Split season: 1981
Subtitle: Fernandomania, the Bronx zoo, and the strike that saved baseball
By: Jeff Katz
Edition: First edition.
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
ISBN-13: 9781250045218
Subjects: Baseball; History
Other titles: Split season: nineteen eighty one
Description: "1981 was a watershed moment in American sports, when players turned an oligarchy of owners into a game where they had a real voice. Midway through the season, a game-changing strike ripped baseball apart, the first time a season had ever been stopped in the middle because of a strike. Marvin Miller and the Players' Association squared off against Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and the owners in a fight to protect players' rights to free agency and defend America's pastime. Though a time-bomb was ticking as the 1981 season began, the game rose to impressive--and now legendary--heights. Pete Rose chased Stan Musial's National League hit record and rookie Fernando Valenzuela was creating a sensation as the best pitcher in the league when the stadiums went dark and the players went on strike. For the first time in modern history, there were first and second-half champions and the two teams with the overall best records in the National League were not awarded playoff berths. When the season resumed after an absence of 712 games, the season picked up again with a Nolan Ryan no-hitter. The Dodgers bested their long-time rivals in a Yankees-Dodgers World Series, the last classic matchup of those storied opponents. Pulling from incredible and extensive interviews with almost all of the strike's major players, Split Season: 1981 brings back the on-field and off-field drama of an unforgettable baseball year"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-313) and index.
Table of contents: title: October-December 1980; title: Pre-pre-season, December 19180-February 1981; title: Spring Training, February-April; title: Opening Day, April-June; title: Life during striketime, June; title: "It's getting very nasty in there," July; title: Start me up, July 31-August 9; title: Reopening day, August 10-October 5; title: Postseason, October 6-19; title: World Series, October 20-28; title: Beyond the split season, November 1981-present.