Bøker av Bill Nowlin

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in historic fashion. This book, published on the 20th anniversary of the 2004 championship, celebrates that team by collecting biographies all of the players on the roster alongside essays about that unprecedented postseason run and its ripples throughout New England. These biographies include everyone on the team, from the stars like David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, and Johnny Damon to a couple of guys who would later manage their own teams in the big leagues in Dave Roberts and Gabe Kapler, to the manager, Terry Francona, and his coaches.Seeing the team win the World Series for the first time in 86 years resonated throughout New England and "Red Sox Nation" beyond, tapping into the strong sentiments that people have rooting for the underdog. When Dan Shaughnessy wrote the book The Curse of The Bambino, the title resonated with every Red Sox fan. But the "curse" was reversed when the Red Sox avenged that and every other loss to the Yankees by becoming the first team to ever win a seven-game series after being down three games to none.Chicago Cubs and White Sox fans have had even longer waits, but only the Red Sox had so many excruciating last-minute losses along the way. We hope readers will enjoy the story of Kathryn Gemme, who finally saw her Red Sox win it all again, when she was 109 years old. Also in the book we include the memories of a few dozen fans and details of the first-of-its-kind "trophy tour" to all 351 towns in Massachusetts.This book began as a project of the Boston Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, but grew to embrace the contributions of 68 different SABR members, including both Yankees and Cardinals fans. SABR's Digital Library has now passed 100 volumes, all created, researched, and written by SABR members.

In One-Win Wonders, we meet 78 players whose time in the major leagues included only a single pitching win. One-Win Wonders is a companion book to the 2021 SABR book One-Hit Wonders, which included biographies of players who had gotten only a single hit.The 78 players whose biographies are presented here are among the 915 players who completed their major-league career with just one win. An astonishing 229 of those never lost a game, ending with a career record of 1-0. Some simply had very brief stays in the majors, like Bill Ging "With the Wonderful Wing" who joined the Boston Beaneaters at the tail end of 1899 and secured a 2-1 complete game victory over the New York Giants, but found himself without a team when the National League contracted from 12 teams to eight in 1900. Then there's Nick Adenhart, whose career was tragically cut short by a drunk driver hours after securing his win for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.Others, like catcher Brent Mayne, were position players who wound up on the mound and left with a victory. Mayne's win came in an epic extra-innings contest between the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves, after the last pitcher on the roster was ejected after a brawl. Each of the current 30 major-league franchises is represented by at least one such wonder, as are a number of other teams, some dating back to the nineteenth century. One-Win Wonders represents the collaborative work of nearly 60 researchers, authors, and editors from the Society for American Baseball Research.

Willie Mays thrilled baseball fans for more than two decades. He could do it all-in the outfield, at bat, and on the bases. Five Tools tells the story of arguably the greatest baseball player in the game's history, through more than 20 insightful essays and recaps of over 30 of the most significant games in his career. Some essays explore Mays' time in the Negro Leagues and minor leagues, while others examine the the relationship of Mays to his managers, the press, and his mentoring of Bobby and Barry Bonds.The National League Rookie of the Year in 1951 with the New York Giants, Mays made his big-league debut just four years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's shameful color line. He brought with him a dynamic blend of power and speed. Just a few years into his amazing career, he left with his teammates for San Francisco.Mays batted .301 lifetime and belted 660 home runs. He hit more than 50 homers in two seasons and led the National League in stolen bases four times. Mays also won 12 Gold Gloves for his fielding excellence in center field. The "Say Hey Kid" earned a spot on a record 24 All-Star teams. Incredibly, he won just two MVP awards.A collaborative effort of 51 members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), this book celebrates a player who was known by some as "Wondrous Willie."

You have to be a very good pitcher to lose 20 games in one season. Why would a manager keep putting you out there to pitch, time after time, if you didn't have a chance to win the game? More than 25 percent of the pitchers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame are pitchers who lost 20 or more games in a single season. One of them even lost 20 or more games for 10 years in a row!The names in this book are often well-known names. Cy Young lost more than 20 games in three different seasons. Other 20-game losers were Steve Carlton, Walter Johnson, Phil Niekro, Robin Roberts, and Red Ruffing, to name a few.We've included here every one of the 23 Hall of Famers who are 20-game losers, as well as some lesser-known names, over sixty biographies in all. Mike Maroth and Brian Kingman, the two most recent pitchers to lose 20 games, are here. So is Jack Nabors thanks to his 1-20 season. You will find Guy Hecker, whose record of 52-20 constituted the best winning percentage of any 20-game loser. And we feature one woebegone pitching staff which had four 20-game losers in the same season.By our count 499 major-league pitchers have had seasons in which they lost 20 or more games. Only two of them had ERAs over 6.00. This take on pitching records offers plenty of quirks to explore. 53 members of SABR combined their efforts to create this truly fascinating book.

In the 111-year-history of the Boston Red Sox, fans have been treated to countless firsts¿ the first manager of the franchise (Jimmy Collins), the first American League MVP to play for the Sox (Tris Speaker), the first 20-game winner (Bill Dineen), the first to hit 500 home runs (Ted Williams), and the first Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young Award (Roger Clemens). The list goes on.In Boston Red Sox Firsts, veteran Red Sox historian Bill Nowlin presents the stories behind the firsts in Red Sox history in question-and-answer format. More than a mere trivia book, Nowlin¿s collection includes substantive answers to the question of ¿who was the first¿?¿ on a variety of topics, many of which will surprise even seasoned fans of the Sox.

As if Ted Williams's numbers needed any help, recent research reveals that 110 of his 521 career home runs-more than 20%-were game-winners. "The Kid" Blasts a Winner, by Red Sox guru Bill Nowlin, tells the story of every one of them. Williams's first game-winner came just 10 games into his career, a mammoth blast, likely the longest ball ever hit at Briggs Stadium. His last came more than 21 years later, the 520th of his career, a 2-run shot that carried the Red Sox to a 2-1 win against the Senators. For those two winners the 108 in between, Nowlin provides background on the teams and opposition pitchers, recounts the key plays and players, and describes each home run in glorious detail."The Kid" Blasts a Winner was a labor of love for baseball historian and Ted Williams authority Nowlin and the detail he provides is astounding. The narrative leans heavily on the use of newspaper accounts of the games-with headlines and excerpts adding color and depth to the narrative. Numerous quotes from Williams are also included, both from the newspaper stories and later reminiscences from The Splinter.Also included are a section that breaks down the game-winning home runs by opponent, inning, walk-off, and other categories, features on The Kid's .406 season and unforgettable All-Star Game homers, and an amazing notes section that runs more than 50 pages, packed with background stories about Williams and the Red Sox, stats and trivia, and hyperlinks to dozens of related articles. Taken on its own, the end notes read like a condensed version of Williams's unmatched career, full of little-known facts and sidebars that also serve to recreate baseball's classic era of the 1940s and 1950s."The Kid" Blasts a Winner IS a winner-a front-row seat to some of the greatest games played by one of baseball's greatest players. If you thought the legend of Ted Williams could grow no larger, get ready to become even more awed.

Vinyl Ventures: My Fifty Years at Rounder Records is less a standard history and more an idiosyncratic memoir written by one of the three Rounder founders.

Over the course of four years, prolific baseball writer and editor Bill Nowlin interviewed 72 major league umpires, another two dozen call-up and AAA umpires, and four umpire supervisors. The result is the most complete and intimate portrait ever done of a vitally important yet largely unappreciated aspect of professional baseball.Nowlin's deep knowledge of the game and of umpiring and his conversational interview style provide the perfect setting for the umpires to open up about themselves and their profession, and they do. From part-time call-ups to 30+ year veterans, the profiles that take shape transform the "men in blue" from anonymous background figures to fully formed characters-passionate, dedicated, driven, grateful. Join all the big-name umpires and young up-and-comers as they describe the challenges, frustrations, and disappointments they have faced, the thrill and honor of being at the pinnacle of their profession, while sharing funny and poignant moments from their careers. By the end of WORKING A "PERFECT GAME," readers not only have a detailed picture of the day-to-day life of a major league umpire, but also an authentic understanding of the personalities and people hidden behind the mask of the game's arbiters. WORKING A "PERFECT GAME" is divided into two parts: A collection of interviews, followed by a behind-the-scenes look at everything umpire, from school, to the minor leagues, to getting the call, to spring training, to favorite positions, to instant replay, and more. Read about•The long, hard road to reaching the majors, from umpire school, to the low minors, onward to Triple A until getting the call - 10 years or more of grueling travel, cheap hotels, and low pay•The passion that drives umpires - the pursuit of perfection and the love of baseball•The variety of ways the umps got started and who helped them keep their eyes on the prize•The never-ending logistics - airplanes, hotels, different cities, different ballparks •Life under a microscope, with every ball and strike and every safe and out evaluated electronically, with results tabulated and reported and game tapes published•Ejections - a necessary task, but one that is anything but relished, and why every umpire recalls the first time he gave someone the thumb•The thrill of post season baseball, from the joy of getting the call to the intense pressure of the ultimate baseball spotlight•The burden and privilege of being the ultimate upholders of the integrity of baseball, a responsibility that they take very seriouslyReading WORKING A "PERFECT GAME" will give you deep insight into and understanding of the most important part of baseball no one knows about - umpiring. You'll never watch a game the same way.