The Beer and Whisky League: The Illustrated History of the American Association--Baseball's Renegade Major League

( Although the American Association lasted only a decade,...)

Although the American Association lasted only a decade, from 1882 to 1891, it rewrote the playbook on baseball, establishing many of the conventions we still honor. Writer David Nemec and photographer Mark Rucker have put together a book that vividly tells the Association's story, and sets a new standard for books on baseball in the 19th century. In 1882, baseball was controlled by the owners of the six teams in the National League. In keeping with the morals of the day, Sunday games were forbidden, liquor wasn't sold at parks, and admission was kept high to keep out the "common element." Baseball was a gentleman's game. Then came the American Association, the "Beer and Whisky League." Baseball would never be the same. True to its nickname, the league ushered in the most freewheeling years of baseball, challenging the National League's hold on the nation's pastime, cutting admission in half, playing Sundays, selling liquor in its ballparks, and fielding exceptional players. This is the first comprehensive look at the American Association. Meticulously researched, this lively history is complemented by over 200 rare photographs, most never before published. For the many fans of baseball, THE BEER AND WHISKY LEAGUE will be as essential as a well-oiled mitt.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592281885/?tag=2022091-20

Stonesifer

(Providential, terrifying, perfectly pitched, this extraor...)

Providential, terrifying, perfectly pitched, this extraordinary novel gives us the inelegant truths of how it can feel to be a middle-aged male writer, husband and father adrift in a world indifferent to everything he stands for. Telling his own story is Keith Stonesifer, a former college English teacher who is determinded after years of professional frustration to carve a new career as a mystery writer. To one side of him is his wife Jill, a failed actress longing to become a therapist. To the other is his eleven-year-old daughter Fran. When Stonsifer picks up a young woman at the tennis courts in Golden Gate Park, he is slowly but inescapably caught in a carnival of anger and rejection, a nightmare descent into brutally casual sex and murder that he finds both abhorrant and alarmingly nurturing. But while Stonesifer experiences a forbidden catharsis on one level, he is once more thwarted in his quest for recognition when his crimes are claimed by a serial killer and his efforts to reclaim them are mocked by the police, who believe he is only faking he has homocidal tendencies because he craves attention. San Franciso singles bars and book signings, Bay Area nude beaches, tailgate parties after the 49ers football games- and even the New York literary scene- all draw Keith Stonesifer as he searches for new meaning in his life and grapples with the limited consolations of present-day love and its illusions. In his most wide-ranging novel to date, David Nemec artfully combines in Stonesifer a dangerously seductive mix; the tortured initmacy of Cornell Woolrich and the spellbinding amorality of Patricia Highsmith.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1885003196/?tag=2022091-20

The official rules of baseball: An anecdotal look at the rules of baseball and how they came to be, with over 50 vintage photographs by Nemec, David (1999) Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011MAW7R0/?tag=2022091-20

The Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Major League Baseball

( The authoritative compendium of facts, statistics, phot...)

The authoritative compendium of facts, statistics, photographs, and analysis that defines baseball in its formative first decades.   This comprehensive reference work covers the early years of major league baseball from the first game—May 4, 1871, a 2-0 victory for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas over the visiting Cleveland Forest City team—through the 1900 season. Baseball historian David Nemec presents complete team rosters and detailed player, manager, and umpire information, with a wealth of statistics to warm a fan’s heart.   Sidebars cover a variety of topics, from oddities—the team that had the best record but finished second—to analyses of why Cleveland didn’t win any pennants in the 1890s. Additional benefits include dozens of rare illustrations and narrative accounts of each year’s pennant race. Nemec also carefully charts the rule changes from year to year as the game developed by fits and starts to formulate the modern rules. The result is an essential work of reference and at the same time a treasury of baseball history.   This new edition adds much material unearthed since the first edition, fills gaps, and corrects errors, while presenting a number of new stories and fascinating details. David Nemec began the lifetime labor that helped produced this work in 1954 and admits it may never end, as there always will be some obscure player whose birth date has not yet been found. Until perfection is achieved, this work offers state-of-the-art accuracy and detail beyond that supplied by even modern baseball encyclopedias. As Casey Stengel, who was born during this era, was wont to say, “you could look it up.”  Now you can.  

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817314997/?tag=2022091-20

The Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Major League Baseball 2nd edition by Nemec, David (2006) Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011MAWREI/?tag=2022091-20

The official rules of baseball: An anecdotal look at the rules of baseball and how they came to be, with over 50 vintage photographs

( The entertaining story of the rules' evolution. )

The entertaining story of the rules' evolution.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0760716102/?tag=2022091-20

Remember Me to My Father

(In this extraordinary and powerfully wrenching novel, an ...)

In this extraordinary and powerfully wrenching novel, an adolescent boy searches for a path out of a seemingly inescapable darkness after the loss of his father in a time and place full of contradictions. Seen through the eyes of Ben Farkas, a child of first generation parents, and set against the backdrop of a small Midwestern suburban town in the mid-1950s, Remember Me to My Father takes us through what will be the most difficult and turbulent year of Ben's life. For him, the twelve months between the Cleveland Browns' devastating last-minute defeat in the 1953 NFL title game and the final day of 1954 are a period of anguish, confusion, punishment, despair and, finally, truimph. Remember Me to My Father is profoundly honest in its evocation of the pain and conflicting passions that besiege the youth of both sexes and superb in its depiction of the capricious social and moral climate in the 1950s. Exceptional writing, a deep dense of compassion for its protagonist, and a rare depth of insight combine to make it a masterful historical portrait of smalltown life a half a century ago and a novel in the classic tradition of Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Hemingway.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1885003706/?tag=2022091-20

The Great American Baseball Team Book (Plume)

( More information to be announced soon on this forthcomi...)

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452267811/?tag=2022091-20

The Beer and Whisky League Repackaged edition by Nemec, David (1994) Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011MAXBL6/?tag=2022091-20

The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge: The Ultimate Test for the Ultimate Fan by Nemec, David (1999) Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011MAZ7OA/?tag=2022091-20

Early Dreams

(Early Dreams is a reprint of the classic 19th century bas...)

Early Dreams is a reprint of the classic 19th century base ball narrative featuring Earl "Ducker" Draves, a fictional yet all-too-real young player who recounts the remarkable 1884 base ball season and his whirlwind rookie campaign in Cincinnati. Early Dreams is crammed with insightful comments on base ball's pioneers, box scores, and Draves’ surprising reactions to the drinking, gambling, and whoring activities that were central to early base ball. Early Dreams manages to cover nearly every nuance of the era, including evolving game strategy, financial squabbles, and racism--all against a backdrop of the rough-and-tumble milieu of the 19th century brand of ball. Nemec’s book draws favorable comparisons to Ring Lardner's "You Know Me Al."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1929763042/?tag=2022091-20

The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge: The Ultimate Test for the Ultimate Fan

(In The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge, David Nemec comb...)

In The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge, David Nemec combines the most compelling features of his many baseball quiz books and his best selling Great Baseball Feats, Facts, & Firsts. The result is an absolutely unique illustrated treasury of questions, answers, and information that serves as both an invaluable reference work and a rich storehouse of entertainment.The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge engages the reader with well over a thousand probing questions and insights about baseball's legendary teams and players. Accompanying the questions are fascinating lists of single-season and career record holders. Most of the information in these lists has never appeared before in book form. Nemec's lists range from the most career games played only at the shortstop position to the fewest total bases in a season by a league batting champion.For trivia buffs The Great Book of Baseball Knowledge is a feast of thought-provoking questions and answers on all facets of the game. For fans looking for a handy compendium of record holders, single season and career leaders, and dozens of top 10 batting, pitching, and fielding lists, it is an absolute must -- a one-of-a-kind volume for all fans of baseball and its history.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809226596/?tag=2022091-20

The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556115008/?tag=2022091-20