Game-Day Youth: Learning Baseball's Lingo

Game-Day Youth: Learning Baseball's Lingo Review

Millions watch major-league baseball games at the ballparks or on TV. Others listen to games on the radio. Youths play the game in parks and schoolyards, getting great exercise, working on their skills, and attending practices to learn more about a fantastic and fun team sport.

Whether you recently signed up for the baseball or softball team, watch a brother or sister play, or want to learn more about these games, this book is for you.

Simple text, clear illustrations of the field and its markings, drawings of where the players play on the field, and pictures of the umpire's signals will help you know more about playing baseball, the players and positions, basic rules, and the meaning of baseball words.

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The Immortals, An Art Collection of Baseball's Best

The Immortals, An Art Collection of Baseball's Best Review

For the serious baseball memorabilia collector, The Immortals is a stunning history of baseball through the lives of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is a retrospective of baseball art by sports artist Dick Perez, official artist of the Baseball Hall of Fame for over 25 years, and was the creative force for the Perez-Steele Hall of Fame Art Post Cards. His name has been attached to the Phillies, Donruss Diamond Kings, and the Topps Company. This large, beautiful limited edition book is bound in soft bonded leather, and contains over 1400 paintings, including all of the art from the famed Perez-Steele Art Post Cards, and the entire collection of the Donruss Diamond Kings. The images are carefully researched and depict the evolution of uniforms, equipment and ballparks. The beauty and ballet of the game leap from the pages with vivid realism. This extraordinary book contains player biographies, including lifetime statistics, and historical narratives of each of the baseball eras: Origins, Deadball, Golden Age, Depression, War and Postwar, Expansion, and Modern. It is an elaborate sports memorabilia treasure! Nationally acclaimed and recipient of a Casey Award nomination for best baseball book of the year!

Editorial Reviews:

Former Baseball Hall of Fame President Edward W. Stack: Perez crystallizes our love of (baseball) and does so by marrying his consummate craftsmanship with a visual point of view in which all the elements of subject, form, color and texture sire a freshness of image unique to this artist. - Sports Market Research

The book's art is created in a variety of media: oil, watercolor, acrylics, charcoal and pen and ink. No expense has been spared in the lavish design of this unprecedented undertaking: 12"x12", 560 pages, full color. Many frame-worthy full page illustrations and a number of double-page spreads. Mark Ahrens - Books on Baseball Read more...

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Illustrated History of the Dodgers: A Visual Celebration of Baseball's Beloved Franchise

Illustrated History of the Dodgers: A Visual Celebration of Baseball's Beloved Franchise Review

This richly illustrated book is a magnificent salute to one of the most successful and popular baseball teams in the history of professional sports. The story begins in Brooklyn in the 19th century, spans the first half of the 20th, and focuses on the five decades during which the Dodgers have called Los Angeles their home. The tale culminates with the Dodgers’ dramatic capture of the 2004 National League West title. It includes exciting accounts of all the important games and championship seasons and is packed with in-depth profiles of the most memorable players, managers, coaches, and figures from every era. Read more...

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The Postwar Yankees: Baseball's Golden Age Revisited

The Postwar Yankees: Baseball's Golden Age Revisited Review

The Yankees and New York baseball entered a golden age between 1949 and 1964, a period during which the city was represented in all but one World Series. While the Yankees dominated, however, the years were not so golden for the rest of baseball.

In The Postwar Yankees: Baseball’s Golden Age Revisited, David G. Surdam deconstructs this idyllic period to show that while the Yankees piled on pennants and World Series titles through the 1950s, Major League Baseball attendance consistently declined and gate-revenue disparity widened through the mid-1950s. Contrary to popular belief, the era was already experiencing many problems that fans of today’s game bemoan, including a competitive imbalance and callous owners who ran the league like a cartel. Fans also found aging, decrepit stadiums ill-equipped for the burgeoning automobile culture, while television and new forms of leisure competed for their attention.

Through an economist’s lens, Surdam brings together historical documents and off-the-field numbers to reconstruct the period and analyze the roots of the age’s enduring mythology, examining why the Yankees and other New York teams were consistently among baseball’s elite and how economic and social forces set in motion during this golden age shaped the sport into its modern incarnation.

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Baseball's Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus

Baseball's Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus Review

Baseball's Natural is John Theodore's true account of the slick-fielding first baseman who played for the Cubs and the Phillies in the 1940s and became immortalized in baseball lore as the inspiration for Bernard Malamud's The Natural. Eddie Waitkus grew up in Boston and fought in the Pacific theater in World War II. Following the war, Waitkus became one of the most popular players of his era. In 1949, with his career on the rise, his life changed dramatically in a Chicago hotel when a nineteen-year-old shot him in the chest. Waitkus’s dramatic recovery the next year inspired his teammates as the Phillies won the National League pennant. Although Waitkus survived the shooting, he could never outlive it.

Through interviews with Waitkus’s family, fellow servicemen, former ballplayers, and childhood friends, and aided by fifteen photographs, Theodore chronicles Waitkus’s remarkable comeback as well as the difficult years following his Major League career.

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Willie Mays: A Biography (Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters)

Willie Mays: A Biography (Baseball's All-Time Greatest Hitters) Review

Willie Mays' career bridged eras in baseball history, from the Negro Leagues to expansion to free agency. Through it all, his all-around ability and his love of the game set him apart. His career accomplishments include 660 home runs, 2 MVPs, Rookie of the Year, and the first 30-30 season. No other player is cited by so many of his peers as the best they have ever seen.

From his childhood growing up in segregated Birmingham, Alabama to becoming the first black team captain in baseball, Mays' life is described in detail. Readers will learn of his early life, his career with the Giants and the Mets, his induction into the Hall of Fame, understanding why he is regarded by many today as baseball's greatest living player.

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Diamond Dishes: From the Kitchens of Baseball's Biggest Stars

Diamond Dishes: From the Kitchens of Baseball's Biggest Stars Review

Twenty top Major League Baseball players share stories about life off the field and their favorite foods—with nearly 100 full-color photos and more than 60 easy-to-make recipes

 

Baseball and food are two of life’s uncomplicated pleasures, stirring up sizzling passion across all generations. Now, for the first time, baseball fans and food lovers get a behind-the-scenes look into the kitchens of twenty of their favorite Major League All Stars. Author Julie Loria shares their stories, from memorable meals growing up, to their current fitness routines, food rituals, and guilty food pleasures. And within these pages you will even discover quite a few amusing anecdotes about life beyond the diamond, and so much more.

 

And, oh what great food! America’s favorite game not only brings together people from around the world but also blends a wonderful variety of cuisines—including classic dishes native to all corners of the United States and spicy Latin American fare. Julie recreates and collects the down-home family recipes, favorite authentic meals, and top dishes from on-the-road eateries of today’s top players—from Derek Jeter’s buttermilk pancakes and Dustin Pedroia’s pasta primavera to Albert Pujols’ Home Run Chicken and Ryan Howard’s macaroni and cheese.

 

An official Major League Baseball publication, Diamond Dishes is more than a cookbook. It’s a singular and scrumptious backstage look at ballplayers flexing their culinary muscles and discussing the roles of family, friends, and food in their lives. With exclusive, full-color photos of Major League stars at home and in their kitchens, and more than sixty easy-to-prepare recipes, this book is a treasure trove of sights, sounds, tastes, and aromas that penetrate the hearts and souls of the players and their fans alike.

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Players featured in the book include:

 

Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals

Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers

Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox

Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers

Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies

Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins

Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox

Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox

Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins

Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

Johan Santana, New York Mets

Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians

Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies

David Wright, New York Mets

 

VIDEOS:

Book trailer

Behind the Scenes: Players During the Photo Shoots

Martha Stewart Television

MLB Network

Local NBC Miami News

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Baseball's Greatest Season, 1924

Baseball's Greatest Season, 1924 Review

No season in the history of baseball matched 1924 for escalating excitement and emotional investment by fans. It began with observers expecting yet another World Series between the Yankees and the Giants. It ended months later when the perennially hapless Washington Nationals (Senators), making their first Series appearance, grabbed the world championship by scoring the season-ending run on an improbable play in the bottom of the twelfth inning of the seventh game.

In alternating chapters of narrative and analysis, Reed Browning explains how the 1924 season marked the last time a team playing old-fashioned "inside" baseball won the championship. Along the way, the season featured two taut September pennant races and a variety of compelling human interest stories: George Sisler failing to recover his once incomparable batting eye after a sinus infection; Rogers Hornsby batting .424, a figure no player has matched since; Babe Ruth overcoming injuries in the opening and closing phases of the season to win his only batting crown; Dazzy Vance registering one of the greatest seasons that any post-dead-ball pitcher has ever chalked up; and the revered Walter Johnson, presumed over the hill, returning to glory in the regular season and then, after two disappointing Series starts, winning the seventh game in relief.

The season even had elements of a morality play, when in its closing days a Giant tried to bribe an opponent into throwing a game. Disclosure of the proposal prompted an American baseball public, already pulling for the underdog Washington team, to cast the Series as a struggle between good and evil. In addition to capturing the mounting drama of this extraordinary season, Browning places the story in a broader historical context. He discusses how baseball operated as a business in the 1920s, who the major league ball players were, what the fans and ballparks were like, how the game of baseball was played, and why the Washington club was able to win. Read more...

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Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train

Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train Review

"This lavishly illustrated narrative of Walter Johnson's life is the definitive work on the subject and is likely to remain so." - Lawrence S. Ritter, 'Oldtyme Baseball News'. "Henry Thomas's biography of Walter Johnson is carefully researched, thoroughly documented, and, best of all, a pleasure to read." - 'Spitball'. "Does justice to Johnson's extraordinary on-field accomplishments, and it also emphasizes his decency, humility, and self-effacing humor." - 'Booklist'. "Belongs in the very top ranks of sports biographies." - 'Washington Times'. "One of the most comprehensive biographies ever written about an athlete. Incredibly detailed, filled with fascinating stories about arguably the greatest pitcher of all time." - Tim Kurkjian, senior writer for 'Sports Illustrated'. "Delights the soul." - 'Sports Collectors Digest'. Henry W. Thomas, the grandson of Walter Johnson, lives in Arlington, Virginia. He is currently editing, for audio release, the interviews taped by Lawrence Ritter for his classic "The Glory of Their Times". Shirley Povich died in 1998 at the age of 92 after seventy-five years as an award-winning sportswriter for the 'Washington Post'. Read more...

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Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train Specifications

How good a pitcher was Washington Senator ace Walter Johnson? Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Joe Jackson considered him the best ever. His career strikeout record lasted for half a century, and no one's ever come close to his mark of 110 shutouts; some of his Senator teams were so bad, the only way Johnson could win was literally to keep opponents from scoring. Of course, the numbers alone don't tell the story. Johnson was a towering figure in the first quarter of the baseball century. One of the most respected--and liked--men in the game, he was something of an anti-Cobb: straight, honest, and clean, with a life off the field as content as it was accomplished on it. This is an excellent, exhaustive biography, showing clear affection for Johnson from the first pitch: Thomas is Johnson's grandson. Despite the blood tie, Thomas doesn't just go straight down the middle; he is willing to work the corners of his grandfather's life, which actually allows his relationship to his subject to add to the work's significant depth. --Jeff Silverman

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The Sizzler: George Sisler, Baseball's Forgotten Great

The Sizzler: George Sisler, Baseball's Forgotten Great Review

 

“Gorgeous George” Sisler, a left-handed first baseman, began his major-league baseball career in 1915 with the St. Louis Browns. During his sixteen years in the majors, he played with such baseball luminaries as Ty Cobb (who once called Sisler “the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer”), Babe Ruth, and Rogers Hornsby. He was considered by these stars of the sport to be their equal, and Branch Rickey, one of baseball’s foremost innovators and talent scouts, once said that in 1922 Sisler was “the greatest player that ever lived.”

During his illustrious career he was a .340 hitter, twice achieving the rare feat of hitting more than .400. His 257 hits in 1920 is still the record for the “modern” era. Considered by many to be one of the game’s most skillful first basemen, he was the first at his position to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Yet unlike many of his peers who became household names, Sisler has faded from baseball’s collective consciousness.

Now in The Sizzler, this “legendary player without a legend” gets the treatment he deserves. Rick Huhn presents the story of one of baseball’s least appreciated players and studies why his status became so diminished. Huhn argues that the answer lies somewhere amid the tenor of Sisler’s times, his own character and demeanor, the kinds of individuals who are chosen as our sports heroes, and the complex definition of fame itself.

In a society obsessed with exposing the underbellies of its heroes, Sisler’s lack of a dark side may explain why less has been written about him than others. Although Sisler was a shy, serious sort who often shunned publicity, his story is filled with its own share of controversy and drama, from a lengthy struggle among major-league moguls for his contractual rights—a battle that helped change the structure of organized baseball forever—to a job-threatening eye disorder he developed during the peak of his career and popularity.

By including excerpts from Sisler’s unpublished memoir, as well as references to the national and international events that took place during his heyday, Huhn reveals the full picture of this family man who overcame great obstacles, stood on high principles, and left his mark on a game he affected in a positive way for fifty-eight years.

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Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat": Background and Characters of Baseball's Most Famous Poem

Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat": Background and Characters of Baseball's Most Famous Poem Review

Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner on June 3, 1888. Its popularity owed much to the universality of its subject; every city seemed to have a "Casey" on its team. Thayer, a Harvard graduate, said little about the real Casey, though he did leave a few clues. "The verses owe their existence," he wrote in 1930, "to my enthusiasm for college baseball...and to my association with Will Hearst." Thayer's background is examined here as the basis for determining the origins of the colorfast cast of characters behind his "Ballad of the Republic"--men who may have been "Casey," "Flynn," "Cooney" and other members of the Mudville Nine. Read more...

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Baseball's First Lady: Helene Hathaway Robison Britton and the St. Louis Cardinals

Baseball's First Lady: Helene Hathaway Robison Britton and the St. Louis Cardinals Review

Baseball s First Lady is the story of Helene Hathaway Robison Britton, the first woman owner of a major league baseball club, and her influence on the evolution of the St. Louis Cardinals. Late in life, Cardinals owner M. Stanley Robison willed his club and ballpark to niece Helene Britton. This transfer in 1911 marked a break in the gender barrier in the executive level of Major League Baseball, as Helene, a young wife and mother of two, confidently accepted her inheritance. Operating among baseball s magnates of the day, she attended owner s meetings as an equal and took an active role in running her club all at a time when society dictated that a lady should not attend a baseball game without a male escort. Despite facing serious domestic problems during her tenure as owner, she proved herself worthy of her uncle s trust. Facing competition from one, and then two other St. Louis clubs, she maintained the Cardinals for six years, selling when the club showed promise for another century. Read more...

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