Baseball's Canadian-American League: A History of its Inception, Franchises, Participants, Locales, Statistics, Demise and Legacy, 1936-1951
About this audiobook
A Class C minor league during a turbulent 15 years: its stirring history reveals what minor league baseball–indeed, all of baseball–was experiencing. Begun in the Depression, this league saw the coming of night baseball, World War II, the prosperous postwar era, pioneering racial integration, a deadly competition with television, and a final demise. And here are the stories of stars in the making: Bob Lemon, Tommy Lasorda, Al Rosen, Lew Burdette, Frank Malzone, Vic Raschi, Gus Triandos, and "Spec" Shea. Future MLB pennant-winning managers Eddie Sawyer and Mayo Smith. One-armed outfielder Pete Gray. Future congressman (and JFK roommate and pal) Torby MacDonald. Mass murderer Conklyn Meriweather. A ball park that miraculously rose from its own ashes. The tragic war death of prospect Billy Southworth Jr. Plus its unique parish priest league president. This book–through groundbreaking research and dozens of personal interviews–captures the essence of minor league ball in a bygone but beloved era.
“fascinating” — Sports Collectors Digest
About the author
Award-winning historian David Pietrusza has been called "the undisputed champion of chronicling American Presidential campaigns.” His books include studies of the 1920, 1932, 1936, 1948, and 1960 presidential elections and biographies of Theodore Roosevelt (Independent Publisher Book Awards Silver Medal, US History), gambler Arnold Rothstein (Edgar Award finalist), and Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (Casey Award winner).
Pietrusza has served as national president of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and as co-editor of the Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball.
His other baseball books include:
· Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (Foreword by Richard Thornburgh)
· Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures (with Ted Williams) (aka Teddy Ballgame)
· Minor Miracles: The Legend and Lure of Minor League Baseball
· Lights On!: The Wild, Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball (Foreword by Enos Slaughter)
· Major Leagues: The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present (Foreword by Lee MacPhail)
· Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (co-editor)
· The Total Baseball Catalog: Great Baseball Stuff and How to Buy It (co-editor)
· Total Mets (co-editor)
· Total Braves (co-editor)
· Total Indians (co-editor)
Pietrusza has appeared on NPR, C-SPAN, MSNBC, The Voice of America, The History Channel, AMC, ESPN, and the Fox Sports Channel. He has spoken at the JFK, FDR, Truman, and Coolidge presidential libraries, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and various universities and festivals.
A former member of the Amsterdam (NY) City Council, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University at Albany, is a Recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Arts & Letters Award of the Alumni Association of the University at Albany, and is a charter member of the Greater Amsterdam School District Hall of Fame.
Visit: www.davidpietrusza.com
