Best Selling Baseball Books

The top 50 most popular and best selling baseball ebooks at the Apple Books. Chart of the baseball iBook best sellers updated several times daily.

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Top Baseball Ebook Best Sellers

1

The Last Manager - John W. Miller Cover Art

The Last Manager

The Last Manager How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball by John W. Miller

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Baseball books don’t get any better than this...Earl Weaver has at last been given his due.” —George F. Will “Vivid...Most sports books are pop flies to the infield. Miller’s is a screaming triple into the left field corner.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times The first major biography of legendary Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver—who has been described as “the Copernicus of baseball” and “the grandfather of the modern game”— The Last Manager is a wild, thrilling, and hilarious ride with baseball’s most underappreciated genius, and one of its greatest characters. Long before the Moneyball Era, the Earl of Baltimore reigned over baseball. History’s feistiest and most colorful manager, Earl Weaver transformed the sport by collecting and analyzing data in visionary ways, ultimately winning more games than anybody else during his time running the Orioles from 1968 to 1982. When Weaver was hired by the Orioles, managers were still seen as coaches and inspirational leaders, more teachers of the game than strategists. Weaver invented new ways of building baseball teams, prioritizing on-base average, elite defense, and strike throwing. Weaver was the first manager to use a modern radar gun, and he pioneered the use of analytical data. By moving six-foot four-inch Cal Ripken Jr. to shortstop, Weaver paved the way for a generation of plus-sized superstar shortstops, such as Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. He foreshadowed almost everything that Bill James, Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, and hundreds of other big-brain baseball types would later present as innovations. Beyond being a great baseball mind, Weaver was a rare baseball character . Major League Baseball is show business, and Weaver understood how much of his job was entertainment. Weaver’s legendary outbursts offered players cathartic relief from their own frustration, signaled his concern for the team, and fired up fans. In his frequent arguments with umpires, he hammed it up for the crowds, faked heart attacks, ripped bases out of the ground, and pretended to toss umpires out of the game. Weaver also fought with his players, especially Jim Palmer, but that creative tension contributed to stunning success and a hilarious clubhouse. During his tenure as major-league manager, the Orioles won the American League pennant in 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1979, each time winning more than 100 games. The Last Manager uncovers the story of Weaver’s St. Louis childhood with a mobster uncle, his years of minor-league heartbreak, and his unlikely road to becoming a big-league manager, while tracing the evolution of the game from the old-time baseball of cross-country trains and “desk contracts” to the modern era of free agency, video analysis, and powerful player agents. Weaver’s career is a critical juncture in baseball history. He was the only manager to hold a job during the five years leading up to and the five years after free agency upended the sport in 1976. Weaver was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. “No manager belongs there more,” wrote Tom Boswell. “Weaver encapsulates the fire, the humor, the brains, the childishness, the wisdom and the goofy fun of baseball.” The Last Manager tells the story of one man—belligerent, genius, infamous—who left his mark on the game for generations.

2

The Greatest Summer in Baseball History - John Rosengren Cover Art

The Greatest Summer in Baseball History

The Greatest Summer in Baseball History How the '73 Season Changed Us Forever by John Rosengren

“The vivid story of a young Reggie Jackson on Charlie Finley’s A’s and the veteran Willie Mays on Yogi’s Mets, both destined for the ’73 series." — Library Journal A rousing chronicle of one of the most defining years in baseball history that changed the sport forever. In 1973, baseball was in crisis. The first strike in pro sports had soured fans, American League attendance had fallen, and America’s team—the Yankees—had lost more games and money than ever. Yet that season, five of the game’s greatest figures rescued the national pastime. • Hank Aaron riveted the nation with his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s landmark home run record in the face of racist threats. • George Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees at a bargain basement price and began buying back their faded glory. • The American League broke ranks with the National League and introduced the designated hitter, extending the careers of aging stars such as Orlando Cepeda. • An elderly and ailing Willie Mays—the icon of an earlier generation—nearly helped the Mets pull off a miracle with the final hit of his career. • Reggie Jackson, the MVP of a tense World Series, became the prototype of the modern superstar. The season itself provided plenty of drama served up by a colorful cast of characters, including the Mets rise from last place to win the division under Yogi Berra's leadership, Pete Rose edging out Willie Stargell as the MVP in a controversial vote, Hank Aaron chasing Babe Ruth’s landmark record in the face of racial threats, Reggie Jackson solidifying his reputation as Mr. October, Willie Mays hitting the final home run of his career, and future Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and George Brett playing in their first major league games. That one memorable summer changed baseball forever. Originally published as Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid. “It’s a season-ticket to one of the greatest years in baseball history. John Rosengren has given us one of the most enjoyable baseball books to come along in years." –Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season

3

Baseball as a Road to God - John Sexton, Thomas Oliphant & Peter J. Schwartz Cover Art

Baseball as a Road to God

Baseball as a Road to God Seeing Beyond the Game by John Sexton, Thomas Oliphant & Peter J. Schwartz

The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality.   For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other.   Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others.   Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.

4

The Bad Guys Won - Jeff Pearlman Cover Art

The Bad Guys Won

The Bad Guys Won A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform--and Maybe the Best by Jeff Pearlman

"Jeff Pearlman has captured the swagger of the '86 Mets. You don't have to be a Mets fan to enjoy this book—it's a great read for all baseball enthusiasts."—Philadelphia Daily News Award-winning Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jeff Pearlman returns to an innocent time when a city worshipped a man named Mookie and the Yankees were the second-best team in New York. It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez and the young dynamic duo of Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, along with the gallant Scum Bunch, the Amazin’s left a wide trail of wreckage in their wake—hotel rooms, charter planes, a bar in Houston, and most famously Bill Buckner and the hated Boston Red Sox. With an unforgettable cast of characters—including Doc, Straw, the Kid, Nails, Mex, and manager Davey Johnson—this “affectionate but critical look at this exciting season” (Publishers Weekly) celebrates the last of baseball’s arrogant, insane, rock-and-roll-and-party-all-night teams, exploring what could have been, what should have been, and what never was.

5

Situation Baseball - Steve Gelfius Cover Art

Situation Baseball

Situation Baseball Basics of Knowing What to Do With the Ball by Steve Gelfius

Have you ever watched young ball players field A baseball and then hesitate? One of the coaches yells 2nd, a team mate yells go home and where ever the player throws, there is no positive result for his team. Those developing baseball players from the ages of six to twelve need to have more smarts about the game. If the ball is hit to me - what do I do with it is the most fundamental area of the game following physical skills. Developing this skill can make the difference between a mediocre and a good baseball player. It can give them the edge, it can mean being a starter or a sub, its the little things that make the big difference. This book gives infielders and outfielders the basic solutions to every base running situation. It gives situations that make them think to develop that instinctive sense of what to do with the ball. This book can be used in the field by coaches, in the backyard by dads, between players on the way to the game to build confidence. It is a basic tool for every player.

6

The Last Real Season - Mike Shropshire Cover Art

The Last Real Season

The Last Real Season A Hilarious Look Back at 1975 - When Major Leaguers Made Peanuts, the Umpires Wore Red, and Billy Martin Terrorized Everyone by Mike Shropshire

A rollicking and ribald first-person account of the 1975 Major League Baseball season—the last year before free agency took over and changed the national pastime forever—for better or for worse! There are baseball books and there are baseball books. But for the baseball cognoscenti, there are just a few "must-have" classics: Ball Four by Jim Bouton. The Long Season by Jim Brosnan. Willie's Time by Charles Einstein. And Seasons In Hell by Mike Shropshire, which was a hilarous first-person account of Mike's travails serving as a daily beat writer covering the hapless 1972 Texas Rangers. Now, in The Last Real Season , Shropshire captures the essence of a different time and different place in baseball, when the average salary for major leaguers was only $27,600...when the ballplayers' drug of choice was alcohol, not steroids...when major leaguers sported tight doubleknit uniforms over their long-hair and Afros...and on July 28th, 1975, the day that famed Detroit resident Jimmy Hoffa went missing, the Detroit Tigers started a losing streak of 19 games in a row. On the day that the Tigers blew a 4-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Shropshire recalls: "I drank three bottles of Stroh's beer in less than a minute and wrote that 'Jimmy Hoffa will show up in the left field stands with Amelia Earhart as his date before the Tigers will win another game.'" And so it goes. Filled with just the kind of wonderful baseball stories that real fans crave, this is the funniest baseball book of the year.

7

Where Nobody Knows Your Name - John Feinstein Cover Art

Where Nobody Knows Your Name

Where Nobody Knows Your Name Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball by John Feinstein

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed bestselling author comes a riveting journey through the world of minor-league baseball “Terrific…Reading this book will make you fall in love with baseball all over again.”— The Denver Post Minor league baseball is quintessentially American: small towns, small stadiums, $5 tickets, $2 hot dogs, the never-ending possibility of making it big. But looming above it all is always the real deal: Major League Baseball. John Feinstein takes the reader behind the curtain into the guarded world of the minor leagues, like no other writer can. Where Nobody Knows Your Name explores the trials and travails of the inhabitants of Triple-A, focusing on nine men, including players, managers and umpires, among many colorful characters, living on the cusp of the dream. The book tells the stories of former World Series hero Scott Podsednik, giving it one more shot; Durham Bulls manager Charlie Montoya, shepherding generations across the line; and designated hitter Jon Lindsey, a lifelong minor leaguer, waiting for his day to come. From Raleigh to Pawtucket, from Lehigh Valley to Indianapolis and beyond, this is an intimate and exciting look at life in the minor leagues, where you’re either waiting for the call or just passing through.

8

Tales from the Deadball Era - Mark S. Halfon Cover Art

Tales from the Deadball Era

Tales from the Deadball Era Ty Cobb, Home Run Baker, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the Wildest Times in Baseball History by Mark S. Halfon

2014 SLA Baseball Caucus Readers’ Choice Award winner from the Special Libraries Association The Deadball Era (1901–1920) is a baseball fan’s dream. Hope and despair, innocence and cynicism, and levity and hostility blended then to create an air of excitement, anticipation, and concern for all who entered the confines of a major league ballpark. Cheating for the sake of victory earned respect, corrupt ballplayers fixed games with impunity, and violence plagued the sport. Spectators stormed the field to attack players and umpires, ballplayers charged the stands to pummel hecklers, and physical battles between opposing clubs occurred regularly in a phenomenon known as “rowdyism.”  At the same time, endearing practices infused baseball with lightheartedness, kindness, and laughter. Fans ran onto the field with baskets of flowers, loving cups, diamond jewelry, gold watches, and cash for their favorite players in the middle of games. Ballplayers volunteered for “benefit contests” to aid fellow big leaguers and the country in times of need. “Joke games” reduced sport to pure theater as outfielders intentionally dropped fly balls, infielders happily booted easy grounders, hurlers tossed soft pitches over the middle of the plate, and umpires ignored the rules. Winning meant nothing, amusement meant everything, and league officials looked the other way. Mark Halfon looks at life in the major leagues in the early 1900s, the careers of John McGraw, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson, and the events that brought about the end of the Deadball Era. He highlights the strategies, underhanded tactics, and bitter battles that defined this storied time in baseball history, while providing detailed insights into the players and teams involved in bringing to a conclusion this remarkable period in baseball history.

9

Fall from Grace - Tim Hornbaker Cover Art

Fall from Grace

Fall from Grace The Truth and Tragedy of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson by Tim Hornbaker

Considered by Ty Cobb as “the finest natural hitter in the history of the game,” “Shoeless Joe” Jackson is ranked with the greatest players to ever step onto a baseball diamond. With a career .356 batting average—which is still ranked third all-time—the man from Pickens County, South Carolina, was on his way to becoming one of the greatest players in the sport’s history. That is until the “Black Sox” scandal of 1919, which shook baseball to its core. While many have sympathized with Jackson’s ban from baseball (even though he hit .375 during the 1919 World Series), not much is truly known about this quiet slugger. Whether he participated in the throwing of the World Series or not, he is still considered one of the game’s best, and many have fought for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. From the author of Turning the Black Sox White (on Charles Comiskey) and War on the Basepaths (on Ty Cobb), Shoeless Joe tells the story of the incredible life of Joseph Jefferson Jackson. From a mill boy to a baseball icon, author Tim Hornbaker breaks down the rise and fall of “Shoeless Joe,” giving an inside look during baseball’s Deadball Era, including Jackson’s personal point of view of the “Black Sox” scandal, which has never been covered before. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game - Michael Lewis Cover Art

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be "the most influential book on sports ever written" (People), but "you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it" (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Review Best Book of the 21st Century (So Far) Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win…how can we not cheer for David?

11

The Cloudbuster Nine - Anne R. Keene & Claudia Williams Cover Art

The Cloudbuster Nine

The Cloudbuster Nine The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II by Anne R. Keene & Claudia Williams

In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals were winning pennants and meeting in that year's World Series, Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain practiced on a skinned-out college field in the heart of North Carolina. They and other past and future stars formed one of the greatest baseball teams of all time. They were among a cadre of fighter-pilot cadets who wore the Cloudbuster Nine baseball jersey at an elite Navy training school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a child, Anne Keene's father, Jim Raugh, suited up as the team batboy and mascot. He got to know his baseball heroes personally, watching players hit the road on cramped, tin-can buses, dazzling factory workers, kids, and service members at dozens of games, including a war-bond exhibition with Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium. Jimmy followed his baseball dreams as a college All-American but was crushed later in life by a failed major-league bid with the Detroit Tigers. He would have carried this story to his grave had Anne not discovered his scrapbook from a Navy school that shaped America's greatest heroes including George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, John Glenn, and Paul "Bear" Bryant. With the help of rare images and insights from World War II baseball veterans such as Dr. Bobby Brown and Eddie Robinson, the story of this remarkable team is brought to life for the first time in The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II.

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Baseball Roadtrip - Paul A Marsnik Cover Art

Baseball Roadtrip

Baseball Roadtrip by Paul A Marsnik

Hit the road for a deep dive into baseball, the American pastime. On a hot summer day in 1987, a group of guys who call themselves "The Amoeba" hit the road in a rented motorhome that they call "The Bago." Their mission is to experience the game of baseball the way it was meant to be, in the great outdoors on lovely summer afternoons and evenings. Baseball Road Trip captures the freedom, the joy, and the pain of spending six days on the road with a group of fun-loving, beer-drinking knuckleheads. As the Amoeba crawls from Royals stadium to Busch Stadium to Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field, bits of baseball history creep in; the curse of the Billy Goat, the Black Sox scandal, Eddie Gaedel, Sportsman's Park. Of course, no road trip would be complete without visits to the local bars and taverns, rich with baseball history, that can often be found just outside the ballparks. Paul Marsnik has written a book for baseball fans and/or those who enjoy a simple road trip with friends. Fun, laughs and history fill every page. Batter up!

13

The Last Hero - Howard Bryant Cover Art

The Last Hero

The Last Hero A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant

This definitive biography of Henry (Hank) Aaron—one of baseball's immortal figures—is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man who through sports became an enduring American icon.   “Beautifully written and culturally important.” — The Washington Post   “The epic baseball tale of the second half of the 20th century.” — Atlanta Journal Constitution   After his retirement in 1976, Aaron’s reputation only grew in magnitude. But his influence extended beyond statistics. Based on meticulous research and extensive interviews  The Last Hero  reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his time—fighting against racism while at the same time benefiting from racial progress—and how he achieved his goal of continuing Jackie Robinson’s mission to obtain full equality for African Americans, both in baseball and society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public eye.

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Don Drysdale: Up and In - Mark Whicker & Steve Garvey Cover Art

Don Drysdale: Up and In

Don Drysdale: Up and In The Life of a Dodgers Legend by Mark Whicker & Steve Garvey

The definitive biography of Dodgers legend Don Drysdale Larger than Life. In the history of American sports, rare is the athlete who fits that description better than Don Drysdale. On the mound, the towering 6-foot-5 righthander intimidated National League hitters for more than a decade, amassing career totals of 209 wins, 2,486 strikeouts... and hitting 154 batters, a stat he lead the major leagues in four times. Off the field, Drysdale's personality dominated every room he walked into. With a smile as immense as the sun, Drysdale's contemporaries included Frank Sinatra and Howard Cosell. In Up and In, longtime Orange County Register sportswriter Mark Whicker takes readers on a remarkable journey through Drysdale's life and career. Featuring exclusive interviews with Drysdale's teammates, broadcasting, and colleagues, this new biography paints a complete portrait of an unparalleled baseball life – from Drysdale's early years in Van Nuys to his sudden passing in 1993 at age 56.

15

The New York Game - Kevin Baker Cover Art

The New York Game

The New York Game Baseball and the Rise of a New City by Kevin Baker

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • Sports Illustrated # 1 Book of 2024 • A hugely entertaining history of baseball and New York City, bursting with larger-than-life figures and fascinating stories from the game’s beginnings to the end of World War II. "You’re going to beg for extra innings. Without missing a scandal or a sensation, with an eye on how assimilation transforms the picture, Kevin Baker has written a buoyant, double coming-of-age story. "—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Baseball is “the New York game” because New York is where the diamond was first laid out, where the bunt and the curveball were invented, and where the home run was hit. It’s where the game’s first stars were born, and where everyone came to play or watch the game. With nuance and depth, historian Kevin Baker brings this all vividly back to life: the still-controversial, indelible moments—Did the Babe call his shot? Was Merkle out? Did they fix the 1919 World Series? Here are all the legendary players, managers, and owners, in all their vivid, complicated humanity, on and off the field.  In Baker’s hands the city and the game emerge from the murk of nineteenth-century American life—driven by visionaries and fixers, heroes and gangsters. He details how New York and its favorite sport came to mirror one another, expanding, bumbling through catastrophe and corruption, and rising out of these trials stronger than ever.  From the first innings played in vacant lots and tavern yards in the 1820s; to the canny innovations that created the very first sports league; to the superb Hispanic and Black players who invented their own version of the game when white baseball sought to exclude them. And all amidst New York’s own, incredible evolution from a raw, riotous town to a new world city. The New York Game is a riveting, rollicking, brilliant ode to America’s beloved pastime and to its indomitable city of origin.

16

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball - Tom M. Tango, Mitchel G. Lichtman & Andrew E. Dolphin Cover Art

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball

The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball by Tom M. Tango, Mitchel G. Lichtman & Andrew E. Dolphin

Written by three esteemed baseball statisticians, The Book continues where the legendary Bill James’s Baseball Abstracts  and Palmer and Thorn’s  The Hidden Game of Baseball  left off more than twenty years ago. Continuing in the grand tradition of sabermetrics, the authors provide a revolutionary way to think about baseball with principles that can be applied at every level, from high school to the major leagues. Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin cover topics such as batting and pitching matchups; platooning, the benefits and risks of intentional walks and sacrifices; the legitimacy of alleged “clutch” hitters; and many of baseball’s other theories on hitting, fielding, pitching, and even baserunning. They analyze when a strategy is a good idea and when it’s a bad idea, and how to more closely watch the “inside” game of baseball. Whenever you hear an announcer talk about an “unwritten rule” or say that so-and-so is going “by the book” in bringing in a situational substitute,  The Book  reviews the facts and determines what the real case is. If you want to know what the folks in baseball should be doing, find out in  The Book.

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Jackie Robinson: My Own Story - Jackie Robinson & Wendell Smith Cover Art

Jackie Robinson: My Own Story

Jackie Robinson: My Own Story by Jackie Robinson & Wendell Smith

Autobiography of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, beginning with his athletic career and dealing particularly with baseball and the first step toward equal participation by African Americans in this great sport. “I believe that a man’s race, color, and religion should never constitute a handicap. The denial to anyone, anywhere, any time of equality of opportunity to work is incomprehensible to me. Moreover, I believe that the American public is not as concerned with a first baseman’s pigmentation as it is with the power of his swing, the dexterity of his slide, the gracefulness of his fielding, or the speed of his legs.”—From Foreword by Branch Hickey

18

Getting Recruited to Play College Baseball: A Practical Guide - Robert McCunney, MD & Gary Cohn Cover Art

Getting Recruited to Play College Baseball: A Practical Guide

Getting Recruited to Play College Baseball: A Practical Guide by Robert McCunney, MD & Gary Cohn

College athletics offer great opportunities for talented student-athletes to gain admission to colleges or universities that would otherwise be out of reach academically and/or financially. This book is intended as a practical guide for both parents and students who are interested in understanding the college baseball recruiting process. This book is intended for any student-athlete (and their family) who plays high school baseball, attended college baseball showcases, visitied college baseball websites, or even plays Babe Ruth or Little League ball. In short, if you are interested in learning the ins and outs of college baseball recruiting, this book is a must read.

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Saying It's So - Daniel A. Nathan Cover Art

Saying It's So

Saying It's So A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal by Daniel A. Nathan

The story of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and his White Sox teammates purportedly conspiring with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds has lingered in our collective consciousness for a century. Daniel A. Nathan’s wide-ranging history looks at how journalists, historians, novelists, filmmakers, and baseball fans have represented and remembered the scandal. Nathan’s reflections on what these different cultural narratives reveal about their creators and eras shape a fascinating study of cultural values, memory, and the ways people make meaning.

20

The Baseball 100 - Joe Posnanski Cover Art

The Baseball 100

The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year “An instant sports classic.” — New York Post * “Stellar.” — The Wall Street Journal * “A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” — BookPage (starred review) * “This is a remarkable achievement.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will. Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious, The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?” Baseball’s legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history? No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more. The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.

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Odd Man Out - Matt McCarthy Cover Art

Odd Man Out

Odd Man Out A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit by Matt McCarthy

A hilairious inside baseball account of year in the minor leagues Odd Man Out captures the gritty essence of our national pastime as it is played outside the spot­light. Matt McCarthy, a decent left-handed starting pitcher on one of the worst squads in Yale history, earned a ticket to spring training as the twenty-sixth-round draft pick of the 2002 Anaheim Angels. This is the hilarious inside story of his year with the Provo Angels, Anaheim's minor league affiliate in the heart of Mormon country, as McCarthy navigates the ups and downs of an antic, grueling season, filled with cross-country bus trips, bizarre rivalries, and wild locker-room hijinks.

22

The Glory of Their Times - Lawrence S. Ritter Cover Art

The Glory of Their Times

The Glory of Their Times The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It by Lawrence S. Ritter

“Easily the best baseball book ever produced by anyone.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer “This was the best baseball book published in 1966, it is the best baseball book of its kind now, and, if it is reissued in 10 years, it will be the best baseball book.” — People From Lawrence Ritter, co-author of The Image of Their Greatness and The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, comes one of the bestselling, most acclaimed sports books of all time. Baseball was different in earlier days—tougher, more raw, more intimate—when giants like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb ran the bases. In the monumental classic The Glory of Their Times, the golden era of our national pastime comes alive through the vibrant words of those who played and lived the game. It is a book every baseball fan should read!

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The Last Best League (10th anniversary edition) - Jim Collins Cover Art

The Last Best League (10th anniversary edition)

The Last Best League (10th anniversary edition) One Summer, One Season, One Dream by Jim Collins

Every summer, in ten small towns across Cape Cod, young college baseball players showcase their talents in hopes of making it to the "show." A vicious filter, the league has produced one out of every six major league players, from Nomar Garciaparra and Todd Helton to Jeff Bagwell and Barry Zito.In this brilliantly crafted narrative, Jim Collins chronicles a season in the life of the Chatham A's, perhaps the most celebrated team in the Cape Cod Baseball League. Set against a seemingly bucolic backdrop--a well-heeled resort town on the bend of the outer Cape -- the story charts the changing fortunes of a handful of players, all of whom battle slumps and self-doubt in an effort to impress major league scouts and make the playoffs. Several players go home with career-threatening injuries; one blue-chip prospect fulfills great expectations while another is dubbed "the biggest disappointment on the Cape." A pitcher hides an arm injury while negotiating a minor league contract; another leaves early to tend to his dying father. And nearly all look to the following year's major league draft as a barometer of their worth. Far more than a baseball book, The Last Best League is an engrossing story about dreams fulfilled and dreams destroyed, about Cape Cod and the rites of summer, about coming of age in America.

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Bases Loaded - Kirk Radomski Cover Art

Bases Loaded

Bases Loaded The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report by Kirk Radomski

On a quiet street on Long Island early on a December morning in 2005, more than fifty federal agents stood outside a lovely new home waiting for the front door to be opened. When it did, there stood the central figure in one of the biggest scandals in sports history: Kirk Radomski. Radomski was a regular New York kid who, from the age of fifteen had the amazing fortune of working in the Mets clubhouse. The focus of his job was to give the players whatever they wanted or needed—he got their uniforms ready, packed up their homes at the end of the season, cashed their checks, and helped them beat the drug tests that would have led to suspension. And at the end of the 1986 season he even led the World Champions down Broadway during their victory parade. Eventually, he graduated to helping in other ways: providing them with steroids and human growth hormones. By the time the Feds knocked on his door, he was the main clubhouse supplier of performance-enhancing drugs to almost three hundred baseball players. Under threat of a long prison sentence—and after being identified by players he’d helped—he cooperated with Senator George Mitchell to produce the Mitchell Report, providing names and dates. Now he’s ready to tell the whole story to the world. Radomski made little money from these transactions, and in this stunning book he will recount what baseball knew about the problem, his life since the report came out, and who took what. This is the tale of a young man seeing his heroes turn into clay, and the degradation of a once great sport into the drug-addicted spectacle it has become.

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Emperors and Idiots - Mike Vaccaro Cover Art

Emperors and Idiots

Emperors and Idiots The Hundred Year Rivalry Between the Yankees and Red Sox, From the Very Beginning to the End of the Curse by Mike Vaccaro

The New York Yankees. The Boston Red Sox. For a hundred years, no two teams have locked horns as fiercely or as frequently – and no two seasons frame the colossal battle more perfectly than 2003 and 2004. Now, with incredible energy and access, leading sports columnist Mike Vaccaro chronicles the history of the greatest rivalry in sports, and the two stunning American League Championship Series that define a century of baseball. October 17, 2003: A night no Yankees or Red Sox fan will ever forget. At 12:15 am, bottom of the eleventh inning of game seven of the ALCS, New York third-baseman Aaron Boone launches a ball over Yankee Stadium’s left-field fence. The Yankees win their 39th pennant – and send the perennially vexed Boston Red Sox home . . . again . . . suffering another devastating loss to their longtime nemesis. October 20, 2004: A year later, an eerie reprise – but this time things are different. After losing three straight to the Yankees, Boston has charged back to win the next three, forcing a decisive game seven. From the start of the game Boston is in control, and by winning this game they march toward their first World Series victory since 1918. These two explosive years define an extraordinary, epic rivalry – from Mariano Rivera and Roger Clemens to Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, Derek Jeter and Aaron Boone to David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, from nearly a century of Yankee domination to the undisputed breaking of “The Curse.” With the razor-sharp instincts that have made him a top sports journalist, Mike Vaccaro delves into the history of the rollicking rivalry: a vicious collision in 1903 (between the New York Highlanders and Boston Pilgrims) that draws first blood; the era of Babe Ruth and his legendary trade from the Red Sox to the Yankees, ushering in the notorious Curse; the golden age of DiMaggio and Williams; the unstoppable power of Mantle and Maris; the heart and soul of Fisk and Yazstremski versus Pinella and Munson; and the modern era of dueling owners, skyrocketing payrolls, and a renewed rivalry that attracts sell-out crowds even to Yankees-Red Sox spring training games. EMPERORS AND IDIOTS is as lively, fascinating, and raucous as the teams themselves – a must-have volume for any Yankees or Red Sox fan.

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The New Ballgame - Russell A. Carleton Cover Art

The New Ballgame

The New Ballgame The Not-So-Hidden Forces Shaping Modern Baseball by Russell A. Carleton

Watching a game of baseball today means witnessing phenomena that would have been novel, if not completely unheard of, not so long ago. Starting pitchers sling 100 mile-per-hour heat for just four or five innings before departing; third basemen often station themselves much closer to second (to say nothing of the shortstop's whereabouts); home runs and strikeouts dominate at-bats; all while the length of contest tips toward the four-hour mark. There's no getting around it: the game looks different now. And as Major League Baseball scrambles with rule changes, equipment modifications, labor negotiations, and more, fans are left grasping for the true essence of this beloved pastime among the moving pieces. In The New Ballgame , Russell Carleton (The Shift) deftly indentifies and examines the many levers and inflection points that have shaped the game into what we see on the field today. Through a singular blend of statistical analysis, history, and cognitive science, readers will trace the rapid evolution of the modern game while contemplating the sport in an entirely new way. Blending incisive research with affable storytelling, Russell Carleton delivers a kaleidoscopic view on modern baseball in this welcome, revelatory work.

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So Many Ways to Lose - Devin Gordon Cover Art

So Many Ways to Lose

So Many Ways to Lose The Amazin' True Story of the New York Mets—the Best Worst Team in Sports by Devin Gordon

“This is a weird, wonderful, and essential book about both America and its pastime. It’s about a place as vast as New York City and as intimate as the human heart. Fred Exley meets Richard Ben Cramer—a funny, wild, heartfelt, and keenly observed portrait of yearning itself.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams “Mr. Gordon’s ability to explain the Sisyphean plight of all Mets fans is truly remarkable. Bravo!”—Ron Darling, New York Times bestselling author of Game 7, 1986 The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets.  In So Many Ways to Lose , author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other. Remember the time the Mets lost an All-Star after Yoenis Céspedes got charged by a wild boar? Or the time they blew a six-run ninth-inning lead at the peak of a pennant race? Or the time they fired their manager before he ever managed a game? Sure you do. It was only two years ago, and it was all in the same season. The Mets have an unrivaled gift for getting it backward, doing the impossible, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and then snatching defeat right back again.  And yet, just ask any Mets fan: Amazing and/or miraculous postseason runs are as much a part of our team's identity as losing 120 games in 1962. The DNA of seasons like 1969, the original Miracle Mets, and the 1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets, who went from last place to Game 7 of the World Series in two months, and the powerhouse 1986 Mets, has encoded in us this hapless instinct that a reversal of fortune is always possible. It’s happened before. It’s kind of our thing. And now we've got Steve Cohen's hedge-fund billions to play with! What could go wrong? In this hilarious history of the Mets and love letter to the art of disaster, Devin Gordon presents baseball the way it really is, not in the wistful sepia tones we've come to expect from other sportswriters. Along the way, he explains the difference between being bad and being gifted at losing, and why this distinction holds the key to understanding the true amazin’ magic of the New York Mets.

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Bottom of the 33rd - Dan Barry Cover Art

Bottom of the 33rd

Bottom of the 33rd Hope and Redemption in Baseball's Longest Game by Dan Barry

In “a worthy companion to . . . Boys of Summer ,” a Pulitzer prize winning journalist “exploits the power of memory and nostalgia with literary grace” ( New York Times ). From award-winning  New York Times  columnist Dan Barry comes the beautifully recounted story of the longest game in baseball history—a tale celebrating not only the robust intensity of baseball, but the aspirational ideal epitomized by the hard-fighting players of the minor leagues. On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and futures, between their collective sorrows and joys—the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves—two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game. With Bottom of the 33rd , Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance,  Bottom of the 33rd  is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America’s pastime—and America’s past. “Destined to take its place among the classics of baseball literature.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “ Bottom of the 33rd  is chaw-chewing, sunflower-spitting, pine tar proof that too much baseball is never enough.” —Jane Leavy, author of  The Last Boy  and  Sandy Koufax 

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Baseball Field Guide, Fourth Edition: An In-Depth Illustrated Guide to the Complete Rules of Baseball (Fourth) - Dan Formosa & Paul Hamburger Cover Art

Baseball Field Guide, Fourth Edition: An In-Depth Illustrated Guide to the Complete Rules of Baseball (Fourth)

Baseball Field Guide, Fourth Edition: An In-Depth Illustrated Guide to the Complete Rules of Baseball (Fourth) by Dan Formosa & Paul Hamburger

A great overview for novices and a precise reference guide for devoted fans! Admit it: Even if you’re a die-hard fan of our national pastime, sometimes an umpire’s call can be baffling. And for newer fans, Major League Baseball’s nuanced rules—developed and revised over many decades—can be downright perplexing. Now updated throughout with the latest changes, including specifications about the universal designated hitter and limits on defensive shifts, the Baseball Field Guide lays out every rule in plain English. You’ll learn to answer all these questions and more: Do you know the twenty-two ways a pitcher can be charged with a balk? Can you list all seven ways a batter can safely get to first base? Obstruction or interference—who’s at fault when things get rough? What are the rules that apply before and after a game? What happens when spectators are the ones who misbehave? How well do you understand the infamous Infield Fly Rule (and why does it exist)? This is the clearest explanation anywhere of the rules of baseball. Designed for quick and intuitive searches, this entertaining reference will help you understand every aspect of the game and add to your enjoyment of the sport.

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Dangerous Danny Gardella - Robert Elias Cover Art

Dangerous Danny Gardella

Dangerous Danny Gardella Baseball’s Neglected Trailblazer for Today’s Millionaire Athletes by Robert Elias

The first-ever biography of an unlikely baseball pioneer. While baseball’s postwar years are often called the “Golden Age” of the sport, it was also an era when the reserve clause bound players to their teams and suppressed their rights and wages. Into these conditions came Danny Gardella, who openly resisted this bondage and launched the legal fight against the reserve clause that set the stage for Curt Flood and Marvin Miller’s challenge two decades later. In Dangerous Danny Gardella: Baseball’s Neglected Trailblazer for Today’s Millionaire Athletes , Robert Elias tells the story of this little-known yet remarkable ballplayer who stood up to Major League Baseball and laid the foundation for free agency. Elias recounts Gardella’s humble beginnings, his struggles to establish himself as a professional baseball player, his entertaining antics on and off the field, and his jump from Organized Baseball to the Mexican League that was the spark not only for challenging the reserve clause, but for creating America’s most powerful labor union, the MLB Player’s Association. Gardella was an unlikely working-class hero: a Renaissance man who played ball and wrote poetry; who quoted Shakespeare, Freud, and Dewey; who was an acrobat and Golden Gloves boxer; who was an opera, vaudeville, and Broadway singer; and who became a weight training and nutrition pioneer. His remarkable life, full of twists and turns, tells the hidden history of the struggle against the reserve clause, delivering a new perspective on America’s Golden Age of Baseball and the origins of free agency.

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The Eighth Wonder of the World - Robert C. Trumpbour Cover Art

The Eighth Wonder of the World

The Eighth Wonder of the World The Life of Houston's Iconic Astrodome by Robert C. Trumpbour

When it opened in 1965, the Houston Astrodome, nicknamed the Eighth Wonder of the World, captured the attention of an entire nation, bringing pride to the city and enhancing its reputation nationwide. It was a Texas-sized vision of the future, an unthinkable feat of engineering with premium luxury suites, theater-style seating, and the first animated scoreboard. Yet there were memorable problems such as outfielders’ inability to see fly balls and failed attempts to grow natural grass—which ultimately led to the development of Astroturf. The Astrodome nonetheless changed the way people viewed sports, putting casual fans at the forefront of a user-experience approach that soon became the standard in all American sports.   The Eighth Wonder of the World  tears back the facade and details the Astrodome’s role in transforming Houston as a city while also chronicling the building’s pivotal fifty years in existence and the ongoing debate about its preservation.  

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The Baseball Codes - Jason Turbow & Michael Duca Cover Art

The Baseball Codes

The Baseball Codes Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime by Jason Turbow & Michael Duca

An insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments.   Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes , old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining.   At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes , we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field.   With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.

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56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports - Kostya Kennedy Cover Art

56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports

56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports by Kostya Kennedy

Seventy baseball seasons ago, on a May afternoon at Yankee Stadium, Joe DiMaggio lined a hard single to leftfield. It was the quiet beginning to the most resonant baseball achievement of all time. Starting that day, the vaunted Yankee centerfielder kept on hitting-at least one hit in game after game after game. In the summer of 1941, as Nazi forces moved relentlessly across Europe and young American men were drafted by the millions, it seemed only a matter of time before the U.S. went to war. The nation was apprehensive. Yet for two months in that tense summer, America was captivated by DiMaggio's astonishing hitting streak. In 56, Kostya Kennedy tells the remarkable story of how the streak found its way into countless lives, from the Italian kitchens of Newark to the playgrounds of Queens to the San Francisco streets of North Beach; from the Oval Office of FDR to the Upper West Side apartment where Joe's first wife, Dorothy, the movie starlet, was expecting a child. In this crisp, evocative narrative Joe DiMaggio emerges in a previously unseen light, a 26-year-old on the cusp of becoming an icon. He comes alive-a driven ballplayer, a mercurial star and a conflicted husband-as the tension and the scrutiny upon him build with each passing day. DiMaggio's achievement lives on as the greatest of sports records. Alongside the story of DiMaggio's dramatic quest, Kennedy deftly examines the peculiar nature of hitting streaks and with an incisive, modern-day perspective gets inside the number itself, as its sheer improbability heightens both the math and the magic of 56 games in a row. Winner of the 2011 CASEY Award from Spitball Magazine

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The Mental Game of Baseball - H.A. Dorfman Cover Art

The Mental Game of Baseball

The Mental Game of Baseball A Guide to Peak Performance by H.A. Dorfman

In this book, authors H.A. Dorfman and Karl Kuehl present their practical and proven strategy for developing the mental skills needed to achieve peak performance at every level of the game.The theory and applications are illustrated by anecdotes and insights from major and minor league players, who at some point discovered the importance of mastering the inner game in order to play baseball as it should be played. Intended for players, managers, coaches, agents, and administrators as well as fans who want a more in-depth look at the makeup of the complete baseball player.

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Lau's Laws on Hitting - Charley Lau Cover Art

Lau's Laws on Hitting

Lau's Laws on Hitting The Art of Hitting .400 for the Next Generation; Follow Lau's Laws and Improve Your Hitting! by Charley Lau

After working as a minor league hitting instructor, Charley Lau Jr. began his quest to resolve the myths and misunderstandings on how to hit a baseball in the most effective way possible. This book not only includes the secret ingredients to building the most dynamic swing possible, but he shows, step-by-step, how to teach yourself or your students.

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Class A - Lucas Mann Cover Art

Class A

Class A Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere by Lucas Mann

An unforgettable chronicle of a year of minor-league baseball in a small Iowa town that follows not only the travails of the players of the Clinton LumberKings but also the lives of their dedicated fans and of the town itself.   Award-winning essayist Lucas Mann delivers a powerful debut in his telling of the story of the 2010 season of the Clinton LumberKings. Along the Mississippi River, in a Depression-era stadium, young prospects from all over the world compete for a chance to move up through the baseball ranks to the major leagues. Their coaches, some of whom have spent nearly half a century in the game, watch from the dugout. In the bleachers, local fans call out from the same seats they’ve occupied year after year. And in the distance, smoke rises from the largest remaining factory in a town that once had more millionaires per capita than any other in America.   Mann turns his eye on the players, the coaches, the fans, the radio announcer, the town, and finally on himself, a young man raised on baseball, driven to know what still draws him to the stadium. His voice is as fresh and funny as it is poignant, illuminating both the small triumphs and the harsh realities of minor-league ball. Part sports story, part cultural exploration, part memoir, Class A is a moving and unique study of why we play, why we watch, and why we remember.

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Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud - Joe Pepitone & Berry Stainback Cover Art

Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud

Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud by Joe Pepitone & Berry Stainback

At age seventeen Joe Pepitone signed with the New York Yankees, and soon experts were predicting that he would be the team’s next superstar. He could run, throw, and field, and he had a sweet home run swing. But during his twelve years in the major leagues Pepitone devoted most of his energy to swinging off the field. He blew his career, destroyed two marriages, lost custody of three children, and came very close to a nervous breakdown. At the age of thirty-three he quit baseball for good and finally admitted that for most of his life, he’d been living a lie. He’d been acting the carefree clown in order to cover up immense inner pain. In Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud , first published in 1975, Pepitone reveals what was behind his wild behavior. He does so in the most devastatingly honest terms, holding back none of the embarrassment, anguish, and guilt that perpetually haunted him. He tells of the father he loved so much, “Willie Pep” Pepitone, the toughest man in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood. Obsessed with making Joe a baseball star, Willie beat his son when he failed to meet expectations. One night, enraged at his father, Joe said, “Mom—I wish he’d die!” Willie died the next day. Along with pain, the book has plenty of humor. Pepitone tells of partying with Frank Sinatra and Mickey Mantle, carousing with groupies and hookers, and “living the life” of a famous ballplayer in the sixties and seventies. One of the most moving, honest, and hilarious books ever written by an athlete, Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud was selected by Esquire magazine as one of the “20 best baseball books ever.” Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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Baseball Between the Numbers - Jonah Keri & Baseball Prospectus Cover Art

Baseball Between the Numbers

Baseball Between the Numbers Why Everything You Know About the Game Is Wrong by Jonah Keri & Baseball Prospectus

In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers, and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams we root for could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The revolution in baseball statistics that began in the 1970s is a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way we watch and understand the sport, no one has written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball-people like Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein-think about numbers and the game. Baseball Between the Numbers is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game, from hitting, pitching, and fielding to roster construction and the scouting and drafting of players, the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how our favorite teams could win more games. This is a book that every fan, every follower of sports radio, every fantasy player, every coach, and every player, at every level, can learn from and enjoy.

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For the Love of Baseball - Lee Gutkind, Andrew Blauner & Yogi Berra Cover Art

For the Love of Baseball

For the Love of Baseball A Celebration of the Game That Connects Us All by Lee Gutkind, Andrew Blauner & Yogi Berra

Stefan Fatsis sends his “stunningly perfect, consummately perfect, why-would-anyone-use-anything-else? perfect” glove to be restored by the glove designer at Rawlings. Frank Deford makes the case that the baseball cap may be the most universal article of clothing ever designed. Roger Angell considers why it is that pitchers are “so much livelier and more garrulous than hitters.” George Plimpton reflects on the slow demotion of aging or slumping players from pitcher to first base, to the outfield. United by the authors’ fervent love of the game, each chapter in this book reminds us of the unique role baseball plays in our national history and collective imagination. In addition to the authors mentioned above, the lineup includes: • Kevin Baker • Jeff Greenfield • Katherine A. Powers • Michael Shapiro • John Thorn • Sean Wilentz • And more! Published previously as Anatomy of Baseball and Great Baseball Stories , this wide-ranging collection now includes pieces by A. Bartlett Giamatti, Gay Talese, Matthew McGough, and George Vecsey. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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Doc - Todd Zolecki Cover Art

Doc

Doc The Life of Roy Halladay by Todd Zolecki

Nobody's baseball story is like Roy Halladay's.He was born and raised to be a superstar. He was a first-round draft pick in 1995. He nearly threw a no-hitter in his second big-league start in 1998. But two years later, Halladay suffered arguably the worst season by any pitcher in baseball history. He was months away from being out of the game.Hall of Fame pitchers do not struggle like that. But Halladay vowed to change. He altered his pitching mechanics and rewired his brain to become one of the greatest pitchers of all time. How did Doc do it? Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay tells the remarkable story; based on more than 100 interviews with Halladay's family, friends, managers, coaches, teammates, and competitors, including extensive interviews with his wife, Brandy; comprehensive archival research; and previously unpublished commentary from Halladay himself. Doc not only tells the story of Halladay's illustrious baseball career in Toronto and Philadelphia, but his hard-driven adolescence, his lifelong personal struggles, and his motivation to pay forward the knowledge and philosophies that helped him achieve baseball greatness before his tragic death in 2017.This essential biography is a testimonial for baseball players and pitchers from high school to the big leagues still searching for their path to excellence, like Halladay. It's also a celebration and a profound exploration of a generational pitcher and a beloved teammate, friend, and family man.

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Ball Four - Jim Bouton Cover Art

Ball Four

Ball Four by Jim Bouton

The 50th Anniversary edition of “the book that changed baseball” (NPR), chosen by Time magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Non-Fiction” books.   When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold, and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries.   Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four . Fans liked discovering that athletes were real people—often wildly funny people. David Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer for his reporting on Vietnam, wrote a piece in Harper’s that said of Bouton: “He has written . . . a book deep in the American vein, so deep in fact that it is by no means a sports book.”   Today Ball Four has taken on another role—as a time capsule of life in the sixties. “It is not just a diary of Bouton’s 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros,” says sportswriter Jim Caple. “It’s a vibrant, funny, telling history of an era that seems even further away than four decades. To call it simply a ‘tell all book’ is like describing The Grapes of Wrath as a book about harvesting peaches in California.”   Includes a new foreword by Jim Bouton's wife, Paula Kurman   “An irreverent, best-selling book that angered baseball’s hierarchy and changed the way journalists and fans viewed the sports world.” — The Washington Post

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Beyond Belief - Josh Hamilton & Tim Keown Cover Art

Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief Finding the Strength to Come Back by Josh Hamilton & Tim Keown

Josh Hamilton was the first player chosen in the first round of the 1999 baseball draft. He was destined to be one of those rare "high-character " superstars. But in 2001, working his way from the minors to the majors, all of the plans for Josh went off the rails in a moment of weakness. What followed was a 4-year nightmare of drugs and alcohol, estrangement from friends and family, and his eventual suspension from baseball. BEYOND BELIEF details the events that led up to the derailment. Josh explains how a young man destined for fame and wealth could allow his life to be taken over by drugs and alcohol. But it is also the memoir of a spiritual journey that breaks through pain and heartbreak and leads to the rebirth of his major-league career. Josh Hamilton makes no excuses and places no blame on anyone other than himself. He takes responsibility for his poor decisions and believes his story can help millions who battle the same demons. "I have been given a platform to tell my story" he says. "I pray every night I am a good messenger."

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The Extra 2% - Jonah Keri Cover Art

The Extra 2%

The Extra 2% How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to FirstFirst by Jonah Keri

What happens when three financial industry whiz kids and certified baseball nuts take over an ailing major league franchise and implement the same strategies that fueled their success on Wall Street? In the case of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, an American League championship happens—the culmination of one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history. In The Extra 2% , financial journalist and sportswriter Jonah Keri chronicles the remarkable story of one team’s Cinderella journey from divisional doormat to World Series contender. When former Goldman Sachs colleagues Stuart Sternberg and Matthew Silverman assumed control of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005, it looked as if they were buying the baseball equivalent of a penny stock. But the incoming regime came armed with a master plan: to leverage their skill at trading, valuation, and management to build a model twenty-first-century franchise that could compete with their bigger, stronger, richer rivals—and prevail. Together with “boy genius” general manager Andrew Friedman, the new Rays owners jettisoned the old ways of doing things, substituting their own innovative ideas about employee development, marketing and public relations, and personnel management. They exorcized the “devil” from the team’s nickname, developed metrics that let them take advantage of undervalued aspects of the game, like defense, and hired a forward-thinking field manager as dedicated to unconventional strategy as they were. By quantifying the game’s intangibles—that extra 2% that separates a winning organization from a losing one—they were able to deliver to Tampa Bay something that Billy Beane’s “Moneyball” had never brought to Oakland: an American League pennant. A book about what happens when you apply your business skills to your life’s passion, The Extra 2% is an informative and entertaining case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.

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The Mental Game of Baseball - H.A. Dorfman Cover Art

The Mental Game of Baseball

The Mental Game of Baseball A Guide to Peak Performance by H.A. Dorfman

Without a doubt the classic guide to mental performance enhancement for baseball. Here in the third edition, authors H.A. Dorfman and Karl Kuehl present their practical and proven strategy for developing the mental skills needed to achieve peak performance at every level of the game. The theory and applications are illustrated by anecdotes and insights from major and minor league players, who at some point discovered the importance of mastering the inner game in order to play baseball as it should be played. Intended for players, managers, coaches, agents, and administrators as well as fans who want a more in-depth look at the makeup of the complete baseball player.

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The Cubs Way - Tom Verducci Cover Art

The Cubs Way

The Cubs Way The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse by Tom Verducci

The New York Times  Bestseller With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions. It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions.  How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball.  Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way," he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics.  To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench.  A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge.   The Cubs Way takes readers behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base-percentage, and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential.  Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering, but also served to strengthen their loyalty.   The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and readers will cherish for years to come.

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The Boys of Summer - Roger Kahn Cover Art

The Boys of Summer

The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn

"A moving elegy . . . [to] the best team the majors ever saw . . . the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s."  — New York Times The classic narrative of growing up within shouting distance of Ebbets Field, covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and what’s happened to everybody since. This is a book about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a book by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for The Herald Tribune. This is a book about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when their glory days were behind them. In short, it is a book about America, about fathers and sons, prejudice and courage, triumph and disaster, and told with warmth, humor, wit, candor, and love.

47

Astroball - Ben Reiter Cover Art

Astroball

Astroball The New Way to Win It All by Ben Reiter

NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER • The inside story of the Houston Astros, whose relentless innovation took them from the worst team in baseball to the World Series in 2017 and 2019   “Reiter’s superb narrative of how the team got there provides powerful insights into how organizations—not just baseball clubs—work best.”— The Wall Street Journal Astroball  picks up where Michael Lewis’s acclaimed  Moneyball  leaves off, telling the thrilling story of a championship team that pushed both the sport and business of baseball to the next level. In 2014, the Astros were the worst baseball team in half a century, but just three years later they defied critics to win a stunning World Series. In this book, Ben Reiter shows how the Astros built a system that avoided the stats-versus-scouts divide by giving the human factor a key role in their decision-making. Sitting at the nexus of sports, business, and innovation,  Astroball  is the story of the next wave of thinking in baseball and beyond, at once a remarkable underdog tale and a fascinating look at the cutting edge of evaluating and optimizing human potential.

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The Best Team Money Can Buy - Molly Knight Cover Art

The Best Team Money Can Buy

The Best Team Money Can Buy The Los Angeles Dodgers' Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse by Molly Knight

With a new Afterword covering the 2015 season. The bestselling, inside-the-clubhouse story of two tumultuous years when the Los Angeles Dodgers were re-made from top to bottom, becoming the most talked-about and most colorful team in baseball. “It’s as if Molly Knight ushers you behind the closed clubhouse doors.” (Buster Olney, ESPN) In 2012 the Los Angeles Dodgers were bought out of bankruptcy in the most expensive sale in sports history. Los Angeles icon Magic Johnson and his partners hoped to put together a team worthy of Hollywood: consistently entertaining. By most accounts they have succeeded, if not always in the way they might have imagined. In The Best Team Money Can Buy , Molly Knight tells the story of the Dodgers’ 2013 and 2014 seasons with detailed, previously unreported revelations. She shares a behind-the-scenes account of the astonishing sale of the Dodgers, as well as what the Dodgers actually knew in advance about rookie phenom and Cuban defector Yasiel Puig. We learn how close manager Don Mattingly was to losing his job during the 2013 season—and how the team turned around the season in the most remarkable fifty-game stretch of any team since World War II. Knight also provides a rare glimpse into the in-fighting and mistrust that derailed the team in 2014 and paints an intimate portrait of star pitcher Clayton Kershaw, including details about the record contract offer he turned down before accepting the richest contract any pitcher ever signed. Exciting, surprising, and filled with juicy details, “a must-read for fans of the Dodgers and all Los Angeles sports teams….Knight’s undercover work is like none other” ( Library Journal ). The Best Team Money Can Buy is filled with “fascinating perspectives” ( Los Angeles Times ) and “interesting anecdotes about some of baseball’s most compelling figures” ( The Sacramento Bee ).

49

Ballplayer - Chipper Jones & Carroll Rogers Walton Cover Art

Ballplayer

Ballplayer by Chipper Jones & Carroll Rogers Walton

Atlanta Braves third baseman and National Hall of Famer Chipper Jones—one of the greatest switch-hitters in baseball history—shares his remarkable story, while capturing the magic nostalgia that sets baseball apart from every other sport.   Before Chipper Jones became an eight-time All-Star who amassed Hall of Fame–worthy statistics during a nineteen-year career with the Atlanta Braves, he was just a country kid from small town Pierson, Florida. A kid who grew up playing baseball in the backyard with his dad dreaming that one day he’d be a major league ballplayer.     With his trademark candor and astonishing recall, Chipper Jones tells the story of his rise to the MLB ranks and what it took to stay with one organization his entire career in an era of booming free agency. His journey begins with learning the art of switch-hitting and takes off after the Braves make him the number one overall pick in the 1990 draft, setting him on course to become the linchpin of their lineup at the height of their fourteen-straight division-title run.   Ballplayer takes readers into the clubhouse of the Braves’ extraordinary dynasty, from the climax of the World Series championship in 1995 to the last-gasp division win by the 2005 “Baby Braves”; all the while sharing pitch-by-pitch dissections of clashes at the plate with some of the all-time great starters, such as Clemens and Johnson, as well as closers such as Wagner and Papelbon. He delves into his relationships with Bobby Cox and his famous Braves brothers — Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz, among them—and opponents from Cal Ripken Jr. to Barry Bonds. The National League MVP also opens up about his overnight rise to superstardom and the personal pitfalls that came with fame; his spirited rivalry with the New York Mets; his reflections on baseball in the modern era—outrageous money, steroids, and all — and his special last season in 2012.   Ballplayer immerses us in the best of baseball, as if we’re sitting next to Chipper in the dugout on an endless spring day.

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Smart Baseball - Keith Law Cover Art

Smart Baseball

Smart Baseball The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball by Keith Law

Predictably Irrational meets Moneyball in ESPN veteran writer and statistical analyst Keith Law’s iconoclastic look at the numbers game of baseball, proving why some of the most trusted stats are surprisingly wrong, explaining what numbers actually work, and exploring what the rise of Big Data means for the future of the sport. For decades, statistics such as batting average, saves recorded, and pitching won-lost records have been used to measure individual players’ and teams’ potential and success. But in the past fifteen years, a revolutionary new standard of measurement—sabermetrics—has been embraced by front offices in Major League Baseball and among fantasy baseball enthusiasts. But while sabermetrics is recognized as being smarter and more accurate, traditionalists, including journalists, fans, and managers, stubbornly believe that the "old" way—a combination of outdated numbers and "gut" instinct—is still the best way. Baseball, they argue, should be run by people, not by numbers.? In this informative and provocative book, teh renowned ESPN analyst and senior baseball writer demolishes a century’s worth of accepted wisdom, making the definitive case against the long-established view. Armed with concrete examples from different eras of baseball history, logic, a little math, and lively commentary, he shows how the allegiance to these numbers—dating back to the beginning of the professional game—is firmly rooted not in accuracy or success, but in baseball’s irrational adherence to tradition. While Law gores sacred cows, from clutch performers to RBIs to the infamous save rule, he also demystifies sabermetrics, explaining what these "new" numbers really are and why they’re vital. He also considers the game’s future, examining how teams are using Data—from PhDs to sophisticated statistical databases—to build future rosters; changes that will transform baseball and all of professional sports.

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