Brent Kelley

Baseball's Biggest Blunder

The Bonus Rule of 1953-1957

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book covers a previously ignored aspect of baseball history: the bonus rule of 1953-1957, which required players who signed a baseball contract for more than $4,000 to remain on the major league roster for two full seasons. These were the bonus babies. Very little has been published on this subject, and in most baseball histories it is mentioned only in passing. The bonus rule produced three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax) and several other long-time performers. Yet it also ruined many potential careers as most of the young men signed under these conditions were not ready for the major leagues and sat on the bench for two years while their talents rusted. Gone, therefore, from professional baseball in two years or less were players like John Edelman, Bruce Swango, and Paul Martin. Kelley tells the story of the rule and the players involved, using research from the files of the National Baseball Library as well as interviews with many of the bonus babies themselves and other players, managers, and baseball executives of the day. The book also tells a brief history of bonuses and explains how this rule led to the free agent draft in effect today.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Scarecrow Press
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. Dezember 1996
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 223mm x 146mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 363g
• ISBN-13: 9780810830493
• ISBN-10: 0810830493
• Artikelnr.: 22286957

Autorenporträt

Brent Kelley is a writer of baseball history, member of the Society for American Baseball Research, and a veterinarian. He is the author of four books on the history of our national pastime as well as nearly nearly 200 magazine and journal articles on all aspects of baseball.