It's gonna be. I believe. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant." -- Russ Hodges, October 3, 1951 On the fiftieth anniversary of "The Shot Heard Round the World," Don DeLillo reassembles in fiction the larger-than-life characters who on October 3, 1951, witnessed Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Jackie Gleason is razzing Toots Shor in Leo Durocher's box seats; J. Edgar Hoover, basking in Sinatra's celebrity, is about to be told that the Russians have tested an atomic bomb; and Russ Hodges, raw-throated and excitable, announces the game -- the Giants and the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in New York. DeLillo's transcendent account of one of the iconic events of the twentieth century is a masterpiece of American sportswriting.

    Maybe the two of you watched broadcasts from Yankee Stadium or Candlestick Park, or listened as Red Barber or Vin Scully called the plays on radio. Or maybe he coached your team or just played catch with you in the yard. Chances are good that if you're a baseball fan, your dad had something to do with it--and your thoughts of the sport evoke thoughts of him. If so, you will treasure The Final Season, a poignant true story about baseball and heroes, family and forgiveness, doubts and dreams, and a place that brings them all together.Growing up in the 60s and 70s, Tom Stanton lived for his Detroit Tigers. When Tiger Stadium began its 88th and final season, he vowed to attend all 81 home games in order to explore his attachment to the place where four generations of his family have shared baseball. Join him as he encounters idols, conjures decades past, and discovers the mysteries of a park where Cobb and Ruth played. Come along and sit beside Al Kaline on the dugout bench, eat popcorn with Elmore Leonard, hear Alice Cooper's confessions, soak up the warmth of Ernie Harwell, see McGwire and Ripken up close, and meet Chicken Legs Rau, Bleacher Pete, Al the Usher, and a parade of fans who are anything but ordinary. By the autumn of his odyssey, Stanton comes to realize that his anguish isn't just about the loss of a beloved ballpark but about his dad's mortality, for at the heart of this story is the love between fathers and sons--a theme that resonates with baseball fans of all ages.

    Dorfman. It outlines the mental discipline and practices necessary to become a better hitter.

    Despite the changes in the game, Koppett's book remains a must-read for anyone interested in the national pastime's game beyond the game.

    Divided into three parts, Game Day invites Derek ’s fans to see how he gets ready every year for spring training, how he makes it through grueling regular-season games, and how he tackles each game in the postseason, where every run scored and every play made is the difference between going home in victory or in defeat.Beautifully designed and full of exclusive, candid shots, Game Day is a true insider ’s peek into Derek ’s life. Fans can see Derek warming up with fellow Yankees at spring training and before games, goofing off with Bernie Williams, sharing a meal with Tino Martinez, relaxing at his home in Tampa, getting his hair cut at his apartment in New York, working out to stay in shape all season, walking the streets of the Big Apple, hugging his parents and sister after winning the World Series, and making the big plays that have made him one of the most thrilling baseball players in the major leagues today. And fans can read about how Derek approaches each game, hones his skills, sharpens his mental focus, and stays competitive throughout the entire season, leading up to the biggest game days of all: the championship play-offs and the World Series.Game Day goes beyond the roped-off sections of the stadiums and gives fans a perfect picture of what it ’s like to be baseball ’s most popular rising star.

    This book takes you on a visual journey through the history of baseball, using more than 700 historic, evocative, emotional, and colorful photographs that bring to life the faces, places, moments, and memories that have made the game America's National Pastime. Celebrate the game with everyone from the greatest Major League stars to the youngest sandlot players. Relive the march of memories that have given baseball its constant sense of nostalgia, even as every day brings new thrills to the diamonds of the world. Baseball: A Celebration! spans the entire history of the game, from its earliest days on rough fields drawn up by determined sportsmen through the heady days of the early pro game; from the Golden Age of Babe Ruth to the magic time when New York City was the center of the baseball universe; through the color and flash of the 1960s, all the way to the sky-high home runs of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and other stars of today. Featuring photographs drawn from the world's greatest repositories of baseball imagery, including Major League Baseball Photos and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and fact-filled narrative commentary on each photograph by veteran sportswriters James Buckley, Jr., and Jim Gigliotti, Baseball! A Celebration takes you out to the ballgame, page after glorious page.

    C. Heinz stands right alongside the legendary New York Times columnist Red Smith as the greatest sports writer of the 1940s and '50s. Paving the way for the New Journalism of Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, and Jimmy Breslin, Heinz was the first sports writer to make his living exclusively by writing for magazines. Whether describing mobbed-up boxers, crippled jockeys, lame horses, aspiring ballplayers, or driven football coaches, Heinz's finely etched, indelible portraits recall a sports era less influenced by money, image, and self-indulgence. He collaborated with Vince Lombardi on the book Run to Daylight, cowrote the novel M*A*S*H with Dr. H. Richard Hornberger under the pseudonym Richard Hooker, and wrote what Hemingway considered to be the "only good novel about a fighter I've ever read," The Professional. In this collection of Heinz's finest writing, we meet the immortal Red Grange; the injury-riddled, "purest baseball player" of his era, Pistol Pete Reiser; the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson; and the Brownsville Bum, Bummy Davis, in a story that Jimmy Breslin calls the "best magazine sports story of all time." Here is a long-overdue homage to a vastly underappreciated writer.

    These well-written essays describe developments in the game's past, assess their impact, and explain how they reflect the period in which they occurred. The essays also explore baseball's influences outside the field of play as well as the effect of external factors on the game. The contributors discuss such key issues as demographics, communities, social mobility, race and ethnicity, baseball as a business, player-management relations, amateurs, women, and international play.

    Born Joseph Jefferson Wofford Jackson on July 16, 1888, in Pickens County, South Carolina, Jackson went to work in a textile mill when he was around six years old, and got his start in baseball playing for the Brandon Mill team at the age of 13 earning $2.50 a game. He emerged as the star of the team and a favorite of fans with his hitting and throwing abilities, and moved up to play in the Carolina Association, where he received his nickname Shoeless because the blisters on his feet forced him to play in his stockings. He then made his move to the major leagues, signing on with the Philadelphia Athletics and rising to fame. This work chronicles Jackson's life from his poor beginnings to his involvement in the scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series to his life after baseball and his death December 5, 1951, with most of the work focusing on his baseball career.

    From Lou Gehrig's farewell address at Yankee Stadium, to Cal Ripken's Iron Man--breaking celebration at Camden Yards.Publishing since 1886, The Sporting News not only has a unique perspective in covering the game of baseball since its beginning, but also has played a unique role in the creation of the game, from the birth of the American League to the save. It's a history of baseball like none other done before.

    From their early dominance at the start of the 20th Century and the trade of Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees to the wonder of Ted Williams and the near miracle of 1967,the Red Sox embody the history of Major League Baseball. The World Series was created,in part,to showcase the Red Sox while the team's annual match toward another title has created a New England faithful as passionate as any fan base in any sport on the globe. Through vivid imagery,more than 35,000 words of text and state-of-the-art graphic design from the award-winning staff at Rare Air,the history of the Red Sox franchise unfolds. Each of the eight chapters opens with an essay from some of the most gifted writers in the country. There are few if any bonds in sports that weave as deeply into the fabric of a culture as the tie that binds the Red Sox and New England. It hardly suffices to call followers of the Red Sox "fans". For a New Englander,following the Red Sox is a way of life,passed from generation to generation,a father handing the torch to his son in a ritual conducted regularly at the quaint,little ballpark at One Yawkey Way. Cy Young played there,and so did the Babe,the Grey Eagle,Teddy BallGame,Yaz,Pudge,the Rocket. New Englanders don't know these Fenway heroes from the Baseball Encylcopedia; the tales are passed down in the family as first-hand knowledge. A New Englander can attest to a great grandfather who actually saw Smoky Joe Wood throw harder than Walter Johnson—or another relative who watched Willie Tasby take off his spikes while playing center fieldduring a storm for fear of being electrocuted. It was oh-so-easy to be a Red Sox follower in the beginning. Launched 100 years ago as part of the newly formed American League,the team won five of the first 15 World Series. The Red Sox were the best baseball team in the world,playing in a jewel of a ballpark,citizens of "the thinking center of the continent,and therefore,of the planet," according to Oliver Wendell Holmes. Only an outsider could ruin this,and indeed a New York entrepreneur named Harry Frazee bought the Red Sox,found himself in need of cash to finance a Broadway play,and sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. Entering the 2001 season,the Red Sox had yet to win another World Series. They have been to the Series four times since the end of World War II,and lost each time in the seventh game. Such agony and pain would drive away mere fans. But there are no fans in Red Sox Nation—only New Englanders who are carrying on a rite of passage.

    In addition to 300 color and b&w images, many from the author's own collection, this attractive volume features Williams's candid words about his life both on the field and off.

    Black Baseball in Pittsburgh chronicles the history of the Negro League in the Steel City from the Homestead Grays in the 1910s to the great Pittsburgh Crawfords teams of the 1930s and through the 1950s. Here, you will meet legends such as "Smokey" Joe Williams, the famed "Thunder Twins," Josh Gibson, the Steel City's Slugger Supreme, and Buck Leonard, the King of Negro League first basemen.

    With the Americus club struggling, Joe Jackson came on board and turned things around not only for the team but the entire league. There was controversy with his playing at first, but it soon settled and made way for an astounding run of our national pastime. Shoeless Joe's time in Americus was capped off by leading the team to the league championship at the end of the season. Shoeless Summer, written by Americus native John Bell, tells the fascinating story of Shoeless Joe Jackson's days playing baseball in Americus in 1923. This book features a day-to-day chronology of the season with emphasis on the uproar that followed Americus signing the famed baseball outlaw to play for the team. Statistics and biographies of each of the Americus players, daily lineups and box scores, and the only photograph of Shoeless Joe with the Americus team in uniform known to exist make this a well-rounded piece of baseball history. The cities of Albany, Americus, Arlington, Bainbridge, Blakely, and Dawson each had teams in the South Georgia league. Shoeless Summer includes a complete list of players from each team as well as those who played in the major leagues. Baseball fans young and old will enjoy this factual account of one magical summer in a rural, baseball-crazed region on the country. "...He came to Americus, Georgia in 1923 and helped a struggling, hometown baseball team get back on its feet and win the league title from its chief sports rival. None of the fans really cared what he was accused of or what he did or didn't do. All they knew was that he was the greatest ball player they had ever seen, and for a short time, they could call him their own. When Shoeless Joe Jackson left Americus, he left memories of a hero to a small baseball town -- memories of a Shoeless Summer."

    This season, Major League Baseball stars shine in DK Readers. Every once in a while a hero emerges from the diamond who affects not only the fans in the stands but people around the world. Such a player was Roberto Clemente, Hall-of-Fame right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-1972. This book tells the inspiring story of a great athlete and true humanitarian. The 48-page Level 3 books, designed for children who can read on their own, contain more complex sentence structure and more detail. Young readers will devour these kid-friendly titles, which cover high-interest topics such as sharks, and the Bermuda Triangle, as well as classics like Aladdin. Information boxes highlight historical references, trivia, pronunciation, and other facts about words and names mentioned. Averaging 2,400 to 2,800 words, these books offer a 50/50 picture-to-text ratio. The Dorling Kindersley Readers combine an enticing visual layout with high-interest, easy-to-read stories to captivate and delight young bookworms who are just getting started. Written by leading children's authors and compiled in consultation with literacy experts, these engaging books build reader confidence along with a lifelong appreciation for nonfiction, classic stories, and biographies. There is a DK Reader to interest every child at every level, from preschool to grade 4.

    And when in 2001 the writers honored Kirby Puckett, the Twins star forced to retire with glaucoma after a brilliant but brief 12-year career, the same fans began to raise their voices in support of Munson, another short-timer who was once the toast of his team's hometown. In a position that requires the strapping on of hot, awkward equipment and the torturous alternation of standing and squatting, most catchers struggle to maintain electrolytes, let alone a respectable batting average. It is, in fact, a position so demanding, that men deemed good ball-handlers or pitcher confidants might hang on in the big leagues for years despite their drag on a team's offensive production. Munson, like Fisk and National Leaguer Johnny Bench, was a tough-as-nails backstop, a Gold Glove winner, and the unquestioned leader of his team. Like Bench and Fisk, too, though to a lesser degree, Munson had home run power. But the Yankee captain was in, at least one respect, an even rarer breed of catcher--one who manages despite the physical and mental demands of his position to finish each year somewhere near the .300 mark. Munson, who ranked in the top 10 among A.L. hitters five of the nine full seasons he played, was widely considered one of his generation's great clutch hitters. When the star catcher died at age 32, he was still in his prime, and it seems clear to many that on August 2, 1979, misfortune denied Munson his place in Cooperstown. Outlived by his contemporaries, who went on to post more impressive career numbers, and now overshadowed by the accomplishments of catchers from the current batter-biased era, Munson's chances for recognition grow increasingly faint. But for all the praiseworthy things he did on the field in his short career, Thurman Munson accomplished as much in between the innings and games he labored through. And it might be his influence for which he's ultimately remembered. In this work, author Chris Devine pays special attention to Munson as teammate, friend, husband, and father.

    

    The conditions under which they were held varied enormously but baseball, in various forms, was a common activity among these prisoners of war. Not just Americans, but Canadians, British, Australians and New Zealanders took the field, as well as the Japanese and even a few Germans. In the best of the German Stalags (permanent German camps where these prisoners were held, shortened from Stamm Lagers) there were often several leagues active at a time, with dozens of teams playing games continuously during the warm weather months. In the harsher Stalags, and in some Japanese camps, there was only makeshift ball playing. In places like Camp O'Donnell, the worst of the camps, there was no energy left for anything but the struggle to survive. This work is the story of POW baseball, complete with guard versus prisoner ball games, radio parts hidden in baseballs, and future major leaguers. The book is divided into the various prison camps and describes the types of prisoners held there and the degree to which baseball was played.

    THE WORLD SERIES combines lively commentary with thorough statistics to tell the story of every Fall Classic ever played, from the inaugural 1903 contest between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox to the Subway Series of 2000 that pitted the Yankees against their crosstown rivals, the New York Mets.The author's historical research has uncovered a wealth of little-known facts and stories from each series, along with unforgettable tales involving baseball's most legendary players and managers. Every key moment is included, along with game-by-game line scores and series box scores-including stats for every player who ever appeared in a World Series game! Beautiful photographs bring each contest to life and illustrate the evolution of the great American pastime. Special sections highlight the Fall Classic's greatest (and not-so-great) performers and performances over the years, including the top 10 World Series home runs and the 10 most shocking Series upsets.

    Lieb’s history of the St. Louis Cardinals, was commissioned by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Brown begins with the founding of the National League—with the Cubs as a charter member—in 1876 and continues through the 1945 World Series, which the Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers. Brown, of course, covers the Hall of Fame Cub infield of (Joe) Tinker to (Johnny) Evers to (Frank) Chance, the most memorable double-play combination in the history of baseball. Other legendary Cubs and their illustrious opponents include Grover Cleveland Alexander, Adrian C. “Cap” Anson, Phil Cavaretta, Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Rip Collins, Kiki Cuyler, Dizzy Dean, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Grimm, Lefty Grove, Stan Hack, Gabby Hartnett, Rogers Hornsby, Pepper Martin, Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Pie Traynor, and Hack Wilson. In his final chapter, Brown discusses and compiles what he calls the “All-Time Chicago National League Baseball Squad,” with two to five players listed for each position (more for pitchers). Brown also includes Cubs “statistical addenda,” such as home run leaders, leading pitchers, World Series records, and the Cubs versus White Sox “city series” records. The book is illustrated with twenty-two photographs.