Stephen H Provost

A Whole Different League Stephen H Provost

They dared to be different: to shoot three-point shots, play football in the summer and baseball in skirts. They fielded teams with names like the Chicago Whales and Virginia Squires in leagues like the ABA, AAFC and WHL. They were innovators and outlaws, playing in rundown arenas and without TV contracts but making the kind of memories you don't find in prime time. You'll read stories of: - The high-scoring basketball star who was so volatile an opposing team once hired five boxers to stand guard at courtside - and who disappeared, never to be heard from again, on a trip to Africa.- The Hall of Famer who came out of retirement at age 45 to play alongside his two sons, leading his new team to a championship and winning the MVP Award.- The first superstar of women's basketball, who had a jump shot like Stephen Curry's and even wore his number. - George Steinbrenner's first big signing: the two-time college basketball player of the year.- The NBA legend whose poor eyesight led to him to design the ABA's red-white-and-blue basketball.- The man who built Wrigley Field and the team that played there before the Cubs called it home.- The hard-partying skater who signed the richest contract in pro sports but wound up sleeping on a park bench after he lost it all.- The team owner who warned Donald Trump he'd have "no regrets whatsoever" punching him "right in the mouth." - The batting champion who hit like Ty Cobb but was banned from baseball. (No, it's not Shoeless Joe Jackson.)- The team that was supposed to bring NFL football to Los Angeles nine years before the Rams moved west from Cleveland. Illustrated with dozens of photos and filled with statistics, "A Whole Different League" brings these memories and much more together in a single volume that covers everything from bowling to Negro League baseball. It's a look at the "other" leagues that helped shape the way our favorite sports are played today, even if they themselves are all but forgotten.