New Book Profiles Baseball Stars from the 1960s

Oct. 21, 2009 - PRLog -- A new book featuring narrative and statistical profiles of 60 baseball stars from the 1960s is available now from Bright Stone Press.

"60 from the ‘60s: 60 Players Who Made the 1960s Baseball’s Real Golden Age" gives fans the opportunity to re-live the glory that was major league baseball in the 1960s. The book contains individual profiles of the top 60 players from the decade, including statistics and little-known facts for each player.

According to Carroll Conklin (aka Hardball Bob), the book’s author and founder of 1960s Baseball, no other decade in baseball history offers the combination of great pitching and great hitting – particularly power hitting – that was prevalent in the 1960s.

Conklin points out that the pitchers of the 1960s posted the best combined ERA of any decade in major league history since the introduction of the “lively ball” in 1920. “Pitchers like Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Denny McLain accomplished things we haven’t seen since from major league hurlers … and we probably aren’t likely to see again.”

Conklin adds, “Even though batting averages were down compared to the 1920s and 1930s, the 1960s produced some of the best hitters in baseball history. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Carl Yastrzemski … and that’s just scratching the surface of the decade’s Hall of Fame hitters. “

“It’s incredible that these hitters put up the numbers they did considering the quality of the pitching throughout both major leagues,” Conklin explains. “Likewise, it’s amazing that the pitching statistics for the decade were so good given the hitters they had to face.”

"60 from the ‘60s" also revisits the careers of players who didn’t make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but were icons of 1960s baseball. Players such as Roger Maris, Maury Wills, Frank Howard, Camilo Pascual, Ron Santo and Sam McDowell, among others, are celebrated for their outstanding performances.

In addition to profiling 60 key players from the 1960s, 60 from the ‘60s also pays homage to 60 more “honorable mentions,” players who might have lacked the impact of the top 60, but nonetheless made a noteworthy contribution to our national pastime’s greatest decade.

“The 1960s featured truly great baseball that deserves to be remembered, with players whose performances deserve to be recognized,” Conklin says. “It was baseball the way it was meant to be played … 2-hour games with great pitching, power hitting, and with no free agents, steroids or facial hair to be found.”

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1960s baseball is dedicated to celebrating the players and teams that made the 1960s baseball's "real" golden age.