Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer

Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer

Millions of Americaâ€™s youth dream of playing major league baseball or in a college bowl game on New Yearâ€™s Day. Growing up in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Ransom Jackson had no idea that one day he would not only play in back-to-back Cotton Bowls for two different collegesâ€”the first and only player to do soâ€”but that he would also become known as â€œHandsome Ransom,â€ all-star third baseman for the Chicago Cubs. He was in Chicago in 1953 when Ernie Banks became the first African American to play for the Cubs. He was in Brooklyn in 1956, the year Jackie Robinson retired. In 1957, Jackson was the last Brooklyn player to hit a home run before the team moved to LA. Jacksonâ€™s major league career spanned the entire decade of the 1950s, a time when the landscape of baseball changed dramatically as teams moved to new cities, built new stadiums, and integrated their rosters.

Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer is an autobiographical account of Jacksonâ€™s fascinating journey from his boyhood days in Arkansas to playing in the major leagues, where many of his teammates were future Hall of Famers. Itâ€™s a fun and nostalgic visit to the past, with Jackson sharing such memories as spring training with the Cubs on Catalina Island, befriending a Mafia boss in Massachusetts, batting behind Hank Sauer and getting knocked down by pitchers retaliating for Sauerâ€™s home runs, rooming with Don Drysdale on an historic baseball tour of Japan, and sitting in the dugout in LA with Dodger teammates looking for movie stars in the stands. In addition, Jackson remembers being brought to Brooklyn to take over third base for the aging Jackie Robinson, and quickly discovering that nobody replaces a legend like Jackie.

While many of the players from the 1950s are no longer with us, Jacksonâ€™s invaluable and timeless stories celebrate the greatness of the game and preserve a sliver of history from the heart of the golden age of baseball. Featuring many never-before-published photographs from Ransom Jacksonâ€™s personal collection, including photos of Dodger and Cub greats Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Carl Erskine, Ralph Kiner, and Ernie Banks, Handsome Ransom Jackson will take the reader back to an era when baseball was truly the national pastime.
Country USA
Brand Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Manufacturer Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2016-05-19
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781442261549

Country	USA
Brand	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Manufacturer	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2016-05-19
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781442261549

Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer

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