Download or read book Prophet of the Sandlots written by Mark Winegardner and published by New York : Prentice Hall Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an account of the life of the late Tony Lucadello, the legendary scout who signed fifty future Major Leaguers including Mike Schmidt.
Download or read book Baseball s Endangered Species written by Lee Lowenfish and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2023-04 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scouting has been called pro baseball’s personalized way of renewing itself from year to year and a pathway to the game’s past. It takes a very special person to be a baseball scout: normal family life is out of the question because travel is a constant companion. Yet for those with the genuine calling for it, there could be no other life. Hearing the special thwack off the bat that indicates a raw prospect may be the real deal is the dream that keeps true scouts going. Scouts have the difficult task of not only discovering and signing new players but envisioning the trajectory of raw talent into the future. But the place of the traditional scout has become increasingly dire. In 2016 Major League Baseball eliminated the MLB Scouting Bureau that had been created in the 1970s to augment the regular scouting staffs of individual teams. On the eve of the 2017 playoffs that saw the Houston Astros crowned as World Series champions, the team dismissed ten professional scouts and by 2019 halved the number of all their scouts to less than twenty. More and more teams are replacing their experienced talent hunters with people versed in digital video and analytics but who have limited field knowledge of the game, driven by the Moneyball-inspired trend to favor analytics, data, and algorithms over instinct and observation. In Baseball’s Endangered Species Lee Lowenfish explores in-depth how scouting has been affected by the surging use of metrics along with other changes in modern baseball business history: expansion of the Major Leagues in 1961 and 1962, the introduction of the amateur free agent draft in 1965, and the coming of Major League free agency after the 1976 season. With an approach that is part historical, biographical, and oral history, Baseball’s Endangered Species is a comprehensive look at the scouting profession and the tradition of hands-on evaluation. At a time when baseball is drenched with statistics, many of them redundant or of questionable value, Lowenfish explores through the eyes and ears of scouts the vital question of “makeup”: how a player copes with failure, baseball’s essential, painful truth.
Download or read book Scouting and Scoring written by Christopher Phillips and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look at the intersection of judgment and statistics in baseball Scouting and scoring are considered fundamentally different ways of ascertaining value in baseball. Scouting seems to rely on experience and intuition, scoring on performance metrics and statistics. In Scouting and Scoring, Christopher Phillips rejects these simplistic divisions. He shows how both scouts and scorers rely on numbers, bureaucracy, trust, and human labor to make sound judgments about the value of baseball players. Tracing baseball’s story from the nineteenth century to today, Phillips explains that the sport was one of the earliest fields to introduce numerical analysis, and new methods of data collection were supposed to enable teams to replace scouting with scoring. But that’s not how things turned out. From the invention of official scorers and Statcast to the creation of the Major League Scouting Bureau, Scouting and Scoring reveals the inextricable connections between human expertise and data science, and offers an entirely fresh understanding of baseball.
Download or read book Almost a Dynasty written by William C. Kashatus and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2008-02-22 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost A Dynasty details the rise and fall of the World Champion 1980 Phillies. Based on personal interviews, newspaper accounts, and the keen insight of a veteran baseball writer, the book convincingly explains how a losing team was finally able to win its first world championship.
Download or read book Future Greats and Heartbreaks written by Gare Joyce and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2010-06-04 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of this continent’s master craftsmen of sporting prose” (Sports Illustrated) and three-time National Magazine Award-winner Gare Joyce goes undercover to learn the secrets of NHL scouts. Veteran sports writer Gare Joyce realizes a long-held secret ambition as he spends a full season embedded as a hockey scout. Joyce’s year on the hockey beat is a steep learning curve for him; NHL scouts spend each season gathering information on players fighting it out to break into the world of professional hockey. They watch hundreds of games, speak to scores of players, parents, team-mates and other scouts, amassing profiles on all the top contenders. It’s a form of risk assessment–is this young hopeful deserving of a multi-million dollar contract?–and it can be a tough and thankless task. Scouts are ground into the game, picking up nuances of play that even the most committed fan would miss, but they are looking at more than just how well a kid can play. And come the final draft, only a tiny percentage of their full year’s work might matter. Examining the amount of information gathered on the under-eighteen hopefuls, the scrutiny to which they are subjected, and the differences between the rigour of American and Canadian junior teams, Joyce opens a window on the life and methods of an NHL scout and penetrates the mysterious world of scouting as no one has before.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Contemporary Writers and Their Work written by Geoff Hamilton and published by Infobase Learning. This book was released on 2015-04-22 with total page 1386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents an alphabetical reference guide detailing the lives and works of authors associated with the English-language fiction of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Download or read book 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die written by Ron Kaplan and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Propounding his "small ball theory" of sports literature, George Plimpton proposed that "the smaller the ball, the more formidable the literature." Of course he had the relatively small baseball in mind, because its literature is formidable--vast and varied, instructive, often wildly entertaining, and occasionally brilliant. From this bewildering array of baseball books, Ron Kaplan has chosen 501 of the best, making it easier for fans to find just the books to suit them (or to know what they're missing). From biography, history, fiction, and instruction to books about ballparks, business, and rules, anyone who loves to read about baseball will find in this book a companionable guide, far more fun than a reference work has any right to be.
Download or read book The Experience Economy With a New Preface by the Authors written by B. Joseph Pine II and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2019-12-10 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Time is limited. Attention is scarce. Are you engaging your customers? Apple Stores, Disney, LEGO, Starbucks. Do these names conjure up images of mere goods and services, or do they evoke something more--something visceral? Welcome to the Experience Economy, where businesses must form unique connections in order to secure their customers' affections--and ensure their own economic vitality. This seminal book on experience innovation by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore explores how savvy companies excel by offering compelling experiences for their customers, resulting not only in increased customer allegiance but also in a more profitable bottom line. Translated into thirteen languages, The Experience Economy has become a must-read for leaders of enterprises large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, global and local. Now with a brand-new preface, Pine and Gilmore make an even stronger case for experiences as the critical link between a company and its customers in an increasingly distractible and time-starved world. Filled with detailed examples and actionable advice, The Experience Economy helps companies create personal, dramatic, and even transformative experiences, offering the script from which managers can generate value in ways aligned with a strong customer-centric strategy.
Download or read book Look written by James H. Gilmore and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mastering the Way You See the World Inspired by Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method, Jim Gilmore has created a unique and useful tool to help our ability to perceive. In his latest book, Look: A Practical Guide for Improving Your Observational Skills, Gilmore introduces the metaphor of “six looking glasses.” Each looking glass represents a particular skill to master in order to enhance the way we look at the world. The six skills include binoculars, bifocals, magnifying glass, microscope, rose-colored glasses, and blindfold looking. Each looking glass provides an observational lens through which to see the world differently. This framework will help its users to: • See the big picture • Overcome personal bias • Pinpoint significance • Better scrutinize numerous details • Uncover potential opportunities • See what’s in the mind’s eye These varying perspectives offer myriad practical applications: They can help any executive, manager, or designer more richly observe customer behavior, philanthropists and policy makers more keenly identify human needs, and anyone else interested in innovative thinking to first ground their ideation in practical observation. Gilmore helps readers grasp the Six Looking Glasses by including helpful everyday examples and practice exercises throughout. Put into practice, this method of looking will help you see the world with new eyes.
Download or read book Good Roots written by Lisa Watts and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By prominent writers such as P. J. O'Rourke, Susan Orlean, and Alix Kates Shulman, these contributions are alternately nostalgic, irreverent, and sincere, and offer us a personal sense of place.
Download or read book Baseball and American Culture written by John P. Rossi and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than a hundred years, baseball has been woven into the American way of life. By the time they reach high school, children have learned about the struggles and triumphs of players like Jackie Robinson. Generations of family members often gather together to watch their favorite athletes in stadiums or on TV. Famous players like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken, and Derek Jeter have shown their athletic prowess on the field and captured the hearts of millions of fans, while the sport itself has influenced American culture like no other athletic endeavor. In Baseball and American Culture: A History, John P. Rossi builds on the research and writing of four generations of baseball historians. Tracing the intimate connections between developments in baseball and changes in American society, Rossi examines a number of topics including: the spread of the sport from the North to the South during the Civil War the impact on the sport during the Depression and World War II baseball’s expansion in the post-war years the role of baseball in the Civil Rights movement the sport’s evolution during the modern era Complimented by supplementary readings and discussion questions linked to each chapter, this book pays special attention to the ways in which baseball has influenced American culture and values. Baseball and American Culture is the ultimate resource for students, scholars, and fans interested in how this classic sport has helped shape the nation.
Download or read book Clearing the Bases written by Allen Barra and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? At their peak, who was more valuable, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams? If Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, and Roger Clemens had pitched at the same time against the same hitters, who would have won the most games? If Jackie Robinson had been white, would he be deserving of the Hall of Fame? Who was the greatest all-around player of the last century? ø Clearing the Bases is the first book to tackle these and many other of baseball?s most intriguing questions and offer hard, sensible answers?answers based on exhaustive research and analysis. Sports journalist Allen Barra, whose weekly sports column ?By the Numbers? attracted millions of fans and whose outspoken opinions are discussed regularly on National Public Radio, takes on baseball?s toughest arguments. Using stats and methods he himself has developed, Barra takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question??Who's the best???in this, the ultimate baseball debate book, one guaranteed to spark thousands of heated discussions and to supply the fuel for thousands more.
Download or read book True Stories written by Norman Sims and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journalism in the twentieth century was marked by the rise of literary journalism. Sims traces more than a century of its history, examining the cultural connections, competing journalistic schools of thought, and innovative writers that have given literary journalism its power. Seminal exmples of the genre provide ample context and background for the study of this style of journalism.
Download or read book The Dickson Baseball Dictionary Third Edition written by Paul Dickson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-06-13 with total page 1001 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.
Download or read book Baseball written by Edward J. Rielly and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture looks at American society through the prism of its favorite pastime, discussing not only the game itself but a variety of topics with significance beyond the diamond. Its 269 entries, which vary in length from two hundred to twenty-five hundred words, explore the game?s intersection with race, gender, art, drug abuse, entertainment, business, gambling, movies, and the shift from rural to urban society. ø Filled with larger-than-life characters, baseball legends, sports facts and firsts, important milestones, and observations about daily life and popular culture, this encyclopedia is not only an excellent reference source but also an enjoyable book to browse.
Download or read book Macho Row written by William C. Kashatus and published by University of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colorful, shaggy, and unkempt, misfits and outlaws, the 1993 Phillies played hard and partied hard. Led by Darren Daulton, John Kruk, Lenny Dykstra, and Mitch Williams, it was a team the fans loved and continue to love today. Focusing on six key members of the team, Macho Row follows the remarkable season with an up-close look at the players’ lives, the team’s triumphs and failures, and what made this group so unique and so successful. With a throwback mentality, the team adhered to baseball’s Code. Designed to preserve the moral fabric of the game, the Code’s unwritten rules formed the bedrock of this diehard team whose players paid homage and respect to the game at all times. Trusting one another and avoiding any notions of superstardom, they consistently rubbed the opposition the wrong way and didn’t care. William C. Kashatus pulls back the covers on this old-school band of brothers, depicting the highs and lows and their brash style while also digging into the suspected steroid use of players on the team. Macho Row is a story of winning and losing, success and failure, and the emotional highs and lows that accompany them.
Download or read book The Baseball 100 written by Joe Posnanski and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 880 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sportswriter and lifelong student of the game, Posnanski that tells the story of baseball through the lives of its greatest players. His choices include iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. Rather than relying on records and statistics, he retraces players' origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball's past and present. The result is a rich pageant of baseball history, and stories that have long gone unheard. -- adapted from jacket
