Burleigh Grimes: Baseball's Last Legal Spitballer

by Joe Niese

Overview

Burleigh Grimes--forever to be remembered as the ill-tempered spitballer with the perpetual five o'clock shadow. For nearly two decades, he brought his surly disposition to the pitcher's mound. His life-or-death mentality resulted in a reputation as one of the game's great competitors and a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along the way he suited up for eight different ball clubs and played alongside a record 36 Hall of Famers.

Grimes spent more than half a century in professional baseball as a player, manager, coach and scout. This biography covers all aspects of his life, from his childhood in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, to his twilight years in that same town. In between are World Series highs and lows, brawls, five marriages, a near-death experience and 270 major league victories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476601793
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	04/26/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joe Niese is an award-winning author and a library director in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Joe Niese is an award-winning author and a library director in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Donald Honig
Preface
Introduction
 1. Northwoods Roots
 2. From the Bottom to the Top, 1912–1916
 3. Problems in Pittsburgh, 1916–1917
 4. Boily in Brooklyn, 1918–1921
 5. Burleigh and the Dazzler, 1922–1926
 6. Rejuvenation, 1927–1929
 7. Meet Me in St. Louis, 1930–1931
 8. Grizzled Veteran, 1932–1934
 9. Still in the Game, 1935–1964
10. The Hall Calls
11. Twilight Years
Appendix I: Major League Statistics
Appendix II: 36 Hall of Fame Teammates
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Joe Niese tells the story of Burleigh Grimes in marvelous detail, enriching bare numbers with anecdotes culled from a wide range of published sources…. Niece makes a candid assessment of how his subject’s behavior contributed to both his successes and limitations, and the result is a very balanced work of scholarship…this excellent biography does justice to Burleigh Old Stubblebeard Grimes. It is a welcome addition to baseball scholarship”—Nine; “for my money, Joe Niese did a great job with this book. He brought back to life someone that not many of us are familiar with. He portrays a different era in baseball in a light that all fans can relate to and understand.... This book introduces a new generation of fans to one of the games true characters. Check it out, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed”—Gregg’s Baseball Bookcase; “A well-researched biography essential for every fan of the Dead Ball Era”—Dorothy Seymour Mills, author of Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with Its History, Numbers, People and Places.

From the Publisher

"A well-researched biography essential for every fan of the Dead Ball Era"

author of Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with Its History, Numbers, People and Places - Dorothy Seymour Mills

Joe Niese tells the story of Burleigh Grimes in marvelous detail, enriching bare numbers with anecdotes culled from a wide range of published sources.... Niece makes a candid assessment of how his subject's behavior contributed to both his successes and limitations, and the result is a very balanced work of scholarship...this excellent biography does justice to Burleigh Old Stubblebeard Grimes. It is a welcome addition to baseball scholarship

Nine