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Mike Sowell

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Mike Sowell


Genre
Sports, Nonfiction


Mike Sowell is a sports historian and the author of three baseball books, including The Pitch That Killed about Ray Chapman and Carl Mays. Named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times in 1989,[citation needed] and winner of the CASEY Award for best baseball book of 1989,[1] The Pitch That Killed tells the story of the only on-field fatality in major league baseball history, when the Yankees' Mays beaned the Indians' Chapman in the final weeks of the 1920 American League pennant race.[2]

Sowell also wrote about baseball tragedies in his other books. One Pitch Away, about the 1986 baseball postseason and the key players involved, featured Donnie Moore, the Angels pitcher whose suicide two years later was linked to his role in the 198 ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.17 · 1,169 ratings · 134 reviews · 7 distinct works • Similar authors
The Pitch That Killed
4.26 avg rating — 935 ratings — published 1989 — 9 editions
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One Pitch Away: The Players...
3.86 avg rating — 153 ratings — published 1995 — 5 editions
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July 2, 1903: The Mysteriou...
3.73 avg rating — 81 ratings — published 1992
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The Pitch That Killed by Mi...
0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions
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Pitch That Killed
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Ju;ly 2, 1903 the Mysteriou...
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One Pitch Away
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More books by Mike Sowell…
Quotes by Mike Sowell  (?)
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“Before setting off to make his mark in baseball in 1887, Ed Delahanty went to his mother and announced, 'I'm goin' to quit you and play ball in Mansfield [Ohio].'

'Drat baseball,' shot back Mrs. Delahanty. 'It's ruinin' the family.'

In a final attempt to win her approval, Ed reminded his mother of the money there was to be made in the game.

'I'm comin' home with "rocks" in me pocket,' he said.

Mrs. Delahanty remained unimpressed.

'And many's the time ye've come back with rocks on the side of yer thick head,' she answered.”
― Mike Sowell, July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty
tags: baseball, family
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“There was a time when the [National baseball]League stood for integrity and fair dealing. Today it stands for dollars and cents. Once it looked to the elevation of the game and an honest exhibition of the sport. Today its eyes are on the turnstile. Men have come into the business for no other motive than to exploit it for every dollar in sight.

Brotherhood Manifesto, November 1889”
― Mike Sowell, July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty
tags: baseball, profit-motive, sport
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