Mike Sowell

Last updated

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 1986 ALCS, and Bill Buckner, whose 20-year career was tainted by missing a ground ball in Game 6 of the World Series. [3] Sowell's 1992 book July 2, 1903 explored the mysterious death of Hall-of-Famer Ed Delahanty, who died after being swept over Niagara Falls. [4]

In addition to his books and articles on baseball history, Sowell wrote the text for Cardtoons, a set of baseball parody cards that led to a lawsuit with the Major League Baseball Players Association. [5] [6] In Cardtoons v. MLBPA, the court ruled in 1996 that the cards parodying the players and their greed were protected by the First Amendment. [7] [8]

Sowell, a former sportswriter for the Tulsa Tribune , [2] is now a journalism professor at Oklahoma State University. [9] He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2007. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferguson Jenkins</span> Canadian baseball player (born 1942)

Ferguson Arthur "Fergie" Jenkins CM is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher and coach. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 to 1983 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Spahn</span> American baseball player (1921–2003)

Warren Edward Spahn was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-handed pitcher, Spahn played in 1942 and then from 1946 until 1965, most notably for the Boston Braves, who became the Milwaukee Braves after the team moved west before the 1953 season. His baseball career was interrupted by his military service in the United States Army during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allie Reynolds</span> Native American baseball player (1917–1994)

Allie Pierce Reynolds was an American professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). Reynolds pitched in MLB for the Cleveland Indians (1942–1946) and New York Yankees (1947–1954). A member of the Creek nation, Reynolds was nicknamed "Superchief".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Split-finger fastball</span> Baseball pitch

A split-finger fastball or splitter is an off-speed pitch in baseball that looks to the batter like a fastball until it drops suddenly. Derived from the forkball, it is so named because the pitcher puts the index and middle finger on different sides of the ball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Hernandez</span> American Major League Baseball player

Keith Hernandez is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman who played the majority of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. Hernandez was a five-time All-Star who shared the 1979 NL MVP award and won two World Series titles, one each with the Cardinals and Mets. Since 1998, he has been a color commentator on the Mets television broadcasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Sutter</span> American baseball player (1953–2022)

Howard Bruce Sutter was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1976 and 1988. He was one of the sport's dominant relievers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making effective use of the split-finger fastball. A six-time All-Star and 1982 World Series champion, Sutter recorded a 2.83 career earned run average and 300 saves, the third-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement. Sutter won the National League's (NL) Cy Young Award in 1979 as its top pitcher, and won the NL Rolaids Relief Man Award four times. He became the only pitcher to lead the NL in saves five times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Coveleski</span> Major League Baseball pitcher (1889–1984)

Stanley Anthony Coveleski was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four American League (AL) teams between 1912 and 1928, primarily the Cleveland Indians. The star of the Indians pitching staff, he won over 20 games each year from the epidemic-shortened 1918 season through 1921, leading the AL in shutouts twice and in strikeouts and earned run average (ERA) once each during his nine years with the club. The star of the 1920 World Series, he led the Indians to their first title with three complete-game victories, including a 3–0 shutout in the Game 7 finale. Traded to the Washington Senators after the 1924 season, he helped that club to its second AL pennant in a row with 20 victories against only 5 losses, including a 13-game winning streak, while again leading the league in ERA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Chapman</span> American baseball player (1891–1920)

Raymond Johnson Chapman was an American baseball player. He spent his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Delahanty</span> American baseball player (1867–1903)

Edward James Delahanty, nicknamed "Big Ed", was an American professional baseball player, who spent his Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career with the Philadelphia Quakers, Cleveland Infants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Senators. He was renowned as one of the game's early power hitters, and while primarily a left fielder, also spent time as an infielder. Delahanty won a batting title, batted over .400 three times, and has the fifth-highest career batting average in MLB history. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Delahanty died as a result of falling into the Niagara River or being swept over Niagara Falls (undetermined), after being removed from a train while intoxicated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Hubbell</span> American baseball player (1903-1988)

Carl Owen Hubbell, nicknamed "the Meal Ticket" and "King Carl", was an American Major League Baseball player. He was a pitcher for the New York Giants of the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained on the team's payroll for the rest of his life, long after their move to San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Sewell</span> American baseball player (1898–1990)

Joseph Wheeler Sewell was an American professional baseball infielder who played in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees from 1920 to 1933. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marty Appel</span> American executive and author

Martin E. Appel, is an American public relations and sports management executive, television executive producer, baseball historian and author.

Rick Wolff was an American book editor, author, college coach, broadcaster, and onetime professional baseball player. He was the son of Hall of Fame Sportscaster Bob Wolff. He was Senior Executive Editor at Large with Kevin Anderson and Associates and hosted "The Sports Edge" on WFAN Sports Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia Phillies all-time roster</span> List of baseball players

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The team has played officially under two names since beginning play in 1883: the current moniker, as well as the "Quakers", which was used in conjunction with "Phillies" during the team's early history. The team was also known unofficially as the "Blue Jays" during the World War II era. Since the franchise's inception, 2,081 players have made an appearance in a competitive game for the team, whether as an offensive player or a defensive player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulsa Golden Hurricane football</span> American football team in Oklahoma

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane football program represents the University of Tulsa in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. Tulsa has competed in the American Athletic Conference since the 2014 season and was previously a member of Conference USA (C-USA). The team is led by head coach Kevin Wilson. Tulsa plays its home games at Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The University of Tulsa has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of all schools that participate at the FBS level.

The Pitch That Killed: Carl Mays, Ray Chapman and the Pennant Race of 1920 is a non-fiction baseball book written by Mike Sowell and published in 1989. The book concentrates on the 1920 major league season, especially the events surrounding Ray Chapman's death from a pitch thrown by Carl Mays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendell Smith (sportswriter)</span> American sportswriter

John Wendell Smith was an American sportswriter and civil rights activist who was influential in the choice of Jackie Robinson's career as the first African American Major League Baseball player. Similarly, Smith was one of the first African American sport-writers to be a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, and was posthumously awarded the J. G. Taylor Spink Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

References

  1. ↑ Casey Award Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine , Spitball: The Baseball Literary Magazine (accessed March 17, 2010).
  2. 1 2 Susan Jacoby, "Death on the Mound", New York Times , September 17, 1989.
  3. ↑ Mike Penner, " Angel Fans Can't 86 This From Their Memories", Los Angeles Times , May 17, 1995.
  4. ↑ Phil Jackman, "Mystery of Delahanty's death makes for Hall of Fame book", Baltimore Sun , June 23, 1992.
  5. ↑ David Barron, "Cardtoons set gives baseball's greedmeisters their due", Houston Chronicle , February 25, 1996.
  6. ↑ Dave Anderson, "Sports of The Times;Baseball's New Satire: 'Cardtoons'", New York Times , June 3, 1995.
  7. ↑ Leigh Jones, "Cardtoons parody ruling strikes `Very Minor' hit", The Journal-Record (Oklahoma City), January 7, 1997.
  8. ↑ Cardtoons v. Major League Baseball Players Association Archived 2010-10-09 at the Wayback Machine , 95 F.3d 959 (10th Circuit 1996).
  9. ↑ "Mike Sowell Giving the Keynote Speech" Archived 2010-06-13 at the Wayback Machine , SABR website, May 27, 2003 (accessed March 17, 2010).
  10. ↑ Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame [ permanent dead link ] (accessed March 17, 2010).
  11. ↑ "10 journalists due honors", Tulsa World , March 4, 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.