Baseball Bookshelf almanac, Feb. 8

Literary birthday greetings:

1942 – Fritz Peterson, pitcher; All-Star

Mickey Mantle Is Going To Heaven, by Peterson, Outskirts Press, 2009.
The Art of De-Conditioning: Eating Your Way to Heaven, by Peterson, Light Side Books, 2012.

Lest we forget:

1956 – Connie Mack, catcher, manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1862)

My 66 Years in the Big Leagues, by Mack (1950)
Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball, Macht (2007)
The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack’s White Elephants, 1901-1954, Jordan (1999)
Connie Mack: A Life in Baseball, Davis (2000)
Connie MacK’s ’29 Triumph : The Rise and Fall of the Philadelphia Athletics Dynasty, Kashatus (1999)
Connie Mack’s Baseball Book, Mack (1950)
Connie Mack: Grand Old Man of Baseball, Lieb (1945)
From Sandlot to Big League: Connie Mack’s Baseball Book, Mack (1960)

Also on this date:

1887: King Kelly meets with Chicago White Stockings owner Albert Spalding for contract talks. Kelly, who won the National League batting championship for the pennant-winning White Stockings last season, wants the bonus of $375 that Spalding promised for good behavior last year. Spalding refuses to give him the bonus or to rescind the additional $225 withheld from Kelly’s salary as fines for drinking. Six days from now, Kelly will be sold to the Boston Beaneaters.

Slide, Kelly, Slide: The Wild Life and Times of Mike King Kelly (American Sports History Series), by Marty Appel, Scarecrow Press, 1996.

1932 – Waite Hoyt is released by the Philadelphia Athletics and will sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Waite Hoyt: A Biography of the Yankees’ Schoolboy Wonder, by William Cook, McFarland, 2004.

Breakout: From Prison to the Big Leagues 1942 – At California’s Folsom prison, the annual game between major leaguers and the prison team is stopped when it is discovered that two prisoners have escaped. With the pros leading 24 – 5 at the end of seven innings, the game ends and guards go after the two lifers, who are found three hours later. The major leaguers include Ernie Lombardi, Tiny Bonham, Gus Suhr, Joe Marty, and Johnny Babich.

Playing for Time: The Death Row All Stars (Images of Baseball: Wyoming), by Chris Enss, Arcadia, 2004.

Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time, by Eric Stone. The Lyons Press, 2005.

Breakout: From Prison to the Big Leagues, by Ron LeFlore, Harper Collins, 1978.

(Source: Baseball-Reference.com)