Willie Keeler

Playing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Willie Keeler is still considered one of baseball's most accomplished batters in the history of the game. Wee Willie's popular "Hit 'em where they ain't" explanation for his batting success has become part of baseball lore. He is known for his quick-thinking at the plate and for his record-setting forty-four-game hitting streak in 1897 that was not surpassed until Joe DiMaggio broke the record in 1941. In addition to being one of baseball's most accomplished hitters, Keeler was an integral part of two memorable teams-the Baltimore Orioles of 1894-1897 and the Brooklyn Superbas of 1899-1900.
Willie Keeler: From the Playgrounds of Brooklyn to the Hall of Fame recounts the life of this talented yet often overlooked ballplayer. It follows Keeler from his birth in 1872 in Brooklyn to his death in 1923. His unique story includes a career that was almost evenly split between the rough and "dirty" National League of the 1890s and the new, more disciplined American League of the early twentieth century. Each part of this book examines a key stage of Keeler's life and career: his childhood and teenage years; his career with the Baltimore Orioles; his years with the Brooklyn Superbas; his time with the New York Yankees; and his life after baseball.
Featuring several rare photographs, many of which have not been seen in more than a hundred years, Willie Keeler provides an in-depth look into the life of an undersized ballplayer who forged a big career. Baseball fans, scholars, and historians alike will find this book both informative and entertaining.

Lyle Spatz is the former longtime chairman of the Society for American Baseball Research's Baseball Records Committee. He is the author of numerous baseball books, including Historical Dictionary of Baseball (2012) and Willie Keeler: From the Playgrounds of Brooklyn to the Hall of Fame (2015), both published by Rowman & Littlefield. Spatz is also the co-author of 1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York (2010), which won SABR's Seymour Medal for best baseball history of the year. Spatz's baseball articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Total Baseball, Baseball Digest, and more. In 2000 he was presented with SABR's highest honor, the Bob Davids Award, and in 2017 he was a recipient of SABR's Henry Chadwick Award, established to honor the game's great researchers.

Acknowledgments
List of Photographs
Introduction
Part One: Early Life
1. Willie Keeler in American Culture
2. A Brooklyn Boyhood
3. Reaching the Big League
Part Two: The Baltimore Orioles
4. A Dynasty Begins to Take Shape
5. It's a Whole New Game They're Playing
6. The Game of the Nineties Was Just Ugly
7. And Now We Have the Best Baseball Club
8. Another Pennant Won, Another Temple Cup Lost
9. A Clean Sweep
10. The Streak
11. Good vs. Evil
12. The Most Valuable Player in the Profession
13. Baltimore Had a Good Team and a Lousy Market
Part Three: The Brooklyn Superbas
14. Hanlon's Superbas
15. The League Shrinks, but Brooklyn Remains on Top
16. Winning the Chronicle Cup
17. Keep Your Eye Clear and Hit 'em Where They Ain't
18. Will Willie Stay or Will Willie Go
19. I Am in Baseball for All I Can Get Out Of It
Part Four: The New York Yankees
20. Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge
21. A Disappointing First Season in New York
22. The Yankees Pursue Their First Pennant
23. The Wild Pitch
24. The Yankees Struggle through an Injury-Marred Season
25. Willie Keeler and Ty Cobb
26. Keeler Has His Last Good Season
27. A Last Hurrah in Baltimore
28. Willie Keeler's Work Has Been Unsatisfactory
29. Boys, I Guess My Time Has Come
Part Five: Life after Baseball
30. Keeler's Playing Career Comes to an End
31. We're Not All Lucky
32. The World Might Have Used Him Better
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author