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The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays
By Andrew Forbes. 2016
Spitball literary essays on the off-kilter joys, sorrows and wonder of North America’s national pastime. A collection of essays for…
ardent seamheads and casual baseball fans alike, The Utility of Boredom is a book about finding respite and comfort in the order, traditions, and rituals of baseball. It’s a sport that shows us what a human being might be capable of, with extreme dedication—whether we’re eating hot dogs in the stands, waiting out a rain delay in our living rooms, or practising the lost art of catching a stray radio signal from an out-of-market broadcast. From learning about America through ball-diamond visits to the most famous triple play that never happened on Canadian soil, Forbes invites us to witness the adult conversing with the O-Pee-Chee baseball cards of his youth. Tender, insightful, and with the slow heartbreak familiar to anyone who’s cheered on a losing team, The Utility of Boredom tells us a thing or two about the sport, and how a seemingly trivial game might help us make sense of our messy lives.Rethinking Retirement for Positive Ageing: Creating a Meaningful Life After Full-Time Work
By Denise Taylor. 2024
Rethinking Retirement for Positive Ageing is a practical guide that shows you how to make retirement successful, based on the…
most up-to-date research available. It encourages a deeper and wider view of retirement and reveals how retirement can be a time of transition, renewal, and re-imagination. Written by career coach Dr Denise Taylor, it considers the psychological factors that impact a successful adjustment to retirement and offers a deeper analysis of how people can find meaning and purpose after full-time work. It examines retirement as an event that often brings about great changes in a person’s personal and social life, and how to move forward with meaning in life. Illustrated with interviews, activities, and case studies, and with exercises and questions for reflection, it covers key topics including identity, health, well-being, finances, and relationships. This insightful guidebook is for all prospective and current retirees as well as employers, careers professionals, and counsellors who want to help people reflect on their approaches to retirement. You can visit the website at https://denisetaylor.co.uk/rethinking-retirement/Communicate with Courage: Taking Risks to Overcome the Four Hidden Challenges
By Michelle D Gladieux. 2022
Winner of the 2023 PenCraft Best Book Award for Nonfiction, 2023 Nonprofit Authors Association Silver Award, 2023 Readers' Favorite Bronze…
Medal Award for Business, and the 2023 Dan Poynter's Global Ebook Awards Gold Award for Communications.Clear communication requires the courage to confront the psychological blocks that are holding you back. Learn how to become a fearless and peerless communicator.As a lifelong communication coach, Michelle Gladieux has discovered the four sneaky obstacles that can keep you from becoming an effective communicator: Hiding-Fearing your low self-confidence will expose your supposed weaknessesDefining-Putting too much stock into your assumptions and being quick to judge right and wrong Rationalizing-Using being realistic to shield yourself from taking chances, engaging in conflict, or doing other scary but potentially rewarding actionsSettling-Stopping at good enough instead of pushing for something better What all these challenges have in common is they require taking risks-to reveal yourself, to question your beliefs, to take a leap of faith, or to move out of your comfort zone. As a response, each chapter includes a Pro Move, or a best practice, and an exercise designed to help you overcome your fears and become a powerful communicator. Courageous communication requires self-knowledge, practice, and a fierce desire to continually improve; this book is like having an expert coach along with you for every step of the journey.The Summer Game: The Summer Game, Five Seasons, And Season Ticket
By Roger Angell. 1962
This New York Times bestseller &“takes you into the heart of baseball as it was in the 1960s, conveyed with…
humor and insight&” (Tim McCarver, The Wall Street Journal). Acclaimed New Yorker writer Roger Angell&’s first book on baseball, The Summer Game, originally published in 1972, is a stunning collection of his essays on the major leagues, covering a span of ten seasons. Angell brilliantly captures the nation&’s most beloved sport through the 1960s, spanning both the winning teams and the &“horrendous losers,&” and including famed players Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, and more. With the panache of a seasoned sportswriter and the energy of an avid baseball fan, Angell&’s sports journalism is an insightful and compelling look at the great American pastime.30 Life Lessons My Boys Learned from Baseball
By Andy Norwood. 2010
Using America's favorite pastime as an analogy, this collection of essays teaches children how to apply the lessons learned in…
baseball to everyday situations. This guide, filled with invaluable advice, enables adolescents to grow into adults while providing perspective on the sport and the complexities of life. The essays are derived from common themes in baseball but relate to dilemmas experienced off the field. The chapter "Some Days You're the Bat, Some Days You're the Ball" is an allusion to good days versus bad and reminds children that some rules have reasons, although they will probably question them. The sage guidance offers ways to control your emotions by channeling them into better efforts and tips to summon courage whether you are standing at the bat, undergoing surgery, or delivering a speech. The importance of paying attention to detail and respect for authority, along with advice on how to deal with adversity, is included in this indispensable compilation. Andy Norwood underscores the significance of teamwork, self-sacrifice, and the humility experienced after a loss. Each lesson is preceded by a quote from such celebrities as Jay Leno, Maya Angelou, and Albert Einstein. The work incorporates anecdotes from Major League Baseball and significant moments in the sport's history, making this book an enjoyable read for adults and their children.The revised and expanded edition of Touching Base examines the myths, realities, symbols, and rituals of America's national pastime. Steven Riess details…
the relationships among urban politics, communities, and baseball while exploring how Progressive Era sensibilities shaped debates over issues like Sunday games, ballpark construction, and promotion of the games. Focusing on Atlanta, New York, and Chicago, Riess looks at all the participants--from spectators to owners to players--in analyzing how baseball both influenced and mirrored broader society.Just Show Up: And Other Enduring Values from Baseball's Iron Man
By James Dale, Cal Ripken. 2019
New York Times Bestseller!Iron Man Cal Ripken Jr.—the 19-time All-Star, World-Series winning legend, American League MVP, and record holder who…
played 2,632 consecutive games—outlines eight rules for the game of baseball and life, drawn from the lessons he has learned on and off the field.Cal Ripken Jr. is a baseball legend. But legends aren't born, they're made. For twenty-one seasons, Ripken took the field day in and day out, through cold, heat, rain, and sometimes snow, playing in more than 3,000 games for the Baltimore Orioles. In 1983, the revered shortstop helped lead his team to victory in the World Series. On September 6, 1995, Ripken did the seemingly impossible, he surpassed Lou Gehrig's unbreakable fifty-six-year-old Iron Man record, setting a new mark of 2,131 consecutive games—then played another 501 consecutive games. Throughout his career, Ripken was admired for his consistency, hard work, and loyalty. There were successes and failures, but above all was an old-fashioned sense of doing what's right, every single day. Since retiring in 2001, Ripken has enjoyed a successful career as a baseball analyst, entrepreneur, and author. Now, in Just Show Up, he reflects on his life and career to offer lessons for the next generation and those to come. Ripken speaks eloquently about the timeless values he has lived by: Life is a streak,play the long game; Success and money are not the same; Play fair,win fair. And he shares stories of his legendary father, Baltimore Oriole coach and manager Cal Ripken Sr., what it took to keep the streak alive, and what it meant to bring the World Series to Baltimore.Cal Ripken's message is simple yet poignant; wisdom essential to anyone trying to forge a successful life in times that are often chaotic. Blending insights from sports, business, and a life well-lived, Just Show Up is the story of an American legend and the principles he has lived by—standards our time needs.Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game
By Rob Neyer. 2018
“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 mechanics against the ideal. Every batter in the lineup can crack homers and knows their launch angles. Teams are relying on unorthodox strategies, including using power-losing—purposely tanking a few seasons to get the best players in the draft.As he chronicles each inning and the unfolding drama as these two teams continually trade the lead—culminating in a 9-8 Oakland victory in the bottom of the ninth—Neyer considers the players and managers, the front office machinations, the role of sabermetrics, and the current thinking about what it takes to build a great team, to answer the most pressing questions fans have about the sport today.42 Today: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (Washington Mews Books)
By Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon, MichaeL Long. 2021
Explores Jackie Robinson’s compelling and complicated legacy Before the United States Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools, and…
before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson walked onto the diamond on April 15, 1947, as first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making history as the first African American to integrate Major League Baseball in the twentieth century. Today a national icon, Robinson was a complicated man who navigated an even more complicated world that both celebrated and despised him. Many are familiar with Robinson as a baseball hero. Few, however, know of the inner turmoil that came with his historic status. Featuring piercing essays from a range of distinguished sportswriters, cultural critics, and scholars, this book explores Robinson’s perspectives and legacies on civil rights, sports, faith, youth, and nonviolence, while providing rare glimpses into the struggles and strength of one of the nation’s most athletically gifted and politically significant citizens. Featuring a foreword by celebrated directors and producers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, this volume recasts Jackie Robinson’s legacy and establishes how he set a precedent for future civil rights activism, from Black Lives Matter to Colin Kaepernick.Take Charge!: The Complete Guide to Senior Living in New York City
By John Vinton. 1999
For people over the age of sixty, New York City is a cluttered attic-a mess of valuables that cannot be…
ignored, but that for the most part remains buried in jargon, agencies, regulations, and eligibility forms. New York City is, after all, a place that offers seniors everything from discount tickets for Broadway shows to social service agencies for those who speak foreign languages including Spanish, Cantonese or Tagalog. It is a place of endless benefits for those who can dig through the junk in the attic, organize what is there and still have the desire to leave the house.Take Charge! The Complete Guide to Senior Living in New York City is the first book to gather, in a single volume, information and advice for people over sixty who want to make the most of the city. Here at last is an all-inclusive guide that addresses every concern for senior New Yorkers, from entertainment and healthcare to housing and taxes. Take Charge! reaches beyond merely listing phone numbers and programs to giving advice on a number of areas, from choosing an HMO, a reverse mortgage, or an elder law attorney, to receiving travel discounts and negotiating home care. Containing everything a person over sixty needs to know to make the most of life in New York City, Take Charge! is the only comprehensive guide available for New York seniors and their families.A beautiful meditation on the joys of being a grandparent and a practical guide to help you and your adult…
children make the most of your relationship with a grandchild.For many grandparents, a grandchild offers a second chance to become the parent they didn’t have the time or the energy to be when raising their own children. Being a grandparent, family relationships expert Jane Isay argues, is the opportunity to turn missed opportunities into delight.Drawing on her personal experience, dozens of interviews, and the latest findings in psychology, Isay shows how a grandparent can use his or her unique perspective and experience to create a deep and lasting bond that will echo throughout a grandchild’s life. She explores the realities of today’s multigenerational families, identifying problems and offering solutions to enhance love, trust, and understanding between grandparents, parents, and grandchildren. She also offers a wealth of practical advice, from when to get involved, when to stay away, and how to foster a strong relationship when you’re separated by long distance.Unconditional Love advocates for honest conversation, thinking in the long run and healing breaches in order to be together, understanding that most of us try to do our best and need to be forgiven if we fail. Isay argues that secrets and surprises may tilt the boat but won’t necessarily sink it and that grandparents and their grown children are happier when they give each other the benefit of the doubt. Most importantly, she writes, the advent of grandchildren offers families the opportunity for healing and redemption—if we seize the moment. In lovely prose and through delightful stories, Isay shows us how we can.A great gift for grandparents-to-be and a wonderful resource for all, Unconditional Love is a beautiful and psychologically astute look at what it means to be an engaged grandparent.For the Good of the Game: The Inside Story of the Surprising and Dramatic Transformation of Major League Baseball
By Bud Selig, Phil Rogers. 2019
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.Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game
By Daniel Okrent. 2000
You'll never watch baseball the same way again. A timeless baseball classic and a must read for any fan worthy…
of the name, Nine Innings dissects a single baseball game played in June 1982 -- inning by inning, play by play. Daniel Okrent, a seasoned writer and lifelong fan, chose as his subject a Milwaukee BrewersBaltimore Orioles matchup, though it could have been any game, because, as Okrent reveals, the essence of baseball, no matter where or when it's played, has been and will always be the same. In this particular moment of baseball history you will discover myriad aspects of the sport that are crucial to its nature but so often invisible to the fans -- the hidden language of catchers' signals, the physiology of pitching, the balance sheet of a club owner, the gait of a player stepping up to the plate. With the purity of heart and unwavering attention to detail that characterize our national pastime, Okrent goes straight to the core of the world's greatest game. You'll never watch baseball the same way again.Lou: Fifty Years of Kicking Dirt, Playing Hard, and Winning Big in the Sweet Spot of Baseball
By Bill Madden, Lou Piniella. 2017
In this candid, revealing, and entertaining memoir, the beloved New York Yankee legend looks back over his nearly fifty-year career…
as a player and a manager, sharing insights and stories about some of his most memorable moments and some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball.For nearly five decades, Lou Piniella has been a fixture in Major League Baseball, as an outfielder with the legendary New York Yankees of the 1970s, and as a manager for five teams in both the American and National leagues. With respected veteran sportswriter Bill Madden, Piniella now reflects on his storied career, offering fans a glimpse of life on the field, in the dugout, and inside the clubhouse.Piniella speaks from the heart about his teams and his players, offering a detailed, up-close portrait of the Bronx Zoo’s raucous personalities such as Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter, as well as his close friendship with Thurman Munson and his unusual relationship with George Steinbrenner. He also delves deep into his post-Yankee experiences, from winning a World Series for the controversial owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, to transforming the perennial cellar-dwelling Seattle Mariners into one of the league’s best teams. Some of the game’s brightest stars are here: Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez, Piniella’s supremely talented and controversial protégé. Throughout his time in the majors, Piniella has witnessed MLB grow into a multi-billion-dollar business. Piniella reflects on those changes, voicing his highly critical opinions on a range of controversial subjects, including steroids. Hilarious and uproarious, filled with eight pages of photos, Lou brings into focus a man whose deeply rooted passion for baseball has defined his life.Inside The Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees
By Paul Solotaroff, Bob Klapisch. 2019
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A riveting look at what is really said and done behind closed doors with the New…
York Yankees, the most famous and wealthiest sports franchise in the world Using the 2018 baseball season as the backdrop, Inside the Empire gives readers the real, unvarnished &“straight-from-the-gut&” truth from Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, Giancarlo Stanton, C.C. Sabathia—even Hal Steinbrenner and Randy Levine—and many more. This is baseball&’s version of HBO&’s award-winning NFL series Hard Knocks. Klapisch and Solotaroff take you deep into the Yankees clubhouse, their dugout, and the front office, and pull back the curtain so that every fan can see what really goes on. Bottom line? You may think you know everything about the storied franchise of the New York Yankees and what makes them tick. But Inside the Empire will set the record straight, and drop bombshells about iconic figures along the way. There&’s never been a baseball book quite like it.Francona: The Red Sox Years
By Dan Shaughnessy, Terry Francona. 2013
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. "Eloquent and dazzling," the story of Terry Francona's tenure as manager of the Boston Red Sox…
(Philadelphia Daily News). When Terry Francona took over as manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2004, the storied franchise hadn’t won a World Series championship in eighty-six years. Led by Francona, the team won two over the course of four years. During the full eight years of Francona’s tenure, the Red Sox were transformed from “cursed” into one of the most successful and profitable teams in baseball history—only to fall back to last place as soon as Francona was gone.Francona: The Red Sox Years lets readers in on the inner workings of the Red Sox clubhouse like no book has ever done before. From the highs of the World Series to the lows of the final months of the 2011 season—the most epic collapse of a team in baseball history—this book features the never-before-told stories about Sox fans’ favorite players, moments, wins, and losses.“A scorched-earth memoir . . . [that] touches fleetingly on steroid use, sabermetrics, and Michael Jordan’s stint in the minor leagues . . . but saves its heaviest artillery for the owners . . . [and] Theo Epstein backs him up.”—New York Times Book Review"It’s not often that baseball aficionados and gossip gluttons can plunk down on a shared portion of outfield grass with the same book for an afternoon of readerly delight, but Francona can bridge those kinds of differences.”—Boston GlobeIn The DiMaggios, acclaimed sportswriter Tom Clavin reveals the untold Great American Story of three brothers, Joltin’ Joe, Dom, and…
Vince DiMaggio, and the Great American Game—baseball—that would consume their lives.A vivid portrait of a family and the ways in which their shifting fortunes and status shaped their relationships, The DiMaggios is a exploration of an era and a culture.This comprehensive biography that recalls the work of Jane Leavy offers a trove of insight into one of the game’s greatest players and his family, sure to be treasured by Yankees fans, Red Sox Fans, and baseball aficionados around the world.Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift
By Harvey Araton. 2012
&“A warm, sentimental look at a baseball icon&” (The Tampa Tribune). Driving Mr. Yogi is the story of a unique…
friendship between two New York Yankees legends—a pitcher and catcher—who share rides, meals, and a bond that transcends the twenty-five-year difference in their ages. The story begins in 1999, when Hall of Famer Yogi Berra is reunited with the Yankees after a long self-exile, the result of being unceremoniously fired by team owner George Steinbrenner fourteen years before. A reconciliation between Berra and the boss means that Berra will once again attend spring training. Retired-pitcher-turned-pitching-coach Ron Guidry knows the club&’s young players will benefit from &“Mr. Yogi&’s&” encyclopedic knowledge of the game, just as Guidry had during his playing days, so he encourages his old mentor to share his insights. In Yogi, Guidry finds not just a personable dinner companion or source of amusement—he finds a best friend. At turns tender and laugh-out-loud funny, and teeming with unforgettable baseball yarns that span more than fifty years, Driving Mr. Yogi is a universal story about the importance of wisdom being passed from one generation to the next, as well as a reminder that time is what we make of it and compassion never gets old. &“Funny, revealing, and surprising . . . Anything that brings new Yogi Berra stories is a good book.&” —MLB.com &“Lovingly documented . . . You&’ll find yourself wishing it ain&’t over till it&’s over.&” —Parade magazine"First-class narrative history that can stand with everything Steven Ambrose wrote. . . . Achorn's description of the utter insanity…
that was barehanded baseball is vivid and alive." —Boston Globe“A beautifully written, meticulously researched story about a bygone baseball era that even die-hard fans will find foreign, and about a pitcher who might have been the greatest of all time.” — Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer prize-winning historianIn 1884 Providence Grays pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won an astounding fifty-nine games—more than anyone in major-league history ever had before, or has since. He then went on to win all three games of baseball's first World Series.Fifty-nine in '84 tells the dramatic story not only of that amazing feat of grit but also of big-league baseball two decades after the Civil War—a brutal, bloody sport played barehanded, the profession of uneducated, hard-drinking men who thought little of cheating outrageously or maiming an opponent to win.Wonderfully entertaining, Fifty-nine in '84 is an indelible portrait of a legendary player and a fascinating, little-known era of the national pastime.The Physics of Baseball: Third Edition, Revised, Updated, and Expanded
By Robert Adair. 2002
Blending scientific fact and sports trivia, Robert Adair examines what a baseball or player in motion does-and why. How fast…
can a batted ball go? What effect do stitch patterns have on wind resistance? How far does a curve ball break? Who reaches first base faster after a bunt, a right- or left-handed batter? The answers are often surprising—and always illuminating.This newly revised third edition considers recent developments in the science of sport such as the neurophysiology of batting, bat vibration, and the character of the "sweet spot." Faster pitchers, longer hitters, and enclosed stadiums also get a good, hard scientific look to determine their effects on the game.Filled with anecdotes about famous players and incidents, The Physics of Baseball provides fans with fascinating insights into America's favorite pastime.