Specs Toporcer
George Toporcer (born ''Toporczer''; February 9, 1899 – May 17, 1989) was an American professional baseball player and executive. He served primarily as a utility infielder during his eight seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1921 through 1928. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed and was listed as tall and . Toporcer is widely considered as the first major league baseball position player to wear eyeglasses on the playing field. The distinction gained Toporcer his nickname, "Specs". Early life George Toporczer was obsessed with baseball from childhood, but he was always picked last during childhood games because of his slight build and glasses. He claimed in an interview that for the last 75 years he had thought about the sport nearly daily. He went to school and became friends with Jimmy Cagney, staying in touch into the later portions of their lives. When Toporczer was six he attended the 1905 World Series, and watched the Gi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. Although there are many rules to baseball, in general the team playing offense tries to score runs by batting balls into the field that enable runners to make a complete circuit of the four bases. The team playing in the field tries to prevent runs by catching the ball before it hits the ground, by tagging runners with the ball while they are not touching a base, or by throwing the ball to first base before the batter who hit the ball can run from home plate to first base. There are nine defensive positions on a baseball field. The part of the baseball field closest to the batter (shown in the diagram as light brown) is known as the "infield" (as opposed to the "outfield", the part of the field furthest ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located on Chicago's Community areas in Chicago, North Side. They are one of two major league teams based in Chicago, alongside the American League (AL)’s Chicago White Sox. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, were founded in and are one of two remaining NL charter franchises that debuted in . They have been known as the Chicago Cubs since 1903 Chicago Cubs season, 1903. Throughout the club's history, the Cubs have played in a total of 11 World Series. The 1906 Chicago Cubs season, 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of , before losing the 1906 World Series, World Series to the 1906 Chicago White Sox season, Chicag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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College
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary school. In most of the world, a college may be a high school or secondary school, a college of further education, a training institution that awards trade qualifications, a higher-education provider that does not have university status (often without its own degree-awarding powers), or a constituent part of a university. In the United States, a college may offer undergraduate programs – either as an independent institution or as the undergraduate program of a university – or it may be a residential college of a university or a community college, referring to (primarily public) higher education institutions that aim to provide affordable and accessible education, usually limited to two-year associate degrees. The word "college" is g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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High School
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., both levels 2 and 3 of the ISCED scale, but these can also be provided in separate schools. There may be other variations in the provision: for example, children in Australia, Hong Kong, and Spain change from the primary to secondary systems a year later at the age of 12, with the ISCED's first year of lower secondary being the last year of primary provision. In the United States, most local secondary education systems have separate middle schools and high schools. Middle schools are usually from grades 6–8 or 7–8, and high schools are typically from grades 9–12. In the United Kingdom, most state schools and privately funded schools accommodate pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 or between 11 and 18; some UK privat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, largest, and average area per state and territory, smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the state, Manhattan constitutes the center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area. Manhattan serves as New York City's Economy of New York City, economic and Government of New York City, administrative center and has been described as the cultural, financial, Media in New York City, media, and show business, entertainment capital of the world. Present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post by Dutch colonization of the Americas, D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yorkville, Manhattan
Yorkville is a neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Its southern boundary is East 79th Street (Manhattan), 79th Street, its northern East 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street, its western Third Avenue, and its eastern the East River. Yorkville is one of the List of city districts by population density, most densely populated city subdivisions in the world, and the most dense of such in the U.S. Yorkville is part of Manhattan Community Board 8, Manhattan Community District 8, and its primary ZIP Codes are 10028, 10075, and 10128. It is patrolled by the 19th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. History Early history Pre-colonization, Yorkville was an undeveloped area of forests and streams. In August 1776, George Washington in the American Revolution, George Washington stationed half of his Continental Army in Manhattan and the other half in Brooklyn. Many troops in the Yorkville area on Manhattan's Upper East Side were in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Glory Of Their Times
''The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It'' is a 1966 book, edited by Lawrence Ritter, telling the stories of early 20th century baseball. It is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest books ever written about baseball. Preparation Ritter got the idea for the book in 1961 upon the death of Ty Cobb, and was also influenced by the works of John and Alan Lomax, who traveled the country in the 1930s and 1940s with tape recorders seeking out old and almost forgotten American folk songs. Ritter realized that those who played baseball in the early years of the 20th century were now old men, and he resolved to interview as many of them as he could in order to record their memories. Ritter travelled 75,000 miles to interview his subjects, sitting for hours listening to them tell their tales into his tape recorder. The book retells their stories in the first-person, as they were told to Ritter. Publication The interviews were made b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John McGraw
John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager (baseball), manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants (NL), New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the Pennant (sports)#Pennants as trophies, pennant-winning 1890s Baltimore Orioles (1882–1899), Baltimore Orioles teams, noted for their innovative, aggressive play. McGraw was born into poverty in Truxton, New York. He found an escape from his hometown and a bad family situation through baseball, beginning a quick rise through the minor leagues that led him to the Orioles at the age of 18. Under the tutelage of manager Ned Hanlon (baseball), Ned Hanlon, the Orioles of the 1890s won three National League (baseball), National League (NL) pennants; McGraw was one of the stalwarts of the team alongside Wee Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, and Wilbert Robinson. The Orioles perfected the hit and run (baseball), hit and run pla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Burns (outfielder)
George Joseph Burns (November 24, 1889 – August 15, 1966) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career as the leadoff hitter for the New York Giants. Nicknamed "Silent George" by his teammates due to his soft-spoken personality, he was an effective leadoff man who was revered for his plate discipline. Burns is one of only four players in major league history to lead the league in runs and walks five times each; the others are Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Mickey Mantle."Most Times Leading League Batting Statistics." Baseball Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders-most-times-bat.shtml A two-time stolen base champion, he holds the Giants franchise record for stolen bases in a single season (62, in ), and held the club's career record from 1919 to 1972. At the end of his career, his 1262 games in left field ranked eighth in major league history, and his total of 1844 games in the outfield ranked sixth in NL history. Car ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Left Fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the left fielder is assigned the number seven. Position description Of all outfielders, the left fielder often will have the weakest arm, as he generally does not need to throw the ball as far to prevent the advance of any baserunners. The left fielder still requires good fielding and catching skills, and tends to receive more balls than the right fielder because right-handed hitters tend to "pull" the ball into left field. The left fielder also backs up third baseman, third base on pick-off attempts from the catcher or pitcher and bunts, when possible. Moreover, when a runner is stealing third base, the left fielder must back up the throw from the catcher. Left fielders must also back up third base when ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dead-ball Era
In major league baseball, the dead-ball era refers to a period from about 1900 to 1920 in which run scoring was low and home runs were rare in comparison to the years that followed. In 1908, the major league batting average dropped to .239, and teams averaged just 3.4 runs per game, the lowest ever. Spacious ballparks limited hitting for power, and the ball itself was "dead" both by design and from overuse. Ball scuffing and adulteration by pitchers, particularly the spitball, were allowed, putting hitters at a disadvantage. The era ended very suddenly; by 1921, offenses were scoring 40% more runs and hitting four times as many home runs as they had in 1918. There is no consensus among baseball historians as to what caused the change. Baseball during the dead-ball era During the dead-ball era, baseball was much more of a strategy-driven game, using a style of play now known as small ball or inside baseball. It relied much more on plays such as stolen bases and hit-an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |