About this item
Highlights
- The history of baseball is filled with players whose careers were defined by one bad play.
- About the Author: Jorge Iber is an associate dean and a professor of history at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
- 268 Pages
- Sports + Recreation, Baseball
Description
About the Book
The history of baseball is filled with players whose careers were defined by one bad play. Mike Torrez is remembered as the pitcher who gave up the infamous three-run homer to Bucky "Bleeping" Dent in the 1978 playoffs tie-breaker between the Red Sox and Yankees. Yet Torrez's life added up to much more than his worst moment on the mound. Coming from a vibrant Mexican American community that settled in Topeka, Kansas, in the early 1900s, he made it to the Majors by his own talent and efforts, with the help of an athletic program for Mexican youth that spread through the Midwest, Texas and Mexico during the 20th century. He was in the middle of many transformative events of the 1970s--such as the rise of free agency--and was an ethnic role model in the years before the "Fernandomania" of 1981. This book covers Torrez's life and career as the winningest Mexican American pitcher in Major League history.Book Synopsis
The history of baseball is filled with players whose careers were defined by one bad play. Mike Torrez is remembered as the pitcher who gave up the infamous three-run homer to Bucky "Bleeping" Dent in the 1978 playoffs tie-breaker between the Red Sox and Yankees. Yet Torrez's life added up to much more than his worst moment on the mound. Coming from a vibrant Mexican American community that settled in Topeka, Kansas, in the early 1900s, he made it to the Majors by his own talent and efforts, with the help of an athletic program for Mexican youth that spread through the Midwest, Texas and Mexico during the 20th century. He was in the middle of many transformative events of the 1970s--such as the rise of free agency--and was an ethnic role model in the years before the "Fernandomania" of 1981. This book covers Torrez's life and career as the winningest Mexican American pitcher in Major League history.
Review Quotes
"this is the first book to cover the entire career of Mike Torrez and contributes greatly to the literature on the Mexican-American experience of the twentieth century, against a backdrop of baseball. Overall, this is a good read for any baseball fan and a nice trip back through the decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Iber is a professional historian who knows how to conduct research and it shows"-Sport in American History; "should become a cornerstone in the historiography of Latino/a sport and the relationship between Latino/a ancestry and American identity"-Journal of Sport History; "a good read for any baseball fan and a nice trip back through the decades of the '60s, '70s and '80s. Iber is a professional historian who knows how to conduct research and it shows."-Doug Wilson Baseball Blogspot.
About the Author
Jorge Iber is an associate dean and a professor of history at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He is the author of numerous works on the role of Latinos and Latinas in U.S. sports.