Jack Coombs: A Life in Baseball

Jack Coombs: A Life in Baseball





Jack Coombs rose to deadball-era stardom as the ace of Connie Mack's Athletics, winners of back-to-back world championships in 1910 and 1911. One of few players of his day to have graduated from college, Coombs debuted for the Athletics in 1906, fresh from Colby College, and found success early. Within a few years, he was one of the best and best-known pitchers in baseball, leading the majors in victories. But then in 1913 Coombs contracted typhoid fever, a disease that cost the right-hander two seasons at the peak of his career. And while he battled his way back to baseball, pitching well in his comeback season of 1915 and then leading the Brooklyn Robins to the World Series in 1916, Coombs was never again the dominant pitcher he had been. Coombs went on to a long and successful career as a college coach for Duke University, and he would write one of the most highly regarded instructional books on baseball ever published









List Price: $ 29.95



Price: $ 29.95



Meet the Real Joe Black: An Inspiring Life - Baseball, Teaching, Business, Giving





Joe Black was a baseball pioneer, the first black pitcher ever to win a World Series game. He then became the only Major Leaguer to become a full-time public school teacher after his baseball career ended. The Black family lived in a very modest house right next to the author's father's auto body shop near the railroad tracks in the poorest part of Plainfield, New Jersey and they knew his late father, Nathan. The author first met Mr. Black when he came to Hubbard Junior High School as a teacher and baseball coach and their forty-five year friendship continued until his death in 2002. As his teacher, coach, and mentor until the end of his life, Mr. Black became a trusted friend. He greatly influenced the author's life, his law practice, and his family. Selzer was given the honor of being the opening speaker at Joe Black's Memorial Celebration on June 1, 2002. Many of Joe's friends, acquaintances, and former colleagues contributed stories for this book; among them are Bill Cosby, Sandy Koufax, Bob Costas, Joe Garagiola, and many others.









List Price: $ 25.95



Price: $ 17.49