Baseball Superstars
5 total works
Like a powerful locomotive, Lou Gehrig slugged his way through 14 years as the pride of the Yankees. Never missing a game during his career, the six-time All-Star set the American League record with 184 RBI in 1931, hit a record 23 grand slams, won two Most Valuable Player awards, and won the 1934 Triple Crown. Refusing to see himself as a natural, Gehrig achieved greatness through an unwavering dedication to practice. Then suddenly, the Iron Man began to rust. The home runs ceased. The hits became misses. Gehrig had contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Yet harnessing the strength he had displayed on the baseball diamond, Lou Gehrig struggled onward with dignity and purpose. Though the disease that now bears his name ultimately took Lou Gehrig's life, it did not extinguish his spirit or his incredible legacy. ""Lou Gherig"" is an engrossing new biography that celebrates a man who was not only a baseball great but also a true American hero.
Growing up in small-town, Depression-era Oklahoma, Mickey Mantle heard the same plea day in and day out from his parents: ""Get out of the house and play some baseball!"" Sooner than anyone expected, Mantle was a New York Yankee in 1951. Five years later, the switch-hitting phenomenon was on his way to stardom, completing the season with a Triple Crown for the highest batting average and most home runs and RBIs. Hailed as the successor to the great Joe DiMaggio, Mantle felt the pressure of success, and faced difficulties stemming from physical infirmity and, later, alcohol abuse. In ""Mickey Mantle"", discover how this baseball great came to grips with his addiction, becoming a role model for the clean and sober life, and is now remembered as an American baseball hero.
As a 19-year-old heading east to play for the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams could be heard muttering over and over again, ""All I want out of life is when I walk down the street, folks will say, 'There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.'"" Through a tumultuous, boisterous career that touched four decades, Williams worked tirelessly to perfect the science of hitting and accomplish his goal. Two-time winner of the Triple Crown, Williams hit an astonishing.406 in his 1941 season, a record that stands to this day. During his last ballpark appearance at the 1999 All-Star game, 80-year-old ""Teddy Ballgame"" achieved his childhood dream. In ""Ted Williams"", discover how this Red Sox slugger was not only a superb ballplayer, but also a world-class fisherman and a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War.