Download or read book Talking Baseball Amongst Friends written by Steve Sullivan and published by Shamrock Publishing Group. This book was released on 2006-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Now Batting Number written by Jack Looney and published by Black Dog & Leventhal. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike other baseball statistics books that reveal only information about the numbers players put on the board, this unique take on America's favorite pastime reveals the little-known facts and nuances behind the numbers players wear on their backs. In Now Batting, Number...baseball historian Jack Looney delves into every aspect of baseball uniform numbers. Here are topics including "Boyhood Idols" (players who chose numbers to honor heroes, fathers, grandfathers, and friends), "Birthday Babes" (players who have worn the same number as their day, month, or year of birth), "Caretakers" (inside stories on how numbers are distributed and the bartering of numbers among players), and "Early Innings" (the history of numbering in Major League baseball). At the center of Now Batting, Number...is a substantial section listing the complete rosters of all thirty Major League teams including each player's number and position. Other lists include every retired number listed by league and team, every retired number listed by position, and famous players' numbers and every other player who ever honored them by wearing that number (listed by number). In a controversial chapter called "Dream Teams," player from various eras, who wore the same number durin their careers, are selected to play together on the same Dream Team. Statistics for fifty teams are included. Also included are dozens of some of the toughest, number-related trivia questions that will have even the most knowledgeable fan scratching his or her head.
Download or read book Bases to Bleachers written by Eric C. Gray and published by Palmetto Publishing Group. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One day during an afternoon at the ball park, author Eric Gray asked his wife, daughter, and friend to identify their favorite game that they had been to. Little did he know, that simple question would soon take on a life of its own. As the question made its way to family members, friends, friends of friends, strangers and beyond, it gave way to a surprising collection of incredibly diverse stories and perspectives. Thus, Bases to Bleachers was born. Much more than your average baseball book, the many special and unique stories shared with readers here, whether they're about watching or playing, either at the Major League level or Little League, represent a wide gamut of experiences. Some entail meeting the stars or attending famous games--and some offered are personal, intimate moments involving family connections and the importance of baseball in people's lives. Unlike most baseball books, this is not a biography, or a discussion of a team, or analysis of a season. Baseball here is a setting in which both astounding feats and some of the most beautifully touching moments in peoples' lives have happened. Whether it's the first game, falling in love at the park, or even a beloved baseball glove that survived World War II, these stories are about more than just baseball. They reflect the joys, triumphs, and disappointments of the human condition, and often illustrate what's truly important in life--those things we hold most dear in our hearts.
Download or read book Baseball Between Us written by Mike Luery and published by Slueth Pub. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the journey the father and son authors took around the United States visiting thirty-two major league baseball ballparks.
Download or read book Watching Baseball written by Jerry Remy and published by Insiders' Guide. This book was released on 2005-03 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating look at the game within the game by All-Star second baseman andRed Sox broadcaster Remy with professional journalist Sandler.
Download or read book Mickey and Willie written by Allen Barra and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed sportswriter Allen Barra exposes the uncanny parallels--and lifelong friendship--between two of the greatest baseball players ever to take the field. Culturally, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were light-years apart. Yet they were nearly the same age and almost the same size, and they came to New York at the same time. They possessed virtually the same talents and played the same position. They were both products of generations of baseball-playing families, for whom the game was the only escape from a lifetime of brutal manual labor. Both were nearly crushed by the weight of the outsized expectations placed on them, first by their families and later by America. Both lived secret lives far different from those their fans knew. What their fans also didn't know was that the two men shared a close personal friendship--and that each was the only man who could truly understand the other's experience.
Download or read book The Hidden Game of Baseball written by John Thorn and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-03-20 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed classic on the statistical analysis of baseball records in order to evaluate players and win more games. Long before Moneyball became a sensation or Nate Silver turned the knowledge he’d honed on baseball into electoral gold, John Thorn and Pete Palmer were using statistics to shake the foundations of the game. First published in 1984, The Hidden Game of Baseball ushered in the sabermetric revolution by demonstrating that we were thinking about baseball stats—and thus the game itself—all wrong. Instead of praising sluggers for gaudy RBI totals or pitchers for wins, Thorn and Palmer argued in favor of more subtle measurements that correlated much more closely to the ultimate goal: winning baseball games. The new gospel promulgated by Thorn and Palmer opened the door for a flood of new questions, such as how a ballpark’s layout helps or hinders offense or whether a strikeout really is worse than another kind of out. Taking questions like these seriously—and backing up the answers with data—launched a new era, showing fans, journalists, scouts, executives, and even players themselves a new, better way to look at the game. This brand-new edition retains the body of the original, with its rich, accessible analysis rooted in a deep love of baseball, while adding a new introduction by the authors tracing the book’s influence over the years. A foreword by ESPN’s lead baseball analyst, Keith Law, details The Hidden Game’s central role in the transformation of baseball coverage and team management and shows how teams continue to reap the benefits of Thorn and Palmer’s insights today. Thirty years after its original publication, The Hidden Game is still bringing the high heat—a true classic of baseball literature. Praise for The Hidden Game “As grateful as I was for the publication of The Hidden Game of Baseball when it first showed up on my bookshelf, I’m even more grateful now. It’s as insightful today as it was then. And it’s a reminder that we haven’t applauded Thorn and Palmer nearly loudly enough for their incredible contributions to the use and understanding of the awesome numbers of baseball.” —Jayson Stark, senior baseball writer, ESPN.com “Just as one cannot know the great American novel without Twain and Hemingway, one cannot know modern baseball analysis without Thorn and Palmer.” —Rob Neyer, FOX Sports
Download or read book Benchwarmer written by Josh Wilker and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving, funny, inventive parenting memoir, written in a surprising form: an encyclopedia of failure in sports What can a new father learn about parenthood from reading sports almanacs? For most dads, the answer to this question is: nothing. But to Josh Wilker, whose life and writing have been defined by sports fandom, all of the joy, helplessness, and absurdity of parenthood are present between the lines. After all, what better way to think about losing control than Eugenio Velez's forty-five consecutive at-bats without a hit? How better to understand ridiculous joy than the NFL career of Walter Achiu, whose nickname was "Sneeze"? In the stories of sports figures large and small, Wilker finds the pathos in success and the humor in losing. As the terrified father of a one-day-old, Wilker recalls the 1986 World Series, when the moment was too big for the Red Sox. When he finds himself stealing away for an hour of alone time, Wilker thinks of boxer Roberto Duran, so beaten by Sugar Ray Leonard that he finally gave up. And yet, even as the frustrations and anxieties build, Wilker remembers Mets pitcher Anthony Young, who broke the baseball record for most consecutive losses -- and never stopped showing up. Finding the richness of life in obscure wrestling maneuvers and pop-ups lost in the sun, Benchwarmer is a book of unique humanity and surprising wisdom.
Download or read book The Talking Baseball written by BETTE LEVINE and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Talking Baseball," tells the story of two brothers, Jake and Noah and their experiences while playing baseball. Starting from the beginning, Noah, the younger brother, finds a baseball at a yard sale, while shopping with his Mother. It was at the yard sale that the baseball talked to Noah for the first time. Noah, quite surprised, ran to tell his mother. Of course, she didn't believe him, but she agreed to allow Noah to buy the ball. The ball becomes a wonderful friend to the two brothers and a wonderful instructor of baseball. But, even more important, the ball teaches the boys the essentials of being model children within a wonderful family. They were also taught the essentials of being great siblings to each other. It is a fun and inspirational story, sure to capture the heart of all young children.
Download or read book The Man with Two Arms written by Billy Lombardo and published by ABRAMS. This book was released on 2010-02-04 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Undoubtedly modern America’s finest literary tribute to the baseball since Bernard Malamud’s novel The Natural” (Chicago Tribune). Henry Granville, a baseball fanatic and high school teacher, spends hours in the basement with his young son Danny, introducing him to balls of all shapes and sizes. He even turns the basement into an indoor stadium. Danny quickly distinguishes himself from his peers, most conspicuously by his ability to throw perfectly with either arm—a feat virtually unheard of in baseball. But he also possesses a visionary gift that not even he understands. Danny becomes a superior athlete, skyrocketing through the minor leagues and into the majors where he experiences immediate success, breaking records held for decades. When a journalist, a former student of Henry’s and hungry for a national breakout story, exaggerates the teacher’s obsession and exposes him to the world as a monster, all hell breaks loose and the pressures of media and celebrity threaten to disrupt the world that Henry and Danny have created. A baseball novel—and much more—The Man with Two Arms is a story of the ways in which we protect, betray, forgive, love, and shape each other as we attempt to find our way through life. “Magical realism meets baseball in [this] debut novel . . . [A] Roy Hobbs-like narrative.” —Chicago Magazine “Sings with joy and tragedy . . . An amazing debut, as a lyrical paean to the national pastime and as a touching exploration of the life of a boy becoming a man both blessed and burdened with a unique and extraordinary talent.” —Flagpole
Download or read book Where Nobody Knows Your Name written by John Feinstein and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Welcome to Pottersville written by Neil Spagna and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2006-06-01 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How The Yankees Took Over New York and Why The Mets Matter More Than Ever": The Mets are the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan versus the Yankees as Henry F. Potter in this humorous, informational, and satirical look at the ongoing battle between New York's two famous baseball teams. If you sit down in front of "It's A Wonderful Life" every holiday season, are a die hard baseball fan (particularly those of the New York Mets), or a Yankee Detractor you will be entertained and even informed by this unique baseball book.
Download or read book Rounding Third written by Walter Gerard Meyer and published by Walter Meyer. This book was released on 2009 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rob realizes his new friend is hiding something. The bruises on Josh's body and his reluctance to let Rob know about certain parts of his life have Rob suspicious. When Josh's secrets become life-threatening, Rob and his family must step up to the plate.
Download or read book Baseball Between the Numbers written by Jonah Keri and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-02-27 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the numbers-obsessed sport of baseball, statistics don't merely record what players, managers, and owners have done. Properly understood, they can tell us how the teams we root for could employ better strategies, put more effective players on the field, and win more games. The revolution in baseball statistics that began in the 1970s is a controversial subject that professionals and fans alike argue over without end. Despite this fundamental change in the way we watch and understand the sport, no one has written the book that reveals, across every area of strategy and management, how the best practitioners of statistical analysis in baseball-people like Bill James, Billy Beane, and Theo Epstein-think about numbers and the game. Baseball Between the Numbers is that book. In separate chapters covering every aspect of the game, from hitting, pitching, and fielding to roster construction and the scouting and drafting of players, the experts at Baseball Prospectus examine the subtle, hidden aspects of the game, bring them out into the open, and show us how our favorite teams could win more games. This is a book that every fan, every follower of sports radio, every fantasy player, every coach, and every player, at every level, can learn from and enjoy.
Download or read book Tim McCarver s Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans written by Tim McCarver and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 1999-03-16 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From pitching to baserunning from defending the bunt to making a trip to the mound, the authors have every aspect of the game covered.
Download or read book Baseball in Blue and Gray written by George B. Kirsch and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-24 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Civil War, Americans from homefront to battlefront played baseball as never before. While soldiers slaughtered each other over the country's fate, players and fans struggled over the form of the national pastime. George Kirsch gives us a color commentary of the growth and transformation of baseball during the Civil War. He shows that the game was a vital part of the lives of many a soldier and civilian--and that baseball's popularity had everything to do with surging American nationalism. By 1860, baseball was poised to emerge as the American sport. Clubs in northeastern and a few southern cities played various forms of the game. Newspapers published statistics, and governing bodies set rules. But the Civil War years proved crucial in securing the game's place in the American heart. Soldiers with bats in their rucksacks spread baseball to training camps, war prisons, and even front lines. As nationalist fervor heightened, baseball became patriotic. Fans honored it with the title of national pastime. War metaphors were commonplace in sports reporting, and charity games were scheduled. Decades later, Union general Abner Doubleday would be credited (wrongly) with baseball's invention. The Civil War period also saw key developments in the sport itself, including the spread of the New York-style of play, the advent of revised pitching rules, and the growth of commercialism. Kirsch recounts vivid stories of great players and describes soldiers playing ball to relieve boredom. He introduces entrepreneurs who preached the gospel of baseball, boosted female attendance, and found new ways to make money. We witness bitterly contested championships that enthralled whole cities. We watch African Americans embracing baseball despite official exclusion. And we see legends spring from the pens of early sportswriters. Rich with anecdotes and surprising facts, this narrative of baseball's coming-of-age reveals the remarkable extent to which America's national pastime is bound up with the country's defining event.
Download or read book Forty Years a Giant written by Steven Treder and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2022 SABR Seymour Medal Finalist for the 2021 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year When New York Giants owner Charles A. Stoneham came home one night in 1918 and told his teenage son, Horace, "Horrie, I bought you a ballclub," he set in motion a family legacy. Horace Stoneham would become one of baseball's greatest figures, an owner who played an essential role in integrating the game, and who was a major force in making our pastime truly national by bringing Major League Baseball to the West Coast. Horace Stoneham began his tenure with the Giants in 1924, learning all sides of the operation until he moved into the front office. In 1936, when his father died of kidney disease, Horace assumed control of the Giants at age thirty-two, becoming one of the youngest owners in baseball history. Stoneham played a pivotal role in not just his team's history but the game itself. In the mid-1940s when the Pacific Coast League sought to gain Major League status, few but Stoneham and Branch Rickey took it seriously, and twelve years later the Giants and Dodgers were the first two teams to relocate west. Stoneham signed former Negro Leaguers Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson, making the Giants the second National League franchise to racially integrate. In the late 1940s, the Giants hired their first Spanish-speaking scout and soon became the leading team in developing Latin American players. Stoneham was shy and self-effacing and avoided the spotlight. His relationships with players were almost always strong, yet for all his leadership skills and baseball acumen, sustained success eluded most of his teams. In forty seasons his Giants won just five National League pennants and only one World Series. The Stoneham family business struggled, and the team was forced to sell off its beloved stars, first Willie Mays, then Willie McCovey, and finally Juan Marichal. Then Stoneham had no choice but to sell the club in 1975. While his tenure came to an unfortunate end, he is heralded as a pioneer and leader whose story tells much of baseball history from the 1930s through the 1970s.
