New book on the NYG Hall of Famer by David King.

Description:
Though Ross Youngs has been enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 1972, few have given his remarkable career its due. Born in Shiner and raised in San Antonio, Youngs played his first game as a professional at the age of sixteen, and just three years later, his contract was purchased by the New York Giants, one of baseball’s elite teams in the early twentieth century. Tragically, his promising career ended when he died from an illness at age thirty in 1927. Join author David King in a journey to discover the amazing Youngs as he was and the incredible legacy he left behind. Visit our Facebook page for ordering details!!

Found this on the net!!The Hall of Fame career of Mays starts with this letter.

Posted: Wednesday, 07/17/13
THE TRENTONAIN
By Jay Dunn
jdunn@trentonian.com

Fred Snodgrass, Hack Wilson, Mickey Owens and Bill Buckner were all good ball players. Yet every one of them had the misfortune to misplay a ball at a critical moment in a World Series game. No matter how good they were, their critical misplays will always be part of their legacies.
In baseball parlance, such players are called goats.Curiously enough, however, none of them would rank at the top of anyone’s list of being the most notorious goat of all time. Not even close.
A player named Fred Merkle put himself at the top of baseball’s all-time goat list in 1908. In the past 105 years no one has challenged his status.
Unlike the other famous gaffes, Merkle’s defining moment did not come in a World Series, and it did not involve a misplayed ball. It involved a base running mistake that actually was quite common in his era.
Merkle was the runner on first base when teammate Al Bridwell delivered what appeared to be a game-winning hit, scoring a runner from third, in a crucial September game. All Merkle had to do was run down to second and tag the base, but instead he ran straight to the clubhouse. That mistake cost his team, the New York Giants, the 1908 National League pennant.
Merkle was a teenager and seldom-used reserve on that team. He started at first base for the only time all year Sept. 23 when the Giants hosted the Chicago Cubs in a critical afternoon game. The teams were in a virtual tie for first place, and each led the third-place Pittsburgh Pirates by only one game.
To fully understand what happened that day, there are some facts you need to know.
The game was played in the Polo Grounds, an oval-shaped ballpark with a very deep center field and both clubhouses positioned beyond the centerfield wall. The moment a game ended it was traditional that the spectators were allowed to run onto the field while the players made a desperate dash for those clubhouses. Understand, also, that in 1908 every manager was his own third-base coach. The first-base coach was a player not in the lineup, usually a pitcher. On this day Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity was coaching first for the Giants. Continue reading →