Baseball

"A hugely entertaining history of baseball in New York City, bursting with bigger than life figures, and long-forgotten heroes, spanning the game's founding to the early 1940s"--

Managing the Show is a revealing look and behind the scenes details of the responsibilities of Major League Baseball's general managers.Tune in to any MLB broadcast, radio, TV or streaming and you will hear broadcasters and reporters including "The Show," in their reporting.One of the side effects of the "Moneyball" era has been the glamorization (and, at times, charm, and obsession) of baseball's general manager position. Baseball general managers are the ones responsible for managing the show. Let's take a look inside that.We as fans think we know what to do and we think we know what is going through the head of an MLB general manager, but we really don't. We don't until now. Managing the Show - Inside the Daily Responsibilities of Major League Baseball's General Managers, opens up the world of baseball general management and pulls back the curtain of what really happens in baseball and inside the world of a baseball general manager.This book shares information on how baseball's general managers work to further develop their show. Just like armchair quarterbacks in football, we as true baseball fans put ourselves in the shoes of the team's general manager, at least in our own minds or in hot stove league conversations abound. Now it's time to get out of that armchair and see the real story.The book consists of stories and interviews with former and current baseball general managers at the Major League Baseball level.This book is written for the baseball fan.

Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, there were only nineteen men who played in the Major Leagues of baseball and in the NFL in the same season. Only one, Walter French, played for a World Series winner and an NFL Championship team. Little remembered today, his status as a two-sport star had him constantly in the news.

Do pinstripes get you peeved? Do you wish the "House That Ruth Built" would get condemned? Are you convinced that George Steinbrenner is in league with Lucifer? Then this is the book for you! Let's face it, Yankees-haters have two favorite teams: their team, and whatever team is playing against the Yankees that day. Now, the Bronx Bomber bashers have their own handbook that shows how anyone, anywhere, of any age, can hate the Yankees like a pro in no time! Full of fun facts and anecdotes from around the league-as well as helpful, easy-to-follow rituals, chants, and keys to helping every non-Yankee fan focus their rage, disappointment, and burning jealousy from opening day right up until the Yanks walk away with yet another completely undeserved World Series Championship!

In A Mathematician at the Ballpark, professor Ken Ross reveals the math behind the stats. This lively and accessible book shows baseball fans how to harness the power of made predictions and better understand the game. Using real-world examples from historical and modern-day teams, Ross shows: . Why on-base and slugging percentages are more important than batting averages . How professional odds makers predict the length of a seven-game series . How to use mathematics to make smarter bets A Mathematician at the Ballpark is the perfect guide to the science of probability for the stats-obsessed baseball fans-and, with a detailed new appendix on fantasy baseball, an essential tool for anyone involved in a fantasy league.

Fight for your dreams, even if it means breaking a few rules."A wonderful baseball story." - Miranda Kenneally, author of Catching Jordan"This one's sure to be a home run with readers!" - Katy Upperman, author of Kissing Max Holden"A strong female protagonist and a swoon-worthy romance, all woven together with wit and charm." - Cheyanne Young, author of The Last Wish of Sasha CadeRyan Russell has life perfectly planned. She's going to take over her family's team, the Buckley Beavers, and become one of the only female General Managers in minor league baseball.Then Sawyer Campbell shows up, and Ryan's carefully laid plans are thrown a major curveball. Sawyer is far more charming than the arrogant jocks she usually manages, though fraternizing is against every rule in the Beaver's handbook.But after figuring out the desperate state of the team's finances, Ryan will have to take risks in order to save her future. She teams up with Sawyer, using his star power to draw in sponsors. But the more time she spends with him, the harder it becomes to play by the rules. Is his partnership the key to saving the Beavers, or a distraction she can't afford?

Clearing the Bases is a much-needed call to arms by one of baseball's most respected players. Drawing on his experiences as a third baseman, a manager, and, most recently, a fan, Mike Schmidt takes on everything from skyrocketing payrolls, callous owners, and unapproachable players to inflated statistics, and, of course, ersatz home run kings. But Schmidt's book goes beyond the Balco investigation and never-ending free-agent bonanzas that dominate the back pages. It also examines all that's right with our national pastime, including interleague play, expansion, and, most surprisingly, better all-around hitters. Riveting, wise, and illuminating, Clearing the Bases is a hall of famer's look at how Major League Baseball has lost its way and how it can head back home.

One coach's completely unauthorized tale of survival, set in the manicured sandlots of suburban New JerseyBill Geist, semi-permanent coach of Curl Up 'N Dye's Fighting Hairdressers, brings us a riotously funny record of an institution and its inmates-the innocent kids, the ruthless coaches, the shameless moms, and the litigious dads. Just when it seems that Little League may be no place for a kid, this all-star line-up of conniving commissioners and mitt-impaired fielders sends the sport off and over the wall.Praise for Little League Confidential "Bill Geist is the funniest writer since Marcel Proust-I mean Mark Twain-no, make that Yogi Berra."-Russell Baker"A lighthearted romp . . . essential reading for seasons to come."-The New York Times Book Review "Very, very, very funny."-Larry King, USA Today

""Baseball Joe Around The World: Or Pitching On A Grand Tour"" is a novel written by Lester Chadwick and first published in 1918. The book is part of the ""Baseball Joe"" series, which follows the adventures of Joe Matson, a talented young baseball player. In this installment, Joe and his team embark on a world tour, playing exhibition games in various countries including England, France, Italy, and Egypt. Along the way, Joe faces challenges both on and off the field, including dealing with cultural differences and navigating romantic relationships. The book is a classic sports story that highlights the excitement and challenges of international travel and competition.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Living a King's Life is the day-to-day story of a professional minor-league independent baseball team, the 2009 Kalamazoo Kings of the Frontier League of Professional Baseball. John Leahy, the radio broadcaster of the team, describes the team's season from his perspective in the radio booth. This book introduces the reader to the personalities of the team and the day-to-day experiences of a group of men as they compete for a league championship.

Baseball Stories is a collection of some of the greatest baseball stories ever written. It will entertain, enlighten, and inspire fans across the country. These are enduring stories that have passed the test of time and have attracted generations of readers. They are custom-made for the imaginative reader who loves baseball and tales of our national game.

Stanley Coveleski's life was a story of triumph and tragedy.He was born in the Coal Region town of Shamokin, PA in 1889, the eighth child of Polish immigrants, and went to work as a breaker boy when he was twelve. But he escaped the 12-hour work days in the mines by throwing stones at a can tied to a tree-his own crash course in how to pitch a baseball.Years later, he was one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball.In a season marked by personal and team tragedy-the death of his wife and his teammate Ray Chapman, who is the only player to die as a result of being hit by a pitch-Covey pitched three complete-game victories in the Cleveland Indians' 1920 World Series championship.Covey, one of 17 pitchers still allowed to throw a spitball after it being outlawed before the 1921 season, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.Check out this interview about the book...

A New York Times bestsellerForeword by Doris Kearns GoodwinThe longtime Commissioner of Major League Baseball provides an unprecedented look inside professional baseball today, focusing on how he helped bring the game into the modern age and revealing his interactions with players, managers, fellow owners, and fans nationwide. More than a century old, the game of baseball is resistant to change?owners, managers, players, and fans all hate it. Yet, now more than ever, baseball needs to evolve?to compete with other professional sports, stay relevant, and remain America's Pastime it must adapt. Perhaps no one knows this better than Bud Selig who, as the head of MLB for more than twenty years, ushered in some of the most important, and controversial, changes in the game's history?modernizing a sport that had remained unchanged since the 1960s. In this enlightening and surprising book, Selig goes inside the most difficult decisions and moments of his career, looking at how he worked to balance baseball's storied history with the pressures of the twenty-first century to ensure its future. Part baseball story, part business saga, and part memoir, For the Good of the Game chronicles Selig's career, takes fans inside locker rooms and board rooms, and offers an intimate, fascinating account of the frequently messy process involved in transforming an American institution. Featuring an all-star lineup of the biggest names from the last forty years of baseball, Selig recalls the vital games, private moments, and tense conversations he's shared with Hall of Fame players and managers and the contentious calls he's made. He also speaks candidly about hot-button issues the steroid scandal that threatened to destroy the game, telling his side of the story in full and for the first time.As he looks back and forward, Selig outlines the stakes for baseball's continued transformation?and why the changes he helped usher in must only be the beginning. Illustrated with sixteen pages of photographs.

As a seven-year-old kid pitching a ball against a brick wall, John Smoltz decided to be a professional baseball player when he grew up. And from that simple decision until his last season on the mound in the major leagues, it was his faith, work ethic, and love for the game that propelled him through challenges that would have ruined other athletes.Starting and Closing chronicles the final season in a legendary career that included fourteen years in one of the most dominant rotations in baseball, a Cy Young Award, and a World Series title?all while battling and overcoming "career-ending" injuries. Recounting a season that tested his perseverance and deepened his faith, Smoltz flashes back to watershed moments in the skeptic-defying journey from being one of the best starting pitchers of all time, to closer, to starter again. What emerges is an inspirational story from a man who believed not just in himself but in God's plan for him?and one more year.

As he stepped to the plate at Yankee Stadium on opening day in 1966, Bobby Murcer carried with him the hopes and expectations of Yankees fans looking for the next Mickey Mantle. Bobby wasn't the next Mick, of course, but he became one of the most beloved Yankees of all time. Yankee for Life is Murcer's account of his stellar career as both a player and an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster. With self-effacing humor and down-home charm, he shares fascinating and illuminating anecdotes about former teammates, bosses, and the new generation of Yankees superstars?Rivera, Jeter, Rodriguez?whom he watched grow up from the broadcast booth. With candor, courage, and a refreshing dose of wit, he tells of his battle with brain cancer, explaining how the love of his wife and family, his deep religious faith, and the passionate support of fans helped see him through his ordeal.Bobby Murcer may not have achieved the celebrity of some of his fellow players, but ultimately he was what fans always wanted him to be: a Yankee for life.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

No player in the history of baseball has left such an indelible mark on the game as San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. In his twenty-year career, Bonds has amassed an unprecedented seven MVP awards, eight Gold Gloves, and more than seven hundred home runs, an impressive assortment of feats that has earned him consideration as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Equally deserved, however, is his reputation as an insufferable braggart, whose mythical home runs are rivaled only by his legendary ego. From his staggering ability and fabled pedigree (father Bobby played outfield for the Giants; cousin Reggie Jackson and godfather Willie Mays are both Hall of Famers) to his well-documented run-ins with teammates and the persistent allegations of steroid use, Bonds inspires a like amount of passion from both sides of the fence. For many, Bonds belongs beside Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in baseball's holy trinity; for others, he embodies all that is wrong with the modern athlete: aloof; arrogant; alienated.In Love Me, Hate Me, author Jeff Pearlman offers a searing and insightful look into one of the most divisive athletes of our time. Drawing on more than five hundred interviews -- with former and current teammates, opponents, managers, trainers, friends, and outspoken critics and unapologetic supporters alike -- Pearlman reveals, for the first time, a wonderfully nuanced portrait of a prodigiously talented and immensely flawed American icon whose controversial run at baseball immortality forever changed the way we look at our sports heroes.

For a period of time in the 1970s, the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the Cincinnati Reds was one of the best rivalries in Major League Baseball. This book takes a fresh look at these two powerhouses and the players that made them so pivotal, including Johnny Bench, Steve Garvey, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Don Sutton, and Ron Cey.

Most of us have dreamed of sitting in the dugout with our favorite baseball team, and at sixteen Matt McGough was no different. A few months after sending a blind application letter to George Steinbrenner, on Opening Day 1992 Matt found himself walking into the legendary Yankee clubhouse. There, amid the chaos and excitement, he was greeted by none other than his idol Don Mattingly — who promptly played a prank on him.Thus began two years of adventures and misadventures, from being set up on a date by the bullpen to playing blackjack on the team plane to studying for an exam at 3 am in Yankee Stadium. Through these often hilarious experiences, and especially through his friendships with the ballplayers, Matt learned priceless lessons about honor, responsibility, and the importance of believing in oneself. A magical tale of what happens to a young man when his fondest dream comes true, Bat Boy wonderfully evokes that twilight time just before adulthood, ripe with possibility, foolishness, and hard-won knowledge.

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!WITH A FOREWORD BY TOM BRADY ?As a sportscaster and sports historian, Jim's career genuinely stands the test of time. . . . This book is sports history about some of the greats by one of the greats, who was taking it all in on the sidelines, in the stands or the dugout, by the eighteenth green, courtside, or in the broadcast booth.? ?Tom Brady, seven-time NFL Super Bowl champion GOATA riveting, insightful memoir of never-before-told stories from Jim Gray, twelve-time Emmy Award-winner, Hall of Fame sports broadcaster, and renowned interviewer? that explores the author's career and the inside stories and memorable moments of the famous legends he has covered including, Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson.In Talking to GOATs, award-winning broadcaster Jim Gray looks back at his four decades of sports reporting from the unparalleled perspective of one of the world's most respected and skilled interviewers. A journalist who many iconic athletes have trusted to tell their stories (of both triumph and disgrace), Jim has had unprecedented access to the people, places and extraordinary events in the world of sports. Asking tough but fair questions, he has broken numerous stories, and landed squarely in the middle of others, from the Ben Johnson and Barry Bonds steroid scandals, to Michael Jordan's surprise retirement, to the off-the-court Kobe/Shaq feud which led to their on-the-court break up, to being part of the live broadcast for twenty-two Super Bowls. He's climbed into the ring to interview Mike Tyson after he bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear, and stood next to Ron Artest when the ?Malice at the Palace? melee erupted, and was on site at the bombing of the Atlanta Olympics.Anyone who has watched Jim effortlessly engage his subjects at the precise moment of triumph or tragedy has little idea what it takes to secure the interview, or what actually happens when the camera cuts away. These are real, mesmerizing, and previously untold stories. Talking to GOATs features numerous world-class athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather, Michael Phelps, Mike Tyson and Tiger Woods, and world leaders George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, and many more. On each page, Jim gives the reader a coveted all-access pass as he reviews the best interviews, the best athletes, and the best games in modern sports history. It's like a personal introduction to the characters and careers of these heroes and villains we've known since childhood. He examines how money, celebrity, the media, and power interact, and how sports, more than any other institution, has led to momentous transformations in American society.

A fascinating tour of Oakland sports history and a look toward the future of professional sports in the East Bay. Oakland is a sports city like no other. It is the only city in America to be abandoned by the same team twice, with the Raiders most recently leaving for Las Vegas. The Golden State Warriors, who crossed the bay in 1971 in search of better digs, have now returned to San Francisco with trophies in tow. The long-fought battle to keep the Oakland Athletics in the East Bay may narrowly save the city from a hat trick of departures. And yet, Oakland has produced more than its share of success in the form of 10 league championships across the NFL, NBA, and MLB. The city is gritty, gutsy, and self-preserving, with a blue-collar mentality and a gold standard under that collar. Bolstered by the Silicon Valley tech boom, Oakland has become one of the most desirable places to live in the entire country, all while its sports fans are increasingly made to feel that, in the famous words of Gertrude Stein, "There is no there there." What is it about Oakland that inspires such wanderlust in its professional teams? Featuring numerous conversations with luminaries across sports, politics, and economics, this new book explores Oakland's fascinating and paradoxical identity as a sports town while illuminating a cast of characters as diverse as the city itself: rogues, superstars, movers and shakers operating on and off the field, and the ill-treated fans. Through the insight of venerated Oakland Tribune scribe Dave Newhouse and sports business leader Andy Dolich, readers will come to appreciate the many quirks and challenges that define "The Town."

Long before the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season, Boston's now nearly forgotten "other" team, the 1914 Boston Braves, performed a baseball "miracle" that resounds to this very day. The "Miracle Braves" were Boston's first "worst-to-first" winners of the World Series. Shortly after the turn of the previous century, the once mighty Braves had become a perennial member of the National League's second division. Preseason pundits didn't believe the 1914 team posed a meaningful threat to John McGraw's powerful New York Giants. During the first half of that campaign, Boston lived down to such expectations, taking up residence in the league's basement.Refusing to throw in the towel at the midseason mark, their leader, the pugnacious George Stallings, deftly manipulated his daily lineup and pitching staff to engineer a remarkable second-half climb in the standings all the way to first place. The team's winning momentum carried into the postseason, where the Braves swept Connie Mack's heralded Athletics and claimed the only World Championship ever won by Boston's National League entry. And for 100 years, the management, players, and fans of underperforming ball clubs have turned to the Miracle Braves to catch a glimmer of hope that such a midseason turnaround could be repeated. Through the collaborative efforts of a band of dedicated members of the Society for American Baseball Research, this benchmark accomplishment is richly revealed to the reader in The Miracle Braves of 1914: Boston's Original Worst-to-First World Series Champions. The essence of the "miracle" is captured through a comprehensive compendium of incisive biographies of the players and other figures associated with the team, with additional relevant research pieces on the season. After a journey through the pages of this book, the die-hard baseball fan will better understand why the call to "Wait Until Next Year" should never be voiced prematurely.

In One-Win Wonders, we meet 78 players whose time in the major leagues included only a single pitching win. One-Win Wonders is a companion book to the 2021 SABR book One-Hit Wonders, which included biographies of players who had gotten only a single hit.The 78 players whose biographies are presented here are among the 915 players who completed their major-league career with just one win. An astonishing 229 of those never lost a game, ending with a career record of 1-0. Some simply had very brief stays in the majors, like Bill Ging "With the Wonderful Wing" who joined the Boston Beaneaters at the tail end of 1899 and secured a 2-1 complete game victory over the New York Giants, but found himself without a team when the National League contracted from 12 teams to eight in 1900. Then there's Nick Adenhart, whose career was tragically cut short by a drunk driver hours after securing his win for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.Others, like catcher Brent Mayne, were position players who wound up on the mound and left with a victory. Mayne's win came in an epic extra-innings contest between the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves, after the last pitcher on the roster was ejected after a brawl. Each of the current 30 major-league franchises is represented by at least one such wonder, as are a number of other teams, some dating back to the nineteenth century. One-Win Wonders represents the collaborative work of nearly 60 researchers, authors, and editors from the Society for American Baseball Research.

Drew Charlesworth--an accomplished mathematical genius working on a medical experiment with his partner Dr. Kingsly, creating a computerized prosthesis to be one day fused with its human subject--was also gifted with an unusual ability to hit a baseball. This skill, once he reached the major league, thrust him into the limelight, exposing his other work, which angered political and religious Conservatives.This is a story how Drew had to navigate the worlds of not only baseball and medicine but politics and big business, eventually having to make tough decisions.