Wow! eBook
Slide, Kelly, Slide: Wild Life and Times of Mike "King" Kelly, Baseball's First Superstar: No. 3
Author(s): Marty Appel (Author)
- Publisher: Scarecrow Press
- Publication Date: 19 Mar. 1996
- Language: English
- Print length: 246 pages
- ISBN-10: 0810829975
- ISBN-13: 9780810829978
Book Description
Slide, Kelly, Slide recounts the rough-and-tumble life of Mike “King” Kelly. Kelly was baseball’s first superstar whose soaring popularity and infectious charm helped make the infant sport a touchstone of American culture. His exploits on and off the field paved the way for his illustrious successors: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Ripken, and others. A hard-drinking, hard-living two-time batting champion and daring base runner, Kelly took full advantage of the one working umpire to skip bases on his way to the plate, feats that only increased his reputation for craftiness. However, the life and career of this baseball legend have largely been forgotten by even the most dedicated baseball fans and scholars. Slide, Kelly, Slide recounts this Hall of Famer’s life from his humble origins in Troy, New York, and Patterson, New Jersey, to the National League in Cincinnati, Chicago, and Boston. It also creates a vivid picture of baseball’s infancy; the many colorful players, owners, and individuals involved; and American culture in the late 1800s.
Editorial Reviews
From the Author
Casey Award winner, Best Baseball Book of 1996
Book offers a view of baseball’s first matinee idol, King Kelly, and through him, a look at both the development of baseball, and what it meant to be a celebrity in America a century ago. Kelly was the originator of the concept of autographing, was the subject of America’s first ‘pop hit record’, author of the game’s first autobiography, first player to exceed the salary limits, subject of a lithograph which hung in every saloon in Boston, and when he died at 36, so beloved, 10,000 witnessed his Boston funeral and accompanied his hearse eight miles to his final resting place. Book has an introduction by Larry Ritter, author of the acclaimed “Glory of Their Times.”
Book offers a view of baseball’s first matinee idol, King Kelly, and through him, a look at both the development of baseball, and what it meant to be a celebrity in America a century ago. Kelly was the originator of the concept of autographing, was the subject of America’s first ‘pop hit record’, author of the game’s first autobiography, first player to exceed the salary limits, subject of a lithograph which hung in every saloon in Boston, and when he died at 36, so beloved, 10,000 witnessed his Boston funeral and accompanied his hearse eight miles to his final resting place. Book has an introduction by Larry Ritter, author of the acclaimed “Glory of Their Times.”
About the Author
Marty Appel is director of public relations for The Topps Company, Inc.
