Charles C. Alexander

At the dawn of the roaring twenties, baseball was struggling to overcome two of its darkest moments: the death of a player during a Major League game and the revelations of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. At this critical juncture for baseball, two teams emerged to fight for the future of the game. They were also battling for the hearts and minds of New Yorkers as the city rose in dramatic fashion to the pinnacle of the baseball world. 1921 captures this crucial moment in the history of baseball, telling the story of a season that pitted the New York Yankees against their Polo Grounds landlords and hated rivals, John McGraw's Giants, in the first all–New York Series and resulted in the first American League pennant for the now-storied Yankees' franchise. Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg recreate the drama that featured the charismatic Babe Ruth in his assault on baseball records in the face of McGraw's disdain for the American League and the Ruth-led slugging style. Their work evokes the early 1920s with the words of renowned sportswriters such as Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, and Heywood Broun. With more than fifty photographs, the book offers a remarkably vivid picture of the colorful characters, the crosstown rivalry, and the incomparable performances that made this season a classic.

At the dawn of the roaring twenties, baseball was struggling to overcome two of its darkest moments: the death of a player during a Major League game and the revelations of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. At this critical juncture for baseball, two teams emerged to fight for the future of the game. They were also battling for the hearts and minds of New Yorkers as the city rose in dramatic fashion to the pinnacle of the baseball world. 1921 captures this crucial moment in the history of baseball, telling the story of a season that pitted the New York Yankees against their Polo Grounds landlords and hated rivals, John McGraw's Giants, in the first all–New York Series and resulted in the first American League pennant for the now-storied Yankees' franchise. Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg recreate the drama that featured the charismatic Babe Ruth in his assault on baseball records in the face of McGraw's disdain for the American League and the Ruth-led slugging style. Their work evokes the early 1920s with the words of renowned sportswriters such as Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, and Heywood Broun. With more than fifty photographs, the book offers a remarkably vivid picture of the colorful characters, the crosstown rivalry, and the incomparable performances that made this season a classic.

This history recaptures a colorful era in early baseball when club owners quarreled, players berated umpires, sportswriters criticized and ridiculed both owners and players, and the game made halting progress toward the sport and business it became. The two seasons saw the formation in 1890 of the Players League by the Brotherhood of Professional Ball Players, America's first sports union; the failure of the players' efforts to stand up to the owners; the collapse of a new National Agreement between the National League and the American Association; and the eventual amalgamation of four Association franchises into the National League, creating a decade of relative peace. This title is now available as a paperback and ebook exclusively from McFarland.

One of the greatest centerfielders ever, Tris Speaker's career was full of colorful moments on and off the field. This biography chronicles his career spent with the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics. It also follows his years as a minor league manager and part owner, civic activist, Indians coach, and general promoter of baseball. Every significant major league game is described in detail, along with the careers of Speaker's teammates and opponents and the changing baseball landscape around them. This title is now available as a paperback and ebook exclusively from McFarland.

In 1910 auto magnate Hugh Chalmers offered an automobile to the baseball player with the highest batting average that season. What followed was a batting race unlike any before or since, between the greatest but most despised hitter, Detroit’s Ty Cobb, and the American League’s first superstar, Cleveland’s popular Napoleon Lajoie. The Chalmers Race captures the excitement of this strange contest-one that has yet to be resolved. The race came down to the last game of the season, igniting more interest among fans than the World Series and becoming a national obsession. Rick Huhn re-creates the drama that ensued when Cobb, thinking the prize safely his, skipped the last two games, and Lajoie suspiciously had eight hits in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Although initial counts favored Lajoie, American League president Ban Johnson, the sport’s last word, announced Cobb the winner, and amid the controversy both players received cars. The Chalmers Race details a story of dubious scorekeeping and statistical systems, of performances and personalities in conflict, of accurate results coming in seventy years too late, and of a contest settled not by play on the field but by human foibles.

The 1908 American League pennant race was described as a "a fierce and fluctuating fight." With five games left in the season, each of the league's four westernmost teams still had a shot at the championship. It was the height of the Deadball Era, noted for its spectacular pitching, low scoring, quickly played games, and memorable characters. It was also a time when professional baseball truly came into its own as America's national pastime. This lively account details a neglected chapter in the game's history.

The story of the "Miracle" Braves is one of the most memorable in baseball history, but less well known is what the club did after that spectacular season. In 1915, they were strong contenders for the National League pennant, and almost won it again in 1916. This book is the first to look at the team in a larger context. Under innovative manager George Stallings, the Braves swept the mighty Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 World Series, the National League's only victory from 1909 to 1919. The Braves under Stallings were a roistering, pugnacious crew that battled the opposition, the umpires, and sometimes each other.

In 1910 auto magnate Hugh Chalmers offered an automobile to the baseball player with the highest batting average that season. What followed was a batting race unlike any before or since, between the greatest but most despised hitter, Detroit’s Ty Cobb, and the American League’s first superstar, Cleveland’s popular Napoleon Lajoie. The Chalmers Race captures the excitement of this strange contest—one that has yet to be resolved. The race came down to the last game of the season, igniting more interest among fans than the World Series and becoming a national obsession. Rick Huhn re-creates the drama that ensued when Cobb, thinking the prize safely his, skipped the last two games, and Lajoie suspiciously had eight hits in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. Although initial counts favored Lajoie, American League president Ban Johnson, the sport’s last word, announced Cobb the winner, and amid the controversy both players received cars. The Chalmers Race details a story of dubious scorekeeping and statistical systems, of performances and personalities in conflict, of accurate results coming in seventy years too late, and of a contest settled not by play on the field but by human foibles.

Crusade For Conformity: The Ku Klux Klan In Texas, 1920-1930 is a historical book written by Charles C. Alexander. The book delves into the rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Texas during the 1920s and 1930s. It explores the Klan's influence on politics, religion, and society, as well as its impact on the lives of Texans. The author examines the Klan's efforts to impose its ideology of white supremacy and Protestantism on the state's diverse population. The book also discusses the Klan's violent tactics, including lynchings and bombings, and the resistance it faced from civil rights activists and other opponents. Through extensive research, including interviews with Klan members and their opponents, Alexander paints a comprehensive picture of the Klan's activities in Texas and its role in shaping the state's history. Overall, Crusade For Conformity provides a detailed and insightful account of a dark chapter in Texas's past.Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, V6, No. 1, August, 1962.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Ty Cobb was one of the most famous baseball players who ever lived. The author puts Cobb into the context of his times, describing the very different game on the field then, and successfully probes Cobb's complex personality.

"He ate gunpowder every morning," complained one umpire, "and washed it down with warm blood." That described John McGraw, who in the 1890s was the rowdiest member of the ferocious Baltimore Orioles, the club that pioneered the hit-and-run, the cutoff, the squeeze play, and the "Baltimore chop." In 1902 he began his thirty-season reign as manager of the Giants, winning ten pennants—a record matched only by Casey Stengel. His career in baseball spanned forty years and two eras—from the game's raucous early days to its emergence as big business.Charles C. Alexander, a professor of history at Ohio University, Athens, and the author of Ty Cobb, calls John McGraw "perhaps the single most significant figure in baseball's history before Babe Ruth transformed the game with his mammoth home runs and unparalleled showmanship."

Alexander sees the characteristic feature of the Eisenhower era as an effort to "hold the line"—against Communism, against big government, against intellectual challenge, against disruptive social change. The period 1952-1961 is examined in trenchant detail by the author, who focuses on domestic politics and foreign policy but also examines economic, social, intellectual, and cultural aspects of the period. He scrutinizes such features of the fifties as McCarthyism, the Korean conflict, Dulles's system of global alliances, the early involvement in Vietnam, the economic boom, the appearance of giant conglomerates, the emergence of Black protest, the gathering crisis of the cities, and the impact of the mass media on popular culture. This book is lively enough for general readers and students of American history since the Second World War, yet probing and scholarly enough to interest specialists.