Beyond the Ballpark

The Honorable, Immoral, and Eccentric Lives of Baseball Legends

John A. Wood

Most baseball fans know of the amazing accomplishments Hall of Fame members achieved on the field, from Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak to Cy Young’s 511 career wins. But few are as familiar with the ballplayers’ lives away from the diamond—especially those icons who played before the Internet and 24/7 media coverage. Beyond their baseball statistics, what kind of individuals were they? How did they conduct themselves out of the spotlight? What made them tick?

In Beyond the Ballpark: The Honorable, Immoral, and Eccentric Lives of Baseball Legends, John A. Woodlooks at the personal lives of fifty members of the Hall of Fame, examining their childhoods, families, influences, life-changing events, defining moments, and more. The players range from the really good guys to bizarre characters and even the downright immoral. The author considers how tragedies may have impacted players, such as the shooting of Ty Cobb’s beloved father by his own mother, and seeks to explain the dispositions of others, such as why the great Rogers Hornsby couldn’t seem to get along with anybody.

By taking a closer look at who the players were as men, Beyond the Ballpark captures the essence of these fifty Hall of Famers. Including such names as Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, this book is for all fans who are interested in more than just a ballplayer’s statistics.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 408 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5866-2 • Hardback • April 2016 • $56.00 • (£43.00)

978-1-4422-5867-9 • eBook • April 2016 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, Psychology / Personality

Beyond the Ballpark

The Honorable, Immoral, and Eccentric Lives of Baseball Legends

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Most baseball fans know of the amazing accomplishments Hall of Fame members achieved on the field, from Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak to Cy Young’s 511 career wins. But few are as familiar with the ballplayers’ lives away from the diamond—especially those icons who played before the Internet and 24/7 media coverage. Beyond their baseball statistics, what kind of individuals were they? How did they conduct themselves out of the spotlight? What made them tick?

In Beyond the Ballpark: The Honorable, Immoral, and Eccentric Lives of Baseball Legends, John A. Woodlooks at the personal lives of fifty members of the Hall of Fame, examining their childhoods, families, influences, life-changing events, defining moments, and more. The players range from the really good guys to bizarre characters and even the downright immoral. The author considers how tragedies may have impacted players, such as the shooting of Ty Cobb’s beloved father by his own mother, and seeks to explain the dispositions of others, such as why the great Rogers Hornsby couldn’t seem to get along with anybody.

By taking a closer look at who the players were as men, Beyond the Ballpark captures the essence of these fifty Hall of Famers. Including such names as Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, this book is for all fans who are interested in more than just a ballplayer’s statistics.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 408 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5866-2 • Hardback • April 2016 • $56.00 • (£43.00)

978-1-4422-5867-9 • eBook • April 2016 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, Psychology / Personality

Author

John A. Wood is professor emeritus of religion at Baylor University. He is the author of Perspectives on War in the Bible (1998) and The Panthers and the Militias: Brothers under the Skin? (2002). Wood is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Table of Contents

Prologue
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I: The Good Guys
Chapter 1: Wilbert Robinson 1863–1934
Chapter 2: Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy 1862–1956
Chapter 3: Denton True Young 1867–1955
Chapter 4: Napoleon Lajoie 1874–1959
Chapter 5: John Peter Wagner 1874–1955
Chapter 6: Joseph Jerome McGinnity 1871–1929
Chapter 7: Christopher Mathewson 1880–1925
Chapter 8: Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown 1876–1948
Chapter 9: Charles Albert Bender 1884–1954
Chapter 10: Walter Johnson 1887–1946
Chapter 11: John Franklin Baker 1886–1963
Chapter 12: Charles Arthur Vance 1891–1961
Chapter 13: George Harold Sisler 1893–1973
Chapter 14: Harold Joseph Traynor 1898–1972
Chapter 15: Joseph Vincent McCarthy 1887–1978
Chapter 16: Henry Benjamin Greenberg 1911–1986
Chapter 17: George Clyde Kell 1922–2009

Part II: The Mixed Bags
Chapter 18: John McGraw 1873–1934
Chapter 19: Edward Augustine Walsh 1882?–1959
Chapter 20: Tyrus Raymond Cobb 1886–1961
Chapter 21: Edward Trowbridge Collins 1887–1951
Chapter 22: Tristram Speaker 1888–1958
Chapter 23: Rogers Hornsby 1896–1963
Chapter 24: Waite Charles Hoyt 1899–1984
Chapter 25: William Harold Terry 1898–1989
Chapter 26: Robert Moses Grove 1900–1975
Chapter 27: Paul Glee Waner (1903–1965) and Lloyd James Waner (1906–1982)
Chapter 28: Carl Hubbell 1903–1988
Chapter 29: Leo Ernest Durocher 1905–1991
Chapter 30: Joseph Paul DiMaggio 1914–1999
Chapter 31: Mickey Charles Mantle 1931–1995

Part III: The Eccentrics
Chapter 32: George Edward Waddell 1876–1914
Chapter 33: Richard William Marquard 1886–1980
Chapter 34: Walter James Vincent Maranville 1891–1954
Chapter 35: Charles Dillon Stengel 1890–1975
Chapter 36: George Herman Ruth 1895–1948
Chapter 37: Leroy Paige 1906–1982
Chapter 38: Jay Hanna Dean 1910–1974
Chapter 39: Vernon Louis Gomez 1908–1989

Part IV: The Sad Cases
Chapter 40: Edward James Delahanty 1867–1903
Chapter 41: The Tragic Trio of Tinker, Evers, and Chance
Chapter 42: Grover Cleveland Alexander 1887–1950
Chapter 43: Henry Louis Gehrig 1903–1941
Chapter 44: Lewis Robert Wilson 1900–1948
Chapter 45: James Emory Foxx 1907–1967
Chapter 46: Joshua Gibson 1911–1947
Chapter 47: Jack Roosevelt Robinson 1919–1972

Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

Baseball during its history, has been full of characters to say the least. You could almost classify this book into the good, the bad and the ugly. Just for good measure you could throw in the sad as well. It takes a look at players lives outside of the game during their careers as well as their lives after baseball. The book sticks to legendary names of the game so it is a roster of players most fans are familiar with and possibly will shed some new light on some of their personalities. It goes well beyond statistics and shows what these guys were like on a man to man level. It shines a whole new light on the legends of the game and will help readers possibly understand why some of these players did what they did during their lives. The book covers a wide array of stars and eras so there should be someone in here everybody will relate to, no matter whom your team allegiance lies with.
— Gregg's Baseball Bookcase

One of the most enjoyable parts of perusing this wide ranging cast of characters is the plethora of baseball anecdotes that fall as casually as dropped names.
— The Inside Game: The Official Newsletter of SABR's Deadball Era Committee

Wood goes into plenty of detail about the lives after baseball of all the immortals in his book, touching on their religions, families and wives, and how successful they were in the next lives. It is a fascinating look at the men whose exploits on the field will live forever at Cooperstown.
— The Mighty Quinn Media Machine