Name: Baseball on the Prairie:
Brand: Kris Rutherford
SKU: 9781609499358
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Baseball on the Prairie:

9781609499358

$21.99

At the close of the nineteenth century, railroad expansion in Texas at once shrank the state and expanded opportunities, including that of Texas League Baseball. Previously, the major cities monopolized Texas minor-league ball, but with the rails came small-town teams without which the league may have floundered. Sherman, Denison, Paris, Corsicana, Cleburne, Greenville and Temple teams produced some of the Texas League's greatest players and provided unprecedented statewide interest. The 1902 Corsicana Oil Citys was one of the most successful teams of the time, claiming the second-best winning percentage and baseball's most lopsided victory, 51-3 over Texarkana's Casketmakers. In its only year in the league, Cleburne won the league championship and team owner Doak Roberts discovered the great Tris Speaker. Kris Rutherford pieces together the Texas League's early days and the people and towns that made this centuries-old institution possible.

Cleburne Baseball

9781467137010

$21.99

Shortly after Cleburne landed the largest railroad shops west of the Mississippi, it set its sights on securing a professional baseball team. Against the odds, Cleburne became a Texas League town in 1906. After the first championship, the Railroaders loaded a train and left Cleburne. The town's professional teams would amass two championships, three pennants and several legendary major league players, including Tris Speaker, before disappearing. Despite lacking a professional club, the town continued to field teams at all levels, until the Railroaders made their triumphant return in 2017. Scott Cain shares a century of Cleburne baseball, including the cowboys who gunned down fly balls to intimidate umps, the pro team that played the Chicago White Sox and the city councilman who was a scorekeeper for the Negro Leagues in the 1950s.

Football and Integration in Plano, Texas

9781626195011

$21.99

The year 1964 was momentous for civil rights as Congress passed the Twenty-fourth Amendment and Texas's own Lyndon B. Johnson unveiled his plan for the Great Society. That same year, the Plano school district integrated, setting an example for the state and nation. The tightknit community banded together through a language fluent to everyone--football. The Wildcats had few winning seasons and no state titles at that time, but with hard work and a trailblazing spirit, coaches Tom Gray and John Clark led the integrated team all the way to state championship victory in 1965. The Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation, Inc. presents the inspiring story of the Wildcat fight for the title that made Plano a better place to live.

Football and Integration in Plano, Texas

Oklahoma's Bennie Owen:

9781626199491

$24.99

Before Bob and Barry, even before Bud, there was Bennie, and he might have been the best of them all. He was certainly the most innovative. Best remembered as the mentor of the University of Oklahoma's football team from 1905 through 1926, Bennie Owen also coached baseball and basketball and served as the director of athletics. He retired as intramural director at the age of seventy-five. A visionary and a builder, he exerted the driving force that created the university's Memorial Stadium, one field house, Memorial Union building, men's swimming pool, baseball field and bleachers, concrete tennis courts, nine-hole golf course and intramural playing fields. A true man of all seasons, he laid the foundation for a Sooner tradition of excellence--in football and beyond.

Orzel:

9781626199620

$21.99

In 1967, Scottsdale's longtime Arabian horse breeder Ed Tweed embarked on a mission to race the horses he bred. He imported a chestnut stallion from Poland named Orzel, or "Eagle" in English, that flew past competitors to become the first U.S. National Racing Champion. Among other wins in halter and performance, Orzel was the victor in the debut of the U.S. National Championship Ladies' Sidesaddle category, partnered with Tweed's granddaughter Shelley Groom Trevor. Thousands of fans visited the legendary performer in retirement at Brusally Ranch. Decades after Orzel's death, horses he sired continue his winning legacy. Author Tobi Lopez Taylor chronicles this triumphant story.

Texas Baseball:

9781609495985

$21.99

From pioneering superstars like Tris Speaker and Rogers Hornsby and Negro League standouts Smokey Joe Williams and Willie Well to present-day luminaries like Nolan Ryan, Texas has played a crucial role in the evolution of the national pastime. The Lone Star love of baseball stretches back to the Civil War. What began as friendly town games led to the formation of the Texas League in 1888, though it would be almost eight decades before the arrival of the Colt .45s, Texas's first major-league team, and another forty-three years until the Astros played in the World Series. From scrappers on the red dirt diamonds to the big-league stars of the Astros and Rangers, veteran sportswriter Clay Coppedge traces the state's long love affair with the sport in this first-ever comprehensive look at Texas baseball.

Texas High School Football Dynasties

9781609496128

$23.99

Since the first annual state football champion was crowned in 1920, Texas has never been the same. Today, millions of Texans gather in stadiums across the Lone Star State, eagerly awaiting that magical mid- to late-December moment when the season comes to its dramatic conclusion. Of the 391 high schools reaching the championship matchup, only a handful--26--have won the title four times or more, laying claim to the coveted moniker dynasty." From Waco High School's fourth title win in 1927 to Stamford's fourth official win in 2012, writer and lifelong football enthusiast Rick Sherrod traces the "best of the best" in this pigskin empire across ninety-three action-packed seasons."

The Galveston Buccaneers: Shearn Moody and the 1934 Texas League Championship

9781626198371

$21.99

Galveston survived the Great Depression with a healthy dose of baseball, boll weevils and bootleg business. Farmers like future Galveston Buccaneers star Buck Fausett fled the insect infestation of North Texas for the city's sunny shores along with throngs of visitors eager to visit Sam Maceo's clubs and catch a ballgame. Galvestonians had a long love affair with America's favorite pastime, fielding the first game played in the state. Cotton heir Shearn Moody purchased the Buccaneers in 1931 and turned the languishing squad into a dominating force that won the 1934 Texas League Championship. Author Kris Rutherford weaves a captivating history of the Moody family, a team of talented players and the island that claimed them.

The Galveston Buccaneers: Shearn Moody and the 1934 Texas League Championship

The Texas League Baseball Almanac

9781626190658

$19.99

Since forming in 1888, the Texas League has produced some of the most beloved American baseball players and seen more than its fair share of colorful events. In 1931, Houston pitcher Dizzy Dean pitched and won both ends of a double-header in Fort Worth, throwing a three-hit shutout in the second game. In 1906, center fielder Tris Speaker pitched for Cleburne to beat Temple 10-3. In 1998, Arkansas' Tyrone Horne hit for the homer cycle" in San Antonio, finishing to a standing ovation. "The Texas League Baseball Almanac" delivers day by day the record-breaking events, personal triumphs and memorable games that helped to shape baseball in the region. Join authors David King and Tom Kayser on a nine-inning trip down one of minor-league baseball's most historic institutions, both in season and off. ."