Download or read book The Wax Pack written by Brad Balukjian and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is there life after baseball? Starting from this simple question, The Wax Pack ends up with something much bigger and unexpected--a meditation on the loss of innocence and the gift of impermanence, for both Brad Balukjian and the former ballplayers he tracked down. To get a truly random sample of players, Balukjian followed this wildly absurd but fun-as-hell premise: he took a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he collected cards), opened it, chewed the nearly thirty-year-old gum inside, gagged, and then embarked on a quest to find all the players in the pack. Absurd, maybe, but true. He took this trip solo in the summer of 2015, spanning 11,341 miles through thirty states in forty-eight days. Balukjian actively engaged with his subjects--taking a hitting lesson from Rance Mulliniks, watching kung fu movies with Garry Templeton, and going to the zoo with Don Carman. In the process of finding all the players but one, he discovered an astonishing range of experiences and untold stories in their post-baseball lives, and he realized that we all have more in common with ballplayers than we think. While crisscrossing the country, Balukjian retraced his own past, reconnecting with lost loves and coming to terms with his lifelong battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Alternately elegiac and uplifting, The Wax Pack is part baseball nostalgia, part road trip travelogue, and all heart, a reminder that greatness is not found in the stats on the backs of baseball cards but in the personal stories of the men on the front of them.
Download or read book The Hall Ball written by Ralph Carhart and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rescued in 2010 from the small creek that runs next to Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, a simple baseball launched an epic quest that spanned the United States and beyond. For eight years, "The Hall Ball" went on a journey to have its picture taken with every member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, both living and deceased. The goal? To enshrine the first crowd-sourced artifact ever donated to the Hall. Part travelogue, part baseball history, part photo journal, this book tells the full story for the first time. The narratives that accompany the ball's odyssey are as funny and moving as any in the history of the game.
Download or read book Cardboard Gods written by Josh Wilker and published by Seven Footer Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wilker marks the stages of his life through the baseball cards he collected as a child. He captures the experience of growing up obsessed with baseball cards and explores what it means to be a fan of the game.
Download or read book The Cup of Coffee Club written by Jacob Kornhauser and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This is one of the very best baseball books in years.” Booklist, Starred Review Reaching the major leagues is a pipe dream for most young baseball players in America. Very few ever get to live it out. A select number of those players face the elation and frustration of getting to play in just one major league game. The Cup of Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History tells the unique stories of eleven of these players. It details their struggles to reach the major leagues, their one moment in the limelight, and their struggles to get back. They include a former Major League Baseball manager, the son of a Baseball Hall of Famer, and two different brothers of Hall of Famers. Exclusive interviews with each of the players provide insight into what that single seminal moment meant and how they dealt with the blow of never making another major league appearance again. Spanning half a century of baseball, each player’s journey to Major League Baseball is distinct, as is each of their responses to having played in just a single game. The Cup of Coffee Club shares their unique perspectives, providing a better understanding of just how special each major league game can be.
Download or read book Mint Condition written by Dave Jamieson and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An entertaining history of baseball cards . . . An engaging book on a narrow but fascinating topic.” —The Washington Post When award-winning journalist Dave Jamieson’s parents sold his childhood home a few years ago, he rediscovered a prized boyhood possession: his baseball card collection. Now was the time to cash in on the “investments” of his youth. But all the card shops had closed, and cards were selling for next to nothing online. What had happened? In Mint Condition, his fascinating, eye-opening, endlessly entertaining book, Jamieson finds the answer by tracing the complete story of this beloved piece of American childhood. Picture cards had long been used for advertising, but after the Civil War, tobacco companies started slipping them into cigarette packs as collector’s items. Before long, the cards were wagging the cigarettes. In the 1930s, cards helped gum and candy makers survive the Great Depression. In the 1960s, royalties from cards helped transform the baseball players association into one of the country’s most powerful unions, dramatically altering the game. In the eighties and nineties, cards went through a spectacular bubble, becoming a billion-dollar-a-year industry before all but disappearing, surviving today as the rarified preserve of adult collectors. Mint Condition is charming, original history brimming with colorful characters, sure to delight baseball fans and collectors. “Jamieson explores the history of card collecting through an entertaining cast of characters . . . For anyone who can recall being excited to rip open their newest pack of cards, Mint Condition is a treat.” —Forbes
Download or read book The Complete Book of Baseball Cards written by Steve Clark and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Season with Mom written by Katie Russell Newland and published by Harper Horizon. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether you’ve put your dreams on hold, recovering from your own illness or lost someone you care about, discover how to jumpstart your next amazing season in life through this heartfelt, relatable memoir. After surviving both Hodgkin’s lymphoma and melanoma, sports enthusiast Katie Russell Newland knows the struggles of overcoming challenges both on and off the field. This book offers readers an intimate, true story about the bond shared between a mother and daughter, a road trip to all 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) parks, and the importance of relishing every joy and struggle along the way. A Season with Mom is highly recommended for: mothers and daughters cancer survivors baseball and sports fans of all ages anyone who has experienced loss, and maybe found love along the way Join Katie as she travels more than 30,000 miles to all 30 MLB parks in a single season, a rare feat covered by ESPN. Along with black-and-white photographs, Katie shares letters written to her mom, who died of cancer before the two of them could go on this adventure of a lifetime together. A Season with Mom reminds readers that in life, as in baseball, sometimes you strike out, but sometimes you hit home runs. Even if the wait is longer than you’d hoped, dreams can come true.
Download or read book Bill Veeck written by Paul Dickson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Louis "Bill" Veeck, Jr. (1914-1986) is legendary in many ways-baseball impresario and innovator, independent spirit, champion of civil rights in a time of great change. Paul Dickson has written the first full biography of this towering figure, in the process rewriting many aspects of his life and bringing alive the history of America's pastime. In his late 20s, Veeck bought into his first team, the American Association Milwaukee Brewers. After serving and losing a leg in WWII, he bought the Cleveland Indians in 1946, and a year later broke the color barrier in the American League by signing Larry Doby, a few months after Jackie Robinson-showing the deep commitment he held to integration and equal rights. Cleveland won the World Series in 1948, but Veeck sold the team for financial reasons the next year. He bought a majority of the St. Louis Browns in 1951, sold it three years later, then returned in 1959 to buy the other Chicago team, the White Sox, winning the American League pennant his first year. Ill health led him to sell two years later, only to gain ownership again, 1975-1981. Veeck's promotional spirit-the likes of clown prince Max Patkin and midget Eddie Gaedel are inextricably connected with him-and passion endeared him to fans, while his feel for the game led him to propose innovations way ahead of their time, and his deep sense of morality not only integrated the sport but helped usher in the free agency that broke the stranglehold owners had on players. (Veeck was the only owner to testify in support of Curt Flood during his landmark free agency case). Bill Veeck: Baseball's Greatest Maverick is a deeply insightful, powerful biography of a fascinating figure. It will take its place beside the recent bestselling biographies of Satchel Paige and Mickey Mantle, and will be the baseball book of the season in Spring 2012.
Download or read book How Baseball Happened written by Thomas W. Gilbert and published by Godine+ORM. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year
Download or read book Ocean Beach written by Wendy Wax and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three women find a second chance—or is it a third—in this novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Best Beach Ever. When unlikely friends Madeline, Avery, and Nicole arrive in Miami’s South Beach neighborhood, they’re hoping for a do-over. Literally. They’ve been hired to bring a historic house back to its former glory on a new television show called Do Over. If they can just get this show off the ground, Nikki could fix her finances, Avery could restart her career, and Maddie would have a shot at keeping her family together. The women quickly realize that having their work broadcast is one thing, but having their personal lives play out on TV is another. Soon they’re struggling to hold themselves, and the project, together. With a decades-old mystery—and hurricane season—looming, the women are forced to figure out just how they’ll weather life’s storms...
Download or read book Garbage Pail Kids written by The Topps Company and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2012-04-08 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of all 206 colorfully over-the-top images from the first five series of the popular collectible stickers from the 1980s. Garbage Pail Kids—a series of collectible stickers produced by Topps in the 1980s—combined spectacular artwork and over-the-top satire. The result was an inspired collaboration between avant-garde cartoonists and humorists including Art Spiegelman, Mark Newgarden, John Pound, Tom Bunk, and Jay Lynch. A new generation of fans continues to embrace this pop-culture phenomenon as Garbage Pail Kids stickers are still being published. Now, for the first time, all 206 rare and hard-to-find images from Series 1 through 5 are collected, along with a special set of four limited-edition, previously unreleased bonus stickers. This exciting follow up to Wacky Packages is guaranteed to appeal to die-hard collectors as well as a new generation of fans. Praise for Garbage Pail Kids “If you ask me, reliving my time with Bad Breath Seth and Potty Scotty is worth the cover price alone.” —USAToday.com “A wonderfully designed tribute to these shit-disturbing cards in all their graphic, full-color glory.” —ComicsBeat.com “There’s a lot of interesting stuff in Spiegel man’s intro, and in the afterward by John Pound, the artist who originated and drew the bulk of the Kids. But the real reason to buy this book is for the graphic brilliance of the art itself.” —Boston Phoenix
Download or read book Strat O Matic Fanatics written by Glenn Guzzo and published by ACTA Publications. This book was released on 2005-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the true story behind the creation--and re-creation--of America's most popular sports board game ever--Strat-O-Matic. Growing up, a young Hal Richman dreamed of producing a game that accurately recreated entire Major Leage Baseball seasons. More than a tale of a single man and his company, Strat-O-Matic Fanatics shows the power of a dream. It details Hal Richman's youth; the first, tenuous years of Strat-O-Matic; numerous episodes of conflict and opposition; and the devotion and addiction of the hobby's fans. Along the way, author Glenn Guzzo reveals a universal story of determination, love, loyalty and honesty in the face of seemingly unbeatable odds that has made Strat-O-Matic an icon in the board and computer game industry.
Download or read book A Week at the Lake written by Wendy Wax and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty years ago, Emma, Mackenzie and Serena bonded over their New York City dreams. Then, each summer, they spent one week together at the lake. It's been five years since Emma has seen her friends, but now she's in desperate need of their support. But when a terrible accident keeps Emma from saying her piece, Serena and Mackenzie begin to learn about the past on their own. Now, to heal their friendship and their broken lives, the three women will have to return to the lake that once united them and discover which relationships are worth holding on to.
Download or read book Doc written by Todd Zolecki and published by Triumph Books. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nobody's baseball story is like Roy Halladay's.He was born and raised to be a superstar. He was a first-round draft pick in 1995. He nearly threw a no-hitter in his second big-league start in 1998. But two years later, Halladay suffered arguably the worst season by any pitcher in baseball history. He was months away from being out of the game.Hall of Fame pitchers do not struggle like that. But Halladay vowed to change. He altered his pitching mechanics and rewired his brain to become one of the greatest pitchers of all time. How did Doc do it? Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay tells the remarkable story; based on more than 100 interviews with Halladay's family, friends, managers, coaches, teammates, and competitors, including extensive interviews with his wife, Brandy; comprehensive archival research; and previously unpublished commentary from Halladay himself. Doc not only tells the story of Halladay's illustrious baseball career in Toronto and Philadelphia, but his hard-driven adolescence, his lifelong personal struggles, and his motivation to pay forward the knowledge and philosophies that helped him achieve baseball greatness before his tragic death in 2017.This essential biography is a testimonial for baseball players and pitchers from high school to the big leagues still searching for their path to excellence, like Halladay. It's also a celebration and a profound exploration of a generational pitcher and a beloved teammate, friend, and family man.
Download or read book Hall of Name written by Diane Firstman and published by . This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biographical profiles and fun factoids of 100 of the most memorable names in baseball history. The names I'm profiling here are divided into four groups (admittedly a few of these players could qualify for more than one category):?Baseball Poets/Men of (Few Different) Letters: Players with rhyming names and/or alliterative names.?Dirty Names Done Dirt Cheap: Players with scatological or otherwise naughty names.?Sounds Good to Me: Players with mellifluous/melodious names.?No Focus Group Convened: Players whose names don't fall into one of the prior three categories, or ones that might involve us questioning the intentions of the player's parents.Each player profile within has the following:?general demographic information (name they played under, their full name at birth, date of birth/death, years active in the majors, positions played, etc.)?etymology/definition of each part of their given name?baseball biography (generally, how they made it to the majors, what they did while they were there)?best day (a recap of a great day in their major league career)?the wonder of his name (why his name is memorable to me/us)?not to be confused with (names that sound and/or look like the player's name)?fun anagrams (anagrams of their given names, just because I can)?ephemera (factoids, tidbits, trivia about the player, details regarding their parents, their family and their life after baseball)
Download or read book Playing Through the Pain written by Dan Good and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2022-05-31 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The powerful story of an essential baseball life In Playing Through the Pain: Ken Caminiti and the Steroids Confession That Changed Baseball Forever, writer Dan Good seeks to make sense of MLB MVP Ken Caminiti’s fascinating, troubled life. Good began researching Caminiti in 2012 and conducted his first interviews for his biography in 2013. Since then he’s interviewed nearly 400 people, providing him with an exclusive and exhaustive view into Caminiti’s addictions, use of steroids, baseball successes, and inner turmoil. Decades later, the full truth about Major League Baseball’s steroids era remains elusive, and the story of Caminiti, the player who opened the lid on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball has never been properly told. A gritty third baseman known for his diving stops, cannon arm, and switch-hit power, Caminiti voluntarily admitted in a 2002 Sports Illustrated cover story that he used steroids during his career, including his 1996 MVP season, and guessed that half of the players were using performance-enhancing drugs. “I’ve made a ton of mistakes,” he said. “I don’t think using steroids is one of them.” Good’s on-the-record sources include Caminiti’s steroids supplier, who has never come forward, discussing in detail his efforts to set up drug programs for Caminiti and dozens of other MLB players during the late 1990s; people who attended rehab with Caminiti and revealed the secret inner trauma that fueled his addictions; hundreds of Caminiti’s baseball teammates and coaches, from Little League to the major leagues, who adored and respected him while struggling to understand how to help him amid a culture that cultivated substance abuse; childhood friends who were drawn to his daring personality, warmth, and athleticism; and the teenager at the center of Caminiti’s October 2004 trip to New York City during which he overdosed and died.
Download or read book We Played the Game written by Danny Peary and published by Hyperion Books. This book was released on 1994-04-07 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This incredible gathering of first-hand remembrances brings a fascinating and enlightening new perspective to the period of baseball's greatest peak and ultimate turning point--when bigotry and exploitation still ran rampant among the clubs and the sport was irrevocably being changed into a business. 100 photos.
