Full Description
This is the story of one of the most dramatic baseball seasons ever, as it stretched both backwards and forwards--from the ghosts of seasons and players past to the reality of what followed. At the beginning of 1986, most of the baseball talk was about money; at the end it was about a season that played out with a compelling cast of memorable characters--Bonds, Canseco, Puckett, Ryan, Rose, Boyd, Gooden, Strawberry, Clemens, Boggs, Hernandez, and more.
On an institutional level the game faced critical issues--player contracts, collusion, drugs, free agency, charges of racism, cheating, gambling, the growing popularity of professional football, and the influence of cable TV and satellites. Yet it produced a season of intense drama ending with an unforgettable post-season.
Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
1. One of the Best Ever
2. Ueberroth in Control
3. The "C" Word
4. The "D" Word
5. Hopes and Dreams
6. Bullies in Pinstripes
7. Won't This Curse Ever End?
8. The Chicken Man
9. Rickey Knows Rickey
10. Where's the Can?
11. A Hitch in His Gait
12. Nearing the End
13. Everybody Loves Kirby
14. That Was Last Year
15. Abner Doubledata
16. A Talent the Likes of Which Are Seldom Seen
17. The Wild Boys
18. Doc Ain't Stupid
19. Welcome to the Alpha Male Club
20. Class
21. Signs of Trouble
22. Opening Day
23. Early Season Oddities
24. The Rocket
25. La La Land
26. You Gotta Believe
27. Darling of the Mets
28. Living in Another World
29. Clean Living
30. Drugs of Choice
31. Fight On
32. Renaissance Scholar in a Baseball Cap
33. Gambling on the Game
34. The Way They Used to Play
35. The Image of the Game
36. It Pumps Up Your Confidence
37. Lawyer on the Bench
38. Bunyanesque Feats
39. Here Comes the Judge
40. Baseball Exorcist
41. All About Money
42. The Big Silence
43. Mid-Season Form
44. Like Attila the Hun
45. Looking for Heroes
46. Wally's World
47. Family Values
48. As Mellow as Mr. Rogers
49. Misunderstood
50. Who's In: Who's Not
51. Signs of Confusion
52. The Tony Gwyn of Pitching
53. Challenges to America's Game
54. Making Waves Is Dangerous
55. The Fine Art of Cheating
56. Best and Worst
57. The Cowboy and the Goat
58. Just What Everyone Wanted
59. Disaster Wrapped in Catastrophe
60. Symbol of Failure
Bibliography
Index
