Rick Ferrell, Knuckleball Catcher

picture of Rick tagging out Phillies catcher Charlie Wagner in June 1941

ISBN 978-0-7864-4796-1
Ebook ISBN 978-0-7864-5837-0
37 photos, statistics, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
304 pages softcover 2010
Price: $29.95

A Hall of Famer's Life Behind the Plate and in the Front Office

Picture of book cover

Kerrie Ferrell,       William M. Anderson
(McFarland & Co. Publisher, 2010)
Foreword by Donald Honig

In 1947, after 18 major league seasons with the Browns, Senators, and Red Sox, Rick Ferrell retired as the longest playing catcher in the American League. His record 1,806 games would stand for more than 40 years, surpassed finally by another Hall of Famer, Carlton Fisk. A stout defender and choosy batter, Ferrell was an eight-time All-Star who caught a rotation of four knuckleball pitchers for the 1945 Washington Senators team that lost the American League pennant to the Detroit Tigers in the final week of the season. Ironically, he went on to work for the Detroit Tigers for 43 years, serving as coach, scout, and front-office executive. This biography includes letters written as Detroit’s general manager plus 37 photographs, some never before seen.

Interviews with George Kell, Ernie Harwell, Bill Freehan, Ralph Houk, Eddie Yost, Virgil Trucks, John McHale, Mickey Vernon, Bobby Doerr, and others.

"I’ve just finished reading the Rick Ferrell book and found it most enjoyable. Frankly, when you first mentioned the project to me, I was uncertain as to how you could make it work since Rick was among the most quiet and unobtrusive of baseball stars, but you found the man and brought him to life."
Donald Honig