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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1

The Bosses of the Bronx - Mike Vaccaro Cover Art

The Bosses of the Bronx

The Bosses of the Bronx The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner by Mike Vaccaro

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The crazy but true story of how owner George Steinbrenner, followed by his son Hal, have controlled the most famous team in American sports. Since taking over the New York Yankees franchise in 1973, the Steinbrenners have transformed the fabled team from a struggling franchise into a baseball dynasty. George purchased the team for $8.8 million and quickly became known as “The Boss”—a hands-on owner whose relentless pursuit of victory defined an era. Under his leadership, the Yankees captured seven World Series championships, became a global sports brand, and consistently dominated the sports pages. Yet as veteran New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro reveals, the story of the Steinbrenners and their team is much bigger and more complex—a drama of Shakespearian proportions, combining tragedy and great comedy. In this charming book written with all the candor and verve of the best press box reporting, he goes beyond the headlines to chronicle the complete saga—from the times King George went mad and was eventually banned to how Prince Hal, living in the long shadow of his father, has struggled to put his own unique stamp on the Pinstripe realm. He chronicles the infamous headline-making disputes between the team’s managers and its mercurial owner, a man whose autocratic disposition would eventually get him banned from the game and earn him a place in pop culture lore with the hit sitcom Seinfeld. A fun and wild remembrance of innings past for every Yankee fan and a must-read grudge list for every Yankee hater, The Bosses of the Bronx is a larger-than-life true tale of success, suffering, sacrifice, and downright silliness that captures this great franchise and the game of baseball itself.

2

Metropolitans - A.M. Gittlitz Cover Art

Metropolitans

Metropolitans New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People's Team by A.M. Gittlitz

"Gittlitz really means it. Come the revolution, the team that represents us will be wearing, he reassures the reader, the Mets colors: 'the hard-hat orange of the international working class, and our blue Earth.' [...] He makes a much better case than one might have thought possible." —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker "Mr. Gittlitz writes with the lunatic panache of a utopian manifesto or 2000s sports blog." —Timothy Farrington, The Wall Street Journal "Gittlitz delivers a wide-ranging history of New York baseball’s 'working-class-coded' underdogs, whose outsize role in the civil rights, antiwar and labor movements might dwarf its checkered performance on the field." — The New York Times , 26 Nonfiction Books We’re Excited About This Spring A love letter to a franchise and a thrilling study of New York City, Metropolitans traces the electric and calamitous history of the New York Mets. Metropolitan s is for Mets fans, New York partisans, and everyone interested in the Mobius strip dynamic of sports and politics, the history of the national game, or the beautiful contradiction of baseball itself: a middle-class game owned by billionaires, in which the players—like the spectators—look to traverse the diamond and ultimately safely escape its many dangers. Along the way, A.M. Gittlitz re-introduces us to an eccentric cast of Metsian characters: Joan Payson, the first woman to buy a Major League Baseball team; a young Tom Seaver with an interest in progressive politics; and the contentious but beloved Mike Piazza. Gittlitz leads us through baseball’s amateur beginnings to the Mets’ first heady World Series on the heels of the Civil Rights and anti-war movements that many Mets players participated in. He guides us to the bad boy years, the exploitative development of farm academies in developing nations, and their inglorious purchase by a new breed of capitalist— even after which they remained lovable losers . Metropolitans brilliantly shows us that sports have long been a site of political struggle, rousing class consciousness, and animating fights for racial equality. From purportedly calming riots in ’69 to producing some of the greatest chokes in sporting history, from integration to desperate labor struggle against franchise owners, Metropolitans makes a deeply humane and convincing argument for the fascinating singularity of the New York Mets—and why they are not just the team of the counterculture, the freaks, and the losers, but the beloved team of anyone with a beating heart.

3

Unhittable - Rob Friedman Cover Art

Unhittable

Unhittable How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball's New Era of Pitching Dominance by Rob 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.

4

Moneyball - Michael Lewis Cover Art

Moneyball

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?

5

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.

6

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.

7

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.

8

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 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.

9

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."

10

Division 3 Baseball Recruiting Guide: A 10 Step Process for Success - Gavin Greene Cover Art

Division 3 Baseball Recruiting Guide: A 10 Step Process for Success

Division 3 Baseball Recruiting Guide: A 10 Step Process for Success by Gavin Greene

An up to date guide on getting recruited for Division 3 Baseball.

11

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

12

Eight Men Out - Eliot Asinof Cover Art

Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof

A "vividly, excitingly written" classic of baseball history: "The most thorough investigation of the Black Sox scandal on record" ( Chicago Tribune ). It was "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America"—the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties. "Dramatic detail . . . an admirable journalistic feat." — The New York Times "As thrilling as a cops and robbers tome." — The Boston Globe

13

The Mental ABCs of Pitching - H.A. Dorfman & Rick Wolff Cover Art

The Mental ABCs of Pitching

The Mental ABCs of Pitching A Handbook for Performance Enhancement by H.A. Dorfman & Rick Wolff

Author H.A. Dorfman brings his years of expertise as instructor/counselor with the A's, Marlins, and Devil Rays to provide an easy-to-use, A-to-Z handbook which will give insight and instruction on how to pitch to peak performance at every level of the game. Perfect for pitchers who need that extra edge or hitters who want to better understand the mental moves on the mound. With a new foreword by Rick Wolff!

14

The Road to Omaha - Ryan McGee Cover Art

The Road to Omaha

The Road to Omaha Hits, Hopes, and History at the College World Series by Ryan McGee

"A fascinating look inside one of the best, and most underplayed, tournaments in sports, the College World Series." ―Tim Kurkjian, ESPN analyst and author of I'm Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies Every summer, college baseball teams from around the nation come to Omaha, Nebraska, to play pure move-the-man-over, run-manufacturing baseball in a series that's part college bowl game, part county fair. In 2008, the ten-day, eight-team tournament was the scene of one of the greatest series in its illustrious history. And Ryan McGee puts the reader behind closed doors with the underdog champs, the Fresno State Bulldogs, as well as with their seven opponents, from the first batting practice session, to bus rides to the ballpark, to the locker room and the dugout. It's the CWS as few ever see it. But The Road to Omaha goes far beyond the 2008 season. It's an in-depth look at the managing strategies and playing style of college baseball, as well as a series of profiles that examine the people behind and around the CWS—the players, coaches, and fans who keep that feeling of good-old-days innocence alive through their reverence for the Great American Pastime. Thanks to Ryan McGee's quick eye for play-by-play action, as well as his deep love for sports, The Road to Omaha is a rare glimpse into the kind of baseball our grandfather's knew—a snapshot of the one of the last remaining vestiges of pure Americana: a hometown, baseball, and the people who shape it and are shaped by it in turn. "The on-field action was gripping." — Sports Illustrated "The best baseball book published this year." —Ryan Fagan, The Sporting News

15

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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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.

17

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—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.

18

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.

19

The Arm - Jeff Passan Cover Art

The Arm

The Arm Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passan

"The best baseball book of the year . . . a close, exceptionally well-written look into the game's epidemic of ruptured elbow ligaments." — The Boston Globe The import of baseball pitchers is exceeded only by their fragility. One tiny band of tissue in the elbow, the ulnar collateral ligament, is snapping at unprecedented rates, leaving current big-league players vulnerable and the coming generation of baseball-playing children dreading the three scariest words in the sport: Tommy John surgery. Yahoo Sports baseball columnist Jeff Passan traveled the world for three years to explore in-depth the past, present, and future of the arm, and how its evolution left baseball struggling to wrangle its Tommy John surgery epidemic. He examined what compelled the Chicago Cubs to spend $155 million on one arm. He snagged a rare interview with Sandy Koufax, whose career was cut short by injury at thirty, and visited Japan to understand how another baseball-mad country treats its prized arms. And he followed two major league pitchers, Daniel Hudson and Todd Coffey, throughout their returns from Tommy John surgery. He exposes how the baseball establishment long ignored the rise in arm injuries and reveals how misplaced incentives across the sport stifle potential changes. Injuries to the UCL start as early as Little League. Without a drastic cultural shift, baseball will continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually to damaged pitchers, and another generation of children will suffer the same problems that vex current players. Informative and hard-hitting, The Arm is essential reading for everyone who loves the game, wants to keep their children healthy, or relishes a look into how a large, complex institution can fail so spectacularly.

20

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 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 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 • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 WINNER OF THE CASEY AWARD FOR BEST BASEBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR “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.

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Game Six - Mark Frost Cover Art

Game Six

Game Six Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America's Pastime by Mark Frost

Boston, Tuesday, October 21, 1975. The Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds have endured an excruciating three-day rain delay. Tonight, at last, they will play Game Six of the World Series. Leading three games to two, Cincinnati hopes to win it all; Boston is desperate to stay alive. But for all the anticipation, nobody could have predicted what a classic it would turn out to be: an extra-innings thriller, created by one of the Big Red Machine's patented comebacks and the Red Sox's improbable late-inning rally; clutch hitting, heart-stopping defensive plays, and more twists and turns than a Grand Prix circuit, climaxed by one of the most famous home runs in baseball history that ended it in the twelfth. Here are all the inside stories of some of that era's biggest names in sports: Johnny Bench, Luis Tiant, Sparky Anderson, Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski--eight Hall of Famers in all--as well as sportscasters and network execs, cameramen, umpires, groundskeepers, politicians, and fans who gathered in Fenway that extraordinary night. Game Six is an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at what is considered by many to be the greatest baseball game ever played--remarkable also because it was about so much more than just balls and strikes. This World Series marked the end of an era; baseball's reserve clause was about to be struck down, giving way to the birth of free agency, a watershed moment that changed American sports forever. In bestselling author Mark Frost's talented hands, the historical significance of Game Six becomes every bit as engrossing as its compelling human drama.

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The '27 Yankees - Fred Glueckstein Cover Art

The '27 Yankees

The '27 Yankees by Fred Glueckstein

Their names conjure up the golden era of New York Yankees history and the sport of baseball itself; names like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Earle Combs, Waite Hoyt, and Herb Pennock. Other baseball immortals playing against these Yankee greats in the roaring twenties were future Hall-of-Famers Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Lefty Grove, Eddie Collins, Jimmy Foxx, Tris Speaker, Mickey Cochrane, Bucky Harris, Red Faber, and others. The 27 Yankees is a baseball book for all fans of the national pastime. It is the story of the most legendary and revered team in the annals of the game: the 1927 New York Yankees, whose magical name even today evokes the standard of excellence in Americas most treasured sport. The book is the definitive historical account of the men and their accomplishments as a team from Spring Training through the World Series. The 27 Yankees literally transports the reader back to that exciting and glorious season through the detailed and carefully crafted recreations of the games on the field and the events off the diamond. The book is unique in its concept and execution and sets a new standard for historical baseball research and presentation. The 27 Yankees is, and will remain, the most complete historical account of the greatest team in baseball history.

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The Mental Game of Baseball - H.A. Dorfman, Karl Kuehl & Rick Wolff Cover Art

The Mental Game of Baseball

The Mental Game of Baseball A Guide to Peak Performance by H.A. Dorfman, Karl Kuehl & Rick Wolff

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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The Mental ABC's of Pitching - H.A. Dorfman Cover Art

The Mental ABC's of Pitching

The Mental ABC's of Pitching A Handbook for Performance Enhancement by H.A. Dorfman

Author H.A. Dorfman brings his years of expertise as instructor/counselor with the A's, Marlins, and Devil Rays to provide an easy-to-use, A-to-Z handbook which will give insight and instruction on how to pitch to peak performance at every level of the game. Perfect for pitchers who need that extra edge or hitters who want to better understand the mental moves on the mound.

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The Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey - Robert C. Cottrell Cover Art

The Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey

The Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey New York City Baseball's Golden Age amid Integration by Robert C. Cottrell

A new perspective on postwar New York City baseball, including the city's Negro League teams In the golden age of baseball, three Major League Baseball teams in New York City vied for supremacy on the diamond, with the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Yankees each winning at least one World Series. Too often overlooked, the Negro Leagues had five teams in the city fighting for primacy in the sport: the Brooklyn Royal Giants, the New York Lincoln Giants, the New York Black Yankees, the New York Cubans, and, albeit very briefly, the Brooklyn Eagles. In The Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey: New York City Baseball's Golden Age amid Integration, Robert Cottrell highlights a unique period in history when New York City baseball was at its height of dominance, spanning over a decade in postwar America. Cottrell includes detailed coverage of the three years in succession when the Giants, Dodgers, and Yankees won the World Series in the 1950s, featuring star players Willie Mays, Duke Snider, and Mickey Mantle. He also examines the major Black teams of the era, melding the story of New York City baseball with that of the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson and the Great Experiment, and the remarkable Black athletes who braved racism and threats to integrate the game. New York City baseball flourished in the postwar years, but its era of dominance wound to a close amid struggles to transform playing fields and America itself. The Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey is a fascinating perspective on the city's teams, players, and integration of the sport.

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Loose Balls - Terry Pluto Cover Art

Loose Balls

Loose Balls by Terry 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.

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The Mental Keys to Hitting - H.A. Dorfman & Rick Wolff Cover Art

The Mental Keys to Hitting

The Mental Keys to Hitting A Handbook of Strategies for Performance Enhancement by H.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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October 1964 - David Halberstam Cover Art

October 1964

October 1964 by David 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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Why We Love Baseball - Joe Posnanski Cover Art

Why We Love Baseball

Why We Love Baseball A History in 50 Moments by Joe 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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Intangibles: Big-League Stories and Strategies for Winning the Mental Game—in Baseball and in Life - Geoff Miller Cover Art

Intangibles: Big-League Stories and Strategies for Winning the Mental Game—in Baseball and in Life

Intangibles: Big-League Stories and Strategies for Winning the Mental Game—in Baseball and in Life by Geoff 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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It's How You Play the Game - Brian Kilmeade Cover Art

It's How You Play the Game

It's How You Play the Game The Powerful Sports Moments That Taught Lasting Values to America's Finest by Brian Kilmeade

In life as in sports, it's how you play the game that matters You don't have to be a star athlete to take away valuable lessons from the world of sports, whether it's learning how to get along with others, to never give up, or to be gracious in victory and defeat. In this companion volume to his New York Times bestseller, The Games Do Count, Brian Kilmeade reveals personal stories of the defining sports moments in the lives of athletes, CEOs, actors, politicians, and historical figures—and how what they learned on the field prepared them to handle life and overcome adversity with courage, dignity, and sportsmanship.

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Driving Mr. Yogi - Harvey Araton Cover Art

Driving Mr. Yogi

Driving Mr. Yogi Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift by Harvey Araton

"A warm, sentimental look at a baseball icon" ( The Tampa Tribune ).   Driving Mr. Yogi is the story of a unique friendship between two New York Yankees legends—a pitcher and catcher—who share rides, meals, and a bond that transcends the twenty-five-year difference in their ages.   The story begins in 1999, when Hall of Famer Yogi Berra is reunited with the Yankees after a long self-exile, the result of being unceremoniously fired by team owner George Steinbrenner fourteen years before. A reconciliation between Berra and the boss means that Berra will once again attend spring training. Retired-pitcher-turned-pitching-coach Ron Guidry knows the club's young players will benefit from "Mr. Yogi's" encyclopedic knowledge of the game, just as Guidry had during his playing days, so he encourages his old mentor to share his insights. In Yogi, Guidry finds not just a personable dinner companion or source of amusement—he finds a best friend.   At turns tender and laugh-out-loud funny, and teeming with unforgettable baseball yarns that span more than fifty years, Driving Mr. Yogi is a universal story about the importance of wisdom being passed from one generation to the next, as well as a reminder that time is what we make of it and compassion never gets old.   "Funny, revealing, and surprising . . . Anything that brings new Yogi Berra stories is a good book." —MLB.com   "Lovingly documented . . . You'll find yourself wishing it ain't over till it's over." — Parade magazine

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St. Louis Cardinals: Past & Present - Doug Feldmann Cover Art

St. Louis Cardinals: Past & Present

St. Louis Cardinals: Past & Present by Doug Feldmann

Explore over a century of Cardinals baseball in this illustrated tour of the players, teams, ballparks, and historic moments! With a legacy that goes back to the Brown Stockings of the old American Association, the St. Louis Cardinals have one of the longest and greatest traditions in the history of baseball. Winners of ten World Series titles (second only to the New York Yankees) and twenty-one pennants dating back to 1885, the Redbirds have established a dynasty across the decades—from Charlie Comiskey's four-time AA champs, through the "Gashouse Gang" of the 1930s and the "Runnin' Redbirds" in the 1980s, up to the 2006 World Champions. Front-office pioneers like Chris von der Ahe and Branch Rickey have put the Cardinals franchise at the forefront of innovation, while bringing in some of baseball's greatest talent—pitchers Dizzy Dean to Bob Gibson, sluggers Johnny Mize to Mark McGwire, and all-around superstars like Rogers "Rajah" Hornsby, Stan "the Man" Musial, and Albert Pujols. Pairing historic black-and-white photos and contemporary images of the modern game, St. Louis Cardinals: Past & Present explores the ballparks and the fans, the players and the teams that have defined Cardinals baseball.

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David Halberstam on Sports - David Halberstam Cover Art

David Halberstam on Sports

David Halberstam on Sports Summer of '49, October 1964, The Amateurs, Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam

Four New York Times bestsellers by the "remarkable" Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist capture and celebrate America's passion for sports ( The Seattle Times ). Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Halberstam, preeminent chronicler of the American experience, focuses his meticulous narrative gifts on some of Major League Baseball's most iconic moments, training for the Olympics, and a remarkable profile of hoops legend Michael Jordan. Summer of '49 : In this #1 New York Times bestseller, a nation in transition is gripped by a pennant race for the ages: the Boston Red Sox, led by Ted Williams's unearthly bat skills, versus the New York Yankees and Joe DiMaggio's legendary heroics. October 1964 : The 1964 World Series pitted the established Yankees against the upstart St. Louis Cardinals in an epic, seven-game seesaw battle that seemed to reflect the tensions of a nation in turmoil. The barnburner included a cast of legends—Mantle, Maris, Ford, Gibson, Brock—and enough game-changing plays to last a lifetime. The Amateurs : Introducing a cast of highly driven athletes at the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton, Halberstam delves deep into their struggles, motivations, and failures—but in the end only one will represent the United States at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Playing for Keeps : A wildly entertaining and revealing portrait of global icon Michael Jordan and the rise of the NBA. With his usual impeccable research and gripping storytelling, Halberstam covers the whole court, from the transformative rivalry of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson to the invention of ESPN to Spike Lee's Nike commercials to every unforgettable playoff game that built Jordan's legend.

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The Captain - Ian O'Connor Cover Art

The Captain

The Captain The Journey of Derek Jeter by Ian O'Connor

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Derek Jeter is undoubtedly the most talked about, argued about, cheered, booed and ultimately respected baseball player of his generation. And as public a figure as he has been, he is in many ways the least known. That changes now as Ian O'Connor, one of the best sports writers anywhere, goes deep and does what no one has quite been able to do: Tell us a bit about who Derek Jeter really is."—Joe Posnanski, author of The Machine "Deftly told."— The Washington Post In The Captain , Ian O'Connor draws on unique access to Derek Jeter and more than 200 new interviews to reveal how a biracial kid from Michigan became New York's most beloved sports figure and the face of the steroid-free athlete. O'Connor takes us behind the scenes of a legendary baseball life, from Jeter's early struggles in the minor leagues, when homesickness and errors threatened a stillborn career, to the heady days of Yankee superiority and nightlife, to the battles with former best friend A-Rod. All along the way, Jeter has made his Hall-of-Fame destiny look easy. But behind that leadership and hero's grace there are hidden struggles and complexities that have never been explored, until now.

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The Colonel and Hug - Steve Steinberg Cover Art

The Colonel and Hug

The Colonel and Hug The Partnership that Transformed the New York Yankees by Steve Steinberg

From the team’s inception in 1903, the New York Yankees were a floundering group that played as second-class citizens to the New York Giants. With four winning seasons to date, the team was purchased in 1915 by Jacob Ruppert and his partner, Cap Til Huston. Three years later, when Ruppert hired Miller Huggins as manager, the unlikely partnership of the two figures began, one that set into motion the Yankees’ run as the dominant baseball franchise of the 1920s and the rest of the twentieth century, capturing six American League pennants with Huggins at the helm and four more during Ruppert’s lifetime. The Yankees’ success was driven by Ruppert’s executive style and enduring financial commitment, combined with Huggins’s philosophy of continual improvement and personnel development. While Ruppert and Huggins had more than a little help from one of baseball’s greats, Babe Ruth, their close relationship has been overlooked in the Yankees’ rise to dominance. Though both were small of stature, the two men nonetheless became giants of the game with unassailable mutual trust and loyalty. The Colonel and Hug tells the story of how these two men transformed the Yankees. It also tells the larger story about baseball primarily in the tumultuous period from 1918 to 1929—with the end of the Deadball Era and the rise of the Lively Ball Era, a gambling scandal, and the collapse of baseball’s governing structure—and the significant role the Yankees played in it all. While the hitting of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig won many games for New York, Ruppert and Huggins institutionalized winning for the Yankees.

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100 Things Braves Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die - Jack Wilkinson Cover Art

100 Things Braves Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

100 Things Braves Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Jack Wilkinson

100 Things Braves Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die will help supporters of the Braves get the most out of being a fan. From visiting sites of former Braves ballparks to taking in a brew at the best Braves bar outside Hot-lanta to the annual Sid & Frankie Day, this book contains numerous tips and suggestions for enjoying being a Braves fan on a different, more involved level.

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A Well-Paid Slave - Brad Snyder Cover Art

A Well-Paid Slave

A Well-Paid Slave Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports by Brad Snyder

A “captivating”* look at how center fielder Curt Flood's refusal to accept a trade changed Major League Baseball forever. After the 1969 season, the St. Louis Cardinals traded their star center fielder, Curt Flood, to the Philadelphia Phillies, setting off a chain of events that would change professional sports forever. At the time there were no free agents, no no-trade clauses. When a player was traded, he had to report to his new team or retire. Unwilling to leave St. Louis and influenced by the civil rights movement, Flood chose to sue Major League Baseball for his freedom. His case reached the Supreme Court, where Flood ultimately lost. But by challenging the system, he created an atmosphere in which, just three years later, free agency became a reality. Flood’s decision cost him his career, but as this dramatic chronicle makes clear, his influence on sports history puts him in a league with Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali. * The Washington Post

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The Franchise: San Francisco Giants - Alex Pavlovic Cover Art

The Franchise: San Francisco Giants

The Franchise: San Francisco Giants A Curated History of the Orange and Black by Alex Pavlovic

In The Franchise: San Francisco Giants, take a more profound and unique journey into the history of an iconic team. This thoughtful and engaging collection of essays captures the astute fans' history of the franchise, going beyond well-worn narratives of yesteryear to uncover the less-discussed moments, decisions, people, and settings that fostered the Giants' distinctive identity. Through wheeling and dealing, mythmaking and community building, explore where the organization has been, how it came to prominence in the modern major league landscape, and how it will continue to evolve and stay in contention for generations to come. Giants fans in the know will enjoy this personal, local, in-depth look at baseball history.

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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.

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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 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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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 ).

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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. 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 '49 - David Halberstam Cover Art

Summer of '49

Summer of '49 by David 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 Bases - Joe Peta Cover Art

Trading Bases

Trading Bases How a Wall Street Trader Made a Fortune Betting on Baseball by Joe 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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Imperfect - Jim Abbott & Tim Brown Cover Art

Imperfect

Imperfect An Improbable Life by Jim 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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