Download or read book The Bullpen Gospels written by Dirk Hayhurst and published by Kensington Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver the best pitch of his career--a raw, unflinching and surprisingly moving account of his life in the minors. I enjoyed the visualizations, maybe a little too much, and would stop only when I felt I'd centered myself. . .or after one of my teammates hit me in the nuts with the rosin bag while my eyes were closed. Hilariously self-effacing and brutally honest, Hayhurst captures the absurdities, the grim realities, and the occasional nuggets of hard-won wisdom culled from four seasons in the minors. Whether training tarantulas to protect his room from thieving employees in a backwater hotel, watching the raging battles fought between his partially paralyzed father and his alcoholic brother, or absorbing the gentle mockery of some not-quite-starstruck schoolchildren, Dirk reveals a side of baseball, and life, rarely seen on ESPN. My career has crash-landed on the floor of my grandma's old sewing room. If this is a dream come true, then dreams smell a lot like mothballs and Bengay. Somewhere between Bull Durham and The Rookie, The Bullpen Gospels takes an unforgettable trot around the inglorious base paths of minor league baseball, where an inch separates a ball from a strike, and a razor-thin margin can be the difference between The Show or a long trip home. "It's not often that someone comes along who is a good pitcher and a good writer." --King Kaufman, Salon "After many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years spent in the bullpen, I can verify that this is a true picture of baseball." --Tim McCarver "There are great truths within, of the kind usually unspoken. And as he expresses them, Dirk Hayhurst describes himself as 'a real person who moonlights as a baseball player.' In much the same manner, while The Bullpen Gospels chronicles how all of us face the impact when we learn reality is both far meaner and far richer than our dreams--it also moonlights as one of the best baseball books ever written." --Keith Olbermann "A bit of Jim Bouton, a bit of Jim Brosnan, a bit of Pat Jordan, a bit of crash Davis, and a whole lot of Dirk Hayhurst. Often hilarious, sometimes poignant. This is a really enjoyable baseball read." --Bob Costas "Fascinating. . .a perspective that fans rarely see." --Trevor Hoffman, pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers "The Bullpen Gospels is a rollicking good bus ride of a book. Hayhurst illuminates a baseball life not only with wit and humor, but also with thought-provoking introspection." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated "Dirk Hayhurst has written a fascinating, funny and honest account on life in the minor leagues. I loved it. Writers can't play baseball, but in this case, a player sure can write." --Tim Kurkjian, Senior Writer, ESPN The Magazine, analyst/reporter ESPN television "Bull Durham meets Ball Four in Dirk Hayhurst's hilarious and moving account of life in baseball's glamour-free bush leagues." --Rob Neyer, ESPN.com "If Holden Caulfield could dial up his fastball to 90 mph, he might have written this funny, touching memoir about a ballplayer at a career--and life--crossroads. He might have called it 'Pitcher in the Rye.' Instead, he left it to Dirk Hayhurst, the only writer in the business who can make you laugh, make you cry and strike out Ryan Howard." --King Kaufman, Salon "The Bullpen Gospels is a funny bone-tickling, tear duct-stimulating, feel-good story that will leave die-hard baseball fans--and die-hard human beings, for that matter--well, feeling good." --Bob Mitchell, author of Once Upon a Fastball

Download or read book Out of My League written by Dirk Hayhurst and published by Citadel Press. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller from the author of The Bullpen Gospels. “A humorous, candid and insightful memoir . . . Grade: Home Run.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer After six years in the minors, pitcher Dirk Hayhurst hopes 2008 is the year he breaks into the big leagues. But every time Dirk looks up, the bases are loaded with challenges—a wedding balancing on a blind hope, a family in chaos, and paychecks that beg Dirk to ask, “How long can I afford to keep doing this?” Then it finally happens—Dirk gets called up to the Majors, to play for the San Diego Padres. A dream comes true when he takes the mound against the San Francisco Giants, kicking off forty insane days and nights in the Bigs. Like the classic games of baseball’s history, Out of My League entertains from the first pitch to the last out, capturing the gritty realities of playing on the big stage, the comedy and camaraderie in the dugouts and locker rooms, and the hard-fought, personal journeys that drive our love of America’s favorite pastime. “A rare gem of a baseball book.”—Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated “Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious.”—Bob Costas “A fun read . . . This book shows why baseball is so often used as a metaphor for life.”—Keith Olbermann “Entertaining and engaging . . . reminiscent of Jim Bouton’s Ball Four.”—Booklist “The book is a terrific read. If you loved Bullpen Gospels (I’d have a hard time believing you are a baseball fan if you didn’t) you will love Out of My League too.”—Bluebird Banter

Download or read book Mind Gym written by Gary Mack and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2002-06-24 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Mind Gym "Believing in yourself is paramount to success for any athlete. Gary's lessons and David's writing provide examples of the importance of the mental game." --Ben Crenshaw, two-time Masters champion and former Ryder Cup captain "Mind Gym hits a home run. If you want to build mental muscle for the major leagues, read this book." --Ken Griffey Jr., Major League Baseball MVP "I read Mind Gym on my way to the Sydney Olympics and really got a lot out of it. Gary has important lessons to teach, and you'll find the exercises fun and beneficial." --Jason Kidd, NBA All-Star and Olympic gold-medal winner In Mind Gym, noted sports psychology consultant Gary Mack explains how your mind influences your performance on the field or on the court as much as your physical skill does, if not more so. Through forty accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes from prominent athletes--many of whom he has worked with--you will learn the same techniques and exercises Mack uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." Mind Gym will give you the "head edge" over the competition.

Download or read book Management Information Systems written by Kenneth C. Laudon and published by Pearson Educación. This book was released on 2004 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Management Information Systems provides comprehensive and integrative coverage of essential new technologies, information system applications, and their impact on business models and managerial decision-making in an exciting and interactive manner. The twelfth edition focuses on the major changes that have been made in information technology over the past two years, and includes new opening, closing, and Interactive Session cases.

Download or read book Mr Met written by Jay Horwitz and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2020-05-19 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anyone who knows Jay Horwitz knows he loves stories and has a wealth of them to share. As the beloved, longtime PR director for the New York Mets, he has witnessed and quietly shaped some of the most memorable moments in team history, becoming a trusted friend and mentor to generations of players, from Darryl Strawberry to Jacob deGrom. In this fascinating memoir, Horwitz tells the unlikely story of a childhood dream come true, offering an unparalleled insider's perspective on four dynamic and unpredictable decades of Mets baseball. Featuring reflections and anecdotes only Horwitz can tell, on subjects ranging from clubhouse hijinks to the chaotic New York media scene to navigating moments of greatness and defeat, Mr. Met is a remarkable behind-the-scenes ride that fans will not want to miss.

Download or read book The Observer written by Todd Stottlemyre and published by Made For Success Publishing. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wall Street Journal Best Selling Book The two anchors in Kat's frenzied life have been her father; a famous baseball pitcher turned team manager, and her son, who is following in his grandfather's footsteps. When both anchors become unstable, Kat's life tips dangerously out of balance. The market and her finances flip, and relationships start slipping through her fingers. Eager for solutions, she turns to find uncanny wisdom from places she never expected. The Observer unpacks the idea of 180-degree thinking, which changes everything for Kat. Now, seemingly impossible goals come into focus with crystal clear clarity. As Kat focuses on the right things, the impossible becomes her new reality. Imparted with truth and wisdom, The Observer is a classic for discovering the peak performer within yourself. This timeless story of success principles is more important today than it has ever been before as uncertainty lurks right around the corner. “A powerful work with insights that, once applied, will help you lift your life to a completely new level.” —Robin Sharma, #1 bestselling author of The 5AM Club and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari Kat has it all—money, success, recognition, influence—except the one thing she desperately desires: a fulfilled life. A business entrepreneur in the high-end sportswear industry, Kat is driven in relentless pursuit of ever-greater success.

Download or read book Managing Sports Organizations written by Daniel Covell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Managing Sport Organizations, second edition, is a newly updated and comprehensive introduction to the themes and elements surrounding sport management. The book teaches management theory and principles in a coherent manner, helping to reinforce these concepts for students in schools of business, and serving to introduce them to students in other school settings (kinesiology, exercise science, sport science). The features of this book include: Important industry segment information is introduced chapter by chapter, allowing students to wed theory and application throughout Effectively weaves sport industry issues with fundamental management theories and practices Provides informative introductions to all fundamental aspects of sport management- Leadership, Information Technology, Media, Facility management, HR and much more With an online Instructor's Manual and a Test Bank available as well, this book is an essential tool for students and teachers of sport management.

Download or read book Pitching Defense and Three Run Homers written by Society for American Baseball Research ( and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the story of the Baltimore Orioles of the 1960's and 1970s in contextualized biographies of the players, managers, and everyone else important to the team.

Download or read book The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge written by Tony Dungy and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-10-07 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Retailers Choice Award winner, 2012 Strengthen the core of your life and faith on a year-long journey with beloved Super Bowl–winning former head coach Tony Dungy and co-author Nathan Whitaker! This deluxe LeatherLike edition of the New York Times best-selling The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge contains 365 reflections from Tony and Nathan on living an “uncommon life” of integrity, honoring your family and friends, creating a life of real significance and impact, and walking with the Lord. This year, step up to the challenge to spend time with God—and dare to be uncommon every day. A perfect gift for sports fans, coaches, athletes, and dads!

Download or read book How to Win at the Sport of Business written by Mark Cuban and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2011-11-20 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark Cuban shares his wealth of experience and business savvy in his first published book, HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS. "It's New Year's resolution time, and Mark Cuban's new book offers the rationale for a good one." —BUSINESS INSIDER Using the greatest material from his popular Blog Maverick, Cuban has collected and updated his postings on business and life to provide a catalog of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur. He tells his own rags-to-riches story of how he went from selling powdered milk and sleeping on friends' couches to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billion dollar success story. His unconventional yet highly effective ideas on how to build a successful business offer entrepreneurs at any stage of their careers a huge edge over their competitors. "In short, [HOW TO WIN AT THE SPORT OF BUSINESS] exceeded...expectations. Short chapters...got right to the point and were not filled with 'stuffing'." —HUFFINGTON POST

Download or read book Baseball in Minnesota written by Stew Thornley and published by Minnesota Historical Society. This book was released on 2006 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the early days of town ball to the latest seasons of the Twins and Saints, Stew Thornley offers the ultimate history of the Great American Pastime in the North Star State.

Download or read book The Inside Game written by Keith Law and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking book, Keith Law, baseball writer for The Athletic and author of the acclaimed Smart Baseball, offers an era-spanning dissection of some of the best and worst decisions in modern baseball, explaining what motivated them, what can be learned from them, and how their legacy has shaped the game. For years, Daniel Kahneman’s iconic work of behavioral science Thinking Fast and Slow has been required reading in front offices across Major League Baseball. In this smart, incisive, and eye-opening book, Keith Law applies Kahneman’s ideas about decision making to the game itself. Baseball is a sport of decisions. Some are so small and routine they become the building blocks of the game itself—what pitch to throw or when to swing away. Others are so huge they dictate the future of franchises—when to make a strategic trade for a chance to win now, or when to offer a millions and a multi-year contract for a twenty-eight-year-old star. These decisions have long shaped the behavior of players, managers, and entire franchises. But as those choices have become more complex and data-driven, knowing what’s behind them has become key to understanding the sport. This fascinating, revelatory work explores as never before the essential question: What were they thinking? Combining behavioral science and interviews with executives, managers, and players, Keith Law analyzes baseball’s biggest decision making successes and failures, looking at how gambles and calculated risks of all sizes and scales have shaped the sport, and how the game’s ongoing data revolution is rewriting decades of accepted decision making. In the process, he explores questions that have long been debated, from whether throwing harder really increases a player’s risk of serious injury to whether teams actually “overvalue” trade prospects. Bringing his analytical and combative style to some of baseball’s longest running debates, Law deepens our knowledge of the sport in this entertaining work that is both fun and deeply informative.

Download or read book Juiced written by Jose Canseco and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2005-02-21 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Jose Canseco burst into the Major Leagues in the 1980s, he changed the sport -- in more ways than one. No player before him possessed his mixture of speed and power, which allowed him to become the first man in history to belt more than forty home runs and swipe more than forty bases in the same season. He won Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and a World Series ring. Canseco shattered the mold of the out-of-shape baseball player and ushered in a new era of superathletes who looked like bodybuilders, made outrageous salaries, and enjoyed rock-star lifestyles. And the ticket for this ride? Steroids. Behind the gaudy stats and the glamour of his public life, Canseco cultivated a secret just about everyone in MLB knew about, one that would alter the game of baseball and the way we view our heroes forever. Canseco made himself a guinea pig of the performance-enhancing drugs that were only just beginning to infiltrate the American underground. Anabolic steroids, human growth hormones -- Canseco mixed, matched, and experimented to such a degree that he became known throughout the league as "The Chemist." He passed his knowledge on to trainers and fellow players, and before long, performance-enhancing drugs were running rampant throughout Major League Baseball. Sluggers scooping up pitches at their ankles and blasting them out of the park, pitchers cranking fastballs inning after inning -- Canseco showed the players how to customize their doses to sculpt the bodies they wanted, and baseball as we know it was the result. Today, this issue has crept out of the closet and burst into the headlines as players balloon to herculean proportions and hundred-year-old records are not only broken, but also demolished. In this shocking memoir, Canseco sheds light on a life of dizzying highs and debilitating lows, provides the answers to questions about steroids that millions of fans are only now beginning to ask -- and suggests that, far from being a passing trend, the steroid revolution is only a taste of things to come. Who's juiced? According to Canseco's authoritative account, more than you think. And baseball will never be the same.

Download or read book How to Snag Major League Baseballs written by Zack Hample and published by Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, who has acquired more than 1000 baseballs at major league baseball games, offers advice on the many ways to get balls at games.

Download or read book This Is Chance written by Jon Mooallem and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling, cinematic story of a community shattered by disaster—and the extraordinary woman who helped pull it back together “A powerful, heart-wrenching book, as much art as it is journalism.”—The Wall Street Journal “A beautifully wrought and profoundly joyful story of compassion and perseverance.”—BuzzFeed (Best Books of the Year) In the spring of 1964, Anchorage, Alaska, was a modern-day frontier town yearning to be a metropolis—the largest, proudest city in a state that was still brand-new. But just before sundown on Good Friday, the community was jolted by the most powerful earthquake in American history, a catastrophic 9.2 on the Richter Scale. For four and a half minutes, the ground lurched and rolled. Streets cracked open and swallowed buildings whole. And once the shaking stopped, night fell and Anchorage went dark. The city was in disarray and sealed off from the outside world. Slowly, people switched on their transistor radios and heard a familiar woman’s voice explaining what had just happened and what to do next. Genie Chance was a part-time radio reporter and working mother who would play an unlikely role in the wake of the disaster, helping to put her fractured community back together. Her tireless broadcasts over the next three days would transform her into a legendary figure in Alaska and bring her fame worldwide—but only briefly. That Easter weekend in Anchorage, Genie and a cast of endearingly eccentric characters—from a mountaineering psychologist to the local community theater group staging Our Town—were thrown into a jumbled world they could not recognize. Together, they would make a home in it again. Drawing on thousands of pages of unpublished documents, interviews with survivors, and original broadcast recordings, This Is Chance! is the hopeful, gorgeously told story of a single catastrophic weekend and proof of our collective strength in a turbulent world. There are moments when reality instantly changes—when the life we assume is stable gets upended by pure chance. This Is Chance! is an electrifying and lavishly empathetic portrayal of one community rising above the randomness, a real-life fable of human connection withstanding chaos.

Download or read book The Land of Stories A Grimm Warning written by Chris Colfer and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the third book in the New York Times bestselling series by Chris Colfer, the Brothers Grimm have a warning for the Land of Stories. Conner Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him--until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm. With help from his classmate Bree and the outlandish Mother Goose, Conner sets off on a mission across Europe to crack a two-hundred-year-old code. Meanwhile, Alex Bailey is training to become the next Fairy Godmother...but her attempts at granting wishes never go as planned. Will she ever be truly ready to lead the Fairy Council? When all signs point to disaster for the Land of Stories, Conner and Alex must join forces with their friends and enemies to save the day. But nothing can prepare them for the coming battle...or for the secret that will change the twins' lives forever. The third book in the bestselling Land of Stories series puts the twins to the test as they must bring two worlds together!

Download or read book Watching You written by Lisa Jewell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-12-26 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Quickly and assuredly, Jewell builds an ecosystem of countervailing suspicions…Tricky, clever, unexpected.” —New York Times Book Review “Brace yourself as Jewell stacks up the secrets, then lights a long, slow fuse.” —People “A seize-you-by-the-throat thriller and a genuinely moving family drama.” —A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window The instant New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the None of This Is True delivers another suspenseful page-turner about a shocking murder in a picturesque and well-to-do English town, perfect “for fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and Luckiest Girl Alive” (Library Journal). You’re back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. You’re keen to find a place of your own. But for now, you’re crashing in your big brother’s spare room. That’s when you meet the man next door. He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive. You find yourself watching him. All the time. But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession. Or that someone is watching you. In Lisa Jewell’s latest “bone-chilling suspense” (People), no one is who they seem—and everyone has something to hide. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Ruth Ware, Watching You will keep you guessing as “Jewell teases out her twisty plot at just the right pace” (Booklist, starred review) until the startling revelations on the very last page.