Baseball Books
Society for American Baseball Research The National Pastime, 2019
Book SynopsisFrom Albert Spalding, who settled in San Diego in the latter part of his life, to late Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Tony Gwynn, San Diego has been called home by some giants of baseball lore. But San Diego was also the minor league home of Johnny Ritchey, who broke the "color barrier" in the Pacific Coast League, and Bill "Chick" Starr, the former player turned owner who signed him. In 1909 San Diego was the site of a game between the "Japanese Base Ball Association"—an aspiring pro team of Japanese-born players—against the local California Winter League champions, while during a few months of 1946 a Negro League team known as the San Diego Tigers played there, all before expansion brought the National League to the West Coast. Of course, the PCL Padres were superseded by the NL Padres, who play there today. The NL Padres remain the only team in MLB without a no-hitter, but the PCL Padres had one, at least by 1938 rules. The Padres have had their heroes (Garvey and Gossage, Hoffman and Templeton) and their goats, as well as The Chicken, whom The New York Times called "perhaps the most influential sports mascot in history." All of their stories and more from San Diego and environs are included in this issue of The National Pastime, to coincide with the national SABR convention taking place there in 2019. Table of ContentsThe Guide to Spalding: San Diego, 1900–15 by Mark Souder The Shared National Pastime: San Diego’s First Japanese Ball Game by Robert K. Fitts Charlie Schmutz: The First San Diego-Born Major Leaguer by Bill Lamb American Indian Baseball in Old North County: San Diego Heritage at Riverside’s Sherman Institute by Tom Willman No. 19, Ted Williams, LF, San Diego Padres by Tom Larwin Researching Ted Williams' Latino Roots by Bill Nowlin The Longest No-Hitter in San Diego Padres History: Dick Ward’s 1938 Extra-Inning Masterpiece by Gordon J. Gattie Bill Starr: The San Diego Padre who Batted for Ted Williams and Integrated the PCL by Gary Sarnoff The San Diego Tigers of the West Coast Negro Baseball League by Leslie Heaphy San Diego Breaks Pacific Coast League Color Barrier by Alan Cohen Baseball Burials in San Diego by Fred Worth Raw Materials: The Padres’ Expansion 30 by Mark Camps San Diego Padres Near No-Hitters by Steven M. Glassman Profiles in Plumage: The San Diego Chicken by John Racanelli Alan Wiggins: A Tragic Hero by Fred O. Rodgers Rupe’s Troops, NoMás Monge, and Tempy Turns It Around: Part of the Padres Golden Era by Brian P. Wood Steve Garvey and the Most Iconic Moment in San Diego Sports History by Kevin Mills Tony Gwynn: Meeting Baseball’s Best Hitter by Michael J. Schell Relief Pitching and the San Diego Padres: A Half-Century of Excellence by Wayne M. Towers, Ph.D. The Silver Anniversary of Tony Gwynn’s Quest for .400 by Geoff Young
£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research The National Pastime, 2020
Book SynopsisThe National Pastime is the annual review of baseball historical research and regional topics published by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Each year the publication focuses on the history of baseball in a different region or city, following the annual SABR convention from one major league territory to another.
£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 49 #2
Book SynopsisVolume 49, issue 2, of SABR's Baseball Research Journal, runs the gamut of research, from the nineteenth century to events that took place in 2020. The article that anchors this issue of the journal, appearing last, is Richard Hershberger’s account of the “First Baseball War,” in which the nineteenth-century clash between leagues contributed to the creation of the reserve system that suppressed free agency until the late twentieth, while Mary Hums and her team document MLB’s decision to change the name of the “disabled list” to “injured list,” including the advocacy and rationale behind the change, and an analysis of fan reactions to it.As always, we have some articles that delve into stats to enhance our understanding of the game. Among them, Theo Tobel gives us a breakdown of brushback pitches: do they really intimidate batters and provide an advantage to the pitcher? Randy Robbins noticed a statistical quirk in the record of Warren Spahn and it prompted an examination of one of the game’s pitching greats. Will Melville and Brinley Zabriskie undertake the task of trying to determine how much benefit, if any, the 2017 Astros derived from their cheating efforts, while Irwin Nahinsky analyzes the effects of luck and skill on team success. Ron Backer looks at Lou Gehrig in a new light—klieg lights, in fact—in his article on Gehrig’s Hollywood career, which like his life and playing career was cut short by ALS. Charlie Pavitt delves into the fact that a player’s ethnicity can be a predictor for what position he plays in MLB. Howard M. Wasserman examines Jewish players through the lens of their performances on Yom Kippur, while Alan Cohen examines one of the great hitters of all time, Josh Gibson. Because of racial segregation, Gibson never had the opportunity to play in the major leagues, but because many Negro League teams did play games in major league ballparks, we can look at those performances to prove how prodigious he truly was. An image of Josh Gibson graces the cover of this issue, in a piece of original art by Gary Cieradkowski, the creator of the Infinite Baseball Card Set.
£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research The National Pastime, 2021
Book SynopsisSince its inception, The National Pastime has featured excellent research and essays about baseball history. This year, though, we asked our contributors to point their lenses not toward the past, but toward the future. In 2020, SABR conducted a survey that invited respondents to answer questions about baseball twenty years in the future, framed by the following understanding: “[T]hat just as baseball, and its history, is a reflection on culture and society in the past and present, it could also be an input, context, and/or predictor for predicting plausible futures of the United States and other countries.” The goal became to predict what the world might be like in 2040, and how that will be reflected in the game we love. There are so many factors affecting our collective future, ranging from climate change to advances in technology, from medical breakthroughs to the ways baseball will adapt itself to changing tastes, from rules innovations to new forms of media consumption and fan interaction. This issue includes incisive essays on the future of the baseball uniforms, the Hall of Fame, fan experiences and the media, the future of baseball cards, climate change and baseball, as well as more speculative imaginings, in the form of press releases from the future and even thought-provoking futuristic flash fiction. The All-Star lineup includes Hugo Award-winning science fiction author Harry Turtledove, technology thought leader Cathy Hackl on baseball in the metaverse, MLB Network’s favorite chemist and climate scientist Dr. Lawrence Rocks, Sidewise Award winner (and son of major league catcher Del Wilber) Rick Wilber, and many more. NFTs, virtual reality, machine learning, materials science—every cutting edge technology will have its effect on baseball as we know it, and just as baseball itself was integral to the development of previous broadcast media from radio to streaming video, the sport will continue to be the proving ground for new uses of technology yet to come.
£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 50 #2
Book SynopsisIn this issue, we remember the enormous contribution of Jim Bouton, pictured on the cover in a portrait by artist Gary Cieradkowski. Throughout baseball’s hidebound history, rebels and mavericks have emerged to challenge the status quo in the sport and the wider society, none more so than Bouton. His book Ball Four ultimately changed baseball, the sports media, and American literature. During his playing days, Bouton spoke out against the Vietnam War, South African apartheid, the exploitation of players by greedy owners, and the casual racism of the teams and his fellow players. When his baseball career ended, he continued to use his celebrity as a platform against social injustice. Fifty years after Ball Four’s publication and now two years after Bouton’s death, Robert Elias and Peter Dreier look back at the legacy. ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: “When the Fans Didn’t Go Wild” by J. Furman Daniel, III & Elliott Fullmer While the circumstances of the 2020 MLB season were far from ideal, it did present a unique research opportunity. Home-field advantage has long been observed in all major team sports, including baseball. Over the past several decades, researchers have sought to explain this persistent phenomenon. While multiple explanations have been advanced, the most common centers on the effect of attending crowds. Cheering (or booing) fans, the argument goes, affect the performance of players or umpires, leading to advantages for the home team. Because the 2020 MLB season was played without crowds, we are able to test the impact of fans on game outcomes through this unique natural experiment. “Impact of the Varying Sac-Fly Rules on Batting Champs, 1931–2019” by Herm Krabbenhoft The back-and-forth character of the sacrifice fly rule (i.e., at-bat or no at-bat) over the course of the twentieth century has resulted in some interesting “What if?” situations. For instance, one of baseball’s oldest (and at-one-time highly revered) batting metrics is batting average, with the player with the highest batting average being regarded as the batting champion of his league. But which players would have won baseball’s batting crowns if the rule had been consistent? What if the current sacrifice fly rule had been in effect for the 1931–53 period? Who would have won the batting titles, then? “‘Country’ Base Ball in the Boom of 1866,” by Robert Tholkes As baseball spread throughout the United States after the Civil War, not every newspaper was supportive of the notion. “Violent exercise,” reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer, would lead to “the production of fevers and bowel diseases.” The Raleigh Daily Sentinel disapproved of Southerners spending time on amusements, noting that “Intellect, energy, frugality and hard labor will raise the South, and nothing else can.” And as incidents of Sunday ballplaying proliferated, stiff opposition was raised by the Sabbatarians and other religious groups, like the State Street Congregational Church of Brooklyn’s Missionary Society. The Society’s diatribe warned that the game had turned from “a reasonable exercise into a moral contagion…insidiously diffusing and infusing itself into the minds and brains of thousands upon thousands of our young American people, from thirty years of age downward to little children…exhibiting a reckless abandon and mad ecstasy.” Additional articles reexamine Hank Aaron’s home run record, the career of Al Kaline, and the uncanny walk-off prowess of Ryan Zimmerman. One study looks at whether the perception that PED use prolonged MLB careers is correct. The “fourth out rule” and the earliest use of uniform numbers in the minor leagues are also investigated, among 18 articles in all.
£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 51 #1
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£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research The National Pastime, 2022: Major Research About
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£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 51 #2
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£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 52 #1
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£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research The National Pastime, 2023
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£12.34
Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Research Journal (BRJ), Volume 52 #2
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£16.14
Wanceulen S.L. Hacia una enseñanza comprensiva, ludica e integradora del beisbol escolar
Book SynopsisMi propuesta supone intercalar táctica ( para qué ) con técnica ( qué ); y esto dentro de un contexto lúdico, donde el alumno aprenda divirtiéndose , a través de una serie de situaciones en las que desarrolle el pensamiento lógico mediante juegos modificados, y adquiera un conjunto de habilidades motrices y capacidades físicas a través de actividades y tareas atractivas y motivantes. Y siempre buscando como fin último la educación integral de los alumnos a través de la práctica y la familiarización a un deporte como es el béisbol. Dicho planteamiento no supone una clara diferenciación ente el para qué y el qué en el trabajo, sino una interrelación constante. Sirva como ejemplo que las actividades técnicas están clasificadas siguiendo un criterio táctico, diferenciando entre ataque y defensa. Además, las situaciones y actividades diseñadas se pueden desarrollar en su mayoría en cualquier contexto educativo, independientemente de las instalaciones (pequeñas o grandes, cubiertas o descubiertas) y del número de alumnos, por la flexibilidad del agrupamiento de los juegos propuestos. Aparte de esta propuesta, también aparece un apartado en el que se aborda este aprendizaje y práctica del béisbol partiendo desde la táctica para a partir de ahí, desarrollar el trabajo técnico antes de pasar al juego en una situación real, utilizando las mismas sesiones y actividades que en el planteamiento anterior, pero con una secuencia en el aprendizaje diferente. Todo esto estará ubicado dentro del ámbito escolar y aplicado a la enseñanza de la Educación Física, a partir del tercer ciclo de Primaria y de la etapa de Secundaria, pudiéndose desarrollar durante uno o varios cursos académicos y mediante una o varias unidades didácticas. También se puede aplicar a actividades deportivas extraescolares, así como para la iniciación al béisbol.
£21.85
Oxford University Press Baseball
Book SynopsisIn this first volume of two, Harold Seymour traces the growth of baseball from early English children''s games to the formation in 1903 of the two present-day professional major leagues. By investigating previously unexamined sources, he uncovers the real story of baseball''s evolution in the United States from a gentleman''s amateur sport of well-bred play followed by well-laden banquet tables into a professional sport where big leagues operate under their own rules. Offering countless colourful anecdotes and a wealth of new information, Seymour explodes many cherished myths. He unveils the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions and show business and sketches revealing portraits of the men who became the first professional players, club owners, and managers.Trade ReviewPraise for Volume I: "An important reference, very readable."--The New York Public Library "Indispensable."--Dr. Daniel Boorstin, Director, Library of Congress "Will remain the basic reference for baseball history."--New York Historical Review "First-rate history....[Seymour] gives a full picture of player salaries, of owner deceits, of public frenzy."--The Baltimore Sun "Half of what will be the most comprehensive, serious, authoritative, and sociological study of baseball ever put to paper."--San Francisco Chronicle "It puts baseball...firmly in the American picture....[An] admirable book."--The Times Literary Supplement (London) "[Seymour] has the intellectual's passion for facts, but he writes with the light touch of a sports writer."--New York Daily News "Stands in a class by itself."--St. Petersburg Times "Right off the bat, let me say that this history of baseball stands in a class by itself."--John Barkham, Saturday Review Syndicate "With great care the book tells how the game was born, struggled, survived, and prospered, despite bird-brained direction at the top, chicanery at all levels, bullying of players, player revolts, monopolistic and power tactics, scandals, rowdyism and even violence."--Providence Journal
£16.26
Taylor & Francis Team Sports Training
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£128.25
Taylor & Francis Ltd The Making of Sporting Cultures
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£43.99
Taylor & Francis Soft Power Politics Football and Baseball on the Western Pacific Rim
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£82.64
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Summer of 49
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£16.19
HarperCollins Publishers Inc I Had a Hammer The Hank Aaron Story
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£17.09
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Unwritten Rules of Baseball
Book SynopsisFrom beanballs to basebrawls, the most important rules governing the game of baseball have never been officially written down—until now.They have no sanction from the Commissioner, appear nowhere in any official publication, and are generally not posted on any clubhouse wall. They represent a set of time-honored customs, rituals, and good manners that show a respect for the game, one''s teammates, and one''s opponents. Sometimes they contradict the official rulebook. The fans generally only hear about them when one is bent or broken, and it becomes news for a few days. Now, for the first time ever, Paul Dickson has put these unwritten rules down on paper, covering every situation, whether on the field or in the clubhouse, press box, or stands. Along with entertaining baseball axioms, quotations, and rules of thumb, this essential volume contains the collected wisdom of dozens of players, managers, and reporters on the secret rules that yo
£13.49
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Cage Rat
Book SynopsisThe Hitting Coach for the New York Yankees, Kevin Long trains power-hitters in the fine art of hitting a baseball well—a talent the legendary Ted Williams once called, “the most difficult skill in sport.” In Cage Rat, the man who helps sharpen the mechanics of such superstars as Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez shares the expertise he honed over his more than two decades in the game as both player and coach. With an introduction by Alex Rodriguez and an Afterword by Robinson Cano, Cage Rat is an indispensable guide to hitting, filled with practical advice, fascinating behind-the-scenes action, and an enduring, inspiring love for the Great American Pastime.
£19.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Damn Yankees
Book SynopsisWinners of twenty-seven World Series titles, the New York Yankees are the quintessential sports dynasty. Love them or hate them, they cannot be ignored by anyone who professes to be a fan of the great game of baseball.With Damn Yankees, Rob Fleder, former Executive Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, offers a timeless collection of original essays by some of the most prominent contemporary writers in America—from Pete Dexter to Jane Leavy, from Roy Blount Jr. to Colum McCann—each piece focusing on one uniquely colorful subject: the fanatically adored/resoundingly despised “Bronx Bombers.”Funny, moving, provocative, insightful appreciations and detractions—from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Derek Jeter—Damn Yankees offers twenty-four fascinating takes on the most storied franchise of baseball’s Major Leagues.
£22.39
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The DiMaggios
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£20.79
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Last Innocents
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£17.09
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Derek Jeter Born to Be a Yankee
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£16.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Big Fella
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£18.04
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Power Ball
Book Synopsis“Winner of the 2018 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year.”The former ESPN columnist and analytics pioneer dramatically recreates an action-packed 2017 game between the Oakland A’s and eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros to reveal the myriad ways in which Major League Baseball has changed over the last few decades.On September 8, 2017, the Oakland A’s faced off against the Houston Astros in a game that would signal the passing of the Moneyball mantle. Though this was only one regular season game, the match-up of these two teams demonstrated how Major League Baseball has changed since the early days of Athletics general manager Billy Beane and the publication of Michael Lewis’ classic book.Over the past twenty years, power and analytics have taken over the game, driving carefully calibrated teams like the Astros to victory. Seemingly every pitcher now throws mid-90s heat and studiously compares their mecha
£22.39
HarperCollins Publishers Inc For the Good of the Game
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£23.19
HarperCollins Publishers Inc So Many Ways to Lose
Book Synopsis“This is a weird, wonderful, and essential book about both America and its pastime. It’s about a place as vast as New York City and as intimate as the human heart. Fred Exley meets Richard Ben Cramer—a funny, wild, heartfelt, and keenly observed portrait of yearning itself.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Cost of These Dreams“Mr. Gordon’s ability to explain the Sisyphean plight of all Mets fans is truly remarkable. Bravo!”—Ron Darling, New York Times bestselling author of Game 7, 1986The Mets lose when they should win. They win when they should lose. And when it comes to being the worst, no team in sports has ever done it better than the Mets. In So Many Ways to Lose, author and lifelong Mets fan Devin Gordon sifts through the detritus of Queens for a baseball history like no other.
£25.19
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Homegrown How the Red Sox Built a Champion from
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Alex Speier is one of the few writers I’d read on any topic, and he’s written a fascinating book about a historic season. The jaw-dropping anecdotes and juicy behind-the-scenes details will make this a must-read for Red Sox fans; the powerful, nuanced description of why team building is so important -- not just in baseball or sports, but life in general--will make it a classic for everyone else.” — Seth Mnookin, bestselling author of Feeding the Monster “I get to read Alex Speier almost daily in the Boston Globe and have anxiously been waiting for his first book. It does not disappoint. If you love the Red Sox or just like baseball, this is the book for you. A deep dive into how the 119-win champion Red Sox were built.” — Dan Shaughnessy, New York Times bestselling author of The Curse of the Bambino “A tight, tense, and quite enjoyable story, almost like an adventure novel.... Well worth the read.” — Bookreporter.com “Speier tracks the development of the [Red Sox] core from 2011 to their 2018 championship. ... The narrative of a team in the making delivers compelling reading. A must for Red Sox fans.” — Booklist “A fascinating look at the building of an elite baseball club.” — Library Journal “Alex Speier spins a compelling narrative about how great scouting and player development created a perennial contender in baseball’s toughest division, without losing sight of the people at the heart of his story.” — Keith Law, author of Smart Baseball "[Speier is] a talented and surprisingly non-biased observer of exactly how the juggernaut Red Sox... had been assembled. ... A welcome companion to help any baseball fan pass the cold winter months." — Lincoln Journal Star “With Homegrown, it is clear Alex Speier has put his time in, both in the clubhouse and in learning about this special core of young players that delivered another championship to Boston. This is a good book, merging the pressures of the field and the dealmaking of the front offices without shortchanging either one.” — HOWARD BRYANT, senior writer, ESPN the Magazine “Describes how the succession of Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington and [Dave] Dombrowski built the 2018 champions. ... Well-written.” — New York Post "A must read." — Pittsburgh Tribune Review
£19.00
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Rickey
Book Synopsis“Seldom does a sports biography—especially a page-turner—so comprehensively explain the forces that made an icon the way they are.” - Sports IllustratedFrom the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron comes the definitive biography of Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, baseball’s epic leadoff hitter and base-stealer who also stole America’s heart over nearly five electric decades in the game.Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said.But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave
£18.69
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Brothers at Bat
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£11.39
Penguin Putnam Inc Blood Sport
Book SynopsisThe definitive and dramatic story of the Alex Rodriguez and Biogenesis scandal, written by the reporters who broke and covered the story.“Blood Sport is riveting...a tragicomedy filled with characters straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel.”—The Washington PostThe effects of the Biogenesis case—the biggest drug scandal in the history of American sports—are still being felt today. Fifteen Major League Baseball players were suspended, including Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez. Ten men were indicted in federal court. And a new MLB commissioner was elected based on his role leading the response to the case. Now, Tim Elfrink—who broke that first story in the Miami New Times—joins forces with Pulitzer Prize finalist investigative reporter Gus Garcia-Roberts to tell the shocking full story behind the headlines. Blood Sport blows the lid off the most expensive scandal in the history of th
£15.30
MO - University of Illinois Press Baseball and Cricket
Book Synopsis How and why Americans chose baseball over its early rival, cricket, as the national pastimeIn discovering how and why Americans chose baseball over its early rival, cricket, as the national pastime, George B. Kirsch takes us back to amateur playing fields around the country to recreate the excitement of the early matches, the players, clubs, and their fans. As a narrative history,Baseball and Cricketplaces the growing popularity of the two sports within the social context of mid-nineteenth-century American cities. The book''s comparative analysis follows baseball''s transition from a leisure sport to a commercialized, professional enterprise and offers the first complete discussion of the early American cricket clubs.A volume in the series Sport and Society, edited by Benjamin G. Rader and Randy Roberts Trade Review"A unique comprehensive history of America's first organized team sports. Focusing on New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Newark, Kirsch is the first to combine a history and analysis of baseball and cricket, showing the unique relationship between the two, and their places in urban history. . . . This is a major work in the field of sport history." --Choice"Kirsch's account is highly engaging and quite edifying. . . . His analysis is keen, his prose readable, and his thesis fascinating. . . . Kirsch rescues from dusty archives the names of the important cricket teams (or rather clubs), their lineups, their statistics, and wonderfully vivid accounts of critical cricket matches that help provide a contemporary American audience scantly familiar with the game a sense of its excitement, its attraction."--Aethlon: Journal of Sports Literature"This is a marvelous book. It tells us much about who played the game, what sorts of persons they were, and gives us many details of early baseball, who won, and why, and what this meant to viewers of the game."--Journal of Social History
£999.99
University of Illinois Press I Wore Babe Ruths Hat
Book SynopsisTrade Review"These essays deliver intelligent analysis, brilliant insights, wit, laugh-out-loud hilarity, and a disarmingly serious look at David Zang's passion for sport and its place in his life and ours."--Richard Crepeau, author of NFL Football: A History of America's New National Pastime"Funny, poignant, smart, and crisply written, I Wore Babe Ruth's Hat reminds us why we care so much about sports--and why we keep telling its stories."--Aram Goudsouzian, author of King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution
£999.99
Random House USA Inc The Baseball Codes
Book SynopsisAn insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments. Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining. <
£14.41
Random House USA Inc The Baseball Stunts Scandals and Secrets Beneath
Book SynopsisThe Baseball is a salute to the ball, filled with insider trivia, anecdotes, and generations of ball-induced insanity—from Zack Hample, the bestselling author of Watching Baseball Smarter • Which Hall of Famer once caught a ball dropped from an airplane? • Why do balls get stamped with invisible ink? • What’s the best ticket to buy for catching a foul ball? • Which part of the ball once came from dog food companies?• How could a 10,000-year-old glacier help a pitcher grip the ball? In this enlightening, entertaining, and often wildly funny book, Zack Hample shares ballpark legends and lore, explores the history of the baseball souvenir craze, and also details the evolution of the ball. Finally, Hample—who has snagged more than 4,600 balls from 48 different major league stadiums—offe
£13.29
Alfred A. Knopf Baseball in the American City Baseball Ballparks
Book SynopsisAn exhilarating, splendidly illustrated, entirely new look at the history of baseball: told through the stories of the vibrant and ever-changing ballparks where the game was and is staged, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic.From the earliest corrals of the mid-1800s (Union Grounds in Brooklyn was a saloon in the open air), to the much mourned parks of the early 1900s (Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans), to the stadiums we fill today, Paul Goldberger makes clear the inextricable bond between the American city and America's favorite pastime. In the changing locations and architecture of our ballparks, Goldberger reveals the manifestations of a changing society: the earliest ballparks evoked the Victorian age in their accommodations--bleachers for the riffraff, grandstands for the middle-class; the concrete donuts of the 1950s and '60s made plain television's grip on the public's attention; and more recent ballparks, like Baltimore's C
£28.80
Random House USA Inc Off Speed Baseball Pitching and the Art of
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. The lively and fascinating story of baseball’s 150-year hunt for the perfect pitch. In August 2012, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays in what Terry McDermott calls “one of the greatest exhibitions of off-speed pitches ever put on.” For McDermott, a lifelong fan and student of baseball, the extraordinary events of that afternoon inspired this incisive meditation on the art of pitching. Within the framework of Hernandez’s historic achievement, Off Speed provides a vibrant narrative of the history and evolution of pitching, combining baseball's rich tradition of folklore with the wealth of new metrics from a growing legion of statisticians who are transforming the way we think about the game. Off Speed is also the personal story of a fan’s steadfast devotion, first kindled in McDermo
£999.99
Random House USA Inc Where Nobody Knows Your Name
Book SynopsisMinor 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&rs
£15.26
Random House USA Inc Class A Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere
Book SynopsisAn unforgettable chronicle of a year of minor-league baseball in a small Iowa town that follows not only the travails of the players of the Clinton LumberKings but also the lives of their dedicated fans and of the town itself. Award-winning essayist Lucas Mann delivers a powerful debut in his telling of the story of the 2010 season of the Clinton LumberKings. Along the Mississippi River, in a Depression-era stadium, young prospects from all over the world compete for a chance to move up through the baseball ranks to the major leagues. Their coaches, some of whom have spent nearly half a century in the game, watch from the dugout. In the bleachers, local fans call out from the same seats they’ve occupied year after year. And in the distance, smoke rises from the largest remaining factory in a town that once had more millionaires per capita than any other in America. Mann turns his eye on the players, the coaches, the fans, the radio announcer, the
£13.29
Little Brown and Company The Hall A Celebration of Baseballs Greats
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£33.25
Random House USA Inc Imperfect
Book Synopsis“Honest, touching, and beautifully rendered . . . Far more than a book about baseball, it is a deeply felt story of triumph and failure, dreams and disappointments. Jim Abbott has hurled another gem.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Man NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott dreamed of someday being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who encouraged him to compete, Jim would become an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan. But his journey was only beginning: By twenty-one, he’d won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics and—without spending a day in the minor leagues—cracked the starting rotation of the California Angels. In 1991, he would finish third in the voting for the Cy Young Award. Two years later, he would don Yankee pinstripes and pitch one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history.
£999.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Rickey
Book Synopsis
£23.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Inside The Empire
Book Synopsis
£12.34
Random House USA Inc The Echoing Green
Book SynopsisThis is the untold story of the secret scandal behind baseball's most legendary moment:The Shot Heard Round the World. A Washington Post Best Book of the Year.At 3:58 p.m. on October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca. The ball sailed over the left field wall and into history. The Giants won the pennant. That moment—the Shot Heard Round the World—reverberated from the West Wing of the White House to the Sing Sing death house to the Polo Grounds clubhouse, where hitter and pitcher forever turned into hero and goat. It was also in that centerfield block of concrete that, after the home run, a Giant coach tucked away a Wollensak telescope. The Echoing Green places that revelation at the heart of a larger story, re-creating in extravagant detail and illuminating as never before the impact of both a moment and a long-guarded secret on the lives of Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca.
£15.26
WW Norton & Co Baseball Haiku The Best Haiku Ever Written about
Book SynopsisPresenting more than two hundred of the greatest haiku ever written about the game.Trade Review"Cor van den Heuvel is the most important anthologist of haiku composed in English in North America." -- Japan Times"Generous, irreplaceable…It’s an eye-opener and a who’s-who of haiku today." -- Providence Sunday Journal"If you are at all interested in haiku, you want to own this book. It is simply the best, most extensive collection of English language haiku in existence, and a joy to read." -- Modern Haiku"An exceptional selection of English-language haiku at its finest." -- Library Booknotes
£14.24
WW Norton & Co Taking On the Yankees Winning and Losing in the
Book SynopsisAn illuminating history of the Yankees and the behind-the-scenes business interests that make them the dynasty they are today.
£11.99
WW Norton & Co Yogi Berra
Book Synopsis“Allen Barra brings a legendary figure from the true golden age of baseball to life.”—Bob CostasTrade Review"Starred Review. A superior sports book." -- Kirkus Reviews"Count me among the Yankee haters who devoured this book." -- David Maraniss, author of Clemente"Allen Barra’s real Yogi Berra is even more interesting than the legendary one." -- Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four
£12.99
