Beyond the Ballpark

Although most baseball fans are familiar with the on-the-field accomplishments of Hall of Famers, few are as knowledgeable regarding who the players were beyond the ballpark. This book probes into the personal lives of fifty members of the Hall of Fame, examining their childhoods, families, influences, impactful life-changing events, and more.

John A. Wood is professor emeritus of religion at Baylor University. He is the author of Perspectives on War in the Bible (1998) and The Panthers and the Militias: Brothers under the Skin? (2002). Wood is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Prologue Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: The Good Guys Chapter 1: Wilbert Robinson 1863-1934 Chapter 2: Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy 1862-1956 Chapter 3: Denton True Young 1867-1955 Chapter 4: Napoleon Lajoie 1874-1959 Chapter 5: John Peter Wagner 1874-1955 Chapter 6: Joseph Jerome McGinnity 1871-1929 Chapter 7: Christopher Mathewson 1880-1925 Chapter 8: Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown 1876-1948 Chapter 9: Charles Albert Bender 1884-1954 Chapter 10: Walter Johnson 1887-1946 Chapter 11: John Franklin Baker 1886-1963 Chapter 12: Charles Arthur Vance 1891-1961 Chapter 13: George Harold Sisler 1893-1973 Chapter 14: Harold Joseph Traynor 1898-1972 Chapter 15: Joseph Vincent McCarthy 1887-1978 Chapter 16: Henry Benjamin Greenberg 1911-1986 Chapter 17: George Clyde Kell 1922-2009 Part II: The Mixed Bags Chapter 18: John McGraw 1873-1934 Chapter 19: Edward Augustine Walsh 1882?-1959 Chapter 20: Tyrus Raymond Cobb 1886-1961 Chapter 21: Edward Trowbridge Collins 1887-1951 Chapter 22: Tristram Speaker 1888-1958 Chapter 23: Rogers Hornsby 1896-1963 Chapter 24: Waite Charles Hoyt 1899-1984 Chapter 25: William Harold Terry 1898-1989 Chapter 26: Robert Moses Grove 1900-1975 Chapter 27: Paul Glee Waner (1903-1965) and Lloyd James Waner (1906-1982) Chapter 28: Carl Hubbell 1903-1988 Chapter 29: Leo Ernest Durocher 1905-1991 Chapter 30: Joseph Paul DiMaggio 1914-1999 Chapter 31: Mickey Charles Mantle 1931-1995 Part III: The Eccentrics Chapter 32: George Edward Waddell 1876-1914 Chapter 33: Richard William Marquard 1886-1980 Chapter 34: Walter James Vincent Maranville 1891-1954 Chapter 35: Charles Dillon Stengel 1890-1975 Chapter 36: George Herman Ruth 1895-1948 Chapter 37: Leroy Paige 1906-1982 Chapter 38: Jay Hanna Dean 1910-1974 Chapter 39: Vernon Louis Gomez 1908-1989 Part IV: The Sad Cases Chapter 40: Edward James Delahanty 1867-1903 Chapter 41: The Tragic Trio of Tinker, Evers, and Chance Chapter 42: Grover Cleveland Alexander 1887-1950 Chapter 43: Henry Louis Gehrig 1903-1941 Chapter 44: Lewis Robert Wilson 1900-1948 Chapter 45: James Emory Foxx 1907-1967 Chapter 46: Joshua Gibson 1911-1947 Chapter 47: Jack Roosevelt Robinson 1919-1972 Notes Bibliography Index About the Author