Florida's First Big League Baseball Players: A Narrative History (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781596291164)

In recent years, Florida's playgrounds have produced an abundance of exceptional professional baseball players: Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Luis Gonzales and Tino Martinez, to name only a few. Before 1950, however, only twenty-six Florida boys made it to the pros got their shot in the big leagues.

Players like Tampa's Al Lopez, a Hall of Fame member and baseball's first Hispanic manager, and Pensacola native Russ Scarritt, who set the Boston Red Sox record for most triples in a season his rookie year, blazed a trail that has opened the door for many of today's baseball superstars. Florida's First Big League Baseball Players, by baseball historian and enthusiast Wes Singletary, is a narrative journey into the early days of baseball in Florida before 1950.

When this project was undertaken only eight of the original twenty-six players were still living. Written from hours of interviews and presented in a narrative form that is engaging and informative, this collection allows the reader to journey back to a time when the game was more innocent and the heart of the men playing, a little bigger.

Author: Wes Singletary
ISBN-10: 1596291168
ISBN-13: 9781596291164
Publisher: History Press
Language: English
Published: 01/04/2006
Pages: 128
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 9.26h x 6.28w x 0.36d