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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Timmermann: In Memoriam: Jules Tygiel

Bob T, with the sad news…

Jules Tygiel, a history professor at San Francisco State University, passed away July 1 at age 59 from cancer.

Tygiel wrote two of the best baseball books I’ve ever read, along with numerous other works. He had a career that I only can dream I would have.

His greatest work was Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. The book came out in 1983 and has been republished numerous times. It was one of the first academic works examining the career of Robinson as well as the integration of baseball overall. Tygiel was able to interview numerous Negro League players and get invaluable first hand information.

...Tygiel also wrote Past Time: Baseball as History, which came out in 2000. That was a collection of essays about baseball history. The best one was about mercurial executive Larry McPhail. Tygiel seemed to expose McPhail’s overt racism for all to see. However, he also recognized McPhail’s positive contributions, such as bringing night baseball to the majors, as well rejuvenating the moribund Dodgers franchise.

Repoz Posted: July 02, 2008 at 11:16 AM | 16 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
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1. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: July 02, 2008 at 12:31 PM (#2840100)

Wow. I had an email exchange with Tygiel about a year ago about Sam Jethroe. RIP.

2. Shredder Posted: July 02, 2008 at 03:54 PM (#2840305)

Didn't he show up here and post once or twice as well? I think it was back before registration, so someone could have been spoofing him, but I think the general sentiment was that it was legit.

3. Dag Nabbit apealing [sic] his own check swing Posted: July 02, 2008 at 03:56 PM (#2840309)

He posted here on the Dale Petrovsky bans Tim Robbins thread.

His books were fantastic. This is a damn shame to hear about. R.I.P.

4. asinwreck Posted: July 02, 2008 at 04:10 PM (#2840320)

I didn't realize he was so young; only 34 when the Jackie Robinson book came out.

How long has it been since we lost Dick Thompson? Two men we lost too soon; two great losses for baseball historians.

5. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: July 02, 2008 at 04:22 PM (#2840328)

Geez, what's really shocking is that he was only 59. I met him at an AHA convention in 2004 and he looked about 69 even then.

But what a great writer. Baseball's Great Experiment has to be one of the top 4 or 5 baseball books ever written. Easily. There have been a zillion books on the subject but if you read that one alone you'd be as up to speed as you'd ever need to be.

6. Steve Treder Posted: July 02, 2008 at 04:41 PM (#2840346)

I first met Jules about 20 years ago. He was a sweet-natured guy, very much the gentleman, but with a wry sense of humor. And of course he was among the most tremendous of historians focusing on the subject of baseball. This is a very sad passing.

7. phredbird

Posted: July 02, 2008 at 05:01 PM (#2840366)

59 is way too young. i'm going to be 59 before long. i better get writing or something.

8. Flynn Posted: July 02, 2008 at 05:15 PM (#2840378)

That's a damn shame. I didn't end up going to State, but if I did a part of it would have been because of him. I remain forever jealous of a friend of mine who went to SFSU and took his class.

9. Fred Lynn Nolan Ryan Sweeney Agonistes Posted: July 02, 2008 at 05:41 PM (#2840409)

I took "Baseball in History and Literature" with Tygiel and Solomon, back in 2000, at SF State. Tygiel covered the "history" part. He was one of the few people I've ever heard who talked in regular, coherent paragraphs. The class took in a game at Phone Company Park, and I remember Tygiel commenting on the "crisp" performance of the National Anthem -- real fans like it short & sweet!
There was a lot of discussion between the profs in that class, about where and how the term "clutch" originated. They never did resolve it, but every time I hear anybody talk "clutch," I recall those nights fondly.
Jules Tygiel: good professor, good writer, good guy.

10. David Nieporent (now, with children) Posted: July 02, 2008 at 05:48 PM (#2840413)

I second what Andy said, except for the part about meeting him at an AHA convention (which is better than meeting him at an ABBA convention, I suppose). BGE is a great book. I've read a lot of Jackie Robinson books -- his own autobiography, Rampersad's, many others -- and Tygiel's was the Jackie Robinson book, and one of the best baseball books of any sort on any topic.

11. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: July 02, 2008 at 05:57 PM (#2840421)

There was a lot of discussion between the profs in that class, about where and how the term "clutch" originated. They never did resolve it, but every time I hear anybody talk "clutch," I recall those nights fondly.

I think some writer described Gabby Hartnet as clutch. That's what Dickson said, IIRC.

12. Fred Lynn Nolan Ryan Sweeney Agonistes Posted: July 02, 2008 at 06:12 PM (#2840431)

GGC, the term shows up before Hartnett's time -- "clutch" in baseball was interchangeable for a while with "in a pinch" -- as in, Christy Mathewson's book, or a "pinch" hitter.
The question was, When and why did "clutch" take on its current meaning?
Was it connected to the newfangled automotive transmissions?
Or, clutching at one's chest, because of all the tension?
Or what?
As I remember it, Solomon liked the "as in grabbing something" interpretation, and Tygiel liked the new-technology idea.

13. rdfc Posted: July 02, 2008 at 06:27 PM (#2840442)

Jules had a great influence on me, both through his work and his person. I remember the day during college I stumbled on Baseball's Great Experiment among the texts being used for classes in the history department I wasn't taking. I grabbed the book immediately. When I read it, I realized for the first time that baseball was a perfectly reasonable subject for a serious work. Later on, when I met him for the first time (of only a few times, unfortunately), his personal encouragement led directly to my employment in baseball writing and editing. I can't say I knew him all that well, but I knew him (and his work) enough to be extraordinarily impressed and influenced.

14. fra paolo Posted: July 02, 2008 at 08:56 PM (#2840591)

He was over in London for the SABR chapter's meeting in 2007, and was a very entertaining and engaging speaker. This is a sad loss.

15. Bruce Markusen Posted: July 02, 2008 at 10:17 PM (#2840668)

I had a few experiences with Jules, either directly or indirectly. I first met him in the mid-1990s, when he was the keynote speaker at the Cooperstown Baseball Symposium. He gave the Hall of Fame some valuable feedback on their new African-American baseball exhibit, which had just opened. A few years later, he wrote a scathing letter to HOF president Dale Petroskey about his decision to cancel the Tim Robbins event. I believe that Jules said he would boycott the Hall as a result; I don't know if he ever came back to Cooperstown after that controversy.

A few years ago at the SABR Convention in Boston, I went up to him and thanked him reviewing a book I had written on the A's. It wasn't really that positive a review, but I was just honored that someone like him took the time to review it. He was very gracious and gentlemanly in person. Another severe loss for the baseball writing community.

16. Sean Forman Posted: July 03, 2008 at 12:08 AM (#2840779)

Sad news. I never met him, but he was always very complimentary and encouraging about the site and linked to it from his course resources. I've always viewed him as one of the wiser, measured people writing about the game.

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Timmermann: In Memoriam: Jules Tygiel

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