{"title":"William F. McNeil","description":"William F. McNeil is a longtime baseball historian and the author of numerous books on the game. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), he is the recipient of five Robert Peterson awards for increasing the public's awareness of the Negro Leagues. He lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.","products":[{"product_id":"gabby-hartnett-the-life-and-times-of-the-cubs-greatest-catcher-paperback","title":"Gabby Hartnett: The Life and Times of the Cubs' Greatest Catcher - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Gabby Harnett is believed by many to be the greatest catcher of all time. This work chronicles Hartnett's life from his early years in Millville, Massachusetts, through his twenty-year career with the Chicago Cubs as player and manager, his time in various capacities in the minor leagues and with the New York Giants and Kansas City Athletics, to his post-major league career as a businessman in Chicago.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e His childhood, early baseball experiences with the local team and with a nearby prep school, and his first professional baseball season with the Worcester Boosters of the Eastern League are covered in detail. Hartnett's major league career as the catcher for the Cubs is well-documented, including his near career-ending arm injury in 1929, the 1932 World Series that featured Babe Ruth's legendary \"called shot,\" and Hartnett's famous \"homer in the gloamin\" against the Pittsburgh Pirates that propelled Chicago to the 1938 National League pennant. The author also compares Hartnett's statistics to those of his famous contemporaries, Mickey Cochrane and Bill Dickey, on a year-by-year basis.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67927343005919,"sku":"9780786418503","price":53.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/eH-HmDXM6p9780786418503.webp?v=1791255109"},{"product_id":"the-rise-of-mike-tyson-heavyweight-paperback","title":"The Rise of Mike Tyson, Heavyweight - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Covering Mike Tyson's rise through the amateur and professional boxing ranks, this book follows the Brooklyn native from his early years as a young criminal in Brownsville to his 1988 heavyweight unification match with Michael Spinks. The book focuses on the Catskill Boxing Club--where boxing guru Cus D'Amato trained the 210-pound teenager in the finer points of the sport and developed his impregnable defense--and on his home life with D'Amato and surrogate mother Camille Ewald and the other young fighters who lived with them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Tyson's boxing education began in the unauthorized \"smokers\" held every week in the Bronx, matching his skills against older, more experienced fighters. He won the 1981 Amateur Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Colorado Springs at the age of 14 and repeated the amazing feat the following year. By 1985, finding no other challenging amateur competition, he was forced to join the professional ranks where, in November 1986, he became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history. Less than two years later, he unified the crown, establishing himself as one of the most dominant heavyweight fighters the sport had ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67927527719135,"sku":"9780786496488","price":63.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/HR01sPrtgW9780786496488.webp?v=1791262333"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/william-f-mcneil.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}