Kategoria BISAC: Sports & Recreation >> Baseball - History

Based in part on the life of baseball legend Ty Cobb, this book belongs in the pantheon of great baseball novels.

John Barr is the kind of player who isn't supposed to exist anymore. An all-around superstar, he plays the game with a single-minded ferocity that makes his New York Mets team all but invincible. Yet Barr himself is a mystery with no past, no friends, no women, and no interests outside hitting a baseball as hard and as far as he can. Not even Ellie Jay, the jaded sportswriter who can out-think, out-drink, and out-write any man in the press box. She wants to think she...

The Autobiography of a Boy of Summer Who Became a Man for All Seasons

Before Barry Bonds, before Reggie Jackson, before Hank Aaron, baseball's stars had one undeniable trait in common: they were all white. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke that barrier, striking a crucial blow for racial equality and changing the world of sports forever. I Never Had It Made is Robinson's own candid, hard-hitting account of what it took to become the first black man in history to play in the major leagues.

I Never Had It Made recalls Robinson's early years and influences: his...

This is a guy who ...

• Grew up among Hell's Angels, taking their Harleys for solo joyrides at age eleven ...
• Prepares for every outing by blasting Metallica, AC/DC, and Godsmack at eardrum-bursting levels in the Yankees' locker room ...
• Regularly tried to coerce attractive women in the stands into lifting up their shirts from the Toronto Blue Jays' bullpen ...
• Endured huge, cortisone-loaded hypodermic shots straight into the spine to avoid missing scheduled pitching starts ...
• Was the 1998 ALCS MVP and the 2002 ALDS goat ...
• Has become...

In more than a century of baseball history, there is only one player who has won the most championship rings -- Yogi Berra. He has ten of them, in fact. One for each and every finger.

In Ten Rings, Yogi, for the first time, tells the stories behind each of those remarkable championship seasons, spanning 1947 through 1962, baseball's golden years. It was a time when players played for the love of the game, a time when dynasties were born and baseball became the national pastime. And what a pastime it was.

With Yogi Berra at...

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...

The man who shattered Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record, Henry "Hammering Hank" Aaron left his indelible mark on professional baseball and the world. But the world also left its mark on him.

I Had a Hammer is much more than the intimate autobiography of one of the greatest names in pro sports--it is a fascinating social history of twentieth-century America. With courage and candor, Aaron recalls his struggles and triumphs in an atmosphere of virulent racism. He relives the breathtaking moment when, in the heat of hatred and controversy, he hit his 715th home run to break...

George B. Kirsch takes us back to amateur playing fields around the country to re-create the excitement of the early matches, the players, clubs, and their fans. As a narrative history, "Baseball and Cricket" places 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...