Bill Veeck Baseball's Greatest Maverick

by Dickson, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780802717788
• ISBN10: 0802717780
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-24
• Publisher: Walker Books

Summary

Relying on primary sources, including more than a hundred interviews, Paul Dickson has crafted a richly detailed portrait of an American original: baseball impresario and innovator, independent spirit and unflinching advocate of racial equality, Bill Veeck.Veeck (19141986) was born into baseball. His sportswriter father became president of the Chicago Cubs, and Bill later worked for owner Phil Wrigley, rebuilding Wrigley Field to achieve the famed ambience that exists today. In his late twenties, he bought into his first team, the American Association Milwaukee Brewers. As World War II intensified, Veeck volunteered for combat duty, enduring a leg injury that led to a lifetime of amputations and silent suffering. On returning, he bought the Cleveland Indians in 1946the first of four midwestern teams he would own, preceding the hapless St. Louis Browns (195153) and the Chicago White Sox (twice, 195961 and 197581).Though foiled in an earlier plan to bring Negro League players to the majors, in the summer of 1947, Veeck integrated his team on field and off, signing Larry Doby, the American League's first black player, and hiring the first black public relations officer, trainer, and scout. A year later, he signed the legendary black pitcher Satchel Paige, who helped win the 1948 World SeriesCleveland's last championship to this day. His promotional genius was second to none, endearing him to fans in every city, while his feel for the game led him to propose innovations way ahead of their time. Veeck's deep sense of fairness helped usher in free agency, breaking the stranglehold owners had on players; indeed, he was the only owner to testify in support of Curt Flood during his landmark reserve clause challenge. Bill Veeckbrings fully to life a transformational, visionary figure who spent a lifetime challenging baseball's and society's well-entrenched status quo. It is essential reading for any fan and anyone with a fascination for twentieth-century America.

Author Biography

Paul Dickson is the author of several classic baseball books, including The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, The Unwritten Rules of Baseball, The Hidden Language of Baseball, and The Joy of Keeping Score. He is also the author of the classic narrative history Sputnik: The Shock of the Century, and the co-author of the acclaimed The Bonus Army: An American Epic. He lives in Garrett Park, Maryland.

Table of Contents

"We knew Bill Veeck was the baron of ballyhoo. We didn't know (or at least I didn't) that he was a patriot as high-flying as Ted Williams, a racial barrier-buster as fearless as Branch Rickey, a gadfly who set the mold for Charlie Finley, and a one-of-a-kind iconoclast who was irresistible. So don't resist. Buy Paul Dickson's new book and have a blast."—Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend