Mechanicsburg, PA - Sunbury Press has released best-selling author William A. Cook's baseball history compilation "Diamond Madness: The Strange, Rowdy, Violent and sometimes Racist Relationship between Major League Fans and Players." About the Book: For more than one hundred and thirty-five years baseball has been considered America’s game. Major league baseball was the first sport in the country to be played before large crowds in enclosed stadiums. Also it was the first sport to have its games broadcast daily on powerhouse 50,000 watt radio stations from the east coast to the Great Plains. For as long as the “Grand Old Game” of baseball has existed there has been a close relationship between the fans and players. Generally that relationship has amounted to harmless hero worship; fathers passing stories of the grandstand heroes of their youth on to future generations of fans. However, at times a dark side has come to the fore in the relationship between fans and players; one that has been rowdy, sometimes racist, sometimes violent and in some cases deadly. Episodes of rowdyism and violence involving fans and players in major league baseball tend to attract wider media coverage and tend to be more controversial than those in other professional sports because baseball is an environment considered to be family oriented and one deeply rooted in American culture through legends, song and verse. Contents: Mugging The Umpire Ty Cobb Attacks Fan Troubles for John McGraw Babe Ruth booed, wants to fight fans Memorable Incidents of Post Season Fan Rowdyism Eddie Waitkus shot By Deranged Admirer Mystery Bullet Kills Fan at the Polo Grounds The Duke of Flatbush fights Fan in the Queen City Personal Troublers and Death Threats for Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin Jim Piersall vs. the Fans Henry Aaron, Racism, Death Threats and 715 Steel City Melodrama Ten Cent Beer Night in Cleveland Lyman Bostock shot and killed in Gary, Indiana Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park Joe Morgan illegally arrested at Los Angeles International Airport The Steve Bartman Affair Giants Fan Is Beaten Senseless at Dodger Stadium Major Leaguers as Crime Victims Latin Players: Big Contracts and Security Risks Appendices: True Bill – Indictment of Ruth Ann Steinhagen Petition filed on behalf of Ruth Ann Steinhagen Diamond Madness Authored by William A. Cook List Price: $16.95 5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm) Black & White on White paper 270 pages Sunbury Press, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1620062258 ISBN-10: 1620062259 BISAC: Sports/Baseball/History For more information, please see: http://www.sunburypressstore.com/Diamond-Madness-97816200... Soon to be available on Kindle and Nook