CiNii Books - Silver bats and automobiles : the hotly competitive, sometimes ignoble pursuit of the major league batting championship

Almost from professional baseball's birth more than 130 years ago, the batting championship has been one of the sport's most highly coveted awards. Since 1949, the Louisville Slugger company has presented the man with the highest batting average at season's end with the Silver Bat Award, a regulation-sized metal bat plated in sterling silver with the winner's name and average engraved upon it. Throughout the years, heated battles for the Silver Bat Award have featured unusual machinations by players, managers, and entire teams, including allegations of cheating, bribery, deliberate misplays, and questionable strategies, and, in one especially bitter campaign, charges of racism. Here are the stories behind these races.

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Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface 1. The Birth of Batting Average 2. The First Batting Champions 3. Waiting on Deck 4. The Eternal Question: Play or Sit? 5. Bubbles, Cuckoo, and Schnozz 6. A Walk Is as Good as a Hit 7. Mad Dog 8. The Ted Williams Effect 9. An Equal Chance 10. Brett and McRae 11. 1931: A Four-Way Race 12. Scoring Disputes 13. The Curious Case of Adrian Anson 14. The Unloved Batting Champ 15. Cheating for Fun and Profit 16. Backing In 17. The Boston Connection 18. Looking Out for Number One 19. Minor League Shenanigans 20. Quirky Rules 21. Sittin’ Out 22. The Most Contentious Batting Race of All 23. Beyond Batting Average Chapter Notes Bibliography Index

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Silver bats and automobiles : the hotly competitive, sometimes ignoble pursuit of the major league batting championship

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