Baseball In Pennsylvania Bibliography
Further Reading

Abrams, Roger I. Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law. Philadelphia, Pa: Temple University Press, 1998.

Abrams, a major league baseball arbitrator and Dean of the Rutgers University Law School, presents a fascinating march through baseball's legal tumult dating back to the 1880s.

Bevis, Charlie. Sunday Baseball: The Major Leagues' Struggle to Play Baseball on the Lord's Day, 1876-1934. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2003.

Bevis provides the most complete exploration of Connie Mack's crusade to legalize the playing of professional baseball on Sundays.

Burns, Ken and Geoffrey C. Ward. Baseball: An Illustrated History. New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

The companion volume to the sweeping PBS series offers a panoramic view - complete with the best published collection of illustrations and photographs – of the game from its earliest days up to the mid-1990s.

Campanella, Roy. It's Good To Be Alive. Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Co., 1959.

repr., Lincoln, Neb.: Bison Books, 1995. One of baseball's better autobiographies by one of the game's most popular players.

DeValeria, Jeanne Burke and Dennis DeValeria. Honus Wagner: A Biography. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998.

A detailed chronicle of the life of the greatest shortstop in baseball history.

Devine, Christopher and Harry Wright. The Father of Professional Base Ball. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Co., 2003.

First biography of a significant figure in the development of baseball who also helped establish the Phillies as a legitimate professional franchise.

Di Salvatore, Bryan. A Clever Base-Ballist: The Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1999.

A marvelous biography of a great early ballplayer and lawyer whose influence off the field was felt long after he hung up his spikes.

James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York, N.Y.: Free Press, 2001.

Baseball's most innovative statistician crunches both words and numbers to rate the greatest players by position in baseball's most innovative reference – and fascinating – book.

Kashatus, William C. September Swoon: Richie Allen, the "64 Phillies, and Racial Integration. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.

Based on personal interviews, player biographies, and newspaper accounts of a season, a team, and racial integration.

Koppett, Leonard. Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball. Temple University Press, 1998.

The best single-volume history of the game by a Hall of Fame baseball journalist.

Lanctot, Neil. Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Co., 1994.

A scholarly study of the roots of black baseball in Philadelphia.

Lieb, Frederick G. The Pittsburgh Pirates. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003.

Facsimile reprint of Lieb's 1948 classic anecdotal history.

National Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball As America: Seeing Ourselves Through Our National Game. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2002.

This catalogue to the national traveling exhibition offers wonderful photos of historical artifacts and memorabilia.

Nemec, David. The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball. New York, N.Y.: Donald I. Fine Books, 1997.

A thorough examination in both prose and team and player statistics of the game in the 19th century.

Peterson, Robert. Only the Ball Was White. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970.

The first, and still the best, comprehensive study of black baseball, from its earliest days through its barnstorming town teams to the rise and fall of the organized Negro Leagues.

Pietrusza, David et. al. Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia. New York, N.Y.: Total Sports Illustrated, 2000.

From A (Hank Aaron) to Z (Richie Zisk), brief profiles of hundreds of ballplayers, managers, owners and umpires – from the greats to the who's

Robinson, Ray. Matty: An American Hero. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1994.

A thorough and well-documented warts-and-all biography of Christy Mathewson, the great pitcher who became the model for the All-American boy.

Ruck, Rob. Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh. Urbana, ILL: University of Illinois Press, 1987.

A scholarly exploration of the interrelation between sports and community in the black neighborhoods of Pittsburgh in the first half of the 20th century.

Solomon, Burt. The Baseball Timeline. New York, N.Y.: DK Publishing, 2001.

A yeomanly accounting of the significant and not-so-significant events that shaped baseball, year by year, beginning in the 18th century.

Spink, Alfred H. The National Game. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.

The founder of the venerable Sporting News set down his own heavily anecdotal history of the game in 1911

Sullivan, Dean A. Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908. Lincoln, Neb.: Bison Books, 1995.

A superb historical and entertaining collection of mostly newspaper and magazine reports from all over the country on significant baseball events from 1825-1908.

Sullivan, Dean A. Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

A superb historical and entertaining collection of mostly newspaper and magazine reports from all over the country on significant baseball events from 1900-1948

Sullivan, Dean A. Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1945-1972. Lincoln, Neb.: Bison Books, 2002.

A superb historical and entertaining collection of mostly newspaper and magazine reports from all over the country on significant baseball events from 1945-1972.

Thorn, John, et. al. Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major league Baseball. New York, N.Y.: Total Sports, 1999.

Baseball's best over-all reference book, complete with team histories, and the year by year record of everybody who ever stepped onto a Major league diamond

Tygiel, Jules. Past Time: Baseball as History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

One of baseball's best essayists explores the ways baseball has influenced the direction of American history

Van Auken, Lance and Robin Van Auken. Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.

A comprehensive study of Little League, its founder, and its influence

Westcott, Rich. Philadelphia's Old Ballparks. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1996.

From the dawn of the game to the razing of Shibe Park, this entertaining and anecdotal account examines the ballparks themselves and their relationships to the communities that surrounded them.


Web Guide

Baseball Almanac http://www.baseball-almanac.com/

An excellent source for all kinds of baseball information, including statistics, records, famous quotes, songs and poetry, humor…even an instructional on how to keep score.

Baseball Almanac. Honus Wagner http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/p_wagner0.shtml

Honus Wagner statistics

Baseball Almanac. Tobacco Baseball Cards. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/treasure/autont005.shtml

Sheds light on the intrigue and controversy of the value of T-206 Wagner card. Some information on this site suggests that Honus Wagner may have had other business motivations for pulling his card from the Tobacco Series as well.

Baseball Library.com http://www.baseballlibrary.com/homepage/

The most comprehensive site on the web for player biographies and statistics with a day-to-day calendar of their achievements.

Baseball and Jackie Robinson: About the Collection. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/jrhtml/jrabout.html

This collection, fully titled Baseball, the Color Line, and Jackie Robinson, pulls together historical materials from different sections of the Library of Congress. You can browse it using a timeline segmented into five different periods: Drawing the Color Line (1860s-1890s), Barnstorming & the Negro Leagues (1900-1930s), Breaking the Color Line (1940-1946), Robinson as a Dodger (1947-1956), and Robinson's Later Career (1956-1972).

MLB.com http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp

The official site of Major league baseball offers links to each Major league team, schedules, results, and an audio connection to live broadcasts of each game.

MLB.com- Negro Leagues http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues.jsp

Major League Baseball web site includes an extensive section on the Negro Leagues under the heading history. Contains biographies, articles on barnstorming and segregation, a photo gallery and a section with audio and video interviews with former players.

Major League Baseball News http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_perspectives.jsp?ymd=200207...

See Fred Claire's article, "A Teammate recalls Pete Gray," (July 17, 2002) on reminiscences of Al La Macchia, a St. Louis Browns teammate, who discusses his relationship with Gray and the inspirational example the one-armed player set for other disabled veterans during the World War II era.

Minor League Baseball.com http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/

The official site of Minor League baseball comes with team and league information for all levels of play plus an historical hot button with a timeline and general history.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum http://www.baseballhalloffame.org

The Hall of Fame's website provides the rundown on current exhibits, a series of historical articles, and a view of every enshrinee's coveted plaque.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum http://www.baseballhalloffame.org

Baseball Hall of Fame site which contains several primary sources on the Negro Leagues: a 1957 article on the demise of the Negro Leagues, a cartoon commenting on southern reaction to Jackie Robinson, and a 1930 picture of the Homestead Gray's

Negro League Baseball http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com

This homage to the Negro Leagues features news, feature articles, team and player profiles, plus an active discussion group.

Negro League Baseball Dot Com: The Online Home of Negro League Baseball History http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/index.html

Includes history of the Negro Leagues and a timeline. Also has team and player profiles and a trivia quiz. Site features several current event articles including a recent interview with Harold Gould, a former member of the Philadelphia Stars.

Negro League Baseball Player Association http://www.nlbpa.com/

Official web page of the Negro League Baseball Players Association. Contains bios of over 300 former Negro League baseball players and information on over 40 different teams. Site features recent Negro League news including interviews with living former players. Has links to related sites.

Pete Gray Statistics I Baseball-Reference.com http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/graype01.shtml

This website contains Pete Gray's complete fielding and batting statistics for the 1945 season

Pete Gray, BaseballLibrary.com http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Pete_Gray_1...

This website contains a brief biographical sketch of Pete Gray and includes information about his major league statistics, the 1945 St. Louis Browns as well as a day-to-day summary of their season and fans" memories of the One-Armed Wonder.

The Pittsburgh Pirates http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=pit

The Pirates official site presents box scores, team statistics, schedules, daily news stories, game-day information, a tour of PNC Park, an excellent historical timeline, and a fan forum to voice views and let off steam.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. A Century of Segregation I PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/segregation2.html

This site is highly recommended for teachers to put the events of this lesson plan into a larger societal context. It features a timeline highlighting historical events regarding segregation and civil rights [e.g. Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and Brown v. Board of Education (1954)], including Jackie Robinson's feat of playing in the major leagues and breaking a color barrier in baseball (1947).

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