Most baseball fans know of the amazing accomplishments Hall of Fame members achieved on the field, from Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak to Cy Young’s 511 career wins. But few are as familiar with the ballplayers’ lives away from the diamond―especially those icons who played before the Internet and 24/7 media coverage. Beyond their baseball statistics, what kind of individuals were they? How did they conduct themselves out of the spotlight? What made them tick? In Beyond the Ballpark: The Honorable, Immoral, and Eccentric Lives of Baseball Legends , John A. Woodlooks at the personal lives of fifty members of the Hall of Fame, examining their childhoods, families, influences, life-changing events, defining moments, and more. The players range from the really good guys to bizarre characters and even the downright immoral. The author considers how tragedies may have impacted players, such as the shooting of Ty Cobb’s beloved father by his own mother, and seeks to explain the dispositions of others, such as why the great Rogers Hornsby couldn’t seem to get along with anybody. By taking a closer look at who the players were as men, Beyond the Ballpark captures the essence of these fifty Hall of Famers. Including such names as Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, this book is for all fans who are interested in more than just a ballplayer’s statistics. “Baseball during its history, has been full of characters to say the least. You could almost classify this book into the good, the bad and the ugly. Just for good measure you could throw in the sad as well. It takes a look at players lives outside of the game during their careers as well as their lives after baseball. The book sticks to legendary names of the game so it is a roster of players most fans are familiar with and possibly will shed some new light on some of their personalities. It goes well beyond statistics and shows what these guys were like on a man to man level. It shines a whole new light on the legends of the game and will help readers possibly understand why some of these players did what they did during their lives. The book covers a wide array of stars and eras so there should be someone in here everybody will relate to, no matter whom your team allegiance lies with.” ― Gregg's Baseball Bookcase “One of the most enjoyable parts of perusing this wide ranging cast of characters is the plethora of baseball anecdotes that fall as casually as dropped names.” ― The Inside Game: The Official Newsletter of SABR's Deadball Era Committee “Wood goes into plenty of detail about the lives after baseball of all the immortals in his book, touching on their religions, families and wives, and how successful they were in the next lives. It is a fascinating look at the men whose exploits on the field will live forever at Cooperstown.” ― The Mighty Quinn Media Machine Here are the baseball players covered in this book: ----------------------------------------------------------- Part I: The Good Guys Chapter 1: Wilbert Robinson 1863-1934 Ch. 2: Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy 1862-1956 Ch. 3: Denton True Young 1867-1955 Ch. 4: Napoleon Lajoie 1874-1959 Ch. 5: John Peter Wagner 1874-1955 Ch. 6: Joseph Jerome McGinnity 1871-1929 Ch. 7: Christopher Mathewson 1880-1925 Ch. 8: Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown 1876-1948 Ch. 9: Charles Albert Bender 1884-1954 Ch. 10: Walter Johnson 1887-1946 Ch. 11: John Franklin Baker 1886-1963 Ch. 12: Charles Arthur Vance 1891-1961 Ch. 13: George Harold Sisler 1893-1973 Ch. 14: Harold Joseph Traynor 1898-1972 Ch. 15: Joseph Vincent McCarthy 1887-1978 Ch. 16: Henry Benjamin Greenberg 1911-86 Ch. 17: George Clyde Kell 1922-2009 Part II: The Mixed Bags Chapter 18: John McGraw 1873-1934 Ch. 19: Edward Augustine Walsh 1882?-1959 Ch. 20: Tyrus Raymond Cobb 1886-1961 Ch. 21: Edward Trowbridge Collins 1887-1951 Ch. 22: Tristram Speaker 1888-1958 Ch. 23: Rogers Hornsby 1896-1963 Ch. 24: Waite Charles Hoyt 1899-1984 Ch. 25: William Harold Terry 1898-1989 Ch. 26: Robert Moses Grove 1900-75 Ch. 27: Paul Glee Waner (1903-65) & Lloyd James Waner (1906-82) Ch. 28: Carl Hubbell 1903-1988 Ch. 29: Leo Ernest Durocher 1905-91 Ch. 30: Joseph Paul DiMaggio 1914-99 Ch. 31: Mickey Charles Mantle 1931-95 Part III: The Eccentrics Chapter 32: George Edward Waddell 1876-1914 Ch. 33: Richard William Marquard 1886-1980 Ch. 34: Walter James Vincent Maranville 1891-1954 Ch. 35: Charles Dillon Stengel 1890-1975 Ch. 36: George Herman Ruth 1895-1948 Ch. 37: Leroy Paige 1906-82 Ch. 38: Jay Hanna Dean 1910-74 Ch. 39: Vernon Louis Gomez 1908-89 Part IV: The Sad Cases Chapter 40: Edward James Delahanty 1867-1903 Ch. 41: The Tragic Trio of Tinker, Evers, and Chance Ch. 42: Grover Cleveland Alexander 1887-1950 Ch. 43: Henry Louis Gehrig 1903-41 Ch. 44: Lewis Robert Wilson 1900-48 Ch. 45: James Emory Foxx 1907-67 Ch. 46: Joshua Gibson 1911-47 Ch. 47: Jack Roosevelt Robinson 1919-72 John A. Wood is professor emeritus of re