Baseball

Using an iconic photo of the Hall of Fame's original inductees - including Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Honus Wagner and Connie Mack as his starting point, Jim Reisler explains the unusual origins of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the process, Reisler delivers a history of not only the game’s early stars and the house built to honor them, but also the creation of the myth of baseball in America. With his trademark eye and ear for the spirit of the game’s golden age, Reisler explains that the...

Subtitled 'How the 2016 Chicago Cubs Brought a World Series Championship to the North Side'. No doubt, you���ve heard about the Cubs��� decades-long run of futility. They hadn���t won a pennant in seventy-one years or a World Series in a record 108 years. To the frustration of Cubs fans everywhere, the team often missed chances with soul-crushing defeats. But after a complete teardown that resulted in a 100-loss season in 2012, Theo Epstein and his baseball staff reversed that with the Cubs of...

Lee's classic describes the importance of comparing opposing teams and analyzing statistical trends, including freak occurrences. Covers strategies for beginning baseball handicappers and more experienced bettors. How to bet teams on a streak, peaking teams, the effect of home stands, betting on doubleheaders and the effect of a layoff on starting pitchers. Among the first books to concentrate on handicapping baseball, this classic has stood the test of time with information that can be...

Since he first began publishing his Baseball Abstracts in the 1980s, Bill James has constantly challenged conventional wisdom by asking simple questions like, "Is that really true?" or "What if we looked at the question this way?" He has sparked a virtual revolution in the way the game of baseball is understood and played, from how players are evaluated or positioned to whether or not they should attempt to bunt or steal a base. In Solid Fool s Gold James continues his...

Walker relates the story of his involvement in fantasy football and, ultimately, a story about the state of baseball and the odd assortment of characters who orbit around it. But its also about a guy who went from being a happily married sportswriter who wore a tie to work, to a caffeine-addled insomniac who spent tens of thousands of dollars, traveled 19,000 miles, interviewed nearly 200 major-leaguers, skipped three weddings, and ignored a fire raging in the building next doorall in the name...

An inside look at the ascendancy of a bold new baseball dynasty and the men who built it. 205 pgs, hardcover, 2008

Subtitled "A Complete Guide to the Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Players to Ever Grace the Major Leagues". The title says it all: By compiling lists of players in a baseball "lineup" format, the author, an ESPN.com columnist, manages to catalog the game's all-time greats-and all-time bums. Appendix with year-by-year lineups. Indexed 340 Pgs. 2003

Subtitled A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal this is the story of 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson and his teammates purportedly conspiring with gamblers to throw the World Series--a story that has lingered for more than eighty years. With baseball so closely linked to American values and ideals, the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 disenchanted baseball fans, changed the way Americans felt about the national pastime, and fostered changes in the game. Here author Nathan is less concerned with...

An addictive read that is sure to spark conversation wherever baseball is spoken, this updated edition of The Baseball Maniac’s Almanac is part reference, part trivia, part brain teaser, and absolutely the most unusual and thorough compendium of baseball stats and facts ever assembled—all verified for accuracy by the Baseball Hall of Fame. In its pages, renowned sportswriter Bert R. Sugar presents thousands of fascinating lists, tables, data, and stimulating facts. Inside, you’ll find:Highest...

Subtitled "An Inquiry into Which Strategies in the Modern Game Actually Work". Die-hard fanatics will enjoy this comprehensive collection of groundbreaking baseball strategies, analyses, statistics, and studies. This unique approach to understanding the "tried and true" methodologies of the game of baseball examines conventional elements like the steal, hit and run and line-up construction. "The Book on The Book" offers an exciting critique of baseball by placing an actual dollar value on...

Novelist W. P. Kinsella wrote that baseball is ��_��_��_a game where little gems of wisdom or whimsy can be created in the dugout, the bullpen, or the press box during long, hot afternoons and evenings of baseball.��_ѝ The Little Red Book of Baseball Wisdom unearths a treasury of quotes reflecting more than a century��_��s worth of history from our national pastime. Featuring contributions from Hank Aaron to Walt Whitman, Yogi Berra to John Updike. Indexed 212 Pgs. Hardcover 2012 ...

Statistics have become the method for talking baseball. To help make the game more understandable, Guzzo helps define the stats, looks at the historical breakdown of the use of stats, keeping score during the game, how to read the box score, real-life applications for the stats you hear on the radio or on TV, fantasy/simulation baseball games, and the future of statistics in baseball. 167 Pgs. 2007

Kevin Kennedy was a catcher and a coach in the minors, a farm director for the Montreal Expos, and a bench coach for Felipe Alou before moving on to manage the Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox. Now one of the sport's most respected analysts and commentators, he offers a fresh look at baseball from the viewpoint of a "lifer", capturing the intricacies of the professional game with a sharp analytical eye and unabashed candor. 262 Pgs. 2005

There are trivia books and there are unusual trivia books. This is one of the latter, though it covers a not-so-unusual topic. According to the back cover, this is for the major league couch potato, the life-long season ticket holder or the person teaching the game to a beginner. According to popular readership, it's one of the best and most interesting books about pitching, hitting, running, fielding, and other activities on the baseball field. It handles practical information and unique...