{"title":"William A. Cook","description":"William A. Cook is the author of numerous books, including 11 on baseball history, and has appeared in productions on ESPN2 and the MLB Network. A former health care administrator and township councilman in North Brunswick, New Jersey, he resides in Manalapan, New Jersey.","products":[{"product_id":"jim-thorpe-a-biography-paperback","title":"Jim Thorpe: A Biography - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Most biographies of Jim Thorpe (1888-1953) emphasize his Olympic glory and his remarkable abilities in track and football. Thorpe's 1912 gold medals in the decathalon and pentathalon and his talent on the gridiron rank him high among outstanding athletes of the twentieth century. That Thorpe also played brilliantly on the baseball diamond is an often overlooked facet of his career. This narrative of Thorpe's rise and fall in American sports pays particular attention to his time in the major and minor leagues, including his stormy relationship with New York Giants manager John McGraw and baseball's role in stripping Thorpe of his Olympic medals. By chronicling Thorpe's involvement in baseball, football and track concurrently, this profile offers a complete portrait of one of the most versatile athletes in sports history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67927523033311,"sku":"9780786463558","price":53.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/RL8JCciLD29780786463558.webp?v=1791262291"},{"product_id":"collision-course-the-basketball-lives-of-bob-cousy-and-oscar-robertson-and-the-collapse-of-the-cincinnati-royals-paperback","title":"Collision Course: The Basketball Lives of Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson and The Collapse of the Cincinnati Royals - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing the 1956-57 NBA season the Fort Wayne Pistons relocated to Detroit and the Rochester Royals were moved to Cincinnati. The relocations of the Fort Wayne and Rochester franchises left Syracuse as the last small market team in the NBA.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the 1960s began the NBA entered the crossroads of its existence featuring such mega stars as Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Hal Greer, the Boston Celtics became the most dominating team in the league. Led by Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, and John Havlicek, the Celtics would win eleven NBA championships between 1957 and 1969. But during the 1960s the Cincinnati Royals were a team also loaded with All-Stars and former Olympic players like Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Wayne Embry, and Adrian Smith. But the Royals would never win a championship in Cincinnati and in 1973 relocated to Kansas City. Today the franchise is the Sacramento Kings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo what went wrong in Cincy? While the Royals received only marginal support from their fans and absentee owner Louie Jacobs, the Buffalo concessionaire king and Godfather of sports, the answer to the downfall of the Royals seems to lie somewhere in the basketball stories of Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson whose brilliant careers collided in an unharmonious relationship when the retired Cousy became coach of the Royals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Bob Cousy had been credited for saving professional basketball in Boston as a player, he is also credited with destroying professional basketball in Cincinnati as a coach. The uneasy relationship in Cincinnati between Cousy the coach and Robertson the player fueled by leftover competitive conflict from their days as players on the hardwood would become a collision of will between them and render the Royals franchise dysfunctional.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67946340221151,"sku":"9781620062104","price":21.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/X8-6X5UYCF9781620062104.webp?v=1791514290"},{"product_id":"king-of-the-bootleggers-a-biography-of-george-remus-paperback","title":"King of the Bootleggers: A Biography of George Remus - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e As a pharmacist turned lawyer turned master prohibition era bootlegger, George Remus is now remembered as one of the most notorious figures of the American prohibition. Even though he was a lifelong teetotaler, Remus built one of the nation's largest illegal liquor empires with little regard to disguises or secrecy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This biography tells the complete story of Remus' private life and public persona, focusing especially on the turbulent rise and fall of his bootlegging kingdom. It begins with an overview of Remus' early life and careers in pharmacy and law, and covers his bootlegging career, including his overwhelmingly successful early business ventures, his 1922 bootlegging conviction, his murder of wife Imogene (after she had a well-publicized affair with prohibition agent Franklin Dodge), and Remus' subsequent trial for her murder.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67960386191583,"sku":"9780786436521","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/F0JdqdiTzZ9780786436521.webp?v=1791676276"},{"product_id":"waite-hoyt-a-biography-of-the-yankees-schoolboy-wonder-paperback","title":"Waite Hoyt: A Biography of the Yankees' Schoolboy Wonder - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Waite Hoyt was much more than a baseball player. A multi-faceted, sometimes troubled man, Hoyt was a vaudevillian, a mortician, a writer, a painter, and (of course) a Hall of Fame pitcher. He was also an alcoholic who overcame his demons and became one of the first players to make the transition to the announcer's booth. His teammates and managers were among the all-time greats, but he'll always be associated with his friend Babe Ruth. He was there when Ruth hit 29 homers for a new record in 1919; when Ruth hit his 60th in 1927; when the Babe hit his 714th, and last, home run; he was even a pallbearer at Ruth's funeral. His career on the mound and as the Cincinnati Reds announcer lasted from 1915 to 1965, and to walk in his footsteps is to journey through the history of baseball in the 20th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This biography of Waite Hoyt involves many great moments in baseball history, and includes some of the classic tales that Hoyt, a natural-born storyteller, would tell about his teammates. It follows his transition from a career on the field to his career behind the microphone, and his struggles with alcoholism that almost cost him his dream of working as a broadcaster. Later chapters chronicle his years in the announcer's booth, his induction into Cooperstown, and his longtime championing of Babe Ruth as beyond compare, even as Ruth's most prominent records fell to Maris and Aaron.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67967801065695,"sku":"9780786419609","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/HVEd7YPgKc9780786419609.webp?v=1791744698"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/william-a-cook.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}