The Wizard of Waxahachie: Paul Richards and the End of Baseball As We Knew It (Sport in American Life)

One of the most influentialâand controversialâfigures in baseball of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, Paul Richards was a player, manager, and general manager, a participant in many of the historic changes that marked "the end of baseball as we knew it." Richards managed the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Oriolesâlaying the foundation for the Orioles’ championship clubs of the 1960s and 1970sâand built the expansion Houston team from scratch. Best known for inventing the giant mitt for knuckleball catchers, Richards was also the first manager to track on-base percentage and the first to monitor pitch counts. He constantly experimented with tactics and strategies, and he preached the need for constant practice of the game’s fundamentals.

Drawing on Richards’s writings and personal papers, plus previously undiscovered audio recordings, Warren Corbett chronicles the life and times of the baseball wizard who left an indelible mark on America’s national pastime.



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