MoneyballMichael Lewis
- Genre: Sports & Outdoors
- Publish Date: March 17, 2004
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
- Apple Books | $11.99Amazon Kindle
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1
MoneyballMichael 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?
2
Loose BallsTerry Pluto
What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association. What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association. The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still—decades later —just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball. Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports—told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons.
3
Where Nobody Knows Your NameJohn 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.
4
UnhittableRob Friedman
The baseball expert famously known as PitchingNinja explores the revolution that has given pitchers an unprecedented advantage in today’s game. Can Tarik Skubal three-peat as AL Cy Young? After winning Rookie of the Year and his first Cy Young, how does Paul Skenes get even nastier? Can Jacob deGrom crack 200 strikeouts again? How will Spencer Strider approach his return to dominance? Which pitchers stand to gain the most from an automated strike zone? And what separates Shohei Ohtani’s approach to training from everyone else—why is he the outlier? If you’re asking questions like these as the season approaches, Unhittable is just what you’ve been looking for to prep for Opening Day. Pitching dominates baseball as never before. Spin rate, sweepers, 105 mph fastballs—all have become standard when evaluating pitching arms and techniques and are familiar lingo in discussion and analysis of the game. Gone is the era of the swaggering power hitters. Batting averages are close to the deadball era; team records for strikeouts are broken and then broken again. The game has fundamentally changed, and hitters may never catch up. A self-taught coach who has evolved into a top pitching analyst, Rob Friedman has closely observed this revolution that has transformed baseball for both players and fans. Friedman is sought after by players like Cy Young Award-winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, and All-Stars such as Yu Darvish, and he spotlights the influential figures behind this transformation: Tom House, a former MLB pitcher turned coaching visionary, utilized cutting-edge technology to refine the techniques of legends like Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson. His unconventional methods paved the way for a new era shaped by the collision of technology and tradition.Brent Strom, another MLB pitching insider, has used data to revive flagging careers—helping stars like Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Charlie Morton to use technology to enhance their performance.Kyle Boddy, of Driveline Baseball, has trained elite pitchers such as Trevor Bauer, Shohei Ohtani, and Clayton Kershaw, using advanced analytics and technology, as well as others. Peppered with insights drawn from interviews with top pitchers, Unhittable is an insider's look at how these advancements have been used by players themselves, and how they have fundamentally changed America’s pastime.
5
The Roger Angell Baseball CollectionRoger Angell
From "the clear-eyed poet laureate of baseball"—a definitive collection of three nonfiction classics chronicling MLB into the modern age ( New York Post ). In these three classic volumes, legendary New Yorker sportswriter Roger Angell chronicles the triumphs, travails, heroes, and history of America's favorite pastime. In The Summer Game, Angell covers ten seasons in the major leagues from the 1960s to the early 1970s. With his signature panache, Angell captures the flavor of the game and the spirit of legends such as Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Willie Mays. In Five Seasons , Angell covers the mid-1970s, which he calls "the most important half-decade in the history of the game." From the accomplishments of Nolan Ryan and Hank Aaron to the rising influence of network television, Angell offers a fresh perspective on this transformative period. And in Season Ticket , Angell recounts the larger-than-life narratives of baseball in the mid-1980s. Diving into subjects including the notorious 1986 World Series and the Curse of the Bambino, Sparky Anderson's Detroit Tigers, and performance-enhancing drug use, Angell offers insights that are crucial to understanding the game as we know it today.
6
Banana BallJesse Cole & Don Yaeger
The Savannah Bananas have peeled back the game of baseball and made it fun again. This is their story. For his entire childhood, Jesse Cole dreamed of pitching in the Majors. Now, he has a life in baseball that he could have only imagined: he met the love of his life in the industry; they shaped Savannah, Georgia’s professional team into the league champion Savannah Bananas; and now the Bananas have restyled baseball itself into something all their own: Banana Ball. Fast, fun, and outrageously entertaining, Banana Ball brings fans right into the game. The Bananas throw out a first banana rather than a ball. Their first-base coach dances to "Thriller" or Britney between innings. Players run into the crowd to hand out roses. And the rules themselves are bananas: if a fan catches a foul ball it’s an out; and players might go to bat on stilts or wearing a banana costume. And their fans absolutely love it. But the reason this team is on the forefront of a movement is less about the play on the field and more about the atmosphere that the team culture creates. For the first time in this book, Jesse reveals the ideas and experiences that allowed him to reimagine America’s oldest sport by creating a phenomenon that is helping fans fall in love with the game all over again. This is a story that’s bigger than baseball and bigger than the yellow tuxedo Jesse wears as the “ringmaster” of every game. And to understand the movement, you have to understand the story at its core. In Jesse’s telling, it takes heart, innovation, and joy (and a bit of tropical fruit) to make something wholly original out of one of America’s great traditions. His story is part Moneyball , part Field of Dreams , part The Greatest Showman . It is a personal story, a creativity story, and the story of a business scrapping for every success. And it has several distinct love stories—love stories like Jesse and his father, Jesse and his wife, the team and the sport of baseball, the team and the fans. This is Jesse calling his dad from the outfield after each Bananas game, and putting unending creativity into a team with the ultimate goal of bringing the Bananas to the professional ballparks he himself never got to play in. This is his story of baseball, love, leadership, and going just a bit bananas for all.
7
Why We Love BaseballJoe Posnanski
NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year National Sports Media Association Sports Book of the Year An NPR "Book of the Day" #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But these are also moments raw with the humanity of the game, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar, and every story, from the immortal to the obscure, is told from a unique perspective. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player—these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth. Posnanski’s previous book, The Baseball 100 , portrayed the heroes and pioneers of the sport, and now, with his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, he gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers’ duels to breaking the sport’s color line in the ’40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski’s illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love—and thought we knew. Why We Love Baseball is an epic that ends too soon, a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that has us thrilled, torn, inspired, and always wanting more.
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The Baseball 100Joe 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.
9
The Cloudbuster NineAnne R. Keene & Claudia Williams
In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals battled for the World Series title, another legendary team was taking the field on a scrappy diamond in North Carolina. The Cloudbuster Nine wasn’t just any baseball team. They were big-league pros turned Navy fighter-pilot cadets, including Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain, training to become America’s heroes. At the heart of it all was Jim Raugh, the team’s batboy. From cramped buses to war-bond exhibitions—even a game at Yankee Stadium against a Babe Ruth–led squad—Jim witnessed baseball history firsthand. He chased his own dreams as a college All-American, but life threw him a curveball: a career-ending injury that dashed his major-league dreams. Now, Jim’s daughter, Anne R. Keene, uncovers an untold story from his long-lost scrapbook, revealing memories from a sports-based training program that shaped some of America’s greatest leaders: George H. W. Bush, John Glenn, Bear Bryant, and John Wooden among them. The Cloudbuster Nine tells, for the first time, the thrilling story of this patriotic baseball team with legends like Ted Williams who played for pride, country and the war-effort—and helped win World War II.
10
The Complete GameRon Darling
World Series champion, former All-Star, and award-winning television analyst Ron Darling gives readers a inside look at one of the most demanding and strategic positions in all of sports: the pitcher. Drawing on vivid situations from his playing days for the New York Mets and the Oakland Athletics, and from moments he has observed as a broadcaster, Darling offers an engaging look at the art, strategy, and psychology of pitching. Throughout, we get a glimpse of what it feels like to stand alone on the mound, the center of attention for thousands of fans. No other book examines the position in such compelling depth— The Complete Game will be an essential book for every fan and aspiring player.
11
Reversing the CurseDan Shaughnessy
"A true insider's perspective on the 2004 Red Sox" and their World Series win, from the bestselling author of Curse of the Bambino ( USA Today ). On October 27, 2004, the Red Sox won their first World Series Championship in eighty-six years—breaking the infamous Curse of the Bambino and giving diehard fans the thrill of a lifetime. Reversing the Curse preserves one of the greatest stories in sports history with an absorbing account of the team—a raggedy lineup of motorcycle-riding, whiskey-drinking rogues—and the key events that led to their incredible championship victory. A more epic sports saga could not have been invented: Here we have the curse that began with Babe Ruth; a team of comeback kids determined to prove their mettle; the perennial rivalry against the Yankees; and a historic win that was celebrated around the world. Dan Shaughnessy captures the Sox triumph in all its drama and euphoria with penetrating insight, a keen sense of history, and unparalleled insider access. With photographs by the Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer Stan Grossfeld, Reversing the Curse is the definitive record of a landmark moment in baseball history. "[Shaughnessy is] adept at capturing the mood, the emotion, the palpable feel of the Boston-New York showdown." — The New York Times "In story after story of near-triumph, the book should delight the team's most fanatically loyal followers." — Publishers Weekly
12
The Numbers GameAlan Schwarz
"Sports journalist Schwarz brings to the fore this intelligent, smartly researched and often hilarious look at the use of statistics in baseball." — Publishers Weekly In The Numbers Game , Alan Schwarz provides the first-ever history of baseball statistics, showing how baseball and its numbers have been inseparable ever since the pastime's birth in 1845. He tells the history of this obsession through the lives of the people who felt it most: Henry Chadwick, the 19th-century writer who invented the first box score and harped endlessly about which statistics mattered and which did not; Allan Roth, Branch Rickey's right-hand numbers man with the late-1940s Brooklyn Dodgers; Earnshaw Cook, a scientist and Manhattan Project veteran who retired to pursue inventing the perfect baseball statistic; John Dewan, a former Strat-O-Matic maven who built STATS Inc. into a multimillion-dollar powerhouse for statistics over the Internet; and dozens more. Almost every baseball fan for 150 years has been drawn to the game by its statistics, whether through newspaper box scores, the backs of Topps baseball cards, The Baseball Encyclopedia , or fantasy leagues. Today's most ardent stat scientists, known as "sabermetricians," spend hundreds of hours coming up with new ways to capture the game in numbers, and engage in holy wars over which statistics are best. Some of these men—and women—are even being hired by major league teams to bring an understanding of statistics to a sport that for so long shunned it. Taken together, Schwarz paints a history not just of baseball statistics, but of the soul of the sport itself. "It will delight any fan who memorizes the numbers on the back of trading cards or pores over newspaper box scores." — Publishers Weekly
13
Ninety Percent MentalBob Tewksbury
Former Major League pitcher and mental skills coach for two of baseball's legendary franchises (the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants) Bob Tewksbury takes fans inside the psychology of baseball. In Ninety Percent Mental , Bob Tewksbury shows readers a side of the game only he can provide, given his singular background as both a longtime MLB pitcher and a mental skills coach for two of the sport's most fabled franchises, the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants. Fans watching the game on television or even at the stadium don't have access to the mind games a pitcher must play in order to get through an at-bat, an inning, a game. Tewksbury explores the fascinating psychology behind baseball, such as how players use techniques of imagery, self-awareness, and strategic thinking to maximize performance, and how a pitcher's strategy changes throughout a game. He also offers an in-depth look into some of baseball's most monumental moments and intimate anecdotes from a "who's who" of the game, including legendary players who Tewksbury played with and against (such as Mark McGwire, Craig Biggio, and Greg Maddux), game-changing managers and executives (Joe Torre, Bruce Bochy, Brian Sabean), and current star players (Jon Lester, Anthony Rizzo, Andrew Miller, Rich Hill). With Tewksbury's esoteric knowledge as a thinking-fan's player and his expertise as a "baseball whisperer", this entertaining book is perfect for any fan who wants to see the game in a way he or she has never seen it before. Ninety Percent Mental will deliver an unprecedented look at the mound games and mind games of Major League Baseball.
14
BaseballGeorge Vecsey
“Football is force and fanatics, basketball is beauty and bounce. Baseball is everything: action, grace, the seasons of our lives. George Vecsey’s book proves it, without wasting a word.”—Lee Eisenberg, author of The Number In Baseball , one of the great bards of America’s Grand Old Game gives a rousing account of the sport, from its pre-Republic roots to the present day. George Vecsey casts a fresh eye on the game, illuminates its foibles and triumphs, and performs a marvelous feat: making a classic story seem refreshingly new. Baseball is a narrative of America’s can-do spirit, in which stalwart immigrants such as Henry Chadwick could transplant cricket and rounders into the fertile American culture and in which die-hard unionist baseballers such as Charles Comiskey and Connie Mack could eventually become the tightfisted avatars of the game’s big-money establishment. It’s a celebration of such underdogs as a rag-armed catcher turned owner named Branch Rickey and a sure-handed fielder named Curt Flood, both of whom flourished as true great men of history. But most of all, Baseball is a testament to the unbreakable bond between our nation’s pastime and the fans, who’ve remained loyal through the fifty-year-long interdict on black athletes, the Black Sox scandal, franchise relocation, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs by some major stars. Reverent, playful, and filled with Vecsey’s charm, Baseball begs to be read in the span of a rain-delayed doubleheader, and so enjoyable that, like a favorite team’s championship run, one hopes it never ends. “Vecsey possesses a journalist’s eye for detail and a historian’s feel for the sweep of action. His research is scrupulous and his writing crisp. This book is an instant classic—a highly readable guide to America’s great enduring pastime.”— The Louisville Courier Journal
15
The Greatest Summer in Baseball HistoryJohn 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
16
Triumph and Tragedy in MudvilleStephen Jay Gould
"Scientific analysis intersects with flat-out fandom. [Gould] could write, he was funny, and he loved, loved baseball."—Booklist Science meets sport in this vibrant collection of baseball essays by the late evolutionary biologist.Among Stephen Jay Gould's many gifts was his ability to write eloquently about baseball, his great passion. Through the years, the renowned paleontologist published numerous essays on the sport; these have now been collected in a volume alive with the candor and insight that characterized all of Gould's writing. Here are his thoughts on the complexities of childhood streetball and the joys of opening day; tributes to Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, and lesser-knowns such as deaf-mute centerfielder "Dummy" Hoy; and a frank admission of the contradictions inherent in being a lifelong Yankees fan with Red Sox season tickets. Gould also deftly applies the tools of evolutionary theory to the demise of the .400 hitter, the Abner Doubleday creation myth, and the improbability of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. This book is a delight, an essential addition to Gould's remarkable legacy, and a fitting tribute to his love for the game.
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SteinbrennerBill Madden
"Having covered the Yankees for thirty years, and with access to previously unavailable material, Madden provides a definitive and captivating biography." — Kirkus Reviews 2010 Winner of the Baseball Hall of Fame J. G. Taylor Spink Award If you love the New York Yankees, arguably the most storied franchise in all of sports—or even if you're just a fan of baseball history, or big business bios—this biography of the larger-than-life team owner for the past four decades is a must for your bookshelf. For more than thirty years Bill Madden has covered the Yankees and Major League Baseball for the New York Daily News , and he brings all his insights and inside connections to Steinbrenner : the definitive biography of one of New York's most intriguing and long-standing sports figures, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. "Riveting . . . Reading the book feels like the literary equivalent of passing a traffic accident; it is all but impossible to turn away." — The New York Times "Definitive, indispensable . . . A vivid and entertaining portrait." — Sports Illustrated "[Madden] offers an insider's look at how Steinbrenner has run his team, even finding unexpected—certainly underpublicized—humanity in his subject." — Booklist
18
The TeammatesDavid Halberstam
The Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times– bestselling journalist "has given [Williams, Pesky, DiMaggio, and Doerr] a glorious, flaming autumnal epilogue" ( Time ). More than 6 years after his death David Halberstam remains one of this country's most respected journalists and revered authorities on American life and history in the years since WWII. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his ground-breaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves. The Teammates is the profoundly moving story of four great baseball players who have made the passage from sports icons—when they were young and seemingly indestructible—to men dealing with the vulnerabilities of growing older. At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different men—Boston Red Sox teammates Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams—who remained close for more than sixty years. The book starts out in early October 2001, when Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their beloved friend Ted Williams, whom they know is dying. Bobby Doerr, the fourth member of this close group—"my guys," Williams used to call them—is unable to join them. This is a book—filled with historical details and first-hand accounts—about baseball and about something more: the richness of friendship. "A crystalline gem of a book about old pals, in theory, but really about everything there is." — Chicago Sun-Times "Elegant." — The New York Times Book Review
19
The Mental Keys to HittingH.A. Dorfman & Rick Wolff
A must-have book by acclaimed author and expert H.A. Dorfman that highlights the crucial mental components involved in hitting a baseball and playing the game, components that are as important, if not more so, than the intense physical regimen of an athlete."...helpful to hitters in little leagues or in the big leagues. The information is clear and to the point..." -- Charles Johnson, former catcher, Florida Marlins
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Sports AnalyticsBenjamin Alamar
Data and analytics have the potential to provide sports organizations with a competitive advantage both on and off the field. Yet even as the use of analytics in sports has become commonplace, teams regularly find themselves making big investments without significant payoff. This book is a practical, nontechnical guide to incorporating sports data into decision making, giving leaders the knowledge they need to maximize their organization’s investment in analytics. Benjamin C. Alamar—a leading expert who has built high-performing analytics groups—surveys the current state of the use of data in sports, including both specifics around the tools and how to deploy them most effectively. Sports Analytics offers a clear, easily digestible overview of data management, statistical models, and information systems and a detailed understanding of their vast possibilities. It walks readers through the essentials of understanding the value of different types of data and strategies for building and managing an analytics team. Throughout, Alamar illustrates the value of analytics with real-world examples and case studies from both the sports and business sides. Sports Analytics has guided a range of sports professionals to success since its original publication in 2013. This second edition adds examples and strategies that focus on using data on the business side of a sports organization, provides concrete strategies for incorporating different types of data into decision making, and updates all discussions for the rapid technological developments of the last decade.
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The Complete Guide to Spring Training 2026 / ArizonaKevin Reichard
After a cold, harsh winter, spring training is essential to baseball fans everywhere. Nothing encapsules the renewing spirit of baseball like spring training, when the baseball world preps for another season, when rookies fight for roster spots, and veterans prep for another campaign. Every team in spring training has a shot to contend for a title, as life on the diamond begins anew. This book is meant for all types of spring-training fans. Hardcore baseball fans scout their favorite teams and eagerly track every open roster spot. Casual fans head to spring training in search of the perfect Arizona experience, happy to sip a brew at the outfield bar. For the rest of us, a day away from snow and ice is always a good day. This book covers the 15 Cactus League teams playing out of 10 training camps: American Family Fields of Phoenix (Milwaukee Brewers), Camelback Ranch-Glendale (Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers), Goodyear Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians), Hohokam Stadium (Oakland Athletics), Peoria Stadium (San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners), Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies), Scottsdale Stadium (San Francisco Giants), Sloan Park (Chicago Cubs), Surprise Stadium (Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers), and Tempe Diablo Stadium (Los Angeles Angels). Also included: Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the two ballparks housing the major college programs in Phoenix: Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University. For those who follow their teams: exhibition games in Las Vegas. Each chapter features: - Best seats in each ballpark, whether you want comfort, shade, accessibility or autographs - Ballpark tips - Must-sees before and after the games, including local baseball attractions and sports bars - Training information, to plan a trip before the games start - Information on new and renovated ballparks - Travel tips: Low fares at nearby airports, alternative routes (beat the traffic!) and freeway shortcuts - College games: create your own day-night doubleheaders - Points of interest for the baseball history fan
22
Starting and Closing (Enhanced Edition) (Enhanced Edition)John Smoltz & Don Yaeger
John Smoltz was one of the greatest Major League pitchers of the late twentieth / early twenty-first century—one of only two in baseball history ever to achieve twenty wins and fifty saves in single seasons—and now he shares the candid, no-holds-barred story of his life, his career, and the game he loves in Starting and Closing. A Cy Young Award-winner, future Baseball Hall of Famer, and currently a broadcaster for his former team, the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz delivers a powerful memoir with the kind of fascinating insight into game that made Moneyball a runaway bestseller, plus a heartfelt and truly inspiring faith and religious conviction, similar to what illuminates each page of Tim Tebow’s smash hit memoir, Through My Eyes.
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Seasons in HellMike Shropshire
"A funny, revealing, Ball Four –like romp through mid-seventies baseball" from the longtime sports columnist and author of The Last Real Season ( Booklist ). You think your team is bad? In this "disastrously hilarious" work on one of the most tortured franchises in baseball, one reporter discovers that nine innings can feel like an eternity ( USA Today ). In early 1973, gonzo sportswriter Mike Shropshire agreed to cover the Texas Rangers for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram , not realizing that the Rangers were arguably the worst team in baseball history. Seasons in Hell is a riotous, candid, irreverent behind-the-scenes account in the tradition of The Bronx Zoo and Ball Four , following the Texas Rangers from Whitey Herzog's reign in 1973 through Billy Martin's tumultuous tenure. Offering wonderful perspectives on dozens of unique (and likely never-to-be-seen-again) baseball personalities, Seasons in Hell recounts some of the most extreme characters ever to play the game and brings to life the no-holds-barred culture of major league baseball in the mid-seventies. "The single funniest sports book I have ever read."—Don Imus "The locker-room shenanigans of a lousy team of the 1970s."— Publishers Weekly
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The Long SeasonJim Brosnan
"One of the best baseball books ever written. It is probably one of the best American diaries as well." — New York Times A timeless classic from baseball's golden era, legendary pitcher Jim Brosnan's witty and candid chronicle of the 1959 Major League Baseball season, which set the standard for all sports memoirs to follow. The Long Season was a revelation when it was first published in 1960. Here is an insider's perspective on America's national pastime that is funny, honest, and above all, real. The man behind this fascinating account of baseball and its players was not a sportswriter but a self-proclaimed "average ballplayer"—a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Called "Professor" by his teammates and "Meat" by his wife, Jim Brosnan turned out to be the ideal guide to the behind-the-scenes world of professional baseball with his keen observations, sharp wit, and clear-eyed candor. His player's diary takes readers on the mound and on the road; inside the clubhouse and most enjoyably inside his own head. While solving age-old questions like "Why can't pitchers hit?" and what makes for the best chewing tobacco, Brosnan captures the game-to-game daily experiences of an ordinary season, unapologetically, "the way I saw it"—from sweating it out in spring training to blowing the opening game to a mid-season trade to the Cincinnati Reds. In The Long Season , Brosnan reveals, like no other sportswriter before him, the human side of professional ballplayers and has forever preserved not only a season, but a uniquely American experience.
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The CardMichael O'Keeffe & Teri Thompson
The "lively and well researched" of the 1909 T206 Honus Wagner baseball card, the most sought-after collectible in the world (Sportsillustrated.com). " The Card is a compelling tale . . . illustrating the obsessive nature of collectors while sprinkling in the history of players who spawned the obsession." — Newsday (New York) Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist, having been released in limited numbers just after the turn of the twentieth century. Most, with their creases and stains, look like they've been around for nearly one hundred years. But one—The Card—appears to have defied the travails of time. Its sharp corners and still-crisp portrait make it the single-most famous—and most desired—baseball card on the planet, valued today at more than two million dollars. It has transformed a simple hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. Everything about The Card, which has made men wealthy as well as poisoned lifelong relationships, is fraught with controversy—from its uncertain origins to the nagging possibility that it might not be exactly as it seems. In this intriguing, eye-opening, and groundbreaking look at a uniquely American obsession, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow The Card's trail from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. The Card sheds a fascinating new light on a world of counterfeiters, con men, and the people who profit from what used to be a pastime for kids. "The story of how Honus Wagner, once called "the greatest player ever," is now remembered for little more than being the face on the most valuable card in sports collecting history is a fascinating tale, one told here in riveting detail." —Bert Randolph Sugar, author of The Sport Collector's Bible and The Baseball Maniac's Almanac
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Coaching the Mental GameH.A. Dorfman & Rick Wolff
Whoever claims winning isn't everything obviously has not spoken with an athletic coach.Coaching the Mental Game offers coaches of all sports a definitive volume for effectively understanding an athlete's mental awareness, which in turn will help drive success. Author H.A. Dorfman details appropriate coaching strategies aimed at perfecting the player's mental approach to performance. Coaching the Mental Game will become the Bible for coaches who strive to make their athletes the most complete performers possible. Not only a wonderful asset to athletic coaches, this book will also prove to be a motivational resource for workers in all industries as well as in the game of life.
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The Bad Guys WonJeff 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 in 80s baseball 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 in this revealing work of sports nonfiction, 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 ) is a tell-all baseball history that 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. Pearlman’s intensive, no-holds-barred reporting uncovers the full story of their championship baseball season: The Rowdiest Team in Baseball: Go behind the scenes with the infamous ‘Scum Bunch,’ whose trail of wrecked hotel rooms, trashed charter planes, and bar brawls became the stuff of legend. A Dynasty That Wasn’t: Uncover the explosive and self-destructive behavior, from brawls to booze, that defined superstars like Darryl Strawberry and Dwight ‘Doc’ Gooden and sabotaged what should have been a dynasty. Unforgettable Characters: Meet the full cast, from the cerebral leadership of Keith Hernandez to the antics of Mookie, Nails, and the Kid, who made the 1986 Mets a team like no other. Championship Baseball: Relive every crucial moment on the diamond, from their 108-win season to the unbelievable World Series comeback against Bill Buckner and the Boston Red Sox.
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The Extra 2%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 Cubs WayTom 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 SummerRoger 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 beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. Part sports memoir, part biography, 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. How does a team become a legend, and what becomes of legendary men when the cheering stops? Baseball History Come to Life: Go inside the clubhouse of the 1950s Dodgers, the team that broke the color barrier with the courageous Jackie Robinson. Legendary Sports Journalism: Experience the golden age of baseball through the eyes of Roger Kahn, the reporter who grew up in the shadow of Ebbets Field and was destined to tell this team’s story. The Integration of Baseball: Witness the immense pressure and prejudice faced by Jackie Robinson and the profound impact his presence had on his teammates, the game, and America itself. Fathers, Sons, and Heroes: Discover what happened to icons like Pee Wee Reese, Carl Erskine, and Duke Snider after the cheering stopped, in a moving exploration of life, loss, and the passage of time.
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Ball FourJim 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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AstroballBen 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 BuyMolly 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 ).
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BallplayerChipper 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 BaseballKeith 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. Why have fans and managers clung to outdated baseball statistics for so long—and what should we be using instead? Deconstructing Baseball Mythology: Join Keith Law as he demolishes a century of accepted wisdom, proving why trusted stats like batting average, pitcher wins, and RBIs are surprisingly wrong. The Sabermetric Toolkit: Get an accessible, jargon-free guide to the advanced statistics that matter, from On-Base Percentage (OBP) and wOBA to the all-encompassing WAR (Wins Above Replacement). From Moneyball to Statcast: Explore the evolution of baseball's data revolution, from the early days of sabermetrics to the high-tech future of MLB Statcast and Big Data. Scouting and the Numbers Game: Understand how front offices are blending traditional scouting with cutting-edge sports analytics to build championship rosters and find undervalued players.
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Summer of '49David Halberstam
This #1 bestselling baseball classic of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is "dazzling . . . heart-stopping . . . A celebration of a vanished heroic age" ( The New York Times Book Review ). The summer of 1949: It was baseball's Golden Age and the year Joe DiMaggio's New York Yankees were locked in a soon-to-be classic battle with Ted Williams's Boston Red Sox for the American League pennant. As postwar America looked for a unifying moment, the greatest players in baseball history brought their rivalry to the field, captivating the American public through the heart-pounding final moments of the season. This expansive story captures an era, incorporating profiles of the players and their families, fans, broadcasters, baseball executives, and sportswriters. Riveting in its blend of powerful detail and exhilarating narrative, The Summer of '49 is Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam's engrossing look at not only a sports rivalry, but a time when America's very identity was wrapped up in its beloved national game. This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.
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Trading BasesJoe Peta
An ex–Wall Street trader improved on Moneyball ’s famed sabermetrics and beat the Vegas odds with his own betting methods. Here is the story of how Joe Peta turned fantasy baseball into a dream come true. Joe Peta turned his back on his Wall Street trading career to pursue an ingenious—and incredibly risky—dream. He would apply his risk-analysis skills to Major League Baseball, and treat the sport like the S&P 500. In Trading Bases , Peta takes us on his journey from the ballpark in San Francisco to the trading floors and baseball bars of New York and the sportsbooks of Las Vegas, telling the story of how he created a baseball “hedge fund” with an astounding 41 percent return in his first year. And he explains the unique methods he developed. Along the way, Peta provides insight into the Wall Street crisis he managed to escape: the fragility of the midnineties investment model; the disgraced former CEO of Lehman Brothers, who recruited Peta; and the high-adrenaline atmosphere where million-dollar sports-betting pools were common.
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ImperfectJim Abbott & Tim Brown
“Honest, touching, and beautifully rendered . . . Far more than a book about baseball, it is a deeply felt story of triumph and failure, dreams and disappointments. Jim Abbott has hurled another gem.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Man NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott dreamed of someday being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who encouraged him to compete, Jim would become an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan. But his journey was only beginning: By twenty-one, he’d won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics and—without spending a day in the minor leagues—cracked the starting rotation of the California Angels. In 1991, he would finish third in the voting for the Cy Young Award. Two years later, he would don Yankee pinstripes and pitch one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history. In this honest and insightful book, Jim Abbott reveals the challenges he faced in becoming an elite pitcher, the insecurities he dealt with in a life spent as the different one, and the intense emotion generated by his encounters with disabled children from around the country. With a riveting pitch-by-pitch account of his no-hitter providing the ideal frame for his story, this unique athlete offers readers an extraordinary and unforgettable memoir. “Compelling . . . [a] big-hearted memoir.”— Los Angeles Times “Inspirational.”— The Philadelphia Inquirer Includes an exclusive conversation between Jim Abbott and Tim Brown in the back of the book.
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The Baseball CodesJason 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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42: A Biography of Jack "Jackie" RobinsonFrank Foster
Jackie Robinson was one of the greatest baseball players of all time--MLB Rookie of the Year, World Series Champion, six-time all-star, MVP, and a lifetime batting average of .311. But he is most remembered for breaking racial barriers by becoming the first African American to play in the major leagues since the 1880s. This book traces Robinsons life, both on the field and his personal life--from his childhood and career in the miltary to his days in the Negro leagues and with the Brooklyn Dodgers; it also covers briefly his life after baseball. LifeCaps is an imprint of BookCaps™ Study Guides. With each book, a lesser known or sometimes forgotten life is recapped. We publish a wide array of topics (from baseball and music to literature and philosophy), so check our growing catalogue regularly to see our newest books.
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Million Dollar ArmJ. B. Bernstein
From the farmlands of India to the fields of major league baseball, this fascinating memoir tells the story of a man who forever changed the lives of two talented young men through a pitching contest in India. The official tie-in book to Disney’s major motion picture, starring Jon Hamm. A TRUE STORY OF FINDING THE AMERICAN DREAM . . . ABROAD India is a country with more than one billion people, a fanatical national cricket obsession, and exactly zero talent scouts. There, superstar sports agent J. B. Bernstein knew that he could find the Yao Ming of baseball— someone with a strong arm and enough raw talent to pitch in the major leagues. Almost no one in India is familiar with the game, but Bernstein had heard enough coaches swear that if you gave them a guy who throws a hundred miles an hour, they could teach him how to pitch. So in 2007, Bernstein flew to Mumbai with a radar gun and a plan to find his diamond in the rough. His idea was The Million Dollar Arm , a reality television competition with a huge cash prize and a chance to become the first native of India to sign a contract with an American major-league team. The result is a humorous and inspiring story about three guys transformed: Bernstein, the consummate bachelor and shrewd businessman, and Dinesh and Rinku, the two young men from small farming villages whom he brought home to California. Million Dollar Arm is a timeless reflection on baseball and the American dream, as well as a tale of victory over incredible odds. But, above all, it’s about the limitless possibilities inside every one of us.
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Watching Baseball SmarterZack Hample
Zack Hample's bestselling, smart, and funny fan’s guide to baseball explains the ins and outs of pitching, hitting, running, and fielding, while offering insider trivia and anecdotes that will appeal to anyone—whether you're a major league couch potato, life-long season ticket-holder, or a beginner. • What is the difference between a slider and a curveball? • At which stadium did “The Wave” first make an appearance? • Which positions are never played by lefties? • Why do some players urinate on their hands? Combining the narrative voice and attitude of Michael Lewis with the compulsive brilliance of Schott’s Miscellany , Watching Baseball Smarter will increase your understanding and enjoyment of the sport—no matter what your level of expertise. Featuring a glossary of baseball slang, an appendix of important baseball stats, and an appendix of uniform numbers.
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The MVP MachineBen Lindbergh & Travis Sawchik
Move over, Moneyball ―this New York Times bestseller examines major league baseball's next cutting-edge revolution: the high-tech quest to build better players. "A convincing, and faith-restoring, case that genuine, unadulterated miracles can happen in baseball."― Washington Post As bestselling authors Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik reveal in the New York Times –bestselling The MVP Machine , the Moneyball era is over. Over twenty years after Michael Lewis brought the Oakland Athletics’ groundbreaking team-building strategies to light, every front office takes a data-driven approach to evaluating players. But instead of out-drafting, out-signing, and out-trading their rivals, baseball’s best minds have turned to out-developing opponents, gaining greater edges than ever by perfecting prospects and eking extra runs out of older athletes who were once written off. From the latest trends in player development to the fallout from baseball’s sign-stealing scandal, Lindbergh and Sawchik take us inside the transformation of baseball, teaching, and talent. The MVP Machine not only charts the future of a sport but also offers a lesson that goes beyond baseball. Success stems not from focusing on finished products, but from making the most of untapped potential.
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October 1964David Halberstam
The "compelling" New York Times bestseller by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, capturing the 1964 World Series between the Yankees and Cardinals ( Newsweek ). David Halberstam, an avid sports writer with an investigative reporter's tenacity, superbly details the end of the fifteen-year reign of the New York Yankees in October 1964 . That October found the Yankees going head-to-head with the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series pennant. Expertly weaving the narrative threads of both teams' seasons, Halberstam brings the major personalities on the field—from switch-hitter Mickey Mantle to pitcher Bob Gibson—to life. Using the teams' subcultures, Halberstam also analyzes the cultural shifts of the sixties. The result is a unique blend of sports writing and cultural history as engrossing as it is insightful. This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.
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A Nice Little Place on the North SideGeorge Will
Now with bonus material on the Chicago Cubs' World Series win, the New York Times- bestselling history of America's most beloved baseball stadium, Wrigley Field, and the Cubs’ century-long search for World Series glory In A Nice Little Place on the North Side, leading columnist George Will returns to baseball with a deeply personal look at his hapless Chicago Cubs and their often beatified home, Wrigley Field, as it enters its second century. Baseball, Will argues, is full of metaphors for life, religion, and happiness, and Wrigley is considered one of its sacred spaces. But what is its true, hyperbole-free history? Winding beautifully like Wrigley’s iconic ivy, Will’s meditation on “The Friendly Confines” examines both the unforgettable stories that forged the field’s legend and the larger-than-life characters—from Wrigley and Ruth to Veeck, Durocher, and Banks—who brought it glory, heartbreak, and scandal. Drawing upon his trademark knowledge and inimitable sense of humor, Will also explores his childhood connections to the team, the Cubs’ future, and what keeps long-suffering fans rooting for the home team after so many years of futility. In the end, A Nice Little Place on the North Side is more than just the history of a ballpark. It is the story of Chicago, of baseball, and of America itself.
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Baseball as a Road to GodJohn 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.
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Game of ShadowsMark Fainaru-Wada & Lance Williams
In the summer of 1998, two of baseball’s leading sluggers, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, captivated the nation in a race to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record. Sosa hit 66 home runs, while McGwire finished with 70. Three years later, San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds surpassed McGwire by hitting 73, in what was perhaps the greatest offensive display in baseball history. Over the next several seasons, as Bonds regularly launched mammoth home runs into San Francisco Bay, players across the country were hitting homers at unprecedented rates. Rumors had long circulated that some of these performances were fueled by steroids. But home runs were big business, and sportswriters, fans, and baseball officials largely looked the other way. That changed in December 2004, when San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams revealed that, during a federal investigation into the nutritional supplement company BALCO, Yankees slugger Jason Giambi had admitted using steroids. Bonds was also implicated. Steroids immediately became front-page news. The revelations led to Congressional hearings on baseball’s drug problem andintensified efforts to purge the U.S. Olympic movement of drug cheats. In Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroid Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports , award-winning investigative journalists Fainaru-Wada and Williams deliver a gripping narrative of the biggest doping scandal in sports history and how Bonds, baseball’s home run king, came to use steroids. Drawing on more than two years of reporting, hundreds of interviews, and exclusive access to grand jury testimony, confidential documents, and audio recordings, the authors provide a definitive account of the scandal that shook professional sports. The book traces the rise of Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, a flamboyant former musician and self-proclaimed nutritionist who supplied elite athletes with “designer” steroids intended to evade modern drug tests. Conte provided these drugs to 28 top athletes, including Olympians, NFL players, and baseball stars, with Bonds chief among them. A parallel narrative follows Bonds, an immensely talented but deeply competitive player who, after McGwire’s record-breaking 1998 season, turned to performance-enhancing drugs. Through his trainer, Greg Anderson, Bonds gained access to BALCO. Although many athletes benefited, the federal raid on BALCO and Conte’s indictment ultimately exposed a scandal that transformed baseball and the wider sports world.
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The Glory of Their TimesLawrence 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—a landmark oral history of the game. Baseball was different in the dead-ball era—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! Go inside the dugout during baseball’s golden age to hear the firsthand accounts of: Baseball History Comes Alive: Go beyond the stats and feel what the game was like when it was tougher, more raw, and more intimate, told by the men who were there. First-Person Accounts: Listen to the vibrant, unforgettable voices of legends and journeymen alike as they share their personal stories of victory and defeat from baseball’s golden era. Stories of the Greats: Sit down with icons like Rube Marquard, Tommy Leach, and Sam Crawford, who share candid memories of playing with and against titans like Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. A Timeless Sports Classic: Discover for yourself why this meticulously researched book is considered by many to be the single best book on baseball ever written.
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Intangibles: Big-League Stories and Strategies for Winning the Mental Game—in Baseball and in LifeGeoff Miller
“Intangibles is filled with lessons and tools for helping baseball players in all stages of their development.” —Fredi Gonzalez, Manager, Atlanta Braves “A must read for athletes looking to gain a mental edge or simply better identify their own strengths.” —Bryan Minniti, Assistant General Manager, Washington Nationals Foreword by Vince Gennaro, author of Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball A must read for all baseball players, coaches, and fans: Mental skills coach Geoff Miller has spent years helping professional baseball players improve their mental toughness—both on and off the field. Now, he’s making these invaluable lessons available to everyone who loves the game of baseball. From high school to the Major Leagues, all baseball players struggle with competition, pressure, and their own personal challenges. This book, through inspiring stories about professional baseball players in various stages of their careers, as well as hands-on tips and questionnaires, will help players evaluate and improve the mental skills that are necessary for that competitive edge. In Intangibles, you’ll find stories, instruction, and practical applications that teach players and coaches how to put forth their best mental games—portrayed through the eyes of those who have experienced those learning moments firsthand in their quests to become Major Leaguers. From a local park’s baseball diamond to dusty minor league dugout benches to the musty concrete tunnels under Major League stadiums, Intangibles meets players where they are, offering specific ways to improve performance and outlook. Whether you hope to be a big league player someday, or whether you simply want to play your best game, this book is essential for all athletes who want to learn how to overcome fear, build confidence, and develop a mental framework for success.
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I'm Keith HernandezKeith Hernandez
Legendary Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez tells all in this gripping sports memoir and New York Times bestseller. Keith Hernandez revolutionized the role of first baseman. During his illustrious career with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, he was a perennial fan favorite, earning eleven consecutive Gold Gloves, a National League co-MVP Award, and a batting title. But it was his unique blend of intelligence, humor, and talent—not to mention his unflappable leadership, playful antics, and competitive temperament—that transcended the sport and propelled him to a level of renown that few other athletes have achieved, including his memorable appearances on the television show Seinfeld. Now, with a striking mix of candor and self-reflection, Hernandez takes us along on his journey to baseball immortality. There are the hellacious bus rides and south-of-the-border escapades of his minor league years. His major league benchings, unending plate adjustments, and role in one of the most exciting batting races in history against Pete Rose. Indeed, from the Little League fields of Northern California to the dusty proving grounds of triple-A ball to the grand stages of Busch Stadium and beyond, I'm Keith Hernandez reveals as much about America's favorite pastime as it does about the man himself. What emerges is an honest and compelling assessment of the game's past, present, and future: a memoir that showcases one of baseball's most unique and experienced minds at his very best.