Veteran sportswriter Leonard Koppett takes a lively, thoughtful look at the most successful and influential baseball managers of the modern era. Filled with personal anecdotes from the author's long and distinguished career, this work traces the evolution of material sytle, through its practitioners, right up to the present day.
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Veteran sportswriter Leonard Koppett takes a lively, thoughtful look at the most successful and influential baseball managers of the modern era. Filled with personal anecdotes from the author's long and distinguished career, this work traces the evolution of material sytle, through its practitioners, right up to the present day.
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Seller's Description:
Very good in very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 404 p. Audience: General/trade. Hardcover with DJ, tight binding, 1st ed., 404 pages with photos.
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Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. With remainder mark. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Remainder. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book is tight with no markings, red remainder mark across top page edge, minor rubbing to dj, great copy.
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Very good in Very good jacket. xi, [1], 404 pages. Illustrations. Appendix. Index. Paperclip impression and stain on fep and half-title page. Leonard Koppett (September 15, 1923-June 22, 2003) was an American sportswriter. Born in Moscow as Leonard Kopeliovich, Koppett moved with his family from Moscow, Russia to the United States when he was five years old. They lived a block away from Yankee Stadium. Koppett served in the United States Army before graduating from Columbia University in 1946. He then worked as a reporter and columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Post, The New York Times, the Peninsula Times Tribune, and The Sporting News, and authored 22 books on sports. He also published a number of magazine articles. Best known were his works on baseball: Concise History of Major League Baseball (1998, updated through 2004) and The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball are considered definitive works on the game. The former was inspired by Koppett's conversations with contemporary athletes who had little or no knowledge about the history of their game and the great players of decades past. The Essence of the Game is Deception: Thinking about Basketball took a similar approach to basketball. Two weeks prior to his death, Koppett completed his final book, The Rise and Fall of the Press Box, which is part autobiography and part memoir about changes in sports media coverage since World War II when he became a sportswriter. Koppett received the J. G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. The author argues that the most successful and influential of the more than 500 men who have actually managed in the major leagues can trace their descent from three exceptional men: John McGraw, Branch Rickey, and Connie Mack. Derived from a Kirkus review: Veteran sports journalist Koppett breaks new ground with this massive study of baseball managers from the 1840's to the present. The first manager, says Koppett, was Harry Wright, a former cricket star who founded the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. But the real history of managing begins in the early 20th century with three founding fathers: Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Branch Rickey. Mack was quiet and dignified, a brilliant tactician in a stiff-collared suit who was still managing in 1950 at the age of 88. McGraw, by contrast, was a brawler and a bully, a tyrant obsessed with winning. Rickey, a genius at organization, developed the farm system and the widely imitated Dodger approach to baseball, emphasizing speed, pitching, and intense practice. From these seminal figures, Koppett traces lines of descent-Rickey to Sparky Anderson, McGraw to Chuck Tanner, etc. In each case, the sage teaches his tricks firsthand to the protege, who then improves (or tries to) upon the master. Numerous giants pass under Koppett's gaze: Casey Stengel, ever the clown, with his hunches, platooning, and flamboyant double-talk; loudmouth Leo Durocher, always looking for an edge; gentle Al Rosen; Walter Alston, who had ``absolutely no charisma''; upbeat Ralph Houk; Billy Martin; Earl Weaver; Tommy Lasorda, and more. Drawing on decades of baseball experience (including personal acquaintance, and often friendship, with most of the managers discussed here), Koppett delivers lively portraits packed with baseball lore. A first-rate resource from which even lifelong fans will learn something new.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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VG minus in Very Good jacket. Size: 6x1x9; Signed 1st edition, 1st printing, Crown hardcover w/ DJ, 1993. Book is VG minus, w/ clean text, solid binding; spine cocked. DJ is VG, w/ light edge/shelf wear (no tears or chips). Signed by author on ffe page. Free delivery confirmation.