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Showing 141 - 160 of 2204 items
By Russell A. Carleton. 2018
A baseball writer with a background in psychology examines the shift in baseball brought about by analytics systems such as…
sabermetrics. He explains some of the key statistics that drive the game, alongside the idea that numbers should be balanced by the psychological aspects and rituals of the sport. 2018By Susan Jacoby. 2018
An historian and fan discusses the sport of baseball and examines whether it is in a state of decline. She…
puts the sport into the context of the modern era of digital distractions, citing its aging fanbase and lower attendance at games and TV viewership. 2018A sportswriter talks with the radio and TV broadcasters who help bring baseball to life. Includes a chapter on each…
major league ballpark, providing background on the teams and oral histories from famous local broadcasters who detail one noteworthy game. 2015By Bernie Saunders. 2021
Shut Out is a hockey love story. But it's a love that was unrequited. Bernie Saunders had a passion for…
hockey. His prodigious talent was on display at all levels. But because he was Black, he was stymied at every turn and experienced nothing but taunting from opponents, spectators, coaches and even his own teammates. Despite this malevolence, Saunders continued to play, adopting a style akin to that of the historic house slave: serve but remain invisible. Signed by the Quebec Nordiques, he played with them for two years, but spent most of his career playing collegiately at Western Michigan University and in the minor leagues in Canada and the US. In the end, it was all too much for Saunders. Dogged and overwhelmed by racism, he finally left hockey to work in the corporate sector. This is a memoir about professional hockey by a player who had the potential to become a star but was blocked at almost every opportunity because of his race. In spite of this, Shut Out is a hopeful and uplifting book about facing adversity, overcoming it and moving ahead. Woven throughout the book is Saunders's love of his family, especially his brother, John, who died at age sixty-one. Now retired, Bernie Saunders is still sought out by the hockey community for his observations and adviceBy Sean Fitz-Gerald. 2019
A love letter to a sport that's losing itself, from one of Canada's best sports writers.Canadian hockey is approaching a…
state of crisis. It's become more expensive, more exclusive, and effectively off-limits to huge swaths of the potential sports-loving population. Youth registration numbers are stagnant; efforts to appeal to new Canadians are often grim at best; the game, increasingly, does not resemble the country of which it's for so long been an integral part. These signs worried Sean Fitz-Gerald. As a lifelong hockey fan and father of a young mixed-race son falling headlong in love with the game, he wanted to get to the roots of these issues. His entry point: a season with the Peterborough Petes, a storied OHL team far from its former glory in a once-emblematic Canadian city that is finding itself on the wrong side of the country's changing demographics. Fitz-Gerald profiles the players, coaches and front office staff, a mix of world-class talents with NHL aspirations and Peterborough natives happy with more modest dreams. Through their experiences, their widely varied motivations and expectations, we get a rich, colourful understanding of who ends up playing hockey in Canada and why. Fitz-Gerald interweaves the action of the season with portraits of public figures who've shaped and been shaped by the game: authors who captured its spirit, politicians who exploited it, and broadcasters who try to embody and sell it. He finds his way into community meetings full of angry season ticket holders, as well as into sterile boardrooms full of the sport's institutional brain trust, unable to break away from the inertia of tradition and hopelessly at war with itself. Before the Lights Go Out is a moving, funny, yet unsettling picture of a sport at a crossroads. Fitz-Gerald's warm but rigorous journalistic approach reads, in the end, like a letter to a troubled friend: it's not too late to save hockey in this country, but who has the will to do it?By Terry Widener, Barb Rosenstock. 2019
Profiles baseball Hall of Fame catcher and New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra. Describes how Yogi's physical differences challenged his…
baseball prospects and helped motivate him to prove his abilities as a player, coach, and manager. For grades K-3. 2019By Paul Solotaroff, Bob Klapisch. 2019
A behind-the-scenes look at the New York Yankees baseball organization, focusing on the 2018 season. Using interviews from players and…
executives, two journalists examine what went into building the team that ended their season by facing off with long-time rivals from the Boston Red Sox. Some strong language. 2019A former pitcher with teams including the New York Mets who went on to a long career in broadcasting and…
writing about baseball shares stories from the game. Includes vignettes about some of the hundreds of players he encountered on and off the field. Some strong language. 2019Investigates the history of the sport and recounts stories about former major league players. Includes activities such as calculating the…
Earned Run Average (ERA) and throwing a palmball. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 2016By Jeremy Beer. 2019
Biography of the man considered by many to be the best player in the history of the Negro Baseball League.…
Chronicles his long career, from 1915 to 1954, including his time as a player, a manager, and a scout for Major League Baseball. Some strong language. 2019By Tim Kurkjian. 2016
ESPN baseball commentator discusses some of his favorite aspects of the national pastime. He shares quirky statistics, player superstitions, what…
it's like to be hit by a pitch, and various anecdotes from his years following the sport. Some strong language. 2016By David Ortiz, Michael Holley. 2017
Memoir of Boston Red Sox power hitter. Covers his youth in the Dominican Republic, his early years in the MLB,…
and his success with the Red Sox. Also discusses his role as a spokesperson for "Boston Strong" after the 2013 marathon bombing. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2017By Ed Henry. 2017
Journalist delves into the faith of Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), the player who broke baseball's racial barrier. Uses sermons, interviews, and…
an unpublished manuscript by Robinson to explore the importance of the Christian faith to Robinson during his playing career and after it. Also covers the faith of Dodgers manager Branch Rickey. 2017By Jeff Passan. 2016
A baseball journalist looks at the epidemic of injuries that baseball pitchers experience with their throwing arms. Examines the importance…
to major league baseball teams of keeping their most expensive players healthy, and follows two professional pitchers trying to return to the game after surgery. Some strong language. 2016By John Eisenberg. 2017
A sportswriter looks at one of the iconic streaks in baseball, that of the largest number of consecutive games played--a…
record once held by Lou Gehrig and subsequently surpassed by Cal Ripken. Looks at why this record matters, and other significant baseball streaks. Some strong language. 2017By Ed Lucas, Christopher Lucas. 2015
A blind baseball broadcaster tells his personal and professional story. Lucas lost his sight in an accident in 1951 at…
age twelve. His love of baseball led him to a career broadcasting games and interviewing players. His love of his children led him to fight for custody after his wife left. 2015By Lenny Dykstra. 2016
Baseball player reflects on his spectacular rise and fall. A star baseball player in the 1980s and 1990s, he moved…
to the business world and enjoyed a lavish livestyle after retirement from the game. It all fell apart, however, upon his conviction and imprisonment for fraud. Strong language. 2016By Charles Leerhsen. 2016
Detroit Tigers outfielder Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (1886-1961) is considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball, but he is…
just as well-known for his temper and bad behavior. This biography leverages primary documents and first-hand accounts to reevaluate Cobb. Some strong language. 2015Journalist and editor Devin Gordon takes a humorous, clear-headed look at the New York Mets to see how one team…
above all others has perfected the art of losing, yet remains beloved by millions. He tells the story of the franchise's history through the prism of the Mets' singular gift. Featuring exclusive interviews with beloved Mets, including Mike Piazza, Ron Darling, and Mackey Sasser, longtime Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen, and long-suffering Mets fans like Jimmy Kimmel, Gordon offers fresh insight into winning, losing, and what it means to be a sports fanBy Bob Gibson, Lonnie Wheeler. 2015
A St. Louis Cardinals pitcher describes his experiences during game one of the 1968 World Series, when he struck out…
seventeen hitters from the Detroit Tigers. Inning by inning, Gibson analyzes his own performance and shares his recollections of the game. 2015