Product Description
Regarded by many of his contemporaries as the greatest baseball player of all time, John Peter "Honus" Wagner enjoyed a remarkable career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His record of 17 consecutive .300-plus seasons is a mark that will probably never be broken. He led the National League eight times in hitting, six times in slugging percentage and five times in stolen bases. Known as the Flying Dutchman, he also excelled in the field, defining the shortstop position for a generation.

Though one of the original inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame, he has often been overlooked by baseball fans and historians. A humble man whose biggest passions were hunting and fishing, the Pirate shortstop lacked the flamboyance of a Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth. He rarely smoked or drank, though sometimes he indulged in a sandlot game with the neighborhood kids. Based on contemporary newspaper accounts, family scrapbooks and correspondence, and Wagner’s own vestpocket notebooks, this is the story of baseball’s first superstar. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Interesting - but for serious baseball fans only
I bought this book because I'm a baseball fan (Pirates and Red Sox) and decided to learn more about Honus Wagner, one of the greatest players who every played the game.This book isn't quite what I expected.The short 5-star reviews of this book significantly overrate it in my opinion.After reading through it, I realize that surprisingly little is actually known about Wagner.This may well be, in large part, due to his quiet personality off the field.About 1/3 of this book is dedicated to Wagner and his life as a ballplayer, about 1/3 to the early history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and 1/3 to the early history of baseball in general.

There are several reasons that I only give this book only three stars.First, the vast majority of the book discusses each baseball season.Each chapter corresponds to roughly one season of Wagner's career. There really isn't a great deal about Wagner as a person.It is written as if the author was going through the newspaper clippings for each series throughout the year and summarizes the interesting events.Wagner's contributions (both positive and negative) are highlighted, as well as the Pirates place in the standings, and the goings on of the other teams (particularly the best teams like the Giants and Cubs).I found this narrative style to be very dry, and it is likely to appeal only to really hardcore baseball fanatics.Second, beyond the box score exploits, there isn't a great deal of info about Wagner.I learned that he was shy, loved to fish and hunt, his family immigrated to the US from Germany, he lived in Carnegie, PA, he loved cars, and that is largely it.This is no criticism of the author, I just get the impression that there really isn't much known about Wagner.Third, at nearly $30 for a paperback, I can't recommend this to any but the most serious fans.Most people aren't going to be returning to this again and again.

Bottom line - there is a lot of info in this book about Wagner's exploits on the field and the dead-ball era of baseball more generally, but this is only a book for the most serious students of the history of the game.I learned a great deal from this book and am happy that I read it, but I would recommend to others with caution.

The best Honus Wagner book
There are a few books around about Honus Wagner - this is the one to get.

Read a detailed review of this Seymour Award winning book at haroldseymour.com.Or copy and paste the name of the book and "Review" into Google to find it.

Also, be sure to click on the Editorial Reviews link above.There are lots of positive comments there, and it's easy to miss.

This Book thoroughly portrays the legacy of a baseball hero
With detail and documentation Arthur D. Hitner offers insight into the life and times of Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball's greatest shortstop.This book is academic and entertaining. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop who was one of the greatest hitters and fielders in baseball history. ... Read more

Product Description
The Honus Wagner baseball card is the most valuable baseball card of all time! But he was born poor, ugly, bow-legged, and more suited to shoveling coal in his Pennsylvania mining town than becoming the greatest shortstop of all time. How could it happen? Did those strong arms and fast legs turn him into a Pittsburgh Pirate and one of the game’s most unforgettable players?

In this true story, Jane Yolen shows us that wit, talent, perseverance, and passion score more than home runs. As Honus would say, “How about that!” AUTHOBIO: Jane Yolen lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts.

Jim Burke lives in Beacon, New York. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Book About Honus Wagner
All Star! opens with the story of how a Honus Wagner baseball card sold at auction for three million dollars in June 2007. It then goes back 134 years to a small town in Pennsylvania where a baby was born to a mining family. From here it chronicles Honus's humble beginnings in this impoverished town where boys entered the mines after the sixth grade. On their only day off, they played baseball. With all the work in the mines, Honus was strong. One legend has it that when he was twelve he came to bat and belted the ball out into the outfield. While running around the bases, he caught up to the other runner, picked him up and slung him over his back and dropped him on the brick they used for home plate.

The story has lots of moments about Honus as he worked his way up through the minors and finally to a place on a Paterson, NJ team. Kids will enjoy hearing that he was paid $125 per month (the average yearly pay for a worker then was $439). When he ultimately joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1900, Honus won the National League batting championship eight times. There are many legends about Honus out there, and the book tells a few of them. He was considered one of the greatest baseball players ever. When he had the famous baseball card made of him, he had it pulled when he realized that it was sold in cigarette packs. He thought it would give his young fans the wrong idea about cigarettes. So the cards became very rare, and very valuable.

Honus Wagner was a player who played baseball for the sheer love of the game. In 1936, when the Baseball Hall of Fame was established, he was one of the first five men inducted into it.

Ideal for baseball fans and history buffs
Your child will hardly realize he's learning as he reads All Star!.Jane Yolen masterfully recounts history like a the true storyteller she is and Jim Burke's illustrations add a homey, warm touch.This would be an ideal gift for baseball fans of any age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Cobb on Wagner: In the Footsteps of "The Glory of Their Times"
A member of the board of the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Georgia, and a "distant Georgia cousin" of the other early 20th Century player widely thought of at the time as being the game's greatest player, William R. "Ron" Cobb has just edited an invaluable work on the teller of tall tales and possessor of a career 150 OPS+... Honus Wagner. "Honus Wagner On His Life & Baseball" is the Flying Dutchman in his own words... as originally published as a newspaper serial in the Los Angeles Times from December 13, 1923 to January 23, 1924. In effect an oral history originally written and published less than seven years after Wagner retired, it gives us a first-person insight into the great Pirate star, an insight that has generally been missing from history, due to Wagner's own reticence while he was playing, and his tendency to gild the lily in his later years. This then, is Wagner on Wagner, at a time when he was most likely to give us a straight story.

Although the 1920s were the heyday of the ghostwritten column, Cobb states strongly his opinion that the serial's words are Wagner's own. "I based this [opinion] on the overall tone and use of folksy and `down to earth' words and phrases," he explains. "The tone and flow sounds much like the spoken word, which indicates to me that a professional writer likely did not write this - at least not on his own. At the worst, I feel that Wagner might have dictated this and let an editor transcribe in into printable text. Even in this case, the text would be Wagner's story in `his own words.'"

And what a story it is. An historical bonanza, not just about the National League's greatest player, and some of his contemporaries, but also about the game as it was played during the first 50 or so years of his life. In 40 installments Wagner tells of everything from his early, minor league years in baseball, to his extensive thoughts on the skills and strategies of the early 20th Century game, to his admiration for Barney Dreyfuss, to the "good old days," to his thoughts on some of the greats he played with and against. And, of course, like practically every other old timer, he picks his All-Star teams. As with every oral history, Wagner's story is colored by his prejudices, especially when he talks about how the game had changed from when he broke in until 1924, but that hardly makes him unique among baseball storytellers. Indeed, much of Wagner's copy reads like it could well have come out of "The Glory of Their Times," except this is a total of 185 pages (with some marvelous photos) all from one exceptional player.

To cherry pick just a few of Honus' more interesting stories... Fred Lieb told the sad tale of the Philadelphia National League club sending a sore-armed pitcher named Con Lucid to scout the Paterson, New Jersey club in 1897, specifically to scout shortstop Honus Wagner. According to Lieb, Lucid thought the big Honus was too clumsy, and recommended they sign Kid Elberfeld instead, thus blowing the Phillies' chance to have a Wagner/Lajoie double play combination. A good story, but, according to Wagner, not exactly true. Honus' version is even better... no less a figure than Phillies' manager George Stallings was scouting him, and it was Stallings who was unimpressed. Seems as if Wagner was playing the outfield that day, and threw a couple of balls into the stands behind the plate. "I wouldn't give that big bum his carfare from here to Philadelphia," is how Honus quotes Stallings' reply to Patterson's Ed Barrow asking what the Phillies would give for Wagner.

Wagner's contract was sold later in 1897 to Louisville, enabling Honus to be present when the one and only Rube Waddell broke into the majors. In an installment entitled "The Bug Enters Baseball - at 2 a.m.," Wagner tells how Waddell insisted on meeting his new manager, Fred Clarke, when he arrived at the Colonels' hotel in Washington at 2 a.m. He pestered the night man enough to find out Clarke's room number, and proceeded to wake up the manager, who then suggested that Waddell needed to meet the rest of the team. The Rube went around to everyone else's room, pounding on doors and waking the entire team, with one exception. Waddell came back to Clarke's room at 4 a.m., not because the rest of the team wanted to lynch him (a possibility) but because the guy in room 128 wouldn't get up, and the Rube thought something was wrong. What was wrong was that William Hoy was in 128, and since he was deaf, he couldn't hear Waddell pounding on the door. (Actually, Waddell expert Dan O'Brien says that this story IS fiction.)

Although there is a tendency to think that Wagner could hit any pitcher who ever lived, he tells of one hurler, Jack Taylor, who gave him more trouble than any other. So much trouble, that Wagner once turned around and batted left-handed against the right-handed Taylor. Although Wagner says he "swung like a woman" he also punched the ball over the first base bag for a double. Other anecdotes include the time Jack Murray of the Giants made a game-saving catch by a flash of lightning, a bit on the game (and the box score) that clinched the 1901 pennant, Bill Klem tossing Clarke from a game for saying he was "a model umpire," and much more.

Wagner's anecdotes, both about himself and other players, are enlightening and amusing. No, he doesn't tell all, like exactly what he was up to in his 1908 holdout, but this is still a find that also includes a vast amount of what was called in those days "inside baseball." That is, how to play the game. Seems as if Honus coached baseball at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) after he retired, and he still had all of his old class notes around. Presenting a much different side than his standard, somewhat shallow though pleasant public persona, Wagner shares considerable insight, as he had done with his players, on everything from how to play shortstop to defensive signals to nine very specific points on the hit and run. This was no dumb jock and storyteller, but a deep thinker about the intricacies of the game.

While Wagner's story is rightfully deserving of kudos, so is Cobb's work to bring it forth. A SABR member, a Deadball Era expert, and a graduate of Georgia Tech (he really should be called "Dr. Cobb," since he has a doctorate in Engineering), Cobb is no rookie at enlightening the reading public on stars of that era. He has previously published two autobiographical works on The Georgia Peach, "Busting `Em" and "Memoirs of Twenty Years in Baseball." When asked about the nature of his relation to old Tyrus, he says, "I was raised in Atlanta with the family story that we were related to the `great one.' But, no one ever told me exactly how. Some in my family believe we descend from the half brother of Ty Cobb's great grandfather in North Carolina."

When Ron changed his historical focus from Tyrus to Honus, he undertook a big project, having to re-type the manuscript from 80 year-old printed microfilm images of the Los Angeles Times. As anyone who has ever done microfilm research knows, 80 year-old images are not the easiest medium to work with. The image that comes from this is of Cobb hunched over a microfilm reader, trying to decipher smudged and almost illegible newsprint from the Roaring Twenties - a feat that only an historian of Cobb's knowledge could accomplish with success. As hard to read as the old Times were, Cobb had to use his own, independent understanding on the context to make sense out of some of the more obtuse parts.

Ron Cobb's hard work should not go unrewarded. In a very real sense, "Honus Wagner On His Life & Baseball" is as valuable and entertaining to the baseball historian, and the average baseball fan, as "The Glory of Their Times."

An epic true life tale of how he became one of the greatest baseball players of his day
Honus Wagner On His Life And Baseball deftly edited by William R. Cobb is an intriguing tale of Honus Wagner's remarkable career in baseball where he was known as "The Flying Dutchman". Following Honus from the beginning of his career in 1897, Honus Wagner On His Life And Baseball informatively carries readers through an epic true life tale of how he became one of the greatest baseball players of his day, playing seventeen consecutive seasons, and retaining a .300 batting average the whole time. Honus Wagner On His Life And Baseball is very highly recommended for all baseball enthusiasts and those intrigued by the accomplished life of baseball legend Honus Wagner.

An epic true life tale of how he became one of the greatest baseball players of his day
Honus Wagner On His Life And Baseball deftly edited by William R. Cobb is an intriguing tale of Honus Wagner's remarkable career in baseball where he was known as "The Flying Dutchman". Following Honus from the beginning of his career in 1897, Honus Wagner On His Life And Baseball informatively carries readers through an epic true life tale of how he became one of the greatest baseball players of his day, playing seventeen consecutive seasons, and retaining a .300 batting average the whole time. Honus Wagner On His Life And Baseball is very highly recommended for all baseball enthusiasts and those intrigued by the accomplished life of baseball legend Honus Wagner.
... Read more

Amazon.com Review
The first decade of baseball in the 20th century witnessed theascension of two stars who stood above the rest: Ty Cobb in theAmerican League and Honus Wagner in the National. If Cobb was thegame's tortured bully, Wagner was the anti-Cobb. He was kind andquiet, the most beloved figure in the game before Ruth, the local boyfrom the coalfields of western Pennsylvania who made good on the greenfields of Pittsburgh's ballparks. Despite terribly bowed legs andfreakishly large hands, he patrolled the shortstop slot withremarkable dexterity; he may not have been as acrobatic as OzzieSmith, but no shortstop was steadier defensively. Offensively, he wasa genius, winning eight batting crowns, four in a row between 1906 and1909, and he remains, almost a century later, among the all-time top10 in hits, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. Cobb, who rarelycomplimented anyone, considered Wagner "the greatest ballplayer thatever lived." Yet more than 40 years would pass after his death beforeany biographer seriously went to bat with his life.

In HonusWagner, the DeValerias have produced a clean hit, maybe not a homerun, but, befitting a star of the dead-ball era, a well-placed,well-struck double. As solid as Wagner himself--and at 5'11" and 200pounds, he was solid--the "Flying Dutchman" emerges as a shy man wholoved the game and loved to play it, and that's about the extent ofit. He was a regular guy, no tormented Cobb, no educated Mathewson, noflamboyant Ruth. There are simply no strikes against him; he wasunfussy, immensely likeable, anxious to please, tremendouslysupportive of his friends and teammates, and, while inordinatelypolite on the field, off of it he rarely pulled his punch lines. Ifanything haunted him, it was his poor performance against the Red Soxin the 1903 World Series, which he more than made up for against Cobband the Tigers six years later. He may have led a simple life, but hewasn't exactly a simple man; his biographers treat him with the samerespect he treated the game, and propel themselves with the samethoroughness, doggedness, and care that Wagner displayed on thefield. --Jeff Silverman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Great book,am reading it right now.
I would like to change my feedback on this order. Originally,there was a bonus book enclosed. I should have
based my feedback on this book only. It was received early,and in new and excellent condition.

Searching for Baseballs' greatest players
I have been reading and studying old time baseball for many years. Not only in search of the greatest players but also enjoying the characters that played the game because they loved it and their team and the city they played in.

I have always heard about and thought Honus was a very good player. After doing my research I have come to the conclusion Honus is without a doubt one of the top players in the history of the game. He could play any position and play it well. He could run and steal bases almost at will. He could hit with the best. What is not as well known is he was a team player. He loved his team and did everything he could to help them win.

What might be as important about Honus is his "off-field" life. He was a tremendous ambassador for the game of baseball, he was a great family man and he was a pillar of strength in the community.

To sum it up, he was a great man. I am glad I did my research on him, which includes this book.

A book about baseball, not a tabloid expose
It's sad that this book has gotten such poor reviews.I tore through the entire thing cover-to-cover and was riveted the entire time.What others see as weakness I see as a strength of the book: you come away knowing not only Johannes Peter Wagner but also Fred Clarke, Deacon Philippe, Tommy Leach, Barney Dreyfuss, and many others.The book takes you on the journey of Honus The Ballplayer, from the early days through each year he played, chronicling not only his ups & downs but also the fortunes of the Pirates teams of those early years along with the city itself.If people were expecting some tabloid revelations about illicit dealings or some scandalous dirt it reveals their own failings, not the book's.Remember, this is the guy who insisted his tobacco card be pulled (the famous T206) because he had moral objections about peddling cigarettes to kids.So enjoy the book as a great period-piece about the people, places, and times of that early 20th-century baseball era.It really is a treat.

Better than my colleagues rate it
I see some tough criticism on this page, but I cannot accept that the book has too much baseball detail. When I think of other, more recent biographies of Whitey Ford, Gabby Hartnett, and others that read like a series of several hundred box scores in prose, I think of this book as just the opposite. It paints a good picture of Wagner the man and his family, and how he spent his non-baseball hours and seasons. It retells good anecdotes in proper context, and as my fellow reviewer, Eddie Waddell notes, it doesn't try to gloss over any weaknesses the man may have had - a fault of so many baseball biographers whose goal is to get their man into the Hall of Fame by their book's building up his stats.

The de Valerias obviously love their man, and you will too before you are done with the volume. Just the right amount of baseball detail, I'd say. And not just about Honus. You learn a great deal about his lesser known teammates. And the stats are almost always on target. The de Valerias may not have included a Wagner stats sheet, but at least they seem to have researched all stats they use in the book well. Yes, I wish the footnotes were more specific to the quotes, but that shouldn't deter the majority of readers.

Great story about a great player
Wow, reading the reviews, this is a tough crowd! Too much detail, not enough detail. For me, the detail was just about right. I have been listening to the unabridged audio edition while commuting. The book covers Wagner's career starting in his teen-age years. It provides a good illustration of American life at the turn of the century particularly as it related to baseball. I was especially interested to learn how many of the western PA towns I grew up around had had their own minor league ball teams back in the day - Sharon, New Castle, Warren (PA), etc. I think the authors did a good job of marching the reader through Wagner's career including the highs and the lows while also teaching about the early days of professional baseball and how the sport quickly became America's pastime. ... Read more

Product Description

Joe Stoshack is beginning to think life can't get much worse. The thing he likes best in the whole world is baseball. He knows everything there is to know about the game...except how to hit home runs. His specialty seems to be striking out. But Joe's life is about to change in the most amazing way. . .

When Joe gets a job cleaning old Miss Young's attic he's not too happy about it. The place is filled with tons of worthless trash, and he's only getting paid $5 for hauling it out. Suddenly Joe finds a little piece of cardboard. He's holding the world's most valuable baseball card. Joe is rich-really rich-but it's more than that. Suddenly-strangely-Joe is face-to-face with the player on the card...traveling through time with one of the greatest ballplayers who ever lived.

Customer Reviews (55)

great fantasy for all baseball lovers old and young
This is a nice fiction story not as good but up in the ranks with "Field of Dreams."A boys travels back in time to see the greats from the early years of baseball.Great nostalgia and fantasy esoecially if you like stories involving time travel.The cover is the famous rare Honus Wagner card worth more than any other baseball card because of its rarity.The book includes some very interesting non-fiction about how the card came about and why it is so rare.

Honus and me
Honus and me was an exhalent by Dan Gutman. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because it was an exalent book that tought me that anything is possible and to never get your self down and do what your heart desires. I recommend this book for people who like sports or if you like Honus Wagner. This book is historical fiction. Honus and me is about a boy who finds a baseball card that is worth over a half of a million dollers and travels Honus Wagner back in time and gets to talk to him about his career.

pageturning fun for the young baseball reader
My 2nd grader has recently started reading this series. HONUS AND ME was quite the pageturner for him; my son really enjoyed it and learned baseball facts along the way.

A Blast from the Past
Joey Stoshack, a thirteen year old boy, has the power to travel back in time by using old baseball cards.While he is time traveling, he is trying to meet famous baseball players from the past such as Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, and Jackie Robinson.I can relate to this character because Joey has dreams of meeting famous baseball players. The character also has a perfectly normal teenage life, just like me, except for the traveling through time part.Joey is an excellent baseball player, and plays shortstop.Just like Joey, I practice baseball at least ten hours a week.

This author, Dan Gutman, also writes a ton of other books.He writes Jackie and Me, Shoeless Joe and Me, and Honus and Me.He generally writes his books based on sports.If you like sports, I would definitely recommend this author.He writes his baseball books with a little bit of science fiction in them, which I really enjoy.Dan makes the reader get interested in the book right away.The author has convinced me to want to go back in time and become a teammate of Shoeless Joe Jackson.

I recommend this book to anybody that has a dream of meeting a famous baseball player from the past.I enjoyed this book and I think that anybody that reads it will like it as well.

A Blast from the Past
Joey Stoshack, a thirteen year old boy, has the power to travel back in time by using old baseball cards.While he is time traveling, he is trying to meet famous baseball players from the past such as Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, and Jackie Robinson.I can relate to this character because Joey has dreams of meeting famous baseball players. The character also has a perfectly normal teenage life, just like me, except for the traveling through time part.Joey is an excellent baseball player, and plays shortstop.Just like Joey, I practice baseball at least ten hours a week.

This author, Dan Gutman, also writes a ton of other books.He writes Jackie and Me, Shoeless Joe and Me, and Honus and Me.He generally writes his books based on sports.If you like sports, I would definitely recommend this author.He writes his baseball books with a little bit of science fiction in them, which I really enjoy.Dan makes the reader get interested in the book right away.The author has convinced me to want to go back in time and become a teammate of Shoeless Joe Jackson.

I recommend this book to anybody that has a dream of meeting a famous baseball player from the past.I enjoyed this book and I think that anybody that reads it will like it as well.

... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 155 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Signed essays ranging from 500 to 2,500 words, written by subject experts and edited to form a consistent, readable, and straightforward reference. Entries include subject-specific bibliographies and textual cross-references to related essays. ... Read more

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Honus: The Life and Times of a Baseball Hero is abiographical look at the life and times of the great Honus Wagner. Notmany fans know the full story of Honus Wagner, and Wagner himself waslargely responsible for the public's ignorance. Being notoriously shy,he declined to talk about himself or baseball to sportswriters of histime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I Wish this Book Did Justice to a Great Baseball Player
Honus Wagner was one of the greatest baseball players of the dead ball era before Babe Ruth. Although known to few beyond the diehard baseball fan, he was a member of the first class of inductees into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. His career batting average of .327 is one of the highest in MLB history, as is his 722 career stolen bases. Indeed, Wagner earned eight National League batting titles, tied with Tony Gwynn for the most in league history. Wagner's 101 home runs, is less impressive, but his 3,430 career hits is outstanding. Small wonder he is enshrined in Cooperstown.

Honus Wagner came up with Louisville in 1897, but that team went under and in 1900 he moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates and played shortstop there the rest of career, retiring after the 1917 season. During his playing days he led the Pirates to pennants in 1903 and in 1909, and gaining a World Series victory in the latter season. He went on to work as a coach with the Pirates for many years after retirement. He died in 1955 at the age of 81.

"Honus: The Life and Times of a Baseball Hero" is a basic baseball biography of this player. We get the standard accounts of his baseball career, but those interested in his personal life or a sophisticated analysis of the individual will be disappointed. I certainly was. Then there are the disconcerting aspects of this book, such as the fact that it has no index whatsoever. This is unforgivable for a work of non-fiction. I shall have to read other books on Honus Wagner to see what I have missed about his life and career.

A little disappointing
This book was a bit disappointing because there really was not a lot of in-depth background information on Honus Wagner the man. Seasons were covered in five pages and, in one instance, the text reviewed one game by stating that Honus had hit, "a three-run double, but the Pirates lost 5-2." How can the Pirates lose 5-2 if Honus hit a three-run double? There seemed to be many errors of this nature in the book as the editing was not very crisp.

I tried not to be too harsh in my review as I know the material on Honus is not easy to find, but even the material that is available in the text is not presented very well. Honus Wagner was arguably the greatest player of his time and a simple, interesting person off the field, so his story is indeed an important one to baseball fans. Unfortunately, I don't think this biography is the one you want to read if you want a well-written, in-depth portrait of Honus Wagner.

Honus: The life and Times of A Baseball Hero
I thought this book was a great biography of one of baseball's least appreciated stars. It starts with his beginnings in the mines to his death in 1955. I thought this book had too many minor details in his retirementventures. I think this is a book that all baseball fans will enjoy. ... Read more

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A story all about baseball and a young man who knows everything about the game except how to play. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1911 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Semana, published by Spanish Publications, Inc. on November 18, 1999. The length of the article is 1012 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: 100 años de historia.(jugadores de béisbol; personalidades)(TT: One hundred years of history.)(TA: baseball players; personalities)
Author: Tay Polo
Publication: Semana (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 18, 1999
Publisher: Spanish Publications, Inc.
Volume: 6Issue: 351Page: 16

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Roger Bresnahan is the same kind of a man. He thinks quickly, and is a brilliant player, but he never dodges anything. He is often hurt as a result. Once, when he was with the Giants, he was hit in the face with a pitched ball, and McGraw worried while he was laid up, for fear that it would make him bat shy. After he came back, he was just as friendly with the plate as ever. The injury of men like Chance and Bresnahan, whose services are of such vital importance to the "inside" play of a team, destroys the effectiveness of the club. ... Read more

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Chapters: Ty Cobb, Albert Spalding, Leo Durocher, Jimmy Collins, Joe Torre, Honus Wagner, Connie Mack, Jimmy Mcaleer, Cap Anson, Rogers Hornsby, John Mcgraw, Tris Speaker, George Gore, King Kelly, Donie Bush, Bob Ferguson, John Montgomery Ward, Fred Hutchinson, George Wright, Heinie Groh, Ben Chapman, Harry Stovey, Lip Pike, Jimmy Dykes, Jack Glasscock, Gavvy Cravath, Hank Bauer, Fred Clarke, Patsy Donovan, Kid Elberfeld, Charles Comiskey, Nap Lajoie, Hugh Duffy, George Sisler, Clark Griffith, Hal Chase, Mordecai Brown, Tom Brown, Bill Mckechnie, Bill Dahlen, Jack Doyle, Deacon White, Wilbert Robinson, Eddie Collins, Lave Cross, Harry Lord, Bucky Harris, Harry Wright, Bill Craver, Roger Connor, George Davis, Harry Walker, Jim Mccormick, Eddie Stanky, Charlie Gould, Bob Addy, Joe Cronin, Wild Bill Donovan, Bob Caruthers, Bucky Walters, Jimmie Wilson, Stuffy Mcinnis, Bill Dickey, Jim O'rourke, Roger Bresnahan, Cal Mcvey, Charlie Sweasy, Phil Cavarretta, Ned Hanlon, Jack Clements, Bill Terry, Charlie Buffinton, Luke Sewell, Johnny Evers, Marty Marion, Frank Chance, Eddie Joost, George Stallings, Arthur Irwin, Alex Mckinnon, Nat Hicks, Ted Lyons, Bill Killefer, Jimmy Wood, Buck Ewing, Harry Lumley, Tim Murnane, Sam Barkley, Cub Stricker, Tommy Bond, Doug Allison, Jim Bottomley, Charlie Morton, Pop Snyder, Kid Nichols, Charlie Grimm, Billy Herman, Joe Tinker, Chief Zimmer, Deacon Mcguire, Harry Davis, Ted Sullivan, Pud Galvin, Bob O'farrell, Tommy Mccarthy, Marty Mcmanus, George Wood, Jack O'connor, John Hatfield, Pie Traynor, Joe Kelley, George Bradley, Tommy Holmes, Lena Blackburne, Gabby Street, Miller Huggins, Charlie Pabor, Jimmy Austin, Bobby Wallace, Bill Holbert, Joe Start, Dick Higham, Mike Griffin, Denny Mack, Mike Mcgeary, Harry Wheeler, Phonney Martin, Rabbit Maranville, Lon Knight, Robert Eenhoorn, Jack Crooks, Warren White, Roger Peckinpaugh, Tommy Dowd, Jack Barry, Sam Crane, Billy Barnie, Don Kessinger, Jack Chapma...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=31586 ... Read more

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Karl Patterson, sometime baseball card dealer without visible means of support, doesn't get along all that well with his father, even though he lives in the guest house of his dad's estate on the Palos Verdes Peninsula near Los Angeles rent free. So he is surprised when Richard Patterson, who is founder and CEO of a successful software company called Dionysus, asks for his help to determine whether the number 2 man of Dionysus, Ned Mackay, has a gambling problem. Perhaps it's because Karl may or may not be a compulsive gambler, himself, depending on whom you ask.

Richard assigns his executive assistant, the exotic and ambitious Arrow, to work with Karl. She appears to have some blood from every ethnic group you can name, and the best of each. She helps Karl connect with Ned, and Karl wangles an invitation to fly with him to San Francisco, which brings up the question of what Ned's relationship is to James Buchanan, a puzzling person who likes puzzles, runs what appears to be an illegal gambling casino, and is CEO of a San Francisco conglomerate that owns a piece of just about everything worth owning.

Before Karl can make any progress, Ned is found dead in San Francisco with cocaine in his car. Karl is questioned by the San Francisco police, and now finds himself trying to determine what happened to Ned, and what effect this will have on his father and Dionysus. Questions about James remain, because he seems to want to gain control of Dionysus, and may help Karl buy an expensive baseball card.

Events keep Karl involved long after his father wants him out. Before he's through, he'll be a frequent flyer between L.A. and San Francisco, with sidetrips to Scotland and England. He will have to learn how to work with Arrow, get along with Jacie, Richard's young wife, try to improve his relationship with his father, and--if he wants to survive--watch his back.






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Customer Reviews (1)

Gambling and Rambling in California
This is the only one of Alan Cook's mysteries that is available exclusively on Kindle and not in book form. I don't know why because it's an exciting and fast-paced adventure that takes a look at some of the shenanigans within the world of the executives in the high-tech business. Baseball card dealer Karl Patterson gets a consulting job from his father, Richard, who founded Dionysus, a software company in Los Angeles, but it isn't nepotism because Richard thinks Karl is a compulsive gambler and wants him to evaluable a key employee, Ned Mackay, for the same problem. Ned gets killed in San Francisco, and a person of interest is zillionaire James Buchanan who heads a comglomerate (think a high-tech Warren Buffett)and also a gambling casino right in the heart of San Francisco. Is somebody getting paid off? James likes to play all kinds of games, but, fortunately, so does Karl. He doesn't quite know what to make of Arrow, the multi-ethnic woman Richard has assigned to help him, but she is attractive enough that he doesn't mind working with her. That's good because they travel together to England and Scotland, trying to uncover past relationships. The story has a rocky ending for Karl (pun intended--you have to read the book) and he grows up a lot during the course of it.

If you like games, puzzles, gambling and murder, this may be the book for you. ... Read more