Baseball and Other Matters in 1941: A Celebration of the Best Baseball Season Ever-- In the Year America Went to War

by Creamer, Robert W.

• ISBN13: 9780803264069
• ISBN10: 0803264062
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Robert W. Creamer, one of the best and most perceptive writers on baseball, remembers the baseball - and other matters - of 1941 in a tribute to the game that is also part memoir. Creamer was a long-time writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. He is the author or co-author of numerous books, including the following Bison Books: Stengel: His Life and Times, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat, Jocko, and The Quality of Courage.

Author Biography

Robert W. Creamer, one of the best and most perceptive writers on baseball, remembers the baseball—and other matters—of 1941 in a tribute to the game that is also part memoir. Creamer was a long-time writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including the following Bison Books: Stengel: His Life and Times, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat, Jocko, and The Quality of Courage.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Cast of Characters	xiii
PART I
Explaining the Obvious	3	(7)
Joe and Ted	10	(8)
The Yankees	18	(7)
A Little History	25	(9)
Enter Larry MacPhail	34	(9)
The Cincinnati Kid	43	(4)
Larry and Leo and Red	47	(10)
Dreadful Year	57	(9)
A Very Fast Start	66	(6)
Ducky Wucky Medwick	72	(6)
Tall Cotton	78	(3)
A Little More History	81	(14)
PART II
Heading South	95	(6)
Farewell to a Lesser Babe	101	(8)
The Adventures of Van Lingle Mungo	109	(7)
Heading North	116	(4)
Hank Greenberg and the Draft	120	(10)
Hounding Hank	130	(7)
Dodgers and Cardinals	137	(8)
Getting Billy Herman	145	(6)
The Redbirds Fly	151	(5)
Slumps and Crybabies	156	(7)
Williams and Feller in the Spring	163	(6)
Roosevelt and the War	169	(6)
The Last of the Daffiness Boys	175	(6)
Death and Revival	181	(12)
PART III
Joyce, Jazz and Joe Louis	193	(7)
The Incomparable Pete Reiser	200	(9)
DiMaggio, Challenging	209	(8)
Williams' Home Run	217	(9)
The Summer Before the War	226	(8)
DiMaggio, Triumphant	234	(7)
The Duel Begins	241	(9)
The Duel Goes On	250	(5)
Showdown in St. Louis	255	(8)
How to Bat .400	263	(10)
General Lear Defends Memphis	273	(5)
Winning the Pennant	278	(13)
The World Series: Splitting Openers	291	(9)
Freddie Fitzsimmons' Knee	300	(7)
Mickey Owen's Boo-Boo	307	(8)
And Ever After	315	(4)
Acknowledgments	319	(2)
Index	321